[maine-marine]

What are the best foods to put into mylar..

I have rice, beans, flour, sugar, oats, powdered milk...

What other foods should i consider??????

What about:

freeze dried fruit or vegetables

Pancake mix

Spices

Salt????

 

[Lionsden]

Here is what little I know. First, salt you don't have to worry about. Just keep it dry. Freeze dried would be good. Spices I am experimenting with. Peppercorns, cinnamon, etc. The pancake mixes I am trying also. From what I can tell, they should be good for five to eight years. Sort of like ground flour, key ingredient huh. I did read that commercially made jerky is too moist and will go bad.

What other ideas do you have? I need some help too.

 

[getFOODnow]

freezedried comes in #10 tins so leave it in the tin.
salt and sugar you can put in any good jar or container with a good lid, they both will keep. you can put them in mylar is you like but I dont, I save my mylar for the other foods.
what i have in mylar is rice, oatmeal, instant potatoes, powdered milk and flour. i hve no beans or lentils yet, but will do them shortly.
pancake mix doesnt keep for very long even in mylar so be careful with it.
you can dehydrate your own fruits and veggies and store them in mylar, but be sure they are very thorougly dried. I had no succes with storing my own dehydrated foods as they went bad before a yr was out. but others on here say they do have good success. I would make them in small packets and after a yr, open one up to see if its still good.

 

[Immortality]

pancake mix doesnt keep for very long even in mylar so be careful with it.

Approximately how long does flour, pancake mix, cake mixes last when sealed in mylar? I'd like to add some more of these types of items to the basics but obviously would like to be able to put a use by date on them. Thanks. :

 

[getFOODnow]

i personally dont store pancake mix or cake mix for long term. I store the basics, flour, sugar, shortening, cocoa, etc. and I make my own as I want them. I dont know how long they will store for. but unless they were in a #10 tin packaged by a professional food company, i wouldnt trust them to stay good. its just my own personal opinion, others may feel differently.
as for flour, i store white flour in mylar with O2s and I expect it will stay good for maybe 5 yrs, I really dont know. I am using flour now that i put in mylar 3 yrs ago and its still fine but other than that I just dont know. whole wheat flour may not store as long as white flour. I have had whole wheat flour go bad in my pantry after 6 months so i dont know how long it would keep in mylar.

 

[MikeK]

Approximately how long does flour, pancake mix, cake mixes last when sealed in mylar? I'd like to add some more of these types of items to the basics but obviously would like to be able to put a use by date on them. Thanks. :

Flour can last 5-8 years or so. Mixes depend on what's in the mix. Most of them with baking powder won't last because the powder offgasses the CO2. That doesn't mean that it's inedible, only that it won't rise without adding fresh baking powder. Also, some of the mixes contain fats. These tend to not last as long either.

Things like pancake mix are so easy to make that it's almost silly to try to store them long term. It's better to just store the ingredients and make the mix as you need it.

 

[MikeK]

Any dry food (if it's dry ENOUGH!) will have an extended life packed in mylar with O2 absorbers. Just how long depends on the product itself. Some things like salt and sugar require nothing more than being kept dry, and bugs kept out of the sugar.

Dryness is the key though. Fruits, veggies, meats and such need to be dried to the brittle stage. Leathery or chewy means too much moisture. Moisture is what causes mold and in some cases can support bacterial growth.

Spices are another thing that benefits from mylar and O2 absorbers. Their flavors come from volatile oils that can be fragile and break down or evaporate over time. These are pretty well preserved when packed properly. Whole spices store MUCH better than ground or powdered because they have less surface area. Then when you grind them just before use, you release the flavor and fragrance. I've succesfully kept spices this way for over a decade and they were still fresh tasting.

 

[webfarmer]

I'm a pasta lover so I mylar'd up plenty of elbow and shell macaroni plus lots of spaghetti. Plus egg noodles, rotini, oatmeal, pancake mix, Bisquick, wheat berries and M&M's. That's right - M&M's. Some got lost in the process ha-ha. Did 7 1/2 pounds of the milk chocolate type last night. Hopefully the O2 absorber didn't melt them

 

[A#1]

I cant find my list at the moment, but there are some thing's I have put up in mylar.

Some of them are "long term storage" and some are "extended rotation"

I still ain't sure what extended rotation mean for alot of these things, I plan to start rotating them after 5 years (4yrs from now), and see what happens.

I don't store food with a "long-term or nothing" attitude. I'm sure I'll have winners and losers, but i felt this stuff should at least last longer in better packaging



Some of the stuff I have bagged up.

white rice
Basmati rice
Rice a roni
elbow macaroni
angel hair
spaghetti
fettucini
Lipton Pasta sides (rebagged)
koolaid
flavored oatmeal packets
Quick oats
jaw breakers
m&m's
Various flavored Boxed mashed potatoes
various flavored boxed sliced potatoes
potato buds
GFS Biscuit gravy powder
GFS pepper gravy powder
powdered pudding
powdered jello
Dry milk
Barley
Baking cocoa
Swiss miss cocoa, packets and bulk
book matches
corn starch
baking powder
baking soda
salt
sugar
flour, all purpose, bread, self rising
corn meal
beans, navy, pinto
bread crumbs
ramen noodle spice packs
morton lite salt
kosher salt
pickling salt
Morton tender quick
Tea bags, lipton
coffee, ground, bean
non-dairy creamer
dry marshmallows, lucky charms
grape nuts
bakng chips, chocolate, butterscotch, cinnamon
Lenils
carmels (candy)
peppercorns, black, white
Dehydrated garlic
dehydrated onion
onion powder
cinnamon
apple pie spice
oregano
cumin
taco seasoning
chili powder
cayenne pepper
ranch powder
Bear Creek soup mixes
Tang
Nesquik


not in mylar, but in related buckets which we consider just as important

Plastic silverware
foam/plastic cups
paper plates
foam bowls
napkins
trash bags
luggable loo liner bags

 

[offshoreday]

what about sealing in food grade buckets with airtight lids and O2 absorbers

 

[Summer]

Add some grains (corn, wheat,...), legumes (lentils, peas, chickpeas,...), dried fruits and veggies, and some pre-made pastas. I'd then consider adding a bunch of spices and maybe some sauces you can rotate through.

IMHO, you should should also stock some very quick dishes like the Mt. House pre-made meals or MREs. You may run into some situations where you cannot cook. If you don't have these, you might be stuck just openning a can of whatever and calling that a meal - if you have it.

 

[webfarmer]

what about sealing in food grade buckets with airtight lids and O2 absorbers

You don't necessarily want the food touching the sides of the buckets as food grade can mean a lot of things. Mylar it also if you possibly can.

 

[Summer]

what about sealing in food grade buckets with airtight lids and O2 absorbers

I agree with Web about using mylar. When I first started prepping, we just put food in FG buckets w O2As and no mylar. The buckets actually collapsed as the O2As pulled the oxygen from the air. If I hadn't fixed this by moving things into mylar, but seals would have worn out very, very quickly and all my hard work would have been lost. It's best to use mylar.

 

[TRM]

What are the best foods to put into mylar..

I have rice, beans, flour, sugar, oats, powdered milk...

What other foods should i consider??????

What about:

freeze dried fruit or vegetables

Pancake mix

Spices

Salt????

I don't bag salt or sugar, they're just in buckets.

Spices are in their original container, which is aggregated in buckets.

Powdered milk, eggs, and freeze dried food are in #10 cans.

Not sure about pancake mix or flour, I thought it didn't last long enough to consider bagging it.

All my buckets are food grade.

 

[MikeK]

I agree with Web about using mylar. When I first started prepping, we just put food in FG buckets w O2As and no mylar. The buckets actually collapsed as the O2As pulled the oxygen from the air. If I hadn't fixed this by moving things into mylar, but seals would have worn out very, very quickly and all my hard work would have been lost. It's best to use mylar.

Even if the seals had held, O2 would have gotten back in anyway. The plastic of the bucket itself is gas permeable, which means the O2 can literally travel through the plastic of the bucket and get back in. That's what the mylar is for. The metal layer in the mylar is what makes it impermeable to O2.

I made the mistake of packing my first storage foods the same way in a bucket with O2 absorbers and mylar. And it is definately a mistake. An easily avoidable one, but some people still insist on making it. I was one of them.

 

[goose3]

There's increasing evidence that flour can last 10 years or more, in an O2-deprived nitrogen atmosphere, stored at cool temps.

Here's a link to a study that looked at flour stored for as long as 11 years using our typical methods:

http://contentdm.lib.byu.edu/cdm/singleitem/collection/IR/id/91/rec/6

A few key passages from the abstract:

"Ten samples of wheat flour packaged in No. 10 cans were obtained from donors. Samples ranged in age from 0.5-11 years and were stored at ambient temperatures (13-27º C). Oxygen levels were below 1%, "

" A 50-member sensory panel evaluated flour for odor and appearance, and bread for aroma, appearance, texture, flavor, and overall acceptance, using a 9-point hedonic scale. Panelists also indicated whether they would use the product in everyday and emergency situations. Sensory results indicated that age was not correlated with any of the sensory parameters for both flour and bread; flour maintained >90% acceptance, and bread maintained >88% acceptance, for use in emergency situations."

"Consumers disliked browning of flour, but the browning was not perceived after making the flour into bread....Acceptance data indicated that storing wheat flour in a reduced oxygen environment was a viable option for long-term storage."

 

[RebelYell339]

So if I can buy canned flour from the Mormon cannery, is there any reason to stock up on wheat?

 

[MikeK]

So if I can buy canned flour from the Mormon cannery, is there any reason to stock up on wheat?

There are several good reasons for storing wheat. First off, it will outlast your flour by decades. It's far more nutritious too. It can be sprouted to get the live enzymes and nutrients that a diet of stored foods lack.

Wheat can be cooked sprouted or unsprouted as a simple hot cereal. Sprouting it converts the starches into sugar and the cereal will have a nice natural sweetness to it. This sprouted wheat can also be brewed into beer.

You can also boil, dry and crack the wheat. Turning it into bulgur. This can be reconstituted with nothing but hot water and makes for a great side dish or can be added to veggies for a really healthy salad.

But most importantly, wheat can be planted! Allowing you to continue to produce food for your family.

I only store a little bit of flour. Mostly I store whole wheat (and a bunch of other grains).

 

[Skeptical]

I store pancake mix in it's factory package,..in sealed buckets but they have to be rotated out in 1 year.

Putting in mylar wont extend that by much so i just keep them in factory bags.

 

[kev]

Store nothing with animal fats.

About 8 months ago I stored some instant pancake mix in a mylar bag. A couple of weeks ago I noticed the bag is swelling.