I am in the process of putting together the family BOB and I've come to the point where I am considering how to best store/transport the dog's food. Good news is it is strictly dry food. Bad news is he's a big dog and I'm looking at 5 cups per day. Anyone have any experience with the best ways to store the food and how long it keeps?
Thoughts on vacuum sealing dog food.
1 - 17 of 17 Posts
Joined
·
6,885 Posts
I have been putting vacc sealed kibble in my pet's BOB for almost two years now. I know that after a year it was still fine and they ate it right up. I don't know about more than a year.
I do not put it in mylar, use O2 absorbers, or anything like that. I just use a Food Saver bag like with any other food.
Oh, and the kibble I use is Nutrience Original Recipe for Older Small/Medium breeds.
I do not put it in mylar, use O2 absorbers, or anything like that. I just use a Food Saver bag like with any other food.
Oh, and the kibble I use is Nutrience Original Recipe for Older Small/Medium breeds.
Joined
·
1,088 Posts
Dang, what have you got a horse? I have a 150lb Newf and a 55lb dingo/heeler and together they get 6 cups. My wife and I thought about getting one of those big vacuum bags for storing blankets and such and trying to vacpak an unopened 40lb bag to see if it works. Just a thought!
(1) Most dogs will eat anything. Carrion and poop are dietary staples. We personally feed our hounds the cheapest off name we can find. If your dog is picky, fix that now with hunger and variety - just like you would a spoiled child.
(2) Dry kibble has a decent shelf life - it is pretty much corn for calorie, soy for protein, and meat by-product for flavor. A simply ziplock will keep it dry and edible for a year. Not good for LONG term storage, but for a BOB, it will work well so long as your flip it every year or so.
(3) If space is an issue, consider crushing the kibble into powder and mixing it with water into a paste for the dog to eat. A few quick rawhide chews for dental health on the side will make up for the loss of kibbling if it has to be done for a long time.
(4) With a dog that size, you NEED a dog pack - it will consume so much food and water weight it needs to pull its own weight. Train your dog to wear a pack or pull a bike cart now. Then is too late.
(5) Likewise, remember that you dog needs to learn skills for the apoc, just like you do. Make sure your dog has noise discipline, follows basic commands quickly and consistantly, can carry its own load. Going beyond that (watch, track, hunt, attack, etc are directions you might want to consider when it gets the basics down).
(2) Dry kibble has a decent shelf life - it is pretty much corn for calorie, soy for protein, and meat by-product for flavor. A simply ziplock will keep it dry and edible for a year. Not good for LONG term storage, but for a BOB, it will work well so long as your flip it every year or so.
(3) If space is an issue, consider crushing the kibble into powder and mixing it with water into a paste for the dog to eat. A few quick rawhide chews for dental health on the side will make up for the loss of kibbling if it has to be done for a long time.
(4) With a dog that size, you NEED a dog pack - it will consume so much food and water weight it needs to pull its own weight. Train your dog to wear a pack or pull a bike cart now. Then is too late.
(5) Likewise, remember that you dog needs to learn skills for the apoc, just like you do. Make sure your dog has noise discipline, follows basic commands quickly and consistantly, can carry its own load. Going beyond that (watch, track, hunt, attack, etc are directions you might want to consider when it gets the basics down).
Joined
·
5,972 Posts
Vacuum packing, Mylar and O2 absorbers...... Too much fat and 'added' vitamins. They will not store well either way.
The only long term solution for our 4 legged friends, is to provide fresh food in the long term or canned.
For your BOB, go ahead a vac pack some food but, rotate it out in less than two years. Yeah, dogs will eat anything but, rancid fats are still rancid and causes major health problems down the road. Rancid fat is worse than rotten meat for man and his best friend.
The only long term solution for our 4 legged friends, is to provide fresh food in the long term or canned.
For your BOB, go ahead a vac pack some food but, rotate it out in less than two years. Yeah, dogs will eat anything but, rancid fats are still rancid and causes major health problems down the road. Rancid fat is worse than rotten meat for man and his best friend.
I keep a weeks worth vacuum sealed for my cat and dog. I just rotate through it like I do everything else. The bags the food comes in has an expiration date just like human food does. I have a year put up for each of them. They may be in better shape than I am. 
Joined
·
169 Posts
This subject is one that I have been thinking about as well, I think that I'll pack away some freeze dried meat and veggies and add more rice to the stores for the 4 legged family members. also add more vitamins for them as well. but in the interim I will stock up more of the dry and canned foods that they eat on a regular basis.
Joined
·
1,030 Posts
I do not claim to know the proper way to store dog food, but I can tell you what works for us. I store our dogs' Blue Buffalo hard food in a gallon Mylar bag (no oxygen absorber) and then store the Mylar bag in a large cylindar-shaped Tupperware style container. I keep it in my dogs' BOB for a year, and then rotate it out. After the year, it always seems to be as fresh as the day I packed it. However, this is just for our BOB storage, and I've never stored it longer than a year. We also keep large bags of hard food stored in our deep pantry and rotate it out like we do our "people" food. Unopened, those bags have an expiration date of 1.5 to 2 years out.
Joined
·
67,162 Posts
Both of you are entirely correct. I've tinkered for years with dog food storage. Mylar and O2 absorbers give the longest life, but it still goes rancid. There's just too much fat. The fats are always preserved with some form of antioxidant, either chemical in nature, or mixed tecopherals which are vitamin E derivatives. They buy about a year under normal storage. You can extend the life a few more years with proper packaging. But not what you'd call true long term storage.
And O2 absorbers give off a bit of moisture as they work. Dogfood is a "borderline" dry product. Meaning that it's just barely dry enough to last, without being so dry that the dog won't eat it. So the moisture given off by the O2 absorbers cause a ring of mold around them. Yet if you dry the dog food out further, dogs find it unpallatable. Kind of a lose/lose situation.
Rotation is about the only thing that works. Pack it the best you can, but keep it rotated, and have a backup plan for feeding. Because true long term storage of dog food may not be possible. At least I haven't learned how, anyway.
Joined
·
6,885 Posts
Yeah, I am hesitant to waste mylar and O2 absorbers on such things. The kibble has too much fat and oil in it to trust trying to store it for the kind of time mylar and absorbers would normally allow.
Way I see it is vacc seal an emergency supply (as per BOB rules on food in general) and rotate regularly (about once a year). Make sure the Food Saver bag is a bit big so you can get at least one reuse out of it when you rotate the kibble.
Way I see it is vacc seal an emergency supply (as per BOB rules on food in general) and rotate regularly (about once a year). Make sure the Food Saver bag is a bit big so you can get at least one reuse out of it when you rotate the kibble.
Joined
·
5,499 Posts
Feed the mutts soylent green?
Joined
·
4 Posts
Joined
·
4 Posts
I am also trying to figure this out, I do know a good portion of my dog and cats BugOut bag food will be [(Freezed dried) that will also be lighter and have a longer shelf life. I will be putting this in smaller mylar bags with oxygen absorbers] just to be sure my dry dog and cat regular dry food will be in mylar bags, with oxygen absorbers in daily rations, just like any food for me. My service dog and my cat deserve the best vaccuum sealed fresh foods just as I do.
Use the Freezed dried food can be found on Amazon. With both types of food you can easily switch your dog over to the freeze dried food with a week or two of slowly putting in more of the freeze dried and less of the regular food each day. Add some vitamins in the morning, and if on the go feed the bulk of the food in evening. They will sleep better on a full stomach and will be ready to go in the morning.
Use the Freezed dried food can be found on Amazon. With both types of food you can easily switch your dog over to the freeze dried food with a week or two of slowly putting in more of the freeze dried and less of the regular food each day. Add some vitamins in the morning, and if on the go feed the bulk of the food in evening. They will sleep better on a full stomach and will be ready to go in the morning.
Joined
·
5,790 Posts
You could keep it in bucket caches along the way to your destination(?) I havent done yhat yet myself either but seems like s good backup plan.
Dogfood, at the house I keep it in the original bags leaning against each other i under the stairs. At our weender location we keep it in 2.5 gallon and 1 gallon ziplocks. I am that bastard who will offer my nieghbors 1 gallon ziplocks of dry dog food if the come begging, but only on thier third round. I bought a bunch of both on sale at a big box store ten years ago. At the farm we keep those bags in reconditioned steel 55 gallon drums. One of the guys found black thick mill plastic bags to line them. When we build the root cellar we will empty them and others and refill the drums there. Staedier temp and fire resistant.
Dogfood, at the house I keep it in the original bags leaning against each other i under the stairs. At our weender location we keep it in 2.5 gallon and 1 gallon ziplocks. I am that bastard who will offer my nieghbors 1 gallon ziplocks of dry dog food if the come begging, but only on thier third round. I bought a bunch of both on sale at a big box store ten years ago. At the farm we keep those bags in reconditioned steel 55 gallon drums. One of the guys found black thick mill plastic bags to line them. When we build the root cellar we will empty them and others and refill the drums there. Staedier temp and fire resistant.
1 - 17 of 17 Posts
Join the discussion
Join now to ask and comment!