Why you need mylar bags for food storage

Originally posted 2017-08-08 22:32:22.

Food storage is one of the more overwhelming aspects of preparedness – how much?  What kind of food should I be storing?  Will I be able to rotate through it?  It’s certainly a learning process and can take a while before you get into a good rhythm with it.    As you know, two of the most basic things you can store are beans and rice – these have great nutrition for cheap and can last quite a long time in their bag from the store, but there’s an excellent way to extend the shelf life and protect these kinds of foods.  The answer?  Mylar bags.

Now you may ask why mylar bags are of any importance in food storage.  I would first point out that keeping all of your rice in a big 50 pound bag that you bought at the grocery store is probably fine for the short term, but if you’re really wanting to store it away for a long term scenario, you might want to better protect the food items from the damage done by oxygen.  That’s where the mylar bags come in.  By sealing the food in mylar bags with an o2 absorber, you are basically sealing the rice or beans off from any additional exposure to the atmosphere, which in turn gives you a longer shelf life.

A second reason to use mylar bags is because they are opaque, so sunlight can’t reach the food items and damage them via radiation.  Obviously, if you’re doing long term food storage you’ll want to keep the items in a cool dark place, but this certainly aids in the process.

Third on the list of why you should store long term food items in mylar bags is because splitting the food up makes it a lot easier to carry – if you had to get out of dodge for whatever reason it might be unwieldy to try to stuff a big 50 pound bag of beans into your backpack – but you could easily stash away two or three mylar bags filled with goodies and GTFO.  This also allows you to open the mylar bags one at a time, which allows for portion control and you won’t be exposing your whole food supply to the elements when you do so.  A one gallon mylar bag full of rice will weigh roughly 7 to 8 pounds.

Finally, mylar bags are excellent to store food in because then you don’t really have to worry as much about storing the items in food grade plastic.  The mylar will protect the food items and you can then place them in a Home Depot style 5 gallon bucket, a rubbermaid style tote, or any other container in order to keep the goodies away from various pests.

How I store stuff:

You will need:

• mylar bags (I usually get the 1 gallon variety)
• oxygen absorbents – these are usually included if you purchase them via the internet)
• whatever dry food item you are going to store
• Hot iron
• some wooden blocks or hardcover books (take off book jackets or you’ll melt them)
• masking tape and writing utensil to label the bag

Simply fill up the bag with food around 3/4s of the way full, along with an oxygen absorber.  Then shake the contents down, fold the top onto your wooden edge, and press the hot iron ( I use the hottest setting) over the open top of the bag.  The heat will seal the mylar together (make sure you get the whole top sealed) and overnight, your bag will shrink down as the oxygen is absorbed into a nifty little brick of easily stored dry goods!

Give it a whirl – it’s a great way to keep stuff stored for even longer than you’d hope!