Hate to cover old ground ...

[Robin56]

This subject has been covered in a lot of posts ... I know because I've spent the past 45-mins or so trying to jot down notes before taking the plunge with my food storage using mylar and O2. I was planning to start mylar-packaging tonight but I'm not sure about some things. When I read about some foodstuffs, it seems like no storage is best (keep in freezer better with some things, for example).

I thought maybe I could list the things I have ready to go and maybe some of you more experienced preppers could set me straight. I only have the 1-gal mylars right now. Here's what I have:

Sugar/Salt: Already figured out ... no O2's.
Powdered milk: OK to put in mylars with 2 300's
White rice: OK to put in mylars with 2 300's
Brown rice: OK to put in mylars with 2 300's *white stores longer
Nature's Path Organic Heirloom Whole Grains (flakes-like cereal) says low fat
Pinto beans: Should be OK with 2 300's
Ground coffee (plastic containers): Just keep in same containers in freezer
Ground coffee (metal cans): Just keep in same containers in freezer
Instant coffee: Keep in freezer in original/unsealed jars - even past date
Bob's Red Mill "Soy Flour": Okay to put in mylars with 2 300's
Bob's Red Mill "100% Whole Grain": OK to put in mylars with 2 300's
Quaker Oats (rolled oats, I think): Should be OK with 2 300's ?
Many varieties bagged beans from WalMart: OK in mylars with 2 300's

I have some other stuff, too, but wanted to start with what I thought were "easy" things. After all my reading, it doesn't seem as easy as I thought. I'd greatly appreciate your thoughts on my summary before I start.

Thank you all ... Robin

[Allamakee County]

I have not been at this very long either, but I don't see any errors in your list.

One thought: Coffee, if you buy the green beans and roast it yourself, can be stored like any other dried bean.

[goose3]

Like AC I don't see any particular issues except that I don't think you'll gain that much from storing brown rice in Mylar; it's not going to last all that long, and although it's nutritionally superior to white rice, it also will go rancid.

[home in oz]

Uh, what happens if the freezer is not working anymore?

[Robin56]

Thanks. You know ... I'd never even heard of green coffee until I saw it being written about on this site!

[Robin56]

You're right about the freezer being down. But I sort of thought that the mylar bags would deal with that if the electricity were to go out.

I'm guessing mylar is only for things that do not have to be refrigerated. Mylar and I only met recently.

[rover]

Du Pont has a lot cooler stuff than Mylar and that was 20 years ago I worked there , but they wont sell it to us, 6 mylar lines ran 24//7 but the awesome stuff was Kapton. 2 lines- and it all went to 2 buyers.

how much volume of each? a couple bags or are you storing a lot, cuz I like pals better than bags.
food will last a lot longer if you move it somewhere dark and cool.And dry than just sitting in a dead frig.

[lonesurvivor]

Kapton, good stuff! They use that in space suits. My grandfather worked for your competitor, Dow Chemical, and invented some interesting stuff. He also worked with NASA to invent the first commercial product made in outer space.

[Robin56]

Originally Posted by rover

Du Pont has a lot cooler stuff than Mylar and that was 20 years ago I worked there , but they wont sell it to us, 6 mylar lines ran 24//7 but the awesome stuff was Kapton. 2 lines- and it all went to 2 buyers.

how much volume of each? a couple bags or are you storing a lot, cuz I like pals better than bags.
food will last a lot longer if you move it somewhere dark and cool.And dry than just sitting in a dead frig.

Pretty much well more than a few bags (and they're large) of beans, rice, oats, coffee, sugar, salt and others. You're right, I think, about the 5-gl pails being better but with my income they're a bit pricy.

I had thought about non-food grade buckets with the larger mylar bag and break what I can down into the 1-gl mylars and put them in the buckets.

Gosh ... so much to learn.

[goose3]

Originally Posted by Robin56

Pretty much well more than a few bags (and they're large) of beans, rice, oats, coffee, sugar, salt and others. You're right, I think, about the 5-gl pails being better but with my income they're a bit pricy.

I had thought about non-food grade buckets with the larger mylar bag and break what I can down into the 1-gl mylars and put them in the buckets.

Gosh ... so much to learn.

Think of it as a journey, not a destination.

You can also "ladder" your preps, gradually increasing the amount of time your food will sustain you: 72 hours, a week, two weeks, a month, three months, six months, a year....

As you do that, you increase the number of SHTF scenarios you can comfortably survive: A power outage for the weekend, an ice storm that knocks out power for a week, tornadoes that knock out infrastructure and power for a month, an earthquake from which it takes 3 months to restore services, all the way up to...whatever.

Preps have also helped a number here weather an unemployment storm.

[MikeK]

The one suggestion I have is to set water as your absolute top priority. It's more important than food, yet it's the one thing many people overlook and work on last, when it really should be the very first prep. You can live a month or more without food, only a couple days without water. It can be the cheapest prep also, if you take your time and think outside the box. But it's also the most complicated sometimes.

[vicdotcom]

Originally Posted by Robin56

..
Ground coffee (plastic containers): Just keep in same containers in freezer
Ground coffee (metal cans): Just keep in same containers in freezer
Instant coffee: Keep in freezer in original/unsealed jars - even past date
...

The rest of the stuff seems good. But I personally would not keep coffee in the freezer. Even for short-term I don't like to keep it in the freezer. The reason is once it goes in there, it needs to stay in there. If you take it out, it can cause condensation inside the bag and you will introduce moisture into the containers (except for the vacuum packed ones). I just keep coffee in a cool dry place with 02 absorbers or vacuum packed.