[maastmike]

I am new to prepping and have been reading, reviewing, and researching different routes i can take. i do not have much money and it would not be wise, practical, or logical for me to go out and spend 100.00s of dollars. not only would i not be able to afford it, but my wife would probably call me crazy, divorce me, and take the kids... lol.

i will be starting off small, you know, a week to a few weeks to a few months and so on.

in a thread i had opened up a few days ago a member had mentioned dehydrated foods. right then i face palmed myself and started reading. dehydrated foods is pretty straight forward and cost efficient and pretty damn easy. ive made jerky a handful of times. thing is, there seems to be quite a bit of back and forth when it comes to dehydrating and long term use. ive read that foods can last a few months and ive read foods, if packaged correctly, can last years.

most of you guys seem to know what youre talking about so im hoping you can clear some of this up.

when it comes to meat, how long can it last? any links or suggestions on drying it out and packaging it properly?

same question, but for fruits and veggies.

thanks again for all the help!

 

[maastmike]

a question that came to me now while reading...

lets say i dehydrated bananas, carrots, and steak strips and placed each food into its own vacuum sealed bag then placed into a 5 g sealed bucket for safe keeping. its 4 months down the road and an X disaster occurs and we must now resort to saved food.

assuming the food was dried correctly... what happens when i dip into the jars on a daily basis? the food will be introduced to air, light, and whatever moisture that is in the air. will i have to reseal each time? how long will the food be good for after its introduced?

 

[ImStillHere]

Here is just about everything you would want to know. TxHills put a lot of work into this compilation dont forget the thanks button there.
http://www.survivalistboards.com/showthread.php?t=209648

With meats either dehydrated or jerkied have a limited store time. I have found short term stored in a paper bag on a shelf good for several weeks, for longer you can freeze it after, several months.
With produce if dried crisp and stored in bags with desiccant is good for several months. If you are going to the work of vacpac and buckets I would instead use mylar and O2 absorbers with smaller mylar and these will be good for 20 years for most items. Vacuum sealing still lets O2 into the bag they are not barriers, though it does better than ziplock. You have to plan on what your storage goals are.

I dehydrate from my garden and freezer section, I put the material in zips with desiccant until I have enough to put up in mylar with O2 sorbers for LTS. For this material I like to work with 1gal or smaller mylar and save the 5gal for wheat, oats, beans, rice, sugar, etc. Also my plan constantly evolves and changes based on my activity, availability and knowledge gained here.

 

[maastmike]

thanks! ill check out the link now.

wheres the best place to get the mylar bags and the 02 absorbers?

 

[sigmund]

Some people act like beef jerky will last forever, it doesnt. And if you want the longest term out of it you need to totally dry it. I mean until it snaps when slightly bent. Not very edible then, you either need to suck on it a long time or rehydrate it another way.

Here is a link about shelf life for professionally dried and packaged food. Dehydrated lasts longer than freeze dried.

http://beprepared.com/education/shelf-life

 

[Writer's Block]

The thing I found most useful is to get a dehydrator and use it.

I have found some of my dehydrated stuff has lasted far better than figures I found on sites and in books.

Your specific environment and means of storing has dramatic effects on shelf life.