Continued from here
no name – at 11:14
The sharper image catalog front page features plastic food storage items called Fresh Longer. Ridgid, plastic, impermeable (air), incorporates silver into the base plastic, anti microbial…about the same price as the Tupperware set I was considering.
I am concerned about proper storage for my dehydrated food after opening the #10 cans.
sharperimage.com…is the site…not sure how to create link.
Bronco Bill
Here is a really nifty web site for learning about the nutritional value of most foods:
http://www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/foodcomp/search/
After you enter a food item and a portion size, be sure to scroll down to see the charts on vitamins, minerals, and amino acids.
no name, your #10 cans should ALL come with a plastic lid for resealing. If, once opened, you’re concerned about an infestation, add a couple of bay leaves to the can and that should keep any bugs out. If you’re worried about moisture causing the dehydrated stuff to absorb moisture, throw in a food grade moisture absorber. Other than that, you should be able to continue to use the product for up to a year — or longer — and it be fresh & safe.
from NJ Jeeper: I bought some flour in 5 gal containers that is supposed to last for several years according to the supplier.
I think that if it is properly vacum sealed, etc. it will last much longer than the recommended one year. I think the one-year is for the stuff you can buy off the grocery store shelves and has been sitting in those paper sacks for who knows how long.
LauraB -
I’m vacuum sealing and then freezing as much flour and cornmeal as I have room for, also hoping to extend the shelf life considerably. We’ll see. Beyond that, I’ll have to store wheat. And buy a wheat grinder.
Dr Dave – at 21:59
WOW! Thank you so much for that information! Printing.
Dr Dave – at 13:59
Also, thanks for bringing up and supplying link to nutritional value of foods in relationship to serving size. This is an important concept, as is balance and variety in acquiring adequate total calories.
EnoughAlready
I’m glad that you find the USDA calculator useful. We have a teenage vegetarian athlete, so the information on protein and amino acids has been really important to us all along.
I’m-workin’-on-it & Dr. Dave
Thanks for the info on the rubber seals. None of my buckets have those. I am trying to figure out what to do, so I copied and ran off what y’all said. Going to check it out --- man, this is a lot of work! But, I want to do it right the first time! Up to this point, most of what I have stored I won’t have to worry about such careful storage. But, it is getting to the point I need to secure this stuff. About the time I think I’ve got this nailed, something else comes up! ;)
My current “project” involves prepping wheat flour. Up to this point it has all been all purpose that I have put into tins. Any more than what I have now will mean a more secure method of holding over time. I am comfortable with the other items I have stored, but this wheat issue is concerning me. I broke down and just bought three buckets of dry milk. The other milk I have on hand is in a secure container. If I can figure out how to do this myself, I have no doubt it will be a significant savings. And, I will be able to use what I “use” and want.
dr dave- teenage vegetarian athlete
that had to be a challenge! You have 3 nutritional issues going on at once! I have a teenage athlete… that’s challenge enough! He has a hollow leg! I considered it a major victory when he “got” the concept of hydrating!!
The canned butter and cheese people from New Zealand have finally appointed a US Distributor:
Hey, just received a notice from the sharper image, that the “Fresh Longer” food storage system is being promoted. Buy 12 piece set $69.00 and get starter set (4 piece $29.00) for shipping of $8.95.
FYI
bump
Do I have to take everything out of the package to store in the buckets? Specifically, spaghetti and noodles. And, I also have HB helper type meals (they had a BIG sale)--- I was thinking about taking them out of the boxes & storing them in buckets in the packages inside the boxes. Most of them are noodle or potatoe based… some have rice. Can I store them in those packages? I am wondering because if I do the mylar, then the dry ice… how is it going to get into those packages? (I was thinking about just opening the bags a little to deflate them.) The noodles aren’t such a problem… mostly. Spaghetti noodles might be a mess if I have to store it out of the package. The HB helper type stuff certainly would be a mess… because I have alot of them… and they aren’t all the same.
I bought some “metal” ziplock bags in different sizes for different sized buckets. I am hoping (????) they are mylar. Best I could tell, they were mylar. Or something like mylar. I hope. (From Waltons… which is going to take awhile to get to me.)
I am thinking of dumping all this food I have dehydrated into vacuum bags & sealing them. It certainly would save space. Then, I was going to put it into buckets with mylar (or those bags I have ordered.) Again… how is that going to work? I am not worried about bugs, so the dry ice probably isn’t an issue here. Think it would be okay plunked into the buckets after I put them in the vacuum sealed bags?
AND… I broke down and ordered one of those food storage programs. I also created a system to keep in a 3-ring binder (portable). I think this will help keep tabs and make it easier to plug the info into the computer program.
This is a lot of work, y’all! whew.
Unless you seal the zip lock mylar bags with an iron, I don’t think you will get an airtight seal.
First rain of the season here today, a full month early, so I’ve been scrambling to put things to bed for the winter.
I’m also putting away all of the canned goods I bought at wallyworld yesterday on my safari.
EnoughAlready – at 20:58 I don’t use dry ice or the diac-earth so I can’t advise on those. I did take some of my packaged foods, remove from the boxes, cut the cooking directions of the box and tape to the bags, pin prick the bags to let the air out, & pack in a couple of buckets. Worked fine.
I do believe the ziplocks are mylar & if you drop some oxy abs into the bag, they are probably supposed to be well sealed & the oxy abs would help even more, with no need for anything else. Call the company and ask them (or email them) to be sure that they are air-tight once sealed.
I also used the rolls of vacuum seal bags — the kind where you make up your own bags — and cut the roll longer than the spaghetti pasta bags & just dropped the noodles in their original wrappers, down into the vacuum bag & sealed it up.
The only thing to keep in mind with the vacuum sealer is that you’re taking square bags that suddenly become very rigid when sealed, and dropping them down into a round tube. There’s lots of space left over around the insides of the bucket — gaps that you can then fill with other things in smaller bags or whatever so use up your space wisely. Maybe use the smaller pint sized pre-made bags and seal up 3 granola bars together and drop several bags of those into the gaps to fill ‘em up efficiently.
Hope that helps some
I’m-workin’-on-it: It helps, thanks! I stacked the spaghetti in the buckets (while waiting for the ziplock metal bags to arrive) to see how many I could stuff in there. I lined them up standing around the perimeter of the bucket, then followed through to the inner part of the bucket. There’s no more standing room. I couldn’t stand the spaghetti another layer, in other words. I’m gonna dump something else in there on top.
Bird Guano – at 21:05
The LDS website, under “welfare” (I guess that’s what they call it when they are training… just dunno)… anyway, they say not to use irons. It is real clear they are telling their folks not to use irons. Just thought I’d point that out. Every other website I’ve “studied” says use an iron and a board. I’ll use the ziplock bagged buckets first anyway. Maybe before doing more buckets I will have figured out if they are sealed good enough to use for the next batch. When they arrive, I’ll check out the company info, etc. I’m trying to get my fall garden set out too. dh spent all weekend doing the manual labor… getting the beds ready for me. plus he cleaned out the shed, and set it up so we can put the stuff that can go out there.
http://www.sorbentsystems.com/stockziplock.html
That (above) website has information on the mylar ziplock bags. There are certain ones that seem to be more for long term storage (a-f) than the other kind. →Also, this website clearly recommends using a teflon bottom iron for sealing the mylar if you don’t have a sealer.
The Teflon iron is recommended so that the iron does not stick to the mylar, you can just lay a pillow case or something between the iron and the mylar to prevent sticking. The ziplock mylar bags are only ziplock sealed on one end, the other end is open and will need to be sealed with the iron.
Chesapeake
Have you used the ziplock sealed bags? I was looking at this thread,
http://www.fluwikie2.com/pmwiki.php?n=Forum.GammaSealOrRegularLids
and also in Will Stewards book. So… the end with the zipper is opened? That’s where I use the board and Iron? It makes sense it would be opened… to get the stuff in. But, being they are re-sealable… I was just wondering. I don’t have the bags yet… but I am trying to figure it out before they get here. Also sounds like I can use multiple sized bags in the buckets containing different stuff. Thanks for the help.
What I really meant up there was RE-usable!
I use the ziplock bags and will be reusing them, along with the gamma seal lids. Yes, in some situations, I also use several smaller zip locks in a bucket, which allows the bulk of the contents to stay that much fresher and be used when I choose.
Thank you Will! Your book has been very helpful. It is very well researched.
Okay this is a really, really stupid question I know. And if you want to giggle, go ahead. It won’t hurt my feelings. But I am really new at all of this. I just received some food grade storage buckets, and I’m ready to store flour, corn tortilla mixes, beans, rice and pasta. I know that you should freeze the flour and corn tortilla mixes for 3 days, bring them to room temperature and put them in vacuum sealed bags. I bought one of those small vacuum sealing machines for that. I’ve read that you should put bay leaves in the bucket as well. My question is - do I also freeze the other products or just store them as is. I think I’ll put everything in the vacuum sealed bags for extra protection. Any suggestions?
Personally I freeze, then pour into a bucket add a bay leaf then a few oxygen absorbers. I wouldn’t bother with the vacuum sealing if your putting them in a bucket, but thats just me. I’ve kept flour in a cabinet for more than a year with no freezing or special packaging and never had it go bad.
I’ve found those little moths in rice sometimes if I didn’t get it in the freezer fast enough after buying it. But I just pick the worst of the bugs and webs out and cook it up. But those kind of things don’t bother me so YMMV.
I haven’t even been freezing my pasta at all. I’ve had it in recycled pretzel containers from Sams since february with a bayleaf here and there. I’ve yet to see one bug in the pasta.
So my experience is that rice is the most seceptable (how do you spell that anyway?) to those little moth buggers, I’ve never seen them in flour or pasta.
Thanks Carrey. So freeze the rice and not the pasta. I guess I don’t have to freeze the beans either, right? After running to get out my Webster’s dictionary (that I consult once or twice daily), I found the word for “capable of being affected” - susceptible.
Thanks Carrey. So freeze the rice and not the pasta. I guess I don’t have to freeze the beans either, right? After running to get out my Webster’s dictionary (that I consult once or twice daily), I found the word for “capable of being affected” - susceptible.
ummm… pasta is my biggest problem. I have had the opposite luck… no problems with rice and bugs in pasta. Maybe it is a regional thing.
HL: I have plastic buckets lined up in my kitchen waiting for the mylar bags to arrive. I put stuff in them to get an idea of how much would go into a bucket. What I’ve decided to do is to put everything in the buckets with mylar bags, 02 absorbers and dry ice. I am going to put the dry ice on the bottom of the bucket… in the mylar bag. I’m going to put the various foods into the mylar bags… placing 3–02 absorbers in each bucket at graduated levels. I am placing bay leaves (4 per bucket) at graduated levels. I am freezing everything before placing it in these buckets. After freezing, I spread it out on my kitchen table in front of an ossilating fan. Some packages have seams that fold over, so I have had to hand dry a few of those “seams.” I have taken things out of boxes, like instant oatmeal. I am enclosing the nutritional label… so I know what the food is, what the nutritional value is, and what a serving is/how many servings there are in a unit. I am not storing rice in these buckets, except for specialty rices. Bulk rice I am storing in plastic bins. Heck, they store the stuff in silos.
My dehydrated foods, that I have dehydrated: I am going to put them into vacuum sealed bags. Although I have them in jars, tins, or canisters--- I have decided, after input on these threads & researching it myself, that the most prudent thing I could do to extend the shelf life of these foods would be to vacuum seal them. I will be placing an 02 absorber into the vacuum sealed bag. I am going to place these into “smaller” sized mylar bags & dump them into “dehydrated food” buckets. I am going to tape an instruction label on the bucket describing rehydration methods and equivilencies.
I am labeling the outside of my buckets using stick-on labels. I put what is in the bucket & how much. For example, the instant oatmeal: I put what flavors, number of packages and … I tossed in individual packages of powdered milk to put into the oatmeal. By adding 1/4 cup of milk to a serving of oatmeal, gives a complete protein. Another example: I stacked spaghetti on the bottom of a bucket and found I had room to place small packets of ABC noodles, etc, on top of that. My label indicates what size spaghetti packages, how many, types of spaghetti, plus the same for the ABC noodles. I was able to purchase a LOT of boxed potato mixes for a quarter this summer. All of the potato products are out of the boxes, grouped together with nutritional label & seasoning packets. The label on the bucket indicates what type of potato (dry kind… like scalloped, etc), how many of each kind, and total number of servings.
I have one large 6 gallon pail of flour. The rest of my flour is in small packages that have been placed in tins… with a bay leaf. I am trying to accumulate enough baking mix flour (like bisquick, except generic) to create a 6 gallon pail. I have specialty flour, like rice flour, that I am going to store in smaller pails… in ziplock mylar bags. (Rice flour is for dehydration therapy.) Corn meal and Masa- I am storing it in tins in the smaller size bags. I have also opted to purchase from the store canister type containers of corn meal . (Also, I am doing this for dried potato flakes. I don’t like those kind of mashed potatoes, however, it makes good salmon/mackrel/tuna patties.)
Powdered milk: I broke down and purchased some 6 gallon pails already done up for me. I am also making some smaller packages to place into pails. I don’t use a lot of powdered milk now, but it will have a lot of usage in a pandemic. I have also been trying to build up a stock of powdered buttermilk in the canisters that can be purchased in the grocery store. *I am purchasing things to add to the powdered milk… like… instant breakfast, choc/strawberry flavoring, coco puff cereal (that turns the milk chocolate), protein powder, and those flavored packages in the mexican food isle. Speaking of the mexican food isle--- I have purchased some of the canistered powdered milk (not non-fat) after reading about it on this website. (If you purchase ABC noodles from the mexican food isle, check the packages carefully for bugs. They will appear as tiny black or brown specs. I’m not sure why, but those products seem to have the most infestation.)
When we go to get a hamburger, taco, etc… I collect the condiments. I have 2 large pickle jars full of ketchup. I have a medium size pickle jar full of salad dressing… like ranch or honey mustard. I have a mayo jar full of those little salt and pepper deals. I have a ice cream bucket about half full of taco sauce packets. I started doing this years ago as a hurricane prep. It is so handy! When anybody has to pack a lunch, or when we go fishing, etc, we have those little packets! I even have pate and peanut butter collected from hotels! Hotels often have coffee, tea, lemon, sugar, sweetner, stir sticks, small soaps, shower caps, shampoo, lotion, etc. I put stuff into plastic butter containers, etc. When they hand out samples at stores… I get them and throw them into a prep container or BOB.
I purchase canisters of drink mix with Vit C added.
I have those premade foods (rice, beans, meat) in plastic containers… not the buckets. (Actually, these are my hurricane preps.) They have been so helpful during hurricane season!! In fact, I have containers set up for fast cooking by the meal and snacks. Also I have made individual kits for each family member. These are 3 day and 1 week kits that are very handy on so many levels!
ORS and rice rehydration ingredients occupy my china cabinet drawers. Other “sick” food is in the base of my china cabinet. These foods don’t have to be stored in buckets. However, I am probably going to end up vacuum packaging the rehydration “kits” (ORS & rice recipe ingredients) to help preserve shelf life.
I hope this helps! I have racked my brain trying to think of anything that might help. I am new to this too… on this bucket level. I am taking a lot of precautions… but I don’t want to loose this stuff. (I already lost some noodles!)
I forgot to mention barley. I use alot of barley. I am purchasing small bags of barley, freezing it and putting it into the small ziplock mylar bags. Then, I am going to dump them into a bucket. I am concerned about barley because it isn’t suppose to have a long shelf life. I forget why… I have the info somewhere as to why. I am going to put a piece of dehydrated ice into these small mylar bags. Somewhere… I have a “how much dry ice to put into a certain size container” chart. If you need the info, I will hunt it down for you. (It is in a 3 ring binder. I am just too tired to dig it out now. If you need it, let me know.)
I don’t know what to do about flax seed. Or spices. (I was able to purchase a bunch of spices in jars for dirt cheap. I hate to think I’ve got to dump all those out and vacuum seal them. ugggh. Right now, they are in the jars placed in a tupperware container.) And teabags… do they keep in a tupperware type container? And coffee? In the door of my freezer right now. (In any emergency I’ve been through… a hot cup of coffee has been worth its’ weight in gold!! I have some of the Wolfgang Puck coffee that when you pop the lid they automatically heat up. Unfortunately, I can’t find them anymore. Kroger use to carry them.)
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