[bigislandhikers]

OK...I have 50 lbs of farina. I want to store it in smaller portions. I hear different methods of storing dry food. Been looking into a foodsaver but understand that they don't get all the moisture and gas out. I also have heard that you shouldn't use absorbers and vacumm sealers together. Not sure why.

Question is then. Am I better off vacumm sealing this stuff or just putting it in a ziplock, push most of the air out and use an absorber?

One last question. Are there different types of absorbers? Do I need a separate one for moisture and one for gas??

Thanks
BIH

 

[AandB]

OK...I have 50 lbs of farina. I want to store it in smaller portions. I hear different methods of storing dry food. Been looking into a foodsaver but understand that they don't get all the moisture and gas out. I also have heard that you shouldn't use absorbers and vacumm sealers together. Not sure why.

Question is then. Am I better off vacumm sealing this stuff or just putting it in a ziplock, push most of the air out and use an absorber?

One last question. Are there different types of absorbers? Do I need a separate one for moisture and one for gas??

Thanks
BIH

A couple of questions. How long are you looking to store it? Short term, under a year? Or longer term, for more than that?

There are different types of absorbers, however for the most part your standard oxygen absorber will work fine. For some items, you are best off using a fast-acting absorber (canning meat).

For 50 lbs, you'll probably need 10 or so 1-gallon mylar bags; you can choose smaller or larger bags depending on your taste and how quickly you will go through one unit.

You don't need really need a food-saver if you don't want to purchase one, or plan on using it for other projects. The oxygen absorbers remove the free oxygen in your bag after it is sealed, leaving only nitrogen, thus serving the same general purpose as the sealer. For 1-gallon bags, use 300cc-500cc absorbers (though 300's should be fine, and are cheaper), and do just as you suggest: push as much out as you can physically, put the absorber in, and seal the bag. After a day or so you can check and your bags may have dimpled inward as the oxygen is sucked out. Put the sealed bags in either a opaque plastic tote or a food-grade bucket, and keep it in as cool and dark a place as you can find. (However, avoid storing it next to anything like gasoline)

As for removing the moisture, I wouldn't worry too much about it. In general, you'd need to put in a more dessicant than you'd think to remove enough moisture to matter, as most organic matter has a pretty significant water content.

Good luck!

 

[sendkeys]

You can buy silica gel desiccant to remove the moisture for almost nothing on ebay. When you get them heat them in your oven for hour around 150f to remove any moisture they might already have. You might as well add a few in.

ziplock bags leak air it wouldnt work. I understand you want to break up the amounts so you can access it easier but this ends up being more work. I did the same thing i bought one gallon mylar bags and made up 100 pounds of rice,wheat and beans. The main two problems i had was it took forever to seal and sort out everything. It would have been easier to do 5 gallon buckets. The other problem i had was the 1 gallon bags didnt fit very well in my 5 gallon buckets after i was done. I ended up wasting a lot of room. In the end, I ended up with a extra few 5 gallon buckets because of this. Next time i will only do 5+ gallon bags.

 

[SgtBooker44]

Try these guys, a really good series

Using the Foodsaver and Mylar

Another great series on the 5 Gallon Bucket

 

[Old Warrior]

I concur for the most part with what you have already been told by others. I would just say, if you plan on using up the farina in less than a year, or under two years, I would not worry about O2 absorbers. I would just use the Foodsaver and vacuum seal one gallon size bags.
I have recently stored several types of grain, rice, & beans in mylar bags in 5 gal. buckets with O2 absorbers. However I still had grain etc. leftover that was too small of amounts to fill a 5 gal. bucket. So I just used the Foodsaver to seal the extra and I will be using that stuff within the next year.
If you plan on long term, then absolutely use mylar bags and O2 absorbers. I have found these places to have the best price, but shop around for yourself, you may find a better price. If so please let me know.

http://www.sorbentsystems.com/mylar.html
https://www.usaemergencysupply.com/...ood_storage/packing_with_oxygen_absorbers.htm

 

[Halkon]

absorbers are pointless in a Ziplock bag as they all leak a little

They might be of some use in a Foodsaver vacuum bag if you want to store longer than one year and need a second year out of it.

The correct answer wold be too obtain mylar ziplocks and they do make such a product but I apologize I don't have a link handy.

Perhaps someone could help out.

 

[Old Warrior]

For ziplock mylars go here, http://sorbentsystems.com/stockziplock.html

 

[SgtBooker44]

For ziplock mylars go here, http://sorbentsystems.com/stockziplock.html

I had a bad batch of O2 absorbers from these guys. A quick call to Customer Service had another order shipped out. In 3 days I had the replacements and a return UPS label. The UPS guy waited a minute and I gave him the rerurn box. 3 days after that I got an email telling me they got the return product.

Great service from Sorbent Systems

 

[bigislandhikers]

OK...an option I didn't think of was using mason jars with the food saver. I pause at the price of the bags they are not reusable. How well do the mason jars keep dry goods compared to the bags?

Thanks
BIH

 

[LiftRanger]

Thanks all. This is the kind of thread that means the most to me! You may be helping me save my family in the long run!

 

[AandB]

OK...an option I didn't think of was using mason jars with the food saver. I pause at the price of the bags they are not reusable. How well do the mason jars keep dry goods compared to the bags?

Thanks
BIH

Properly canned mason jars will keep food edible for at least as long as mylar and bucket, and likely as long as aluminum canning.

However, from a price perspective, one 5 gallon mylar bag usually costs about $2.00-$3.00. 20 1-quart mason jars is going to run you around $1.00-$1.50 each or a little more, for a total of $20.00-$30.00. I agree if you're using mason jars annually, you'll eventually save money, but if these are for long-term storage of 5-10 years or more, there's not much that is more economical than mylar and bucket. Even with a 5-gallon bucket, your total cost for storing 5 gallons is around $9.00, and the buckets can be re-used.

1-gallon mylar bags run around $.50-$.75 each, or around the same $9.00-10.00 (though you'll fit fewer 1-gallon bags in a bucket than just 1 5-gallon bag because of their generally poor shape)

Larger half-gallon mason jars are going to run around $2 each or so for about the same overall prices.

A final note; you need to be much more careful storing mason jars as well: they are breakable, they are much more light-sensitive, they are heavier, and they are more difficult to stack.

Now, don't get me wrong, I actually love mason jars. My grandmother used to can just about everything in them. They are usually a good size for just a few servings of something as opposed to a whole bunch of servings in a bucket. However, if one is talking about the best and cheapest way to store long term, I think it would go something like: #10 cans, 5-gallon mylar and bucket, mason jars. For storing short term (6-months - 2 years), I'd turn it around and go: mason jars, 1 gallon mylar and bucket, #10 cans. (because a #10 can has a similar cost or more than a mason jar, though is unlikely to be reused)

 

[Old Warrior]

If you order more than 50 of the 20"x 30" (5 gallon size) mylar bags from Sorbent Systems, they are only $1.32 each plus shipping. I have found that as long as you don't get too carried away when you seal them, they are reuseable.