[Flako]

Hello everyone,

I did a search on Mylar bags but didn't see any of the threads answering the question I have.

Im planning on using Mylar bags for the 1st time. Im wanting to put some rice & beans on 5 gallon buckets (food grade ) but Im wondering. Are all Mylar bags the same. Is there anything I need to know about them before buying them. Any brands I need to stay away from?

Also, Is it recommended I fill up one 5 gallon bag or is it better if I fill up 5 one gallon bags?

Thank you

 

[Mels thinkingitover]

The first post in this thread has links to more information about mylar bags and packing in them than you'd believe was in one place. You would do well to read it before packaging anything so you are prepared to prepare.

http://www.survivalistboards.com/showthread.php?t=209648

 

[yelruh]

Also, Is it recommended I fill up one 5 gallon bag or is it better if I fill up 5 one gallon bags?

Mel pointed you in a good direction.

As to 1 5 gallon or 5 1 gallon, it's personal preference. You should be aware that you can't really get 5 one gallon bags in a 5 gallon bucket. It's more like 4, so if you are tight on space that might not be a good idea.

Personally, I store my bulk items in 5 gallon buckets (rice, oatmeal, sugar, salt).
Other stuff is stored in 1 & 2 gallon mylar (pasta, potato flakes, barley, tea, spices)

 

[Flako]

Hey thanks!

I appreciate the help.

 

[Illini Warrior]

you do need to be careful about buying off Amazon and sites similiar ... make doubly sure that the specs of the mylar material is stated ... no less than 5 mil .... your snack food bags are technically mylar and have been sold to crook preppers out of their $$$$ .....

check your delivery .... bags should be shipped flat or in a rolled fashion ... no sharp folded creases .... look for any pinholes ..... some bag manufacturers will convert the entire roll instead of the industry standard of "leafing" the roll's outer layers ....

in regard to packing buckets with a mix of smaller mylar bags .... you can get a fairly tight pack with a mix of 1 gallon and half gallon ... you'll lose a couple of pounds of bucket storage to the little voided areas .... some people backfill the voids with lose rice .....

 

[goose3]

When I started packaging food in mylar I did the 1-gallon thing. I simply couldn't get more than 4 such bags in a 5-gallon bucket.

That meant I needed 25 percent more buckets, and had to pay a 25 percent penalty in storage space, which is dear to me.

So I changed quickly to the 5-gallon bags. Oh, there are things I have in smaller bags--primarily spices and such--but in a scenario where I need my preps, I'll used them up fast enough.

So think about how much space to store buckets you're going to need as you think on this.

 

[Illini Warrior]

a one gallon mylar bag loaded with approx 4 lbs of a good pack like rice or small bean/peas is 1 1/2 to 2 inches thick and a very flexible 11 inches square ...

you can stack at least 6 of the 1 gallon bags thru the middle of the bucket (13 1/2 inch tall by 11 inch diameter /5 gallon bucket) .... there's enough side bucket void for another 4 of the 1/2 gallon bags .... that's an approx 32 pound bucket pack ....

again, you can pack the voids with something like loose rice .... it'll fill all the small voids and the headspace left at the top of the bucket .... something like another pound or so

 

[GPArcher]

As you start the bagging process, make sure you squeeze out all of the air (as much as possible) before sealing. That was my newb mistake.

 

[stephpd]

From the folks that maufacture bags. You can follow all the links and find more info then you'll ever need. In particular the links on long term food storage.

http://sorbentsystems.com/mylar.html
http://sorbentsystems.com/longtermfoodstorage.html

 

[goose3]

a one gallon mylar bag loaded with approx 4 lbs of a good pack like rice or small bean/peas is 1 1/2 to 2 inches thick and a very flexible 11 inches square ...

you can stack at least 6 of the 1 gallon bags thru the middle of the bucket (13 1/2 inch tall by 11 inch diameter /5 gallon bucket) .... there's enough side bucket void for another 4 of the 1/2 gallon bags .... that's an approx 32 pound bucket pack ....

again, you can pack the voids with something like loose rice .... it'll fill all the small voids and the headspace left at the top of the bucket .... something like another pound or so

But if you pack the voids with loose rice, that rice isn't being protected for LTS.

I doubt you can get more than 25# or so in a 5-gallon bucket using the 1-gallon bag approach. I can get 33# in the bucket using a single 5-gallon bag.

I am not sure what the fascination is with using 1-gallon bags. Food in an opened 5-gallon bucket isn't suddenly going to go bad in a week; it will last just about as long as it would if you'd bought it fresh and left it sitting on your shelf.

When I first started prepping and was interested in using 1-gallon bags, I had this idea (misguided though it was) that I'd use those bags in barter and trading. Only later did I realize how foolish that was on two fronts: not only will I be unlikely to trade food directly, I could always if I wanted simply transfer food from a 5-gallon bucket to another container.

This all sounds to me like trying to make a bad idea work. I wish someone could explain the advantage of using 1-gallon bags in lieu of 5-gallon bags, given the price, additional bucket cost, and additional space requirements needed.

 

[yelruh]

Food in an opened 5-gallon bucket isn't suddenly going to go bad in a week; it will last just about as long as it would if you'd bought it fresh and left it sitting on your shelf.

Actually it's better, because you've killed off all the bugs that were in it with the 02 absorber.

I use some 1 & 2 gallon bags and put them in a couple of rubbermaid containers. The items I put in them are things that I wouldn't go through a 5 gallon container of in a reasonable time... during normal use. A 5 gallon bucket of oatmeal is around 20 pounds and we go through that routinely in around 2 months.

I'd rather have 3 packages of different beans than one open enormous container that's all one kind. I don't go through corn meal or flour quickly so 2 gallons which is about 12 1/2 pounds is a good size for me. If I buy a large container of chili powder, I'm actually more likely to put it into quart mason jars instead of mylar.

My LTS is rotated so that while I'm not constantly Mylaring items, I'm using some of the older and restocking with fresh. I'm not doing it all the time but occasionally. For example we go through 100 pounds of oatmeal a year. I started off by buying 100 pounds and filling 4, 5 gallon buckets. We then ate the 20 or so pounds that was left. The next time I was low, I bought a 50 pound bag and put it in Tupperware instead of Mylar... but then the next time we were low I opened one of the 5 gallon buckets. When we were out except for LTS, I bought another 100 pounds and started the cycle again. At some point I'll have enough stored that I wont be adding to it, but working on cycling through it gradually.

 

[stephpd]

Actually it's better, because you've killed off all the bugs that were in it with the 02 absorber.

Not according to research. Concerning exactly this from BYU;
http://contentdm.lib.byu.edu/cdm/singleitem/collection/IR/id/1243/rec/1

"Although it was possible to use oxygen absorbers to reduce the oxygen level below 1% for 12 d, this treatment was shown to be an unreliable disinfesting method because the oxygen levels in the samples exceed 1% too frequently. Because this method is inconsistent consumers would require evidence that the necessary conditions have been met, but this would call for tools not available to most consumers. Therefore, it is not recommended that consumers use this method to disinfest grains."