Using Mylar and Oxygen Absorbers for Food Storage

I store my dried foods (rice/legumes/pasta etc.) in strong mylar bags with oxygen absorbers I've been doing this for years without any problems at all and it's my preferred method. What I do is keep the food in it's original packaging and make a few pin pricks in the packet. I then put it into the mylar bags (I always use 7mm as they are a good thickness), pop in two or three oxygen absorbers and seal the bag with my hair straighteners - don't laugh, it works a treat! I then label the bags with a sharpie with the type of food, how much is in there (dried weight) and the date that I laid it in. This makes for easy rotation. It all then goes into plastic totes and stored in the under stairs cupboard where it is cool and dark.

The reason I keep the food in its original packaging, rather than removing it to put in the mylar,is that it gives the contents an extra layer of protection, which is particularly helpful if you are working with pasta, some of which can have sharp edges; any nicks in your mylar bag will cause the contents to spoil after a while.

I also tend to mix up the contents so that I only need to open one bag to get a variety of items and I'm not disturbing anything else. So I will put one packet pasta, one packet rice, one packet kidney beans and one packet of pinto beans into a mylar bag together. I try to make sure that I can use the contents of a mylar bag to make the base 'bulker' for a variety of meals.

 

Rather than spend on mylar and o2 absorbers deep freeze everything after vacuum packing!
I pack my own MRE's I vacuum seal then store in the deep freeze for two weeks then store in cupboard, twenty one to the bag!
Some I have used up to seven years later (got three left of the first batch, testing one per year!) no problems!

 

This is such a great idea. I've been looking at getting some mylar bags and some O2 absorbers but I already have a vacuum seller and a deep freeze, might as well use what I have to save money for other items I'd like to have on hand. We recently went through a rough time financially and while I didn't have a ton of food storage available, it sure has helped. But now that we are getting back on our feet it is time to start rebuilding what we once had and increasing it. I'll definitely be using the food sealer and the deep freeze to help get my food to last as long as possible and make sure I stay on top of rotating old things out as I get more. I'd like to eventually have at least 2 years of food for my family on hand, and then another two years stored at a different site someday.