Put up some mylar today....some of this and that....pics

[TxHills]

I spent a couple hours this afternoon putting up some smaller mylars and OA's. Had some left over macaroni and beans from buckets....so I made some more small bags. Bagged some macaroni, beans, tea bags, pepper, oatmeal, spaghetti, tortilla mix, cornmeal and finally used some of the grand daughters Capri Sun bags and did up some spices. Pulled in and work great. The perfect size for small amounts. And goose3 and Mike....I didn't poke holes with the spaghetti this time!! lol
Thanks to those that suggested using the Capri Sun bags, since many already have them on hand....and don't have to buy small bags. Now...into buckets......

[Fasha]

Where do you find your nags and do these bags work with standard food sealers?

PS - Good job, you are where I want to be, order dehydrator and food sealer yesterday!!!

[TxHills]

Originally Posted by Fasha

Where do you find your nags and do these bags work with standard food sealers?

PS - Good job, you are where I want to be, order dehydrator and food sealer yesterday!!!

Don't know...don't own one. Get all the air you can out of the mylar, and leave just a little headspace so the OA's work right, and get a good seal. I use an iron. The OA's will draw down on the food. The pics were right after, but I did the beans and maco first. See how the OA's drew them down....

[goose3]

That all you did?

Nice stash.

[TxHills]

Originally Posted by goose3

That all you did?

Nice stash.

Yep, for today. No bulk buckets for now. Be a good while before I have any where near the buckets some of you guys have. But I'm workin on it! Good way to spend a couple hours, though.

[MikeK]

Originally Posted by TxHills

Mike....I didn't poke holes with the spaghetti this time!! lol

LOL dangit, now I don't have anything to tease you about. Wait, wait, yeah I do! Flour tortilla mix? LOL

Flour tortillas are just flour, salt, fat and water!

A mexican lady taught me how to make them the easy way. For each handful of flour, add one 3 finger pinch of salt (my fingers are big, I have to use 2 fingers or it's a little salty for my taste), 3 curved fingers of lard, and one cupped handful warm water. For a "batch" this works out to about 3 cups flour, a teaspoon salt, 1/3-1/2 cup oil or lard and a cup of water.

Mix to form dough. Roll out or use tortilla press. Or if you want to do it the traditional way, you flap it back and forth on your thighs to thin it out!

Toss on hot comal or griddle and flip when there are brown specks. It's ready when both sides have brown specks. Nothing better!

For making them from fresh ground whole wheat, you need to either knead them a bit to activate the gluten, or add a little vital wheat gluten. At least I do. I still have trouble making them from 100% whole wheat.

That's a good looking batch of bags though. I always feel such a feeling of accomplishment when I finish a food project like that. It's quite a bit of work.

[TxHills]

Originally Posted by MikeK

LOL dangit, now I don't have anything to tease you about. Wait, wait, yeah I do! Flour tortilla mix? LOL

Flour tortillas are just flour, salt, fat and water!

A mexican lady taught me how to make them the easy way. For each handful of flour, add one 3 finger pinch of salt (my fingers are big, I have to use 2 fingers or it's a little salty for my taste), 3 curved fingers of lard, and one cupped handful warm water. For a "batch" this works out to about 3 cups flour, a teaspoon salt, 1/3-1/2 cup oil or lard and a cup of water.

Mix to form dough. Roll out or use tortilla press. Or if you want to do it the traditional way, you flap it back and forth on your thighs to thin it out!

Toss on hot comal or griddle and flip when there are brown specks. It's ready when both sides have brown specks. Nothing better!

For making them from fresh ground whole wheat, you need to either knead them a bit to activate the gluten, or add a little vital wheat gluten. At least I do. I still have trouble making them from 100% whole wheat.

All right now! My DIL gave that to me. I know how to make a stinkin tortilla! I was born in Harlingen...I'm durn near almost was a Mexican! Leeetle bit more to the South. lol. Seriously...my mom made them all the time when we were growing up.

[MikeK]

Originally Posted by Fasha

Where do you find your nags and do these bags work with standard food sealers?

PS - Good job, you are where I want to be, order dehydrator and food sealer yesterday!!!

A food sealer will seal the bags, but I wouldn't recommend it. The seal is thin. Most of us either use a clothes iron or electric hair straightener because it makes a wider, more reliable seal.

And you use O2 absorbers in these bags instead of a vacuum anyway. Not only are they not rated for a vacuum, but an O2 absorber removes far more O2 than a vacuum would anyway.

This is how the long term food storage companies are packing their foods. They have laboratory testing behind them to prove that it works. So that's good enough for me.

[MikeK]

Originally Posted by TxHills

All right now! My DIL gave that to me. I know how to make a stinkin tortilla! I was born in Harlingen...I'm durn near almost was a Mexican! Leeetle bit more to the South. lol. Seriously...my mom made them all the time when we were growing up.

I kinda figgered bein' a Texas boy, you grew up on the real stuff! But since you didn't poke any holes this time, I was really reachin' to find something!

[TxHills]

Gotta have some flour tortillas to sop up the pot lick after cookin some good ole pinto beans. I'm hungry.

[MikeK]

Originally Posted by TxHills

Gotta have some flour tortillas to sop up the pot lick after cookin some good ole pinto beans. I'm hungry.

Or a fat hunk of cornbread. Better yet, why not both?

A raw jalepeno and some sliced onions on the side. Man, yer makin' me hungry!

[TxHills]

LOL. Beans over cornbread....with a heapin dose of Cholula sauce. OK. That's it.

[MikeK]

Cholula, Bufalo, Tapatio, and Valentina. My staples. I feel sorry for those less fortunate. But that's why we're Texas and they aren't.

[Xythlord]

mmmm.....Cholula & Tapatio, but you left out Crystals!

And you can't leave out the Tabasco! That goes on just about everything else that the hot sauce won't.

[MikeK]

Crystals? Never heard of that one. Got lots of Tabasco but I don't like it on my frijoles. Well, it's good with navy beans or great northerns.

[centexan]

Gotta have the Tabasco! Have you tried the Habanero Tabasco? It takes the prize. Hello all from another Texas boy. Figures it would take a topic concerning tortillas and hot sauce to draw my first post!

[Illini Warrior]

The Food Saver heat seal works great on the smaller bags ....... the 5/6 gallon mylar bags don't seal well due to the mil thickness .....

On another note ...... when you multi pak buckets with the smaller bags vs a bulk pack ...... you need to add some loose 02 absorbers to the bucket before closing down the lid ...... there is alot of airspace in & around the multi paks and this airspace needs to be treated for 02 ...... much more effective food package

[MtnBikeMike]

Thanks for sharing!

[MikeK]

Originally Posted by centexan

Gotta have the Tabasco! Have you tried the Habanero Tabasco? It takes the prize. Hello all from another Texas boy. Figures it would take a topic concerning tortillas and hot sauce to draw my first post!

I've tried all the other stuff McIlhenny makes, but none of them compare to Tabasco. In fact, I actually wrote them a letter letting them know of my dismay that they use chemicals and artificial colors in some of them like the jalapeno sauce. That's just out of character for that particular company and how they've always made their products.

[MikeK]

Originally Posted by Illini Warrior

The Food Saver heat seal works great on the smaller bags ....... the 5/6 gallon mylar bags don't seal well due to the mil thickness .....

On another note ...... when you multi pak buckets with the smaller bags vs a bulk pack ...... you need to add some loose 02 absorbers to the bucket before closing down the lid ...... there is alot of airspace in & around the multi paks and this airspace needs to be treated for 02 ...... much more effective food package

If you have leftover O2 absorbers you just want to use up, it can't hurt. But that's not going to effect the food storage life. The food in mylar is not exposed to the air in the bucket. And the bucket is not an O2 barrier anyway, so in a few years it's going to have O2 in it again.