Your serious right?







Bulk foods primarily,thats to say that qt. jars,1/2 gallon jars....1-7 gallon buckets that contain anything from dehydrated Vegs. to grain,pasta,wheat and legumes that are usually purchased in quanity(bags,16 oz. to 100 lbs)and are then put up in containers in mylar or Glass.

 

O2 can change oxidize oils, waxes and glycerin. Items that contain those things really need an O2 absorber.

Things like grains, dried fruits / veggies, and metal tools can all be damaged by moisture from humidity. So they are better stored with desiccant.

 

That thread I was referring to even had designators like D2 for one of them I think I remember. Will try to find it. He did not sound like he was making a distinction between the hand warmer and the actual 02 absorbers. But, maybe that was what the differences were.

 

I don't know why anyone would use handwarmers as O2 absorbers for food storage. I'd think you'd want to use items designed for food storage.

You can get 1500cc O2 absorbers from Sorbent Systems for under 30 cents each. At that price, nobody has an excuse not to use them. They're large enough for a 5-gallon bucket of wheat or rice or beans, and cheap enough to use in any mylar bag so one doesn't have to keep multiple sizes on hand.

You can find them here: http://sorbentsystems.com/order_O2.html almost at the bottom of the page. While you're on that page, you might also check out the special on 1-gallon bags shown on the left-hand side of the page at the top.

 

MikeK posted on my question on another thread here is what he had to say:

The B absorbers contain no water. They are for use with foods that have more moisture, such as chewy beef jerky, chewy "reduced moisture" fruits, etc. These are not for low moisture, long term storage type foods. This is probably a better choice for storing dog food, since it's only borderline dry and there have been a bunch of reports of mold rings growing around the D absorbers.

The D absorbers have their own moisture. These are for use with the extremely dry foods that are used for long term storage. These are the kind needed for beans, grains, pasta, veggies and fruits dried to the brittle crisp state, etc. This is what you need.

I do not know how to make his info into a quote form, sorry MikeK

 

Basically, any food that's dry enough to have a long shelf life, is dry enough to need the D type absorbers. And they do release a small amount of water vapor. If you are sizing your absorber to your needs, this water vapor is no problem. Because the food is dry enough to absorb the moisture without becoming wet enough to spoil.

Fats go rancid because of interacting with O2. Heat and light make this happen quicker. They benefit from O2 absorbers.

 

oil/fat content type foods don't pack well for long term ..... the oil goes rancid ..... 02 depletion doesn't help much ..... this includes nuts, dairy, snack foods (potato chips, pretzils ect) .....

The pros don't pack much of these items except milk ..... then they pack in an inert gas (usually nitrogen) vs 02 absorbers ..... storage life is usually fairly short compared to food like grains ..... if you like to experiment, read up on the oldy method of packing with dry ice (CO2) .....

some discussion/confusion here on 02 absorbers and desiccants ..... probably worth a read www.sorbentsystems.com/longtermfood ....... a great info page from the y2k days