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So here is what I have done. Rice, beans all dried different types. Vacuum sealed then put in Mylar bags with oxy absorbers. Dried soups like Bear Creek spices, dried veggies, onions, carrots ect. Some freeze dried fruit, you can get it from aldies cheap. Some bulk chuckhole drink for hikers, and a box of MREs. I put them in 5 gal. Buckets. Sugar and salt, pepper and herbs dried. Same vacuum sealed in Mylar bags with oxy abs. I put together some MRS of my own, Hard candy, freeze dried coffee creamer and mylar tuna sealed, Romin noodle packs. Any help in directing me appreciated.
Never thought of checking Aldis for freeze dried food..thanks for the tip!
Your post says you are vacuum-packing your dried goods and then putting them in mylar with O2 absorbers..is that correct?
Just curious if I'm missing a step...we just use pour it loose or poke a hole in the original bags inside the mylar and let the O2 absorber do the vacuum packing.
Never thought of checking Aldis for freeze dried food..thanks for the tip!
Your post says you are vacuum-packing your dried goods and then putting them in mylar with O2 absorbers..is that correct?
Just curious if I'm missing a step...we just use pour it loose or poke a hole in the original bags inside the mylar and let the O2 absorber do the vacuum packing.
Yes Aldies has Freeze dried apples, pears, strawberries for 2.75 a bag. They are in mylar bags. I do double duty. there is an argument on what is best vacuum sealing in food bags or mylar with OXY absorvers. I do double duty.
OP, make sure you are storing what you eat, or change your diet and start eating what you store. This does two things. It allows you to rotate through supplies so all your supplies stay reasonably fresh. It also lets you know now, while you can make adjustments, if you are storing a balanced diet and storing enough of it. It would be a bad thing to end up needing to live on your storage, and find it did not provide needed nutrition and calories, or worse yet your body was unable to tolerate an abrupt change in diet. If you are eating what you store, you will also notice gaps in your planning pretty quick. These can then be filled with ease, rather than trying to work around them when supplies are hard to come by.
You are on track with the mylar bags and O2 absorbers. Vacuum packing first is fine, but unnecessary.
Wouldn't it be so much easier to just go with a company like Mountain House and stock up knowing your food should last 30 years. Their food is actually pretty good too so you can eat it anytime.
We try to produce as much food as we can. Gradually changing our diet to match what we produce.
We have found that desiccant works well with most of our stored food. In our case, moist causing mold has been more a problem than exposure to O2 has been.
We pressure-cook can some food, we hot-water-bath can some foods, we salt/corn some, we dehydrate some, last year I bought my Dw a 'Harvest-Right' Freeze-Dryer so now she freeze-dries a lot.
We try to produce as much food as we can. Gradually changing our diet to match what we produce.
We have found that desiccant works well with most of our stored food. In our case, moist causing mold has been more a problem than exposure to O2 has been.
We pressure-cook can some food, we hot-water-bath can some foods, we salt/corn some, we dehydrate some, last year I bought my Dw a 'Harvest-Right' Freeze-Dryer so now she freeze-dries a lot.
Sub, I got my DW an Excalibur dehydrator, she would sell me before she got rid of that thing. Also a Westin vacuum packer. That thing is built like a tank, and is user repairable! I would be gone before that thing, too. Bit its ok. She would be gone before I sold my guns or tools. We understand each other.
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We have found that desiccant works well with most of our stored food. In our case, moist causing mold has been more a problem than exposure to O2 has been....
Not for you, since that would be preaching to the choir,
but for any of those who are new to storage:
Make sure you get rid of moisture before you get rid of O2 (oxygen)
else you may give rise to botulism.
Exp. dates have gone from 3 years to 18 months to 10 months. Making them almost completely useless. For example: "Genuine Himalayan Salt - 3 million years old! Exp. date: Aug. 2019. Whoosh, that salt got rescued in the nick of time!
I'm not sure if canned goods go bad for years if they are canned properly and stored cool. The ingredients will separate and taste is eventually affected but we are talking survival here, not fine dining.
Home food preparers can make mistakes and wind up with toxic botulism in their own food. Something to consider - that was not rare ~80 years ago when farmers stocked their root cellars with canned foods for the winter.
I think preppers should probably get used to the idea of eating some food that is a tad past its prime. You can't hardly have 10 years worth of food when most things "expire" within 10 months. Freeze dried food is great but expensive.
Like HiW said, don't forget to also prepare for a normal future. Living off of debt and having a Marxist loving youth are nothing to worry our pretty little heads about.
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