which mylar bag size to use

[islandfam]

Major newbie's here sorry if this is a repeat question...

We are planning to do our first storage in mylar bags w/ OB's and trying to figure out how many we should order and in what size.

We are first going to do rice, pasta (different types), pinto beans, and I think some salt and sugar. What else should we do?

Approx. how many pounds of rice fits in a 5 gallon size in a 5 gallon bucket?

What size mylar bags should we use for our pasta and beans and sugar, the gallon size?

How's about the salt?

We are a family of 4. Also suggestions on quantities would be welcomed We have the general idea on what to do, but not sure the most effecient way to get started. Thanks!!!

[Ellen]

As far as quantities, use a food storage calculator. DON'T freak out thinking you will never be able to get as much as is recommended. Little by little is fine. Just keep trekking onward! This is a typical Food Storage Calculator

A 2 gallon mylar bag will hold about 10 pounds of rice, so figure 5 pounds per gallon.

The best way (one of hundreds of "best" ways) to get started is determining your family's favorite recipes. Go through the ingredients and determine how much of each item you will need to make the meal "X" amount of times. Start with 7 recipes and figure that you will serve each recipe one night per week and set a goal to get enough ingredients to prepare it for 25 weeks (or however many weeks you choose).

One of the easiest for almost any family is spaghetti. If you plan make spaghetti once per week for 25 weeks you will need 25 pounds (determine the actual amounts needed for your family) and 25 jars of spaghetti sauce. Simple! Just customize that to fit your family's eating habits. Keep it simple.

[gcvt]

Originally Posted by Ellen

This is a typical Food Storage Calculator

Not too sure about this calculator

Enter two people 'over 7' and it tells you will need 28 gallons of water for ONE YEAR! ...and the totals for "Fats and Oils" and "Milk" are way off.

[goose3]

Order some 1-gallon sized bags and some 5-gallon sized bags. If you can find a cheap source, order some 6x6 or 8x8 bags too (for storing spices and bouillion cubes and the like). I can get about 33# of wheat in a 5-gallon bucket, same with rice and beans. When you pack them, jiggle the bucket to settle the food.

It's somewhat difficult to answer w/o knowing what you're planning for, so let me project my situation onto yours:

Early in my prepping, I was trying to create smaller portion sizes, i.e., in gallon bags. I learned soon that I can only get 4 gallons of food in a 5-gallon bucket this way, which (if I do everything like this), increases the number of buckets needed by 25 percent. And I don't have unlimited storage space for buckets, even if I wanted to spend the extra money (I have no free or cheap source).

So I moved toward storing in 5-gallon batches. That's nowhere near as bad as people think it is--in fact, not at all. Your food in those batches isn't going to spoil within a week of opening it up--after all, rice, wheat, beans, etc. all sit on the shelves for weeks and months before we even seal them up. Plus, you can reseal the lid after you've broken the mylar seal.

I also used to think I could use those 1-gallon packages for trade or barter; I realized, after having read this board for a while, that all this would accomplish is to announce to others I have food, well-stored food, and enough of it that I can trade it. I figured all this does is make me a target myself, so no reason to do it. Besides, if I want to later, I can put wheat/rice/beans/whatever in ziplocs and trade it that way.

If you're serious about prepping food, consider buying your prep supplies in sufficient bulk to save on your per-unit cost. I've listed places below where I buy my stuff. I know it is hard to devote a lot of money to things that aren't food, but you'll have enough supplies on hand to pack everything you'll buy, plus you'll be able to buy more food in the long run. And if you catch things on sale, you won't give back the savings on pricier storage media.

Early on as well, I bought mylar and O2 absorbers in small batches. Mistake. Can't eat those higher per-unit prices but I can eat the food I bought with the money I saved.

Finally, packing things in 1-gallon bags takes time. It's very appropriate for many things, but not for bulk items like wheat, rice, beans, lentils, oat groats, popcorn (can be ground into cornmeal), and the like. And even smaller bags are great for things like whole spices (I have a lot of peppercorns stored this way).

This is where I get my stuff:

1500cc O2 absorbers: sorbentsystems.com/order_O2.html Look almost to the end of the page; 50 of the 1500cc absorbers for $14.50. That's not a misprint.

Gallon Mylar Bags: http://sorbentsystems.com/promotion3.html They're at the bottom of the page, 100 of them for $35.80.

5-Gallon Mylar Bags: http://www.bayteccontainers.com/myla...ble-20x30.html The price includes shipping, so if you buy 25 of them, the price is $1.95 each.


I only buy the 1500cc absorbers, and use them in both the 1-gallon and 5-gallon mylars. I figure there's so little savings in using the smaller capacity that I might as well just stock the one. And I'll say this: Those 1500cc absorbers work FAST in a 1-gallon bag, and they're more than enough for a 5-gallon bucket.


Good luck, and welcome!

[Chey's Daddy]

i just packaged up last night for first time.
i used gallon for everything. didnt want more that 3-5lbs open at 1 time. food will last longer that way. and when i store in buckets i want diversity so if need be i can grab a few buckets and have everything i need. if you could only grab a few buckets you could grab salt and sugar by accident and no food(1 possibility)


for the mylar bags(long term storage) i put 2 1gallon o2 absorbers and vaccumsealed best i could. the smooth surface makes it hard to vaccumseal, its bet to use the attatchment for jars and a straight iron(for us atleast)

[Madgie]

I have been prepping 5gal buckets for a very long time but never used the smaller mylar bags, until this year. I found a great deal on 50-1.5 gal mylar bags...love them, especially for mixed buckets. Yesterday I made a decaf bucket mix. It included, decaf coffee, tea, sugar, powdered milk. Everything is in lb packets with 02 absorbers. I can just pop the lid off with my handy little tool, get out what I need and using a mallet close the bucket up.

[AandB]

Good advice all the way around here! If you need Mylar Bags and 02 Absorbers, drop me a PM...I'll match or beat any price (including shipping) you can find online for Survivalistboard readers on the items we carry.=)

[Ellen]

Water storage is typically figured as a two-week supply. Most people can't store a year's supply of water and it is reasonable to assume that within two weeks you should be able to secure another source for drinking water.