Pro tip : seal your bags 3/4 of the way first. Then open th oxygen absorbers and put them into the bags. It will leave you only one crimping motion to do on each bag so it goes a lot quicker!
Did this myself on my first time bagging rice and it worked great. Totally a two person job. I could have squeeze more air out before sealing but I put enough o2 absorbers in to take care of the oxygen. I just don’t have bricks.
Here in Scotland people used to store their oatmeal i.e. dry coarse ground oats, not cooked porridge, in special grain chests called girnals. Just like you've shown in this video, people understood the meal had to be packed as tightly as possible to stop it from going bad. Parents would traditionally wash their children's feet and have them stand in the girnal barefoot, stamping the grain down as hard as they could so there was no air inside, almost like your mylar bags with oxygen absorbers. I should probably add that although they didn't store cooked porridge that way, people did pour it into a drawer lined with greaseproof paper and cut slices off to eat cold or fried like polenta. My great grandfather was a machinist working in shipbuilding and he took a slice of cold porridge wrapped in brown paper to eat at work every day.
My little trick is after sealing the bags , I cut a small slit just below the seal at a corner. Then I force all the air out then seal the small hole with the iron. Love your vids.
I've found that when you have left over Oxy Absorbers that need to be stored for later use, after you've opened the original bag, as mentioned in this video, put them in a mason jar but if you have a "Food Saver" brand or any other vacuum sealer that can vacuum seal a mason jar, use that to suck the air out of the jar. This keeps the Absorbers from needing to work on the remaining air in the jar. I've found that it really prolongs the Oxy Absorbers that much longer. Just my 2 1/2 cents worth.
Prefill your left over mason jar part way with loose rice. This will limit the O2 in the jar and make the left over O2 sachets better when you do come to use them . If there is not quite enough space for all the sachets, pour some rice out.
TIP . if you are doing 'bulk' say 1 gallon of sugar, in a mylar ziplock, when you open it IF you are going to put it in a different container and not use the zip feature, open the BOTTOM of the bag, pour out the contents and you can reuse the bag and still have the zip intact
I packed White Rice, Pinto Beans, Pasta and long grain Rice in 5 mil bags between 2013 and 2015 using this exact method. I opened 1 each a few weeks ago and prepared them over the last week and they were all like fresh.
Just as a follow up, I have been unpacking more beans, Rice, Pasta and also oats, long grain and wild rice, black beans, red beans that were all packed using this exact method. All fresh as the day I packed them. Can't say enough good things about the benefits of packing using this method. Perfect easily to follow video. Thank You ! !
Watched this again, after watching it years ago! The only thing I would add is to PARTIALLY seal the bags, leaving a few inches at the end to drop in the O2 absorbers, then seal up the last few inches quickly.
Love your videos. My wife and I started prepping about 6 months ago. I always feel peaceful when I watch your videos and learn a lot in the process. Thank you for doing such great work!
I love your pantry video's because it looks so neat and clean and organized. The delivery of the information was so complete and very well done. This is just a good idea even if you aren't worried about a coming crisis. I learned a lot about prepping and preserving from my mom who is just a frugal person and the only reason she keeps a stocked pantry, but wow, sure came in handy during this cv19 shut down.
To reduce the oxygen absorbers time you can partially seal the mylar bags in advance. Like seal half of it while leaving enough room to throw the oxygen absorbers and then seal the other half.
Love you videos and at the risk of being basic I just have to say YOU HAVE THE BEST HAIRCUT!!! Respect! Also, fantastic, articulate and interesting content!
Your videos are indispensable. I've watched every tutorial video youve made, and when I have questions or need a refresher..I come watch them again. Thanks for sharing your knowledge, and helping us out here in RUclips land refine our techniques.
oh my gosh, I just did this with 25 lbs of hard red wheat, hard white wheat and durum and I just keep walking by my bags watching the bags lined up on my dining room table getting tighter and tighter with the oxygen absorbers working. I am totally amazed at this process. Thank you for posting this video, what an awesome help.
I leave the bags out for 24 hours after I seal them to make sure they shrink down (in case there is a pinhole leak somewhere). I've only had one fail in the last 4 years. 😊
Try sealing the bags most of the way and using a shopvac to remove the majority of the remaining air. This will help the content stay fresher over time.
You mentioned coffee being ok to store in mylar bags. Just know that ground coffee is fine but whole beans tend to off-gas and can compromise the seal. That is the reason for those little gassing vents on plastic coffee bean bags in the store and also vented coffee canisters for beans.
when im using mylar I first hook up a hose to the vacuum sealer and at the other end use a stainless tube which is approx. 2mm in dia, which is inserted into the bag. I first seal most of the bag using my wife's ceramic hair curler (she doesn't know) then when the air is sucked out seal the bag fully
I used mylar bags. A hint I got from another prepper is to partially seal the mylar bag, leaving enough room for the oxygen absorber. Put the OA in, push down on the bag to get more air out and then seal the smaller opening. So when using mylar bags, I first write the contents on bag before filling, fill, and partially seal. When all my bags are done then I grab my OA, put them in, squish as much air out and seal. I find this works better is my husband puts in the OA and I squish and seal after that.
I ran out of rice in the pantry a while back and decided it would be a good test to see how my storage was working. I opened some rice I put in mylar about 10 years ago with just a co2 flush when I sealed the bag and the rice looked like I had just bought it. That hair straightener is a great idea.
@@CaribbeanSensation 1. I ran a clean hose from my co2 tank to the bottom of a mylar bag. 2. Fill the bag with rice and sealed the bag leaving about an inch unsealed. 3. Attach the hose to co2 tank and turn it on for about 30 seconds to a minute and finish sealing the bag. Its as simple that. You can get a tank of co2 at any welding supply or if you know anyone who owns a restaurant or convenience store they use co2 in their soda machines, that's what I have.
I use bay leaf to keep critters from hatching in my “current use” flower. However in my long term storage I use candy canes. Buy them at the end of Christmas sale. The peppermint works the same as bay. Either one. With candy canes I like the tiny ones, pierce the individual wrapper with a needle and place one or more depending upon the size of the container. Bay can also be placed in a bag that has a few holes to prevent pieces breaking off. I’ve also put them in a coffee filter and stapled it shut. But loose is best. Blessings!!!!
We need to reach out to local peeps to come up with a plan. Land, garden, animals, water and shelter. What is going on is bonkers. Those of us who are alone can't survive for very long.
I just started doing the Mylar bag long term storage with 1 gal bags for rice and flour. I loaded the bags and sealed them with one end unsealed with enough room to push the oxygen absorbent packs. Then all the time it took from their exposure to sealed was very very fast. But I also read they activate over a 2 minutes. Good video.
Great video. There is a lot of misinformation on RUclips. It's nice finding someone who knows what they are talking about. I have been a prepper for year's it took me a lot of research and mistakes. Hopefully, others will find your videos. So they will not make the mistakes I made.
I used 3lts plastic bottles to fill with beans, rice, pasta and lentils. I place 1 pack of oxigent absorbent 300cc After closing the lid, I place the bottles in a plastic barrel to store. I have never had any trouble and the food is perfect after a couples of years. If you don't have mylar bag these is another way to storage food.
Great video. The only thing I noticed for a time saver on the oxygen absorbers is , the second bag you did had the ziplock feature,and some other bags also had the ziplock feature still intact. Just a suggestion, you could have zipped those ones up right away and saved those for ironing last since they're essentially closed. Then you could have gotten the used ones that you had cut the zipper off heat sealed first.
We not Only use o2 absorbers but we suck the air out with a vacuum cleaner. We have a vacuum that has never been used for the carpet. We seal the bag leaving 2 inches un sealed. put in an o2 absorber then insert the edger supplied with the vacuum and remove air while my wife is sealing the last 2 inches i quickly remove the vacuum. works great.
Another thing that helps is a vacuum sealer that has a hose attachment that you can put in one corner of the bag. Seal all but the last half inch of the bag stick in the hose and vacuum it down. Hold the bag tightly around the hose and have your iron ready to seal it when you pull the hose out.. It is a little bit tricky at first but it works.
Automotive AC vacuum pump. Thanks for the idea. Good luck. We will need that. Luck being the residue of design, can never have too much knowledge and skill.
For anyone considering using their straightener. I recommend using a silicone baking sheet cover to set it on. It can burn wood and porcelain if you have a quality straightener.
Very informative. Tip: Seal your bags most of the way, leaving just enough room to insert the oxygen absorbers. This way you can seal up the bags more quickly after adding the absorbers.
I'm not sure how well your bags sealed with the hair straightener. The straightener itself works well, but you need to seal the surfaces for around 3-4 seconds normally .. not just drag along the bag. There may be spots along the bag that haven't sealed effectively, especially if a bit of pressure is applied to the bag and they may inadvertently pop open without you knowing it.
As usual.... great video... I have watched it three times making sure that I have learned all what you have taught us... You are an excellent (natural) comunicator. Thank You very much🌹 Blessings
Hi Jamie, I just wanted to thank you for putting this content out there. I didn’t grow up with a family that does this I learned from you and others how to be self sufficient. My family had security throughout the pandemic 😷 We are more self sufficient than ever. Thank you!
Prep in increments…. First, like a temporary emergency (hurricane, etc.). Build up from 5 days, then 2 weeks, 3 months, 6 months, etc. it takes time and a lot of money to buy a years supply of one item but then find you’ve run out of toilet paper or shampoo in 1 week! LOL Slowly build up so you can use items for bartering or currency.
I started on 1 area at a time like 1 year ago,it's working out pretty well,just got a 32 gallon plastic trash can ( new) for extra water,,( in case) I chose sterno cans for heating food in "er"situations, I live in apt so ,can't put outside,but i.can boil the water,if needed for drinking,won't last forever,but I figured,it's so much work dragging in gallons of water,I stored it in 2nd bathroom shower,,
Use smaller left over bits of mylar (without oxygen absorbers) to individually package things like medications, fire starters, surgical gear, or batteries.
Off topic but important for people to know (for anyone who doesn’t know already)…. Never store your water directly on a concrete floor & even better, not directly on any floor at all. Especially with concrete, it goes through so many different temperature changes constantly & can cause your bottles to leech chemicals & even your water to go bad quickly in comparison (yep, water can go bad). Concrete is the worst for it but really, I always keep a cut up cardboard box underneath any water jugs or keep them off the floor altogether if storage allows. Try to keep light away from your water too (you can throw a old sheet or old towels over your jugs, those aren’t bad to have on hand in your stock area anyway…. Before I learned this, I had multiple packs of bottled water, as well as 4-5 10L water jug things stored directly on a concrete floor. None had been opened, just stored straight from the store & no light was even getting to them. Then when I moved house, after transporting all that water to the new place, I decided to start rotating them by using some of the water I had stored & replacing it with new packs as I went… I was horrified the 1st bottle I tasted!! It literally tasted like DIRT!!! I’m not joking & I never had it stored on or near dirt, just straight on a concrete floor (which stupidly I assumed would help keep it cool🙄). I’m not talking about just a slight taste I could’ve mistaken either, it was strong & undeniably a taste of dirt!! The water looked perfect but yeah, clearly it wasn’t & I only had it stored like that for maybe 1yr so not like it was stored for years or anything. I used the whole lot on the garden instead & labeled the 10L ones as “CLEANING/WASHING ONLY”. Typically when this happened too, Covid suddenly hit very shortly after & then water became hard to get before I could replace much (I’m not very financial so have to stock slowly). It got us into a real pickle for a while there. After that, I found out that storing water on concrete for any amount of time is probably the worst thing you can do besides storing it in direct sunlight. Lesson learned!!! 😑😑 Just wanted to share that so hopefully it’ll help someone else not make the same mistake I did. If you already have, I highly suggest trying to replace as much of it as you can now & with what’s happening in the world now, maybe don’t dump the old stuff on the garden, but mark them clearly for washing/cleaning only instead. I hope everyone is well & much love to all from Australia 🇦🇺🐨🍃🤗💜
agreed i have my water in a closet and recently bought new towels for our bathrooms so i used my older black towels and covered the water...the closet it always closed in a room no one uses so it is in the dark all the time i also did the same raise the water off the flooring...my old table's leg broke offf so we had to get a new one..i took off the legs and cut it in 3 pieces to elevate them off the flooring. were probably at about 180 1 gallon jugs now ive been buying water monthly 10-15..20 at a time for the past year so for now my water supply is good ...i rent where i live so im mindful that i cant have too much either. everyones set up is different im very conscious of earthquakes living in CA so i dont have stuf stacked too high . your tips are great hopefully people take the time to read...this can totally save you alot of headache and money by doing this with water...and i also had a similar experience with my bottled water i had stored for a while...i bought 24pcs for 1.49 sale price at office depot 2 years ago..we started using it and it tasted so weird i dont think it was from something i did but how office depot stored the water hence why it was on sale i believe...no water goes to waste though i had to water our lawn so i slowly started using it on the lawn so another thing to be mindful
I have about eight 55 gallon drums for water. They are put on a pallet before filling and treated. Off the concrete. I placed refilled milk jugs on wooden shelves.
@@leeson44 So sorry it’s taken me so long to see your comment!! 😫😫 Thank you!!! That’s actually a fantastic idea you did with the old table legs!!! I’ll definitely keep that in mind. I’m in the long process of kulling junk I don’t need to make room for stuff we do/Will so I’m sure something with legs or similar will pop up & I can use your idea. Thank you!! 😁😁 Ah, that’s such a good point too!! How water has been stored by the store. I’ve never thought of that. Very good to note too!! I’m sorry you lost water too, although so glad you realised when you did like me rather than at a time of emergency!! 😑😑 I rented till recently too so I totally grasp the headache of storage, especially when you can’t built shelves or anything fixed plus no next lease is promised 😑😑 Only somewhat recently have we moved to a place where we’re very fortunate. We don’t own it but we’re definitely secure here & allowed to build things so long as it doesn’t ruin or depreciate the house. We’re one of the rare examples of getting extremely lucky to find a landlord that doesn’t care for money, doesn’t have a mortgage anymore & who’s a realist & understanding. Unfortunately not everyone has that. It’s a 1st time for us so I feel you on renting, it can really put a dent in your life as well as the wallet, especially with emergency stuff when you can’t build & have to be prepared to move at any given lease end. 😑😑 I hope you’re well!!! 💜💜💜💜
This is great! I'm totally new to this. I have some beans and some grains (and 5 gallon buckets that need to be washed). But no Mylar bags or oxygen absorbers yet. It was great how you went through every step and showed and explained it. Thank you
Hi Jaime, I haven’t started using Mylar bags as of yet, but I would assume that it would be beneficial to first seal up the bag almost all the way, then try to press out any excess air before proceeding to fully sealing it. This way the O2 absorbers would have less oxygen to consume as it would be a smaller free volume of gas inside the sealed bag, and probably have a higher chance of fully protecting its contents. Just a thought. Anyways, recently found your channel and it is very inspiring. Stay safe and keep up the wonderful work that you do.
You would assume wrong. An absorber of a specified capacity will remove that much, really even more, oxygen. Removing more air doesn't add any benefit but it adds risk: oxygen absorbers require oxygen and a certain amount of moisture to activate. Remove the air and it may not activate at all.
I store basics like rice, beans, pasta in smaller packages. I use vacuum bags with a pound or max two pounds of product. Each bag gets a O2 with a desiccant pack. That's drawn down in a vacuum, then sealed in a mylar bag with O2 and desiccant pack. Those are packed into 5 gallon mylar bags with O2 and desiccant then sealed. Might be overkill, but I don't worry about my preps.
Mr. French , I’m new at this. Please tell me what an 02 and Desiccant pk are. I purchased Mylar bags and the Oxygen Absorbing pks. I’m doing dry dog food, rice, coffee, oats and my GF flour mixture. Thank you.
@@emeraldrainbow6695 Desiccant packs remove moisture. O2, or Oxygen absorbers remove oxygen. You can find them on Amazon or Ebay. Many times you can find a deal with mylar bags and oxygen absorbers combined.
Excellent presentation. I just wondered what to do if there was power loss and needed to reseal. Kind of rustic but I’d heat up cast iron and a board like what’s used for clothes iron and seal it with a hot cast iron pan heated up by fire in a fire pit.
I buy spices in bulk and put them, premeasured to fit my containers, in Mylar. I have been doing this for years. Seems to work well. I can buy spices by the pound for a much better price then a small container.
It's mind-blowing to see how much you are storing... enough for an army.... I am an old lady all alone... I am wondering what to store, how much, and so I have only just begun to make my little "prepper"s pantry".... I went out and bought nearly $500.00 worth of foods the other day and when I got home it was hardly anything ....
Easiest way is to track what you eat through a week or month, then multiply it for what ever time frame you're trying to store for 😊 i.e. rice average is about 100 lbs per person per year. In my family, I'm the only one who eats rice, so that only works for me 🤣 I have found tho, that if I buy canned vegs by the flat (12 cans in a cardboard tray ), 9 flats of each vegs ( corn, peas, green beans, and carrots) is good for a year for a family of 4. This is again after evaluating what we eat on a weekly basis, and multiplying it for a year.
@Dakiniwoman I also am alone. I started in April of last year and I have about 8-9 months worth now. I budget 25-30$ each pay period to preps. I will shop at Dollar Tree one week, my grocery store the next. I have been finding free jars on Craigslist. As you get started and get into a routine, it becomes more comfortable.
@@BradfordHomestead thanks for your reply from my post of 7 months ago... I just canned 18 pints yesterday of European wieners with navy beans and it turned out amazing. I have quite a bit stored up now. It was really worth it for me to buy a good pressure canner and little by little I work at it. I only eat carnivore myself so all that I can and store is for other people or for extreme emergency. I am canning a lot of chicken, & beef also. I also have been shopping canned goods as they go on sale.
Packed a lot of wheat back in 99 but went overkill on sealing it. Used DE (diet earth), bay leaf (2 or 3), and set dry ice on a piece of paper towel inside the Mylar bag in the open bucket until it was almost gone. Trick is to MAKE SURE it is almost gone before sealing the mylar in the bucket. Make sure to remove the remaining dry AND THE paper towel before sealing. Then threw in the O2 absorber and sealed em in 5 gal buckets with new lids after sealing the bags, Needless to say I am still opening them to grind for the bread machine 20 years later and they are fine. Other urban myths were put in a piece of spearmint chewing gum to keep bugs down. Funny thing is we did it in a garage in the middle of the summer on a hot dry day. The dry ice chased out the air and O2 and then when we sealed them they went into the basement which was 20 degrees cooler. needless to say the whole batch of buckets sucked in a bit vacuum sealing them as they cooled. Last tip, we kept the dry ice in a cooler as we were using it so left the O2 absorbers in the bottom of the cooler while packing. Greatly extended the life of them as there was no O2 in the cooler due to the dry ice.
Yep...been using it ever since in a bread machine. Cheaper and healthier then store bought flour. The wife likes it also. Trick is to just grind what you need as the vitamins oxidize out in less then 24 hours. Matter of fact about to restock a bit as my remaining stocks are 20 years old (and still as good as the day I sealed em). You can order buckets pre sealed from most Long term storage companies but I prefer the Mylar/dust/ dry ice extras.
@@jerremiller5542 Mine are 9 mil …. Isn’t that overkill ? I haven’t opened them yet so still could return. I’ve read with Mylar it can slice your fingers if you’re not super careful.
These are great to custom make your own "MRE's". There's a ton of recipes on line, some are for "meals in a jar". Personally I would only use the jar for measuring purposes then dump in bags. For camping/hiking or SHTF, just add boiling water to the bag (label how much to add). I'm fairly new to all this, but last summer started dehydrating my own organic veggies for this purpose, including onions and garlic. If you can't grow your own, hit up farmer's markets. Someday I want a good enough tomato crop to do this and grind them to powder. Can also do with mushrooms, cut off and save the stems (they become a bit tough when dehydrating) and powder them, adds great flavor to sauces. And no bugs!
You might think about putting a lip on those shelves or a 1 x1 about 3 inches above the shelf to keep your jars on the shelf in case of an earthquake; which are more prevalent everywhere today!
Just did a bunch of grains an beans. Doubled up on absorbers. Rotated freezing for 2 to 4 days. Cayenne dehydrated peppers tossed in to kill any remaining critter eggs even though in a low oxygen environment, the chances are low anyway; my point, always go the extra mile for best protection. 3 sealing burns on the bag, a tip from using mylar in aerospace work.
I love how you do your research and give good detail on your topic. I just saw a video where he put an oxygen absorber in sugar! I saw a lot of videos on this and your correct they all say no to oxygen absorbers in sugar! Good job!
There are several reasons, but all are related: 1) because the curling iron is only about 5 inches long it doesn't reach all the way across the wider mouth opening, 2) with the sides crimped and melted diagonally the final crimping and melting will be in one smooth action, 3) the smaller opening allows more efficient physical evacuation (squeezing out) of the air inside before the addition of oxygen absorbent, 4) the smaller opening allows for a quick deposit and seal of the Mylar bag to more efficiently to begin the absorption quickly. Hope this helps!
How I do... I first run all of my dry products through an additional drying process. I do this for a couple of reasons. Number one I live in a very humid environment (jungle on the Big Island of Hawaii). As soon as I open any manufacturer's food stuff bag, I realize that it is immediately absorbing moisture from the air. So, I ensure the product is as dry as possible. Every bit of moisture you can remove makes it store that much better and longer. I have a propane refrigerator which gives of heat from the flame at the rear of the refrigerator. I fabricated a small shelf on the rear of the refrigerator that can accommodate 2 storage buckets at a time. As an example, I will fill 2 food grade buckets with rice and place them on my drying shelf. I then cover the bucket with something air and moisture can easily move through. I use bed sheet material or a cooking splatter screen or ladies nylon material or something similar. This is to keep dirt and dust and insects out. This will not keep rodents out but at least you can see if they got in (never had an issue). The heat is gental. I have no set time but I usually leave there for about 3 days. I then take another bucket and place an appropriate size bag within. I then pour the rice into the prepared bucket and bag. Then as was mentioned by another comment, I prepare the bag by pre-sealing as much of the bag as possible so I can still get my Oxygen absorber in as well as several desiccant packs to further eliminate as much moisture from the food as is possible. I have one of those hand held clamp sealers which works very well. Before I place the food product in the bucket & bag, I often drop an Oxygen absorber and desiccant bags in the bottom. I use my shop vac. I took that small skinny vacuum hose attachment (for narrow slots like a sliding window track and taped a clear fish tank air hose to it and made sure it was more or less sealed and leak proff. I made the clear hose about 4 feet long for ease of use. Now, after I have dropped the necessary O2 absorbers and desiccant packs on top, I quickly drop the unused ones into a mason jar and suck the air out with the mason jar vacuum seal attachment used for "dry canning". I then quickly stick the clear hose in the Mylar bag and seal the bag right up to the clear hose. Then turn on the shop vac and suck out as much air as I can. It will get fairly tight doing this. With the vac still running I quickly pull the clear tube out and pinch that last little hole closed with my fingers. Without letting air back into the bag I seal the remaining opening in the top of the Mylar bag. I leave the lid off of the bucket to monitor for any leaks for at least 24 hours. The next day it should be so tight you would swear it was freeze dried. In this manner you are much more assured that very few Oxygen molecules remain in the bag. And what if you had a microscopic hole in the bag that was very hard to detect as one molecule at a time entered the bag over time? Your Oxygen absorbers are not yet spent because you already removed the majority if the air / Oxygen so they can continue to guard the freshness of your food over a longer period of time. Crazy? I think not. If I'm going to the trouble to begin with... I'm going to do the best job I can. You can also freeze everything in a chest freezer first. However, make very certain everything returns to room temperature first before you open the package or it will attract much moisture condensation.
David Ignawam I have no opinion on using positive pressure carbon dioxide as I've never used it. I'm not 100% sure of what you refer. However, I'm thinking you're referring to using a tank cylinder of carbon dioxide and a hose / tube to pump carbon dioxide into the mylar bag to displace the air and oxygen. I'm certain that if it was done properly that it would be a perfectly valid option. Heat, moisture, and Oxygen are the enemy's. Well, that and temperature fluctuations, insects, UV light, etc.
I just found your videos. What I found when working alone. I use the straightener... but what I do is seal the whole bag completely except a corner to put the absorbers in it. Then I have it all sealed except the corners... I stuff the absorbers into the corner then I only have to seal up the one small corner vs the whole top of each of the bags. Just what I found what works for me.
For foods such as rice, dry beans, flours, etc. I always put them in their original bag in my freezer for 24 hours. Have never had a bug or weevil yet.
@@jammiecraven5737 No, these are just large bags for use. After freezing, I have used them to the end with no infestations from outside. If I decided to store for prep, I think I would then put them into a food grade bin, but not mylar. Still learning. :)
Great channel! Just found you! Hi from Australia My mum and I sealed our first lot of grains on the weekend. We used Mylar bags, oxygen absorbers -and a vacuum. We had an absolute blast doing it.
Great video... I learned more in the first 5 minutes than any other video! Thank you. Also, You could have rewound your recording to see what you put in the bags!!! LOL!
If you use diatomaceous earth (DE), it needs to be specifically food-grade. The DE acts like miniature razor blades to bugs. Put some DE in your grain or beans, mix it in real good, sift out the excess. You only need a light coating. When you go to cook your food, you can easily wash it off. Food grade DE is harmless to humans. The advantage of using DE is that you can open a large container repeatedly to scoop out the food without having to keep adding new oxygen absorbers.
How do the mylar bags with oxygen absorbers compare to vacuum sealed bags without oxygen absorbers? The air has been removed in the vacuum process, for the most part. We use vacuum bags and 5 gallon buckets to store them in.
Unless you have a solid block, it is impossible to get all the air out with a vacuum sealer. There will be a little bit of oxygen in between and it will spoil your food. The oxy absorbers will remove the remaining O² and prevent spoilage.
I also use mylar zip lock for freezing soups..sauces..chili etc. Nothing gets freezer burn in mylar. To open a frozen mylar bag just cut an X in the front of the bag and empty. If you are lets say ..going on a picnic mylar is also great in keeping your cold food cold..hot food hot. Just tips I have used over the years.
I immediately reseal the oxygen absorber pack after I take some absorbers out with the flat iron. That i believe works better than the mason jar. I also seal the mylar leaving 2 inches not sealed on one end. I place a small tip vacum cleaner in the slot to suck air out then quickly seal the 2 inch end. It works great!!
Great video, Kudos !!!! And I always read comments for more tips and these were so helpful !! Just bought a flat iron that heats to *455 and I have read *410 is enough, however the Mylar bags I bought are 9 mil, which is really thick. Wish I had bought a bit thinner. I read the thicker bags can slice your fingers if you’re not careful. Yikes ! I’m not sure the OAs I have are adequate though. May have to buy more. I haven’t started this project yet so trying to learn all I can ahead of time. Thanks for posting about that CHART !! So helpful !
Thank you so much for sharing this video! We've been searching high and low for solid mylar baaaag info and found it in your video! We're converting a school bus into our tiny home on wheels, but our food stores sure won’t be tiny! We have been searching for a way to store the dry goods we’ve been buying in bulk. Mylar bags seem like the Way to go! - Brian + Erin
I'd mostly seal a bag, put in the oxygen absorbers, then squash out as much more air as possible and finish the seal. Leave as little air in as possible is a good thing. I've also used a vacuum nozzle to really get air out of a 5 gal bag before finishing the seal.
thank you so much for sharing. I have never heard of Mylar bags before I will certainly go out and buy some. thank you for explaining everything in detail much appreciated.
Pro tip : seal your bags 3/4 of the way first. Then open th oxygen absorbers and put them into the bags. It will leave you only one crimping motion to do on each bag so it goes a lot quicker!
Great tip
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Nice one.
@@olliecrow3547 1aaa
Did this myself on my first time bagging rice and it worked great. Totally a two person job. I could have squeeze more air out before sealing but I put enough o2 absorbers in to take care of the oxygen. I just don’t have bricks.
Here in Scotland people used to store their oatmeal i.e. dry coarse ground oats, not cooked porridge, in special grain chests called girnals. Just like you've shown in this video, people understood the meal had to be packed as tightly as possible to stop it from going bad. Parents would traditionally wash their children's feet and have them stand in the girnal barefoot, stamping the grain down as hard as they could so there was no air inside, almost like your mylar bags with oxygen absorbers. I should probably add that although they didn't store cooked porridge that way, people did pour it into a drawer lined with greaseproof paper and cut slices off to eat cold or fried like polenta. My great grandfather was a machinist working in shipbuilding and he took a slice of cold porridge wrapped in brown paper to eat at work every day.
Oat cakes! Thanks for sharing the historical info...love that kind of stuff!
Very interesting! I’ve never heard that.
Fascinating! Thank you!
What a fabulous historical story !! Thank you for sharing !
Thank you, enjoyed that
I always seal the bag all but just enough to get my 02 absorbers in so when you start you don’t have that much left to seal up
Great idea !
My little trick is after sealing the bags , I cut a small slit just below the seal at a corner. Then I force all the air out then seal the small hole with the iron. Love your vids.
Your trick is amazing and practical. Thank you
Right on.
I've found that when you have left over Oxy Absorbers that need to be stored for later use, after you've opened the original bag, as mentioned in this video, put them in a mason jar but if you have a "Food Saver" brand or any other vacuum sealer that can vacuum seal a mason jar, use that to suck the air out of the jar. This keeps the Absorbers from needing to work on the remaining air in the jar. I've found that it really prolongs the Oxy Absorbers that much longer. Just my 2 1/2 cents worth.
can you just seal them into vacuum sealer bag?
Good thinking. I have a vacuum sealer and that never occured to me.
Lots to learn to prepare to wait out the evil set upon us.
Prefill your left over mason jar part way with loose rice. This will limit the O2 in the jar and make the left over O2 sachets better when you do come to use them . If there is not quite enough space for all the sachets, pour some rice out.
That's a great idea
TIP . if you are doing 'bulk' say 1 gallon of sugar, in a mylar ziplock, when you open it IF you are going to put it in a different container and not use the zip feature, open the BOTTOM of the bag, pour out the contents and you can reuse the bag and still have the zip intact
Or seal above the zip lock, then you can cut the seal off and still have the zip lock intact.
great tip - thanks I will use that one.
I packed White Rice, Pinto Beans, Pasta and long grain Rice in 5 mil bags between 2013 and 2015 using this exact method. I opened 1 each a few weeks ago and prepared them over the last week and they were all like fresh.
Just as a follow up, I have been unpacking more beans, Rice, Pasta and also oats, long grain and wild rice, black beans, red beans that were all packed using this exact method. All fresh as the day I packed them. Can't say enough good things about the benefits of packing using this method. Perfect easily to follow video. Thank You ! !
Are there any new follow ups?
when reusing ziploc bags, just reseal from the bottom!
then, you can still use the zip as you use the contents on your pantry shelves.
Fantastic idea! Thanks! Would be fine for a flat bottom, but the stand-up/wide bottom ones would be a bit different.
Tee Gee, that is freaking brilliant!!
@@littledabwilldoya9717 yes you either decide to lose the gusset or the zip
How so?
Watched this again, after watching it years ago! The only thing I would add is to PARTIALLY seal the bags, leaving a few inches at the end to drop in the O2 absorbers, then seal up the last few inches quickly.
Love your videos. My wife and I started prepping about 6 months ago. I always feel peaceful when I watch your videos and learn a lot in the process. Thank you for doing such great work!
I love your pantry video's because it looks so neat and clean and organized. The delivery of the information was so complete and very well done. This is just a good idea even if you aren't worried about a coming crisis. I learned a lot about prepping and preserving from my mom who is just a frugal person and the only reason she keeps a stocked pantry, but wow, sure came in handy during this cv19 shut down.
To reduce the oxygen absorbers time you can partially seal the mylar bags in advance. Like seal half of it while leaving enough room to throw the oxygen absorbers and then seal the other half.
That's what I do
Love you videos and at the risk of being basic I just have to say YOU HAVE THE BEST HAIRCUT!!! Respect! Also, fantastic, articulate and interesting content!
Your videos are indispensable. I've watched every tutorial video youve made, and when I have questions or need a refresher..I come watch them again. Thanks for sharing your knowledge, and helping us out here in RUclips land refine our techniques.
Yes I do the same thing.
oh my gosh, I just did this with 25 lbs of hard red wheat, hard white wheat and durum and I just keep walking by my bags watching the bags lined up on my dining room table getting tighter and tighter with the oxygen absorbers working. I am totally amazed at this process. Thank you for posting this video, what an awesome help.
I leave the bags out for 24 hours after I seal them to make sure they shrink down (in case there is a pinhole leak somewhere). I've only had one fail in the last 4 years. 😊
Try sealing the bags most of the way and using a shopvac to remove the majority of the remaining air. This will help the content stay fresher over time.
You mentioned coffee being ok to store in mylar bags. Just know that ground coffee is fine but whole beans tend to off-gas and can compromise the seal. That is the reason for those little gassing vents on plastic coffee bean bags in the store and also vented coffee canisters for beans.
Thanks!
What about instant coffee?
when im using mylar I first hook up a hose to the vacuum sealer and at the other end use a stainless tube which is approx. 2mm in dia, which is inserted into the bag. I first seal most of the bag using my wife's ceramic hair curler (she doesn't know) then when the air is sucked out seal the bag fully
I used mylar bags. A hint I got from another prepper is to partially seal the mylar bag, leaving enough room for the oxygen absorber. Put the OA in, push down on the bag to get more air out and then seal the smaller opening. So when using mylar bags, I first write the contents on bag before filling, fill, and partially seal. When all my bags are done then I grab my OA, put them in, squish as much air out and seal. I find this works better is my husband puts in the OA and I squish and seal after that.
I ran out of rice in the pantry a while back and decided it would be a good test to see how my storage was working. I opened some rice I put in mylar about 10 years ago with just a co2 flush when I sealed the bag and the rice looked like I had just bought it. That hair straightener is a great idea.
How do you do a co2 flush?
@@CaribbeanSensation
1. I ran a clean hose from my co2 tank to the bottom of a mylar bag.
2. Fill the bag with rice and sealed the bag leaving about an inch unsealed.
3. Attach the hose to co2 tank and turn it on for about 30 seconds to a minute and finish sealing the bag.
Its as simple that. You can get a tank of co2 at any welding supply or if you know anyone who owns a restaurant or convenience store they use co2 in their soda machines, that's what I have.
Extremely good video for noobs on how the Mylar / O2 thing works. Thanks a ton!
I use bay leaf to keep critters from hatching in my “current use” flower. However in my long term storage I use candy canes. Buy them at the end of Christmas sale. The peppermint works the same as bay. Either one. With candy canes I like the tiny ones, pierce the individual wrapper with a needle and place one or more depending upon the size of the container. Bay can also be placed in a bag that has a few holes to prevent pieces breaking off. I’ve also put them in a coffee filter and stapled it shut. But loose is best. Blessings!!!!
Thank you
Oh, so you have to wrap the bay leaves first. You don't let the leafs be loose in the storage bag with the content?
Food shortage is the next anticipated prophecy. This is a skill the world needs to learn.
We need to reach out to local peeps to come up with a plan. Land, garden, animals, water and shelter. What is going on is bonkers. Those of us who are alone can't survive for very long.
You are so pleasant to listen to. Thank you for helping teach us.
I just started doing the Mylar bag long term storage with 1 gal bags for rice and flour. I loaded the bags and sealed them with one end unsealed with enough room to push the oxygen absorbent packs. Then all the time it took from their exposure to sealed was very very fast. But I also read they activate over a 2 minutes. Good video.
I do the same thing.
Great video. There is a lot of misinformation on RUclips. It's nice finding someone who knows what they are talking about. I have been a prepper for year's it took me a lot of research and mistakes. Hopefully, others will find your videos. So they will not make the mistakes I made.
I used 3lts plastic bottles to fill with beans, rice, pasta and lentils. I place 1 pack of oxigent absorbent 300cc After closing the lid, I place the bottles in a plastic barrel to store. I have never had any trouble and the food is perfect after a couples of years. If you don't have mylar bag these is another way to storage food.
Coca cola bottle in Mexico.
I get them in Tijuana.
Great video. The only thing I noticed for a time saver on the oxygen absorbers is , the second bag you did had the ziplock feature,and some other bags also had the ziplock feature still intact. Just a suggestion, you could have zipped those ones up right away and saved those for ironing last since they're essentially closed. Then you could have gotten the used ones that you had cut the zipper off heat sealed first.
Jaime, this video is invaluable! Thank you for how thorough you are for us newbies to storing in mylar!!!
We not Only use o2 absorbers but we suck the air out with a vacuum cleaner. We have a vacuum that has never been used for the carpet. We seal the bag leaving 2 inches un sealed. put in an o2 absorber then insert the edger supplied with the vacuum and remove air while my wife is sealing the last 2 inches i quickly remove the vacuum. works great.
You can also store in galvanized garbage cans with lids for the mylar bags
Yes, that way rodents SHOULDN’T be a problem, as long as the lid fits tightly.
Another thing that helps is a vacuum sealer that has a hose attachment that you can put in one corner of the bag. Seal all but the last half inch of the bag stick in the hose and vacuum it down. Hold the bag tightly around the hose and have your iron ready to seal it when you pull the hose out.. It is a little bit tricky at first but it works.
Automotive AC vacuum pump.
Thanks for the idea. Good luck.
We will need that. Luck being the residue of design, can never have too much knowledge and skill.
For anyone considering using their straightener. I recommend using a silicone baking sheet cover to set it on. It can burn wood and porcelain if you have a quality straightener.
I set mine in a stock pot to heat and cool. Overkill, probably. But, no burns or fires!
@@TUKByV1 great idea
Keep in mind - smaller bagged qty's can be carried in a bugout situation far easier than LARGE bags of food.
Very informative. Tip: Seal your bags most of the way, leaving just enough room to insert the oxygen absorbers. This way you can seal up the bags more quickly after adding the absorbers.
Someone else said that as well. I think it is a good idea. Thanks for sharing!
I'm not sure how well your bags sealed with the hair straightener.
The straightener itself works well, but you need to seal the surfaces for around 3-4 seconds normally .. not just drag along the bag.
There may be spots along the bag that haven't sealed effectively, especially if a bit of pressure is applied to the bag and they may inadvertently pop open without you knowing it.
As usual.... great video... I have watched it three times making sure that I have learned all what you have taught us...
You are an excellent (natural) comunicator.
Thank You very much🌹
Blessings
My favorite video on using mylar bags! I've watched it many times over the last couple of years.
Received my first mylar bags and ox absorbers. Thanks so much for your guidance. Can't wait.
It's insane how much I've been learning from you guys, once again, thank you, and all the very best 💚
This is such helpful information, especially right now. THANK YOU for taking the time to explain it all so thoroughly!
Hi Jamie, I just wanted to thank you for putting this content out there. I didn’t grow up with a family that does this I learned from you and others how to be self sufficient. My family had security throughout the pandemic 😷 We are more self sufficient than ever. Thank you!
When I saw how much you had stored, I laughed. I just started prepping and it’s so meager! I think I’m great buying 20 cans of soup! LOL!!!!
Don't give up!
You have to start somewhere. It all adds up!
Prep in increments…. First, like a temporary emergency (hurricane, etc.). Build up from 5 days, then 2 weeks, 3 months, 6 months, etc. it takes time and a lot of money to buy a years supply of one item but then find you’ve run out of toilet paper or shampoo in 1 week! LOL
Slowly build up so you can use items for bartering or currency.
I’m up to 6 weeks of prep. I’ll keep going until I have a really good one year prep in about 5 years.
I started on 1 area at a time like 1 year ago,it's working out pretty well,just got a 32 gallon plastic trash can ( new) for extra water,,( in case) I chose sterno cans for heating food in "er"situations, I live in apt so ,can't put outside,but i.can boil the water,if needed for drinking,won't last forever,but I figured,it's so much work dragging in gallons of water,I stored it in 2nd bathroom shower,,
Use smaller left over bits of mylar (without oxygen absorbers) to individually package things like medications, fire starters, surgical gear, or batteries.
Brilliant.
Off topic but important for people to know (for anyone who doesn’t know already)…. Never store your water directly on a concrete floor & even better, not directly on any floor at all. Especially with concrete, it goes through so many different temperature changes constantly & can cause your bottles to leech chemicals & even your water to go bad quickly in comparison (yep, water can go bad). Concrete is the worst for it but really, I always keep a cut up cardboard box underneath any water jugs or keep them off the floor altogether if storage allows. Try to keep light away from your water too (you can throw a old sheet or old towels over your jugs, those aren’t bad to have on hand in your stock area anyway….
Before I learned this, I had multiple packs of bottled water, as well as 4-5 10L water jug things stored directly on a concrete floor. None had been opened, just stored straight from the store & no light was even getting to them. Then when I moved house, after transporting all that water to the new place, I decided to start rotating them by using some of the water I had stored & replacing it with new packs as I went… I was horrified the 1st bottle I tasted!! It literally tasted like DIRT!!! I’m not joking & I never had it stored on or near dirt, just straight on a concrete floor (which stupidly I assumed would help keep it cool🙄). I’m not talking about just a slight taste I could’ve mistaken either, it was strong & undeniably a taste of dirt!! The water looked perfect but yeah, clearly it wasn’t & I only had it stored like that for maybe 1yr so not like it was stored for years or anything. I used the whole lot on the garden instead & labeled the 10L ones as “CLEANING/WASHING ONLY”. Typically when this happened too, Covid suddenly hit very shortly after & then water became hard to get before I could replace much (I’m not very financial so have to stock slowly). It got us into a real pickle for a while there. After that, I found out that storing water on concrete for any amount of time is probably the worst thing you can do besides storing it in direct sunlight. Lesson learned!!! 😑😑
Just wanted to share that so hopefully it’ll help someone else not make the same mistake I did. If you already have, I highly suggest trying to replace as much of it as you can now & with what’s happening in the world now, maybe don’t dump the old stuff on the garden, but mark them clearly for washing/cleaning only instead.
I hope everyone is well & much love to all from Australia 🇦🇺🐨🍃🤗💜
agreed i have my water in a closet and recently bought new towels for our bathrooms so i used my older black towels and covered the water...the closet it always closed in a room no one uses so it is in the dark all the time i also did the same raise the water off the flooring...my old table's leg broke offf so we had to get a new one..i took off the legs and cut it in 3 pieces to elevate them off the flooring. were probably at about 180 1 gallon jugs now ive been buying water monthly 10-15..20 at a time for the past year so for now my water supply is good ...i rent where i live so im mindful that i cant have too much either. everyones set up is different im very conscious of earthquakes living in CA so i dont have stuf stacked too high . your tips are great hopefully people take the time to read...this can totally save you alot of headache and money by doing this with water...and i also had a similar experience with my bottled water i had stored for a while...i bought 24pcs for 1.49 sale price at office depot 2 years ago..we started using it and it tasted so weird i dont think it was from something i did but how office depot stored the water hence why it was on sale i believe...no water goes to waste though i had to water our lawn so i slowly started using it on the lawn so another thing to be mindful
I have about eight 55 gallon drums for water. They are put on a pallet before filling and treated. Off the concrete. I placed refilled milk jugs on wooden shelves.
Thanks for sharing these great tips!
Thank you for the benefit of your experience. I am of modest means so waste would be upsetting indeed.
@@leeson44 So sorry it’s taken me so long to see your comment!! 😫😫 Thank you!!! That’s actually a fantastic idea you did with the old table legs!!! I’ll definitely keep that in mind. I’m in the long process of kulling junk I don’t need to make room for stuff we do/Will so I’m sure something with legs or similar will pop up & I can use your idea. Thank you!! 😁😁
Ah, that’s such a good point too!! How water has been stored by the store. I’ve never thought of that. Very good to note too!! I’m sorry you lost water too, although so glad you realised when you did like me rather than at a time of emergency!! 😑😑
I rented till recently too so I totally grasp the headache of storage, especially when you can’t built shelves or anything fixed plus no next lease is promised 😑😑 Only somewhat recently have we moved to a place where we’re very fortunate. We don’t own it but we’re definitely secure here & allowed to build things so long as it doesn’t ruin or depreciate the house. We’re one of the rare examples of getting extremely lucky to find a landlord that doesn’t care for money, doesn’t have a mortgage anymore & who’s a realist & understanding. Unfortunately not everyone has that. It’s a 1st time for us so I feel you on renting, it can really put a dent in your life as well as the wallet, especially with emergency stuff when you can’t build & have to be prepared to move at any given lease end. 😑😑 I hope you’re well!!! 💜💜💜💜
This is great! I'm totally new to this. I have some beans and some grains (and 5 gallon buckets that need to be washed). But no Mylar bags or oxygen absorbers yet. It was great how you went through every step and showed and explained it. Thank you
Ive been doing this for awhile now but for all the videos ive watched yours is the best!!
+Tracy Thomson Thanks Tracy :0)
Hi Jaime,
I haven’t started using Mylar bags as of yet, but I would assume that it would be beneficial to first seal up the bag almost all the way, then try to press out any excess air before proceeding to fully sealing it. This way the O2 absorbers would have less oxygen to consume as it would be a smaller free volume of gas inside the sealed bag, and probably have a higher chance of fully protecting its contents.
Just a thought.
Anyways, recently found your channel and it is very inspiring. Stay safe and keep up the wonderful work that you do.
You would assume wrong. An absorber of a specified capacity will remove that much, really even more, oxygen. Removing more air doesn't add any benefit but it adds risk: oxygen absorbers require oxygen and a certain amount of moisture to activate. Remove the air and it may not activate at all.
I have to respect anyone that has that much Frank’s on the shelf.
I store basics like rice, beans, pasta in smaller packages. I use vacuum bags with a pound or max two pounds of product. Each bag gets a O2 with a desiccant pack. That's drawn down in a vacuum, then sealed in a mylar bag with O2 and desiccant pack. Those are packed into 5 gallon mylar bags with O2 and desiccant then sealed. Might be overkill, but I don't worry about my preps.
Mr. French , I’m new at this. Please tell me what an 02 and Desiccant pk are. I purchased Mylar bags and the Oxygen Absorbing pks. I’m doing dry dog food, rice, coffee, oats and my GF flour mixture. Thank you.
@@emeraldrainbow6695 Desiccant packs remove moisture. O2, or Oxygen absorbers remove oxygen. You can find them on Amazon or Ebay. Many times you can find a deal with mylar bags and oxygen absorbers combined.
Mr. French, thank you.
Thank You 🙏🏽 so much!!! I’m new in the canning and storage world, And I’ve grown to really like and trust your training videos.
Excellent presentation. I just wondered what to do if there was power loss and needed to reseal. Kind of rustic but I’d heat up cast iron and a board like what’s used for clothes iron and seal it with a hot cast iron pan heated up by fire in a fire pit.
I buy spices in bulk and put them, premeasured to fit my containers, in Mylar. I have been doing this for years. Seems to work well. I can buy spices by the pound for a much better price then a small container.
Best Mylar bag video I’ve seen. Good job.
It's mind-blowing to see how much you are storing... enough for an army.... I am an old lady all alone... I am wondering what to store, how much, and so I have only just begun to make my little "prepper"s pantry".... I went out and bought nearly $500.00 worth of foods the other day and when I got home it was hardly anything ....
It takes a while to build up your stores. Just a little bit extra each month.
Easiest way is to track what you eat through a week or month, then multiply it for what ever time frame you're trying to store for 😊 i.e. rice average is about 100 lbs per person per year. In my family, I'm the only one who eats rice, so that only works for me 🤣 I have found tho, that if I buy canned vegs by the flat (12 cans in a cardboard tray ), 9 flats of each vegs ( corn, peas, green beans, and carrots) is good for a year for a family of 4. This is again after evaluating what we eat on a weekly basis, and multiplying it for a year.
@Dakiniwoman I also am alone. I started in April of last year and I have about 8-9 months worth now. I budget 25-30$ each pay period to preps. I will shop at Dollar Tree one week, my grocery store the next. I have been finding free jars on Craigslist. As you get started and get into a routine, it becomes more comfortable.
@@BradfordHomestead thanks for your reply from my post of 7 months ago... I just canned 18 pints yesterday of European wieners with navy beans and it turned out amazing. I have quite a bit stored up now. It was really worth it for me to buy a good pressure canner and little by little I work at it. I only eat carnivore myself so all that I can and store is for other people or for extreme emergency. I am canning a lot of chicken, & beef also. I also have been shopping canned goods as they go on sale.
Remember, you can use stuff to barter.
Packed a lot of wheat back in 99 but went overkill on sealing it. Used DE (diet earth), bay leaf (2 or 3), and set dry ice on a piece of paper towel inside the Mylar bag in the open bucket until it was almost gone. Trick is to MAKE SURE it is almost gone before sealing the mylar in the bucket. Make sure to remove the remaining dry AND THE paper towel before sealing. Then threw in the O2 absorber and sealed em in 5 gal buckets with new lids after sealing the bags, Needless to say I am still opening them to grind for the bread machine 20 years later and they are fine. Other urban myths were put in a piece of spearmint chewing gum to keep bugs down. Funny thing is we did it in a garage in the middle of the summer on a hot dry day. The dry ice chased out the air and O2 and then when we sealed them they went into the basement which was 20 degrees cooler. needless to say the whole batch of buckets sucked in a bit vacuum sealing them as they cooled.
Last tip, we kept the dry ice in a cooler as we were using it so left the O2 absorbers in the bottom of the cooler while packing. Greatly extended the life of them as there was no O2 in the cooler due to the dry ice.
Were you doing this in preparation for Y2K?
Yep...been using it ever since in a bread machine. Cheaper and healthier then store bought flour. The wife likes it also. Trick is to just grind what you need as the vitamins oxidize out in less then 24 hours. Matter of fact about to restock a bit as my remaining stocks are 20 years old (and still as good as the day I sealed em). You can order buckets pre sealed from most Long term storage companies but I prefer the Mylar/dust/ dry ice extras.
Approximately how much dry ice did you use? I'm guessing it must have been sat on top the wheat - how full was the bag?
Approximately how much dry ice did you use? I'm guessing it must have been sat on top the wheat - how full was the bag?
AWESOME video. I too am a beginner and found this to be an awesome video. Not chit chatter. To the point. Clear and consise.
Excellent video! Thanks for not babbling about "stuff" like most of the other channels do
Glad I came across this video. As I’m about to start using Mylar bags for the first time.
I LOVE LOVE your pantry construction and organization!!
Thank you!! 😊
@@Guildbrookfarm
It was beautiful !! I’ve never seen that many 5 gallon buckets in one place !! Fantastic organization and planning !! 👍😊
5 ml. Is best thickness. Anything you can see thru wont do.
@@jerremiller5542
Mine are 9 mil …. Isn’t that overkill ? I haven’t opened them yet so still could return. I’ve read with Mylar it can slice your fingers if you’re not super careful.
Your pantry is nicer than my house!
These are great to custom make your own "MRE's". There's a ton of recipes on line, some are for "meals in a jar". Personally I would only use the jar for measuring purposes then dump in bags. For camping/hiking or SHTF, just add boiling water to the bag (label how much to add). I'm fairly new to all this, but last summer started dehydrating my own organic veggies for this purpose, including onions and garlic. If you can't grow your own, hit up farmer's markets. Someday I want a good enough tomato crop to do this and grind them to powder. Can also do with mushrooms, cut off and save the stems (they become a bit tough when dehydrating) and powder them, adds great flavor to sauces. And no bugs!
That is a great idea for those of us who can't eat regular MRE's due to food allergies (ie gluten in my case). Thanks for the suggestion
Thats a great idea thanks.
I am watching this for the second time and I just gotta say..... I never knew what that eye was for. Thanks for sharing.
Cinnamon inside the plastic buckets with Mylar bags will detour mice and bugs! You are very good at these videos! Great information!
Do you just sprinkle cinnamon around inside of container??
You might think about putting a lip on those shelves or a 1 x1 about 3 inches above the shelf to keep your jars on the shelf in case of an earthquake; which are more prevalent everywhere today!
Just did a bunch of grains an beans. Doubled up on absorbers. Rotated freezing for 2 to 4 days.
Cayenne dehydrated peppers tossed in to kill any remaining critter eggs even though in a low oxygen environment, the chances are low anyway; my point, always go the extra mile for best protection. 3 sealing burns on the bag, a tip from using mylar in aerospace work.
Oh, toss some seasoning packs in with your grains an beans. Never know when some flavor will come in handy.
What do you mean by 3 sealing burns on the bag? Thank you!
@@nicolehurst707 I triple my seal.
I have always used a flat iron...they work great.
I love how you do your research and give good detail on your topic. I just saw a video where he put an oxygen absorber in sugar! I saw a lot of videos on this and your correct they all say no to oxygen absorbers in sugar! Good job!
There are several reasons, but all are related: 1) because the curling iron is only about 5 inches long it doesn't reach all the way across the wider mouth opening, 2) with the sides crimped and melted diagonally the final crimping and melting will be in one smooth action, 3) the smaller opening allows more efficient physical evacuation (squeezing out) of the air inside before the addition of oxygen absorbent, 4) the smaller opening allows for a quick deposit and seal of the Mylar bag to more efficiently to begin the absorption quickly. Hope this helps!
How I do...
I first run all of my dry products through an additional drying process. I do this for a couple of reasons. Number one I live in a very humid environment (jungle on the Big Island of Hawaii). As soon as I open any manufacturer's food stuff bag, I realize that it is immediately absorbing moisture from the air. So, I ensure the product is as dry as possible. Every bit of moisture you can remove makes it store that much better and longer.
I have a propane refrigerator which gives of heat from the flame at the rear of the refrigerator. I fabricated a small shelf on the rear of the refrigerator that can accommodate 2 storage buckets at a time. As an example, I will fill 2 food grade buckets with rice and place them on my drying shelf. I then cover the bucket with something air and moisture can easily move through. I use bed sheet material or a cooking splatter screen or ladies nylon material or something similar. This is to keep dirt and dust and insects out. This will not keep rodents out but at least you can see if they got in (never had an issue).
The heat is gental. I have no set time but I usually leave there for about 3 days.
I then take another bucket and place an appropriate size bag within. I then pour the rice into the prepared bucket and bag. Then as was mentioned by another comment, I prepare the bag by pre-sealing as much of the bag as possible so I can still get my Oxygen absorber in as well as several desiccant packs to further eliminate as much moisture from the food as is possible.
I have one of those hand held clamp sealers which works very well.
Before I place the food product in the bucket & bag, I often drop an Oxygen absorber and desiccant bags in the bottom.
I use my shop vac. I took that small skinny vacuum hose attachment (for narrow slots like a sliding window track and taped a clear fish tank air hose to it and made sure it was more or less sealed and leak proff. I made the clear hose about 4 feet long for ease of use.
Now, after I have dropped the necessary O2 absorbers and desiccant packs on top, I quickly drop the unused ones into a mason jar and suck the air out with the mason jar vacuum seal attachment used for "dry canning".
I then quickly stick the clear hose in the Mylar bag and seal the bag right up to the clear hose. Then turn on the shop vac and suck out as much air as I can. It will get fairly tight doing this. With the vac still running I quickly pull the clear tube out and pinch that last little hole closed with my fingers. Without letting air back into the bag I seal the remaining opening in the top of the Mylar bag.
I leave the lid off of the bucket to monitor for any leaks for at least 24 hours. The next day it should be so tight you would swear it was freeze dried.
In this manner you are much more assured that very few Oxygen molecules remain in the bag.
And what if you had a microscopic hole in the bag that was very hard to detect as one molecule at a time entered the bag over time? Your Oxygen absorbers are not yet spent because you already removed the majority if the air / Oxygen so they can continue to guard the freshness of your food over a longer period of time.
Crazy? I think not. If I'm going to the trouble to begin with... I'm going to do the best job I can. You can also freeze everything in a chest freezer first.
However, make very certain everything returns to room temperature first before you open the package or it will attract much moisture condensation.
what are your thoughts on positive pressure carbon dioxide?
Thanks so much. I will do it your way.
David Ignawam
I have no opinion on using positive pressure carbon dioxide as I've never used it. I'm not 100% sure of what you refer. However, I'm thinking you're referring to using a tank cylinder of carbon dioxide and a hose / tube to pump carbon dioxide into the mylar bag to displace the air and oxygen.
I'm certain that if it was done properly that it would be a perfectly valid option. Heat, moisture, and Oxygen are the enemy's. Well, that and temperature fluctuations, insects, UV light, etc.
I just found your videos. What I found when working alone. I use the straightener... but what I do is seal the whole bag completely except a corner to put the absorbers in it. Then I have it all sealed except the corners... I stuff the absorbers into the corner then I only have to seal up the one small corner vs the whole top of each of the bags. Just what I found what works for me.
Good approach 👍🏻
Ml
Great stuff, thanks. Did my first mylar bags to bag up flour and lentils! Luckily, my wife had an old hair-straightener - yaay! Works great.
Thanks, best instructional video I have watch so far on using Mylar bags, cheers
Very well thought out. Great tips. Nice video on mylar food storage. Thank you.
For foods such as rice, dry beans, flours, etc. I always put them in their original bag in my freezer for 24 hours. Have never had a bug or weevil yet.
Do you allow your flours and cornmeal to thaw before putting them in mylar?
@@jammiecraven5737 No, these are just large bags for use. After freezing, I have used them to the end with no infestations from outside. If I decided to store for prep, I think I would then put them into a food grade bin, but not mylar. Still learning. :)
Great channel! Just found you! Hi from Australia
My mum and I sealed our first lot of grains on the weekend. We used Mylar bags, oxygen absorbers -and a vacuum. We had an absolute blast doing it.
Great video... I learned more in the first 5 minutes than any other video! Thank you. Also, You could have rewound your recording to see what you put in the bags!!! LOL!
THANK YOU! I was going to research if you could use a vacuum pack for mylar bags, but the flat iron answered my question :)
If you use diatomaceous earth (DE), it needs to be specifically food-grade. The DE acts like miniature razor blades to bugs. Put some DE in your grain or beans, mix it in real good, sift out the excess. You only need a light coating. When you go to cook your food, you can easily wash it off. Food grade DE is harmless to humans. The advantage of using DE is that you can open a large container repeatedly to scoop out the food without having to keep adding new oxygen absorbers.
What about preservation? I thought the idea of adding O absorbers was to preserve the quality of our food
Thank you, a beginner prepper. I found your video very helpful
Me too. My mylar bags come tomorrow.
@@missmya3972
Where did you order your Mylar bags?
@@TheEnergywork Amazon... got them in 2 days I think it was?
How do the mylar bags with oxygen absorbers compare to vacuum sealed bags without oxygen absorbers? The air has been removed in the vacuum process, for the most part. We use vacuum bags and 5 gallon buckets to store them in.
Unless you have a solid block, it is impossible to get all the air out with a vacuum sealer. There will be a little bit of oxygen in between and it will spoil your food. The oxy absorbers will remove the remaining O² and prevent spoilage.
Great video, so much information and great tips!
She said something very important that some might gloss over.
Many Mylar bags are 4 mil
PASS ON THOSE BAGS!
Get 5 mil or heavier.
I also use mylar zip lock for freezing soups..sauces..chili etc. Nothing gets freezer burn in mylar. To open a frozen mylar bag just cut an X in the front of the bag and empty. If you are lets say ..going on a picnic mylar is also great in keeping your cold food cold..hot food hot. Just tips I have used over the years.
Thank you!! Just getting started with mylar bags, you have answered so many of my questions.
Thanks for this; was looking for a way to store food for a long time. Appreciate very much you took the time to teach us.
I just sealed sugar and flour in a 7.5 Mylar bag using your hair straightener. Also used 3000cc oxygen absorbers. Thank you!!
You can't use oxygen absorbers for sugar
The oxygen absorber is going to turn your sugar into a rock!
Your sugar will be hard, but good.
I immediately reseal the oxygen absorber pack after I take some absorbers out with the flat iron.
That i believe works better than the mason jar.
I also seal the mylar leaving 2 inches not sealed on one end. I place a small tip vacum cleaner in the slot to suck air out then quickly seal the 2 inch end. It works great!!
You are such a blessing! Such a great teacher! I appreciate you, Jaime!!!
thank you so much my mom and I love your videos they’re so helpful !
Great video, Kudos !!!! And I always read comments for more tips and these were so helpful !! Just bought a flat iron that heats to *455 and I have read *410 is enough, however the Mylar bags I bought are
9 mil, which is really thick. Wish I had bought a bit thinner. I read the thicker bags can slice your fingers if you’re not careful. Yikes ! I’m not sure the OAs I have are adequate though. May have to buy more. I haven’t started this project yet so trying to learn all I can ahead of time. Thanks for posting about that CHART !! So helpful !
Thanks for taking the time to make this info video, very informative! Especially the site for info on the Milar Bags and Oxy/Absorbers.
Really well done! Helped me out a lot, and I love the use of the flat iron! I love it! Thanks a million!
Thank you Jamie..just got my bags! A new journey
Just openrd a bag from 2011 oats still very good!
YOU have been a blessing great video keep doing what you are doing you helping.
Thank you so much for sharing this video! We've been searching high and low for solid mylar baaaag info and found it in your video! We're converting a school bus into our tiny home on wheels, but our food stores sure won’t be tiny! We have been searching for a way to store the dry goods we’ve been buying in bulk. Mylar bags seem like the Way to go!
- Brian + Erin
I'd mostly seal a bag, put in the oxygen absorbers, then squash out as much more air as possible and finish the seal. Leave as little air in as possible is a good thing. I've also used a vacuum nozzle to really get air out of a 5 gal bag before finishing the seal.
thank you so much for sharing. I have never heard of Mylar bags before I will certainly go out and buy some. thank you for explaining everything in detail much appreciated.