[12vman]

I am right now in the midst of packing some 3.5 gallon buckets w/ 1 gallon bags of rice,beans,and pasta.
I do all three per bucket cause I like variety
I was wondering what other things can be packed in mylar and sealed(o2 of course)
What about salt or other ground spices?
bouillion cubes?
candy bars?
meats?

Just trying to have some variety if the SHTF

plain pasta and rice would get old quick

 

[goose3]

Among the things I've packed in Mylar w/ O2 absorbers:

Dried Milk
Potato Flakes
Spices (including dehydrated onion, garlic)
Buillion Cubes
Peppercorns
Pasta (spaghetti pasta, in thick mylar so the spaghetti won't poke holes in it).
Flour (yes, flour--cheap as it is, I expect 10 years from flour in mylar w/ O2 absorbers)
Popcorn
Oat Groats

 

[stephpd]

Well, there's all the other grains, wheat, corn, oatmeal, Barley

Salt and sugar, just don't use O2 absorbers, they'll form bricks.

Dehydrates foods, like Jerky, Banana's apples, pears.

Hard candy doesn't need to be stored in them but it won't hurt. Chocolates can be just don't expect a long life from milk chocolate. Cocoa is fine.

Then there's the powdered items. Flour, milk, pancake (bisquick). They'll keep for several years (at least 10).

 

[Herbalpagan]

dried fruit, nuts, drink mixes, chocolate, dehydrated veggies I do myself.

 

[MR_SLOW]

I just finished doing 50 boxes of cereal. I use heavy duty Mylar bags and using buckets with the Gamma seal lids.I remove the extra air with my food saver hose.

 

[fuggit]

I enjoy the little things in life like coffee.

 

[MikeK]

You can pack any dry ingredient that needs protected from oxygen in mylar with an O2 absorber. O2 isn't the enemy of salt or sugar so it's not needed, and in fact will make them turn into a rock.

I've got green coffee beans, chocolate, hard candies, seaweed, dried mushrooms, spices, dehydrated veggies of all sorts and you name it packed in mylar. It's useful stuff.

 

[StormWatch]

I like to run the iron down the middle of the bag lengthwise, and make a pair of tubes out of gallon bags. Each tube holds between 3 and 4 cups of rice, about 3 cups of beans or pasta, and 2 cups of oats. I want to have each bucket have a mixture of foods--the plan is to pack 2 tubes of beans, 3 tubes rice, 3 tubes oats, a flat pack of baking soda, a flat pack of tea, sugar and salt, a tube of milk, a flat pack of brown sugar, a tube of wheat or spelt, and a tube of baking mix. Flavorings will stay together, as will food with a shorter life like canned foods.

I wonder how long olive oil would last if re-packed in a mylar bag and sealed?

 

[MikeK]

I wonder how long olive oil would last if re-packed in a mylar bag and sealed?

I wouldn't try it, personally. In order to get any shelf life boost, you would need to eliminate even more air than the bottle does already. This means you'd have to have the level of the oil right up to the seal. The slightest bit of oil on the seal and it won't seal properly and will leak and go rancid. I'm not sure I'd want to store liquids of any kind in mylar for long term anyway.

 

[Gallo Pazzesco]

One thing I can tell you to not waste your time packing in mylar are the crackers ... or even the prepackaged crackers such as nibs, nabiso brand, Lance toasties, Snack Packs, etc., ... peanut butter cracker, cheese cracker, etc.

We just popped open a bucket of some we sealed a mere two years ago and they were horrible. No, heinous is a better descriptive. Tasted like powdered chemicals. The dogs even spit them out. I'd rather eat a frozen possum raw.

 

[StormWatch]

One thing I can tell you to not waste your time packing in mylar are the crackers ... or even the prepackaged crackers such as nibs, nabiso brand, Lance toasties, Snack Packs, etc., ... peanut butter cracker, cheese cracker, etc.

We just popped open a bucket of some we sealed a mere two years ago and they were horrible. No, heinous is a better descriptive. Tasted like powdered chemicals. The dogs even spit them out. I'd rather eat a frozen possum raw.

Thanks for the info, I was thinking of packing up some crackers, grape-nuts, rykrisp, and malto-meal. Did you try saltines or wheat thins?

I've seen canned pilot crackers--has anyone tried these?

 

[Gallo Pazzesco]

What we learned is that, long term storage crackers need to be those kind designed and packaged for long term storage - often named "emergency" this-or-that. The every day stuff, like the ritz, triscuits, saltines and wheat thins just do not do well in long term storage.

We do like the Mountain House Pilot Crackers, (or maybe they call them pilot bread, I'll have to go to the storeroom and look), and also the ER Bars and the Mainstay Bars. Of course the MRE Crackers are the old standard in an emergency ration cracker.

You just cannot use your everyday cracker for long term caching - they do not work.

Grapenuts ... have never given them any thought but I probably should have by now. They might be worth a try.

 

[MikeK]

Thanks for the info, I was thinking of packing up some crackers, grape-nuts, rykrisp, and malto-meal. Did you try saltines or wheat thins?

I've seen canned pilot crackers--has anyone tried these?

Most commercial snack crackers contain a lot of hidden fat. This goes rancid pretty quick. Saltines don't have fat, but they go stale quickly just the same. The secret to crackers is to learn to make your own. They aren't hard and the net is full of different recipes for them. It's a good way to use the wheat and flour that many of us have stored.

As for the pilot crackers, they're designed for long term storage and they last well. They're heavier and denser than regular crackers. I love them! In fact, I prefer them to just about any commercial cracker or saltines.

 

[Twisty]

Don't forget you can Mylar bag any important paperwork which needs to be kept dry.

-passport
-bank documents
-share certificates
-wills
-greenbacks!
-deeds to house/land
-family photos
-porn mags (just kidding) :

etc etc...

 

[Velvet Elvis]

I was just given a large box of individually sealed moist towelette packages. I don't have a need for them at the moment. Is there any reason not to mylar pack these to keep them from drying out?

 

[stephpd]

I was just given a large box of individually sealed moist towelette packages. I don't have a need for them at the moment. Is there any reason not to mylar pack these to keep them from drying out?

If they're like the ones I see they are already packed in something similar to mylar bags. Nothing really gained by taking them out of that and into another similar type package.

I'd just toss the whole mess into a vacuum bag and hope that would extend their life some.

 

[Velvet Elvis]

I don't intend to take them out of their individually sealed packages and repack. But those packages dry out fairly quickly when left in a glove compartment for example. Was thinking that getting them sealed in mylar would remove the air, and thus keep them from drying out. A vacuum pack would do too I suppose. Not sure that one would be better or worse than the other.

 

[stephpd]

The reason I mentioned vacuum over Mylar is that O2 absorbers only remove oxygen. there's till plenty of nitrogen left. It's not really the Oxygen but transmission of moisture and I'm not one to recommend putting Mylar under a heavy vacuum.

Either would slow down the evaporation rate, I just think the Vacuum bags would be better since they remove much more air.

 

[Velvet Elvis]

Thanks. That is very helpful. After you mentioned the vac bag, I was trying to determine the difference between the mylar or vac approach. Still learning about this stuff.

 

[stephpd]

Thanks. That is very helpful. After you mentioned the vac bag, I was trying to determine the difference between the mylar or vac approach. Still learning about this stuff.

Biggest difference is storage time. Vacuum bags are good for a couple of years, Mylar up to 10 years. That has to do with the aluminum in the Mylar bags being a better barrier. But since it has heat sealed seams (that will leak over time) it can't compare to metal cans.

Even putting them into mason jars and using the vacuum attachment for them will help, probably more then either type bag.

All have different ratings as vapor and moisture barriers. Where Mylar isn't so good is under a vacuum. All the others do OK. Jars better then vacuum bags, metal cans better then everything.

Since we're talking about towelettes losing moisture we'd want something that can work in a vacuum well. Given the choice, stuffing them into a mason jar and using a vacuum would be the easiest and likely to extend their lives the most. (Hard to do a vacuum cheaply on metal cans)