[Steel-W0LF]

I'm planing on supplimenting with vitamins in my preps.

I was trying to think of smallish containers that would be good to store vitamins in, where they would not degrade a whole lot.

One idea I came up with, and I cant find the information for, is steel whisky flasks. but I cant find any info on how oxygen permiable steel is.

They are cheap, no UV would get in, durrable, and small enough that opening a flask is not a years supply being opened.



Another option I thought of is glass jars, probably baby-food sized. I would then paint them to limit UV getting in at the vitamins.





My reasons for the vitamins is this: My prepping budget is about to come to an end, and was not nearly big enough to get everything. Rather than seal all my food in buckets and mylar, I am using 2-liter soda bottles.

To me it makes more sense in my limited situation, to buy a few bulk bottles of vitamins, and more food, than to buy less food and spend all the money on sealing it up in mylar.

I've got good luck with gerdening, so I will also be mixing in plenty of home grown foods too, so if my rice loses some of its nutritional value, thats ok w/me

 

[Illini Warrior]

Almost everyone benefits from a daily aspirin along with a multi vitamin ....... prepare mixed bottles of vitamins and aspirins .......

Stick with plastic or metal containers ..... never heard of storing pills of any kind in a metal container ....... reactive?

 

[Monique]

The baby food jars seems like a good idea. No need to paint, just wrap in foil.

 

[Straza]

Metal Pill Box

Looks like storing in metal is fine

 

[MikeK]

Stainless steel should be fine for vitamin storage since it's non reactive.

There are several factors that shorten the storage life of vitamins. One of course is O2, like with food. Light and heat are other factors. You can solve both of those problems easy enough.

But the one you can't do anything about is the vitamins in multivitamin pills reacting with each other. This is why the specialty, long term storage vitamins, have the nutrients microencapsulated seperately so they can't interact.

 

[Steel-W0LF]

Thanks for the input guys. Just looking for cheap alternatives to advance my prepping.

Vitamins seem a cheaper route than buying mylar for all my food just to keep the vitamins in the food longer.

Basically I am deployed right now, and have been using alot of my combat pay to stockpile back home, and am nearing the end of my tour. I'll return home to look for a job, but thats not a great market right now.

So I am trying to stretch what money I have left to cover as much ground as possible.
Hence resorting to 2-litre bottles for rice and grain instead of buckets and bags.

 

[ShellbackBill]

What's wrong with leaving them in the original bottles. Then put those inside mylar bags with o2 absorbers?

 

[Cryptkeeper]

it really depends on the vitamins your getting are the individually wraped or are they comming in the bottle. you need to keep them in the container they come in and dont break the seal the moment they come in contact with air they start to degrade in potency. leave them in the original containers.

cheapist place to get vitamins is puritans pride.

http://www.puritan.com/?AFID=11&SAFID=3713&sc=3713&edid=QFH84V-M9XZTP-5CQ8P-PRVJ2

 

[pammygene]

I get mine from Puritans Pride, I am satisfied with their product. Now thru the 25th they are having a buy 2 get 3 free sale........ I bought quite a few

 

[Steel-W0LF]

What's wrong with leaving them in the original bottles. Then put those inside mylar bags with o2 absorbers?

I know that would be ideal. I just am not going the mylar route because of money issues, and figured that the other options I listed would be less oxygen permeable than the original plastic bottles.

I could be wrong on that, but I was just guessing that the original bottels were not designed for long term storage with low permeability rates.

 

[MMII]

Get some Mason Jars and spray paint the outside black.

Dump the vitamins in with an oxygen absorber.

Screw the lid shut and they should last a long time.

 

[goose3]

Thanks for the input guys. Just looking for cheap alternatives to advance my prepping.

Vitamins seem a cheaper route than buying mylar for all my food just to keep the vitamins in the food longer.

Basically I am deployed right now, and have been using alot of my combat pay to stockpile back home, and am nearing the end of my tour. I'll return home to look for a job, but thats not a great market right now.

So I am trying to stretch what money I have left to cover as much ground as possible.
Hence resorting to 2-litre bottles for rice and grain instead of buckets and bags.

You do what you gotta do.

However, mylar has more value than simply helping to maintain vitamin levels. It maintains wholesomeness of food, which includes taste and spoilage.

 

[maggie357]

Have you thought about stocking powdered protein drinks such as GNC sells in gallon jars? In addition to vitamins, they provide proteins, amino acids and will expand to fill an empty stomach. Not all of them are to lose weight. Some will help build/maintain muscle, at least they claim to. I can see that being a big advantage if SHTF. Not sure of the shelf life of these, but if you use and rotate them, you can save your grocery money and restock them.

 

[MikeK]

Thanks for the input guys. Just looking for cheap alternatives to advance my prepping.

Vitamins seem a cheaper route than buying mylar for all my food just to keep the vitamins in the food longer.

Basically I am deployed right now, and have been using alot of my combat pay to stockpile back home, and am nearing the end of my tour. I'll return home to look for a job, but thats not a great market right now.

So I am trying to stretch what money I have left to cover as much ground as possible.
Hence resorting to 2-litre bottles for rice and grain instead of buckets and bags.

Mylar for food isn't just about vitamins. It's about protecting the food itself from oxidation and degradation. That destroys a lot more than just vitamins. Keeping food away from light, heat, and O2 are of major importance if you want the food to last in storage.

I totally understand the budget issues. I'm struggling hard right now too. But food storage isn't a place to try to save a few pennies. And some cheap synthetic vitamins that are going to degrade even faster than the food is not a solution either.

 

[MikeK]

What's wrong with leaving them in the original bottles. Then put those inside mylar bags with o2 absorbers?

What purpose would an O2 absorber have if it can't get to the air inside the bottles to absorb the O2 in it? All that would do is insure that the label on the outside of the bottle stayed in good shape. The air has to contact the O2 absorber for it to remove the O2 in it.

 

[MikeK]

it really depends on the vitamins your getting are the individually wraped or are they comming in the bottle. you need to keep them in the container they come in and dont break the seal the moment they come in contact with air they start to degrade in potency. leave them in the original containers.

cheapist place to get vitamins is puritans pride.

http://www.puritan.com/?AFID=11&SAFID=3713&sc=3713&edid=QFH84V-M9XZTP-5CQ8P-PRVJ2

They're just packed in normal air in the bottles. So they are going to degrade anyway.

Get some Mason Jars and spray paint the outside black.

Dump the vitamins in with an oxygen absorber.

Screw the lid shut and they should last a long time.

Now there's a logical suggestion. That takes care of light and O2 both.

But it still doesn't stop the vitamins in multivitamins tablets from reacting with each other. That's another cause of the loss of potency over time. Though it would extend their life over being exposed to light and O2.

 

[MIL-DOT]

.......I was trying to think of smallish containers that would be good to store vitamins in, where they would not degrade a whole lot........

In my experience, your rationale here is valid. I've been a vitamin buff for many years, and I noticed that they would become softer over time and repeated openings. This applies even to "hard" vitamins, but especially to gels like vitamin E's.
So,on a whim,I stared putting a couple weeks worth in a smaller bottle that I'd use daily, but leave the bulk (months worth) in the larger bottle, and refill occasionally as needed.
I noticed that the vitamins in the larger bottle, that was opened only occasionally, would remain hard, and presumably fresher, for much longer.
I admit, the potentcy loss here was likely pretty minimal, considering I'd always consume all the vitamins well ahead of any "use-by" date, but it surely didn't hurt, it wasn't any trouble, and I much prefered the harder,fresher vitamin E's to the soggy,flexible ones. :thumb:

 

[MikeK]

In my experience, your rationale here is valid. I've been a vitamin buff for many years, and I noticed that they would become softer over time and repeated openings. This applies even to "hard" vitamins, but especially to gels like vitamin E's.

Humidity was causing that. Most vitamins are packed with a small dessicant pack inside the bottle to ensure the air inside is dry. Of course the pack gets overwhelmed with moisture after just a few openings. Moisture is another of the enemies of vitamin storage, but not the only one. Down here in the dry south, I have no problem with that.

 

[MIL-DOT]

Humidity was causing that. Most vitamins are packed with a small dessicant pack inside the bottle to ensure the air inside is dry. Of course the pack gets overwhelmed with moisture after just a few openings. Moisture is another of the enemies of vitamin storage, but not the only one. Down here in the dry south, I have no problem with that.

Yep, I realized that, in fact I almost edited my post to mention that this was more of an issue when I lived down in the steamy Yucatan than it is back in the states. But I can still tell a ( albeit,smaller) difference back up here in the states, and I still usually put a couple weeks worth in a smaller bottle,though out of habit as much as anything, I guess. :thumb:

 

[whiteangel]

Okay, not seeing this mentioned. How long can I store the multi's that are gummies? Can I freeze them and have them last longer?

For Vitatmin C, would it just be better to sprout some pinto beans for that, or tange, for long term?

Okay, long term for me is 5 years or less, sorry.