Posted: 2/17/2009 8:20:53 AM EDT
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Well, I finally did it. Today I ordered 100-15x16.25 mylar bags of 5mil density, 200-oxy obsorbers, 20-oxy tabs, and a clamp bag sealer from Sorbent Systems. Next thing is to start buying dry foods in bulk. Rice, pasta, legumes, wheat, etc in 50 and 100 # bags. I'll also be packaging rifle ammo in 200 round battle packs for longer term storage. Alas, I have a question. The o2 absorbers are packaged in groups of 50. Given how their packaged, I would have to package several hundred pounds of food at a time to prevent the O2 absorbers from wasting. What if I opened a package then removed the number of absorbers I needed before quickly sealing the left overs in a new mylar? Could I preserve the unused packets for future use this way? If I have to wait to use 50 to begin packaging, it's going to be awfully inconvenient. I'd rather acquire and pack the food as its purchased than stacking five hundred pounds of dry food before beginning the storage process. Is this plan feasible? |
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Well, I finally did it. Today I ordered100-15x16.25 mylar bags of 5mil density, 200-oxy obsorbers, 20-oxytabs, and a clamp bag sealer from Sorbent Systems. Next thing is tostart buying dry foods in bulk. Rice, pasta, legumes, wheat, etc in 50and 100 # bags. I'll also be packaging rifle ammo in 200 round battlepacks for longer term storage. Alas, I have a question. The o2absorbers are packaged in groups of 50. Given how their packaged, I would have to package severalhundred pounds of food at a time to prevent the O2 absorbers fromwasting. What if I opened a package then removed the number ofabsorbers I needed before quickly sealing the left overs in a newmylar? Could I preserve the unused packets for future use this way? IfI have to wait to use 50 to begin packaging, it's going to be awfullyinconvenient. I'd rather acquire and pack the food as its purchasedthan stacking five hundred pounds of dry food before beginning thestorage process. Is this plan feasible? Depending on what you put in the 15x16 bags it looks like you'd use around 3-5 absorbers per bag. Try to have enough product ready for the number of absorbers that you will have to open. Just keep in mind, the O2's are the cheap part in the whole scheme of things. Use plenty of them instead of trying to skimp. Best way to save any extras is in a glass ball jar. If you have a Food Saver machine you can suck out all the air from the jar as well to help keep them longer. |
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how big are the o2's CC wise.That will dictate how many buckets you have a 50 pack of 500cc's is 10 buckets at 1000cc's ( the lowest i would go for a 5 gallon bucket) 10 bcukets is only 300-400lbs of grains etc
sides that run what ya can and toss teh rest. sucks but they are cheap enough. Sides that plan aheada nd pack pack pack. Use your clothes iron as well to save time and have someone help ya(wife kid etc) ,set it up assymby line style basically. you could try the re seal in mylar trick. i would add the lil good/bad indicator thats in there so when you re open you can see if they are good. |
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The 02s are 200cc each. I don't plan on putting back much food as there are only two adults in my household, myself included. The concern that I have is that I'd have to leave a bunch of dry food unprotected in its native sack and vulnerable to pest and spoil if I have to queue up several hundred pounds of food at a time to package. The manufacturer indicates that each bag will hold 15 lbs of dry food and that two 200cc absorbers should go into each bag. At that rate, I'd need 600# to use them all that once. I know that they aren't expensive but I am adverse to waste just by nature. Wouldn't sealing them by heat be a more effective barrier against leakage than a ball jar? Edit: The other parameter around which I'm operating is that my buckets are four gallon containers. |
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Put the sack leftovers directly in your 5 gallon buckets with about 1500-2000 cc's of absorbers in it. At the minimum you will not lose the sacked leftovers.
As for waste, you'll waste more money in your storage food by going cheap/short on your O2's. Thats a fact. Edited to add: Check out this link, it'll give you a good reference on how much O2's you'll need for the bag size/product being packaged. https://www.usaemergencysupply.com/emergency_supplies/oxygen_absorber_recommended_amounts.htm |
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Hawk, thanks for the link. It's consistent with the manufacturer's recommendation of two 200cc pouches per mylar bag. I understand the concept of stepping over a dollar to pick up a dime. I'm not trying to stretch thin my supply of 02 bags. I don't advocate using fewer than is necessary for a certain amount of food. I'm simply looking for help in evaluating whether the left overs can be resealed. I only have eight buckets right now to fill. That's not going to hold the amount of food required to use 50 absorbers, even if I double up. It looks like no one has tried this. So, when the supplies arrive next week, I shall put a 02 indicator in a sealed pack as an indication of whether the absorbers are sealed and report back. If they're still taking on oxygen then I'll find a way to use them I suppose. |
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I haven't done this, so I'm just speculating... all disclaimers apply.
Could you put the leftovers in a small, sealable bucket with dry ice –– but not completely sealed? As the dry ice melts, it will displace O2. When it's all melted, close the bucket. I'm gonna have a similar situation with leftover O2 absorbers. So, alternates to tossing them are of interest to me, too. sgt_seti |
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Hawk, thanks for the link. It's consistent with the manufacturer's recommendation of two 200cc pouches per mylar bag. I understand the concept of stepping over a dollar to pick up a dime. I'm not trying to stretch thin my supply of 02 bags. I don't advocate using fewer than is necessary for a certain amount of food. I'm simply looking for help in evaluating whether the left overs can be resealed. I only have eight buckets right now to fill. That's not going to hold the amount of food required to use 50 absorbers, even if I double up. It looks like no one has tried this. So, when the supplies arrive next week, I shall put a 02 indicator in a sealed pack as an indication of whether the absorbers are sealed and report back. If they're still taking on oxygen then I'll find a way to use them I suppose. Hey, that's my phrase  
I would not try to reseal them. Common industry practice is to use them up within a short time of opening them. That means just planning your runs carefully. People want to cry over the loss of 3 absorbers, total cost less than a dollar, but they should be rejoicing in the fact that they SAVED HUNDREDS packing it themselves. www.bucketpacking.com www.howtopackfood.com Has more helpful info also. Good luck! Lowdown3 |
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Hawk, thanks for the link. It's consistent with the manufacturer's recommendation of two 200cc pouches per mylar bag. I understand the concept of stepping over a dollar to pick up a dime. I'm not trying to stretch thin my supply of 02 bags. I don't advocate using fewer than is necessary for a certain amount of food. I'm simply looking for help in evaluating whether the left overs can be resealed. I only have eight buckets right now to fill. That's not going to hold the amount of food required to use 50 absorbers, even if I double up. It looks like no one has tried this. So, when the supplies arrive next week, I shall put a 02 indicator in a sealed pack as an indication of whether the absorbers are sealed and report back. If they're still taking on oxygen then I'll find a way to use them I suppose. Hey, that's my phrase
I would not try to reseal them. Common industry practice is to use them up within a short time of opening them. That means just planning your runs carefully. People want to cry over the loss of 3 absorbers, total cost less than a dollar, but they should be rejoicing in the fact that they SAVED HUNDREDS packing it themselves. www.bucketpacking.com www.howtopackfood.com Has more helpful info also. Good luck! Lowdown3 +1 Don't try to reseal them, when you do a food sealing session just divide them up evenly among the buckets you are doing. I wouldn't ever be able to trust the absorbers if I had resealed them. |
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I just waited until I had enough stuff to pack to use them all in one session. I also used four 200cc absorbers per bag to maximize the ability of the absorbers to remove the oxygen. After about a week, all my packs looked as if they'd been vacuum sealed. By that I assume that the o2 absorbers had the intended effect on the food. |
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Hawk, thanks for the link. It's consistent with the manufacturer's recommendation of two 200cc pouches per mylar bag. I understand the concept of stepping over a dollar to pick up a dime. I'm not trying to stretch thin my supply of 02 bags. I don't advocate using fewer than is necessary for a certain amount of food. I'm simply looking for help in evaluating whether the left overs can be resealed. I only have eight buckets right now to fill. That's not going to hold the amount of food required to use 50 absorbers, even if I double up. It looks like no one has tried this. So, when the supplies arrive next week, I shall put a 02 indicator in a sealed pack as an indication of whether the absorbers are sealed and report back. If they're still taking on oxygen then I'll find a way to use them I suppose. Hey, that's my phrase
I would not try to reseal them. Common industry practice is to use them up within a short time of opening them. That means just planning your runs carefully. People want to cry over the loss of 3 absorbers, total cost less than a dollar, but they should be rejoicing in the fact that they SAVED HUNDREDS packing it themselves. www.bucketpacking.com www.howtopackfood.com Has more helpful info also. Good luck! Lowdown3 +1 Don't try to reseal them, when you do a food sealing session just divide them up evenly among the buckets you are doing. I wouldn't ever be able to trust the absorbers if I had resealed them. why? it's obvious whether they have worked or not. if you open a large pack, pull out what you need and then reseal the remaining you won't have a problem. the LDS canneries have used this method for a long time and i'd venture a guess they know what they are doing. we vacuum seal our left over o2 absorbers and they work just fine, even after a year of being sealed up. |
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O2 absorbers are not sticks of dynamite.
I saw a study and posted it here somewhere, I'll try to find it that showed how slowly O2 absorbers worked. It went like this, a O2 absorber was taped to the bottom of a jar, the jar was then placed upside down on a tray full of water. A timer was set up and the amount of O2 absorbed and the speed was determined by the speed and amount of water that would rise within the jar. I think it took over 24hrs to pull the full 20% O2 but it took several hours to do anything significant at all. Granted, speed is better but you do not have to treat them like they are going to burst into flames if you do not instantly seal them. I keep all mine in mason jars with the oxygen color strip in each so that I know if they have absorbed too much O2. I usually take 1 or 2 out a day in a jar that holds about 30 absorbers, I am now down to 4 absorbers and they are still good. FYI 100cc absorbers. Edit: It takes 12 hours for a 750cc O2 absorber to absorb 20 cc Link |