Mylar bags

Food, Nutrition and Agriculture
Cptmonkee

Mylar bags

Post by Cptmonkee »

Can anyone talk me through the process of Mylar bags when it comes to storing rice, pasta etc
Also can anyone recommend a place to buy from in the uk due to shipping etc
Thanks in advance
Moony
Posts: 525
Joined: Fri Feb 17, 2012 6:23 pm
Location: Area 7

Re: Mylar bags

Post by Moony »

Theres some good instructional vids on youtube, however..

1) Make sure you got good quality food to store, white rice, not brown, all well dried out, etc.
2) Pour the food into the bag carefully, pasta in particular may pierce the bag which will make the exercise pointless.
3) Fill the bag about 2/3-3/4 full, leave plenty of gap at the top.
4) Partly seal the bag by applying an iron across the top few inches of the bag, leave a small gap.
5) Unseal your vacuum packed oxygen absorber sachets
6) Add an oxygen absorber sachet correctly sized for the bag (instructions should come with the bag and/or absorbers)
7) If you feel it's needed you can also add a silicon gel sachet to further reduce any remaining moisture.
8) Squeeze out as much of the remaining air you can through the hole you have left.
9) Seal up the hole with and iron, making sure you have a good seal all across the top of the bag.
10) Put back any unused oxygen absorber sachets into a vacuum sealed bag (or proper sealable glass jar if you don't have a vacuum sealer) as soon as possible, if you leave them around for 15-20 minutes they will be useless for use later as they will have reacted with the air. (a normal plastic bag sealed with tape or tied up won't do the job !)
11) The next day check the bag, it should be quite firm with very little air inside. The oxygen absorber sachets will cause a partial vaccum inside the bag. This can cause bags that are too tightly packed to puncture the outside (again pasta does this often if it has sharp edges).
12) Store the bag in some sort of container such as a plastic tote box or a 20litre plastic bucket to protect it from damage/vermin.
13) Leave for 10-20 years :D
I'm in Area 7 !
Cptmonkee

Re: Mylar bags

Post by Cptmonkee »

Thank you so much for taking the time to properly explain it to me. Do you know of any places/sites I can purchase some from?
papa
Posts: 20
Joined: Mon Mar 26, 2012 11:45 am

Re: Mylar bags

Post by papa »

Best place I have found is LDS for mylar and oxy. absorbers
KalPrep

Re: Mylar bags

Post by KalPrep »

I used The Self Sufficiency Shop, ones pop up on eBay every now and then but the prices can be a bit high.
Reservior

Re: Mylar bags

Post by Reservior »

Yep, self sufficiency shop sells them.

If you have a bit of spare cash then have a look at this link and pick up some other bits in the same order

http://shop.conserva.de/en/
Selfsufficientwoman

Re: Mylar bags

Post by Selfsufficientwoman »

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itsybitsy
Posts: 8530
Joined: Sat Nov 27, 2010 5:51 pm
Location: East Yorkshire

Re: Mylar bags

Post by itsybitsy »

We did a group buy of mylar bags and oxy absorbers a while ago which proved to be very popular. We could do the same again if there are enough interested peeps, and someone to organise it.
Arzosah
Posts: 6533
Joined: Fri Jun 22, 2012 4:20 pm

Re: Mylar bags

Post by Arzosah »

I'd be interested, and I could co-ordinate too, if need be. Must experiment with that home made oxy absorber first tho ...
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itsybitsy
Posts: 8530
Joined: Sat Nov 27, 2010 5:51 pm
Location: East Yorkshire

Re: Mylar bags

Post by itsybitsy »

Arzosah wrote:I'd be interested, and I could co-ordinate too, if need be. Must experiment with that home made oxy absorber first tho ...
I'd be interested in another order. I have some oxy absorbers left over from the last batch, but I'm not sure how effective the will be now - they've just been stored in a ziplog baggie. :?