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2K views 3 replies 3 participants last post by  jeffreyclay 
#1 ·
I just bought a sealed pack of 75 500cc packets. For my first few trials I put two boxes of macaroni & cheese kits in a mylar bag with 2 02 packs. Ironed it shut as small as I could make it. One day later the package still seems to have some free space in it. Next I put 2 macaroni kits with 5 02 packets and sealed it as small as I could. A day later it still seems to have free space it it. I was expecting the mylar bag to shrink up tight. When I opened the master pack of the 02 packets the color dot said they were good and I stuffed them into pint sized Ball jars for storage.
Am I expecting too much or doing something wrong?
 
#2 · (Edited)
You are expecting too much too fast and have some misconceptions.

O2 absorbers are not vaccum sealers. They don't work like vaccum cleaners to "suck up" oxygen. Also remember, just because there is air doesn't mean that there is oxygen. Air is only 20% oxygen. And 78% of that "space" is actually nitrogen. So the o2 absorbers can be working and you may never know. It also takes more than a day to notice.

I think you expected to much. You need a vaccum sealer if you want to get rid of all the airspace and "shrink it up tight". You can toss in some o2 absorbers for good measure. I think you are confusing vaccum sealing and o2 absorbtion.

Also the "free space" created from one day to the next can be (and probably was) caused by a change in temperature or atmospheric pressures after you ironed the mylar shut.
 
#3 · (Edited)
He's right,they aren't vacuum sealers, but they CAN be. If you squeeze most of the air out, you should have a tight,vacuum seal the next morning.
You either didn't remove enough air, and/or your seal was imperfect.
Another concern is not OVER ironing the mylar bags. They melt very easily. If you fold the edge of your bag TIGHTLY AND SMOOTHLY over a piece of wood, and pressing firmly, give it a slow once up and once back with a hot iron, you should be good to go. Having a second pair of hands helps.
Once you get the hang of this, your seals will look almost like they were done in a factory. My first attempts had lumps and ridges, looked like crap and may have alllowed air to enter ( I had a lot of bad seals when I started).
You should get all your bags loaded and stacked next to each other and ready to go before even opening the O2's. You also, in our experience, shouldn't start with any more than a dozen or so bags at a time.
 
#4 ·
Thanks for the input. I do believe my seals have good integrity so I'm confident if there were any little bugs or eggs they will not survive. My reference was from 4 pails of brown rice I ordered in which the mylars looked as hard as a punching bag. They must have pulled a vacuum before adding the 02 absorbers giving the impression (to me at least) that the absorber created the void within the bag. Now for the sad part of the learning curve, I discovered that brown rice will probably only store for 2 years. I plan to donate it to a Christian soup kitchen and replace it with white rice. I need these staples to be ready for perhaps a decade. Ofcourse the Myan calendar stops at 2012 so who knows what to expect?
 
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