How To Prepare Dry Bulk Foods For Your Long Term Food Storage
Posted By Victory Garden Man on April 1, 2010
Your Victory Garden Man
OK, now we are going to focus on the next stage in the preparation of our survival food storage plan. However, lets get a little corny right off the bat and remember the five P’s before preparing any type of food…Here goes…Ready!? Proper Preparation Prevents Poor Performance. Ta Daaa! Of course, what I mean here is to make sure you have all of the food storage supplies and equipment at hand before you start canning food. For example, you don’t want to find out that you don’t have any oxygen absorbers just as you are pouring the dry bulk food into your food storage container.
Now, lets get started with all of the canning tools you are going to need in order to store rice, for example. Keep in mind that whatever we are going to be storing, for our long term food supply, in bulk needs to have a moisture level of 10% or lower in order to stay fresh for years. Most dry bulk foods store well for 5-20 years, if done properly, and you don’t need expensive canning machines to do it. I will post a chart in the near future that shows shelf life for each individual food. For now we will just be focusing on how to dry can rice (10 year shelf life with this process) but here is a list of other things that we could easily be using today as well.
Grains : Oats, White Rice, Wheat, and Corn
Milled Grain Products : White Flour, Degermed Corn Meal, and Rice Flour.
Legumes : Beans, Split Peas, and Lentils
Nonfat Dry Milk: Regular and Instant
Dehydrated Fruits and Vegetables : Apples, Carrots, Onions, and Potatoes (Must be dry enough, both inside and out to snap when bent)
Got rice? check! OK, we have a huge bag of rice that we want to store for looong time on the shelf. The food storage container should be dense enough to keep little critters from getting into it thus stealing your emergency food supplies as well as causing early spoilage.
We can use up to a five gallon bucket or a food storage container as small as a pint mason jar in order to do this and it just depends on the amount of food we feel comfortable storing in one food container. For example, a family of two might not want to store flour in a five gallon bucket because it might spoil before they get to use it all…Well, duh!!!
The important thing here is the fact that whatever container we use, it must be able to block air (oxygen) from getting inside thus creating spoilage so if you are going to recycle an old plastic container then the seal must still be able to work. Mason jars with a new lid are ideal for smaller amounts of dry bulk food storage because these lids have a great seal.
For this demonstration, we will be using the big boy! I am going to get crazy and use the 5 gallon bucket for our example lined with a Mylar bag. The Mylar bag should easily fill the bucket when placed inside. There are various sizes of these bags and the proper size should be fitted before using a 5 gallon bucket.
Five gallon bucket and Mylar bags? Check! Once the Mylar bag is placed in the bucket you want to place an oxygen absorber at the bottom then you are ready to pour your rice into the bag and you want to fill the bag half way. Put an oxygen absorber in with the rice at the half way mark and then again when the Mylar bag is full. We really want to make sure that our food storage is going to be safe to eat in the event that we will need it. However, the size of the food container determines how many oxygen absorber we need to use and 3 is good for a 5 gallon bucket. Remember to leave enough room at the top of the bag for sealing!
Note: Oxygen absorbers come in varying sizes and the proper size should be used given the size of the container used. For our 5 gallon bucket example, three 500 cc size oxygen absorbers are used.
Note: The 5 gallon bucket is only to keep pests out and is not the main barrier of oxygen. The food storage bags (Mylar bags) are metallic and keep oxygen out while the oxygen absorbers reduce the oxygen to 1% or less inside the bag.
OK, Food is in the Mylar bag, Mylar bag is in bucket and oxygen absorbers are in place? Check! Now it is time to seal the Mylar bag using a heat sealer. I highly suggest physically squeezing out any additional air that may be trapped in the bag before using the heat sealer. This will ensure that the number of oxygen absorbers we use are able to do the job.
Note: You want to make sure you seal the bag as quickly as you can because oxygen absorbers start activating quickly once they come in contact with air.
Alright, push Mylar bag down into bucket, snap the plastic lid into place and you are ready to add to your survival food storage. Give yourself a hand!! That was pretty painless and now you have a food source that will stay good for a very long time on the shelf.
Keep in mind that the Mylar bags do not have to be used if using smaller containers with air tight lids such as Kerr Jars or Mason Jars (with new lids) but the oxygen absorbers are always going to be used for dry food storage if you want to maximize the shelf life.
Please remember to store your emergency food supply in the coolest and driest place in the house. You never want to store your survival food in an attic due to the extreme temperatures which can dramatically shorten the shelf life of the food and deplete the nutritional content quickly. Also, a very damp basement will not be good either due to the fact that you want to keep moisture levels very low in order to keep molds from growing on or near your preserved foods.
Next assignment
On our next shopping trip, lets buy some canning equipment and supplies. I say we start with quart sized Mason Jars to keep the process a little more simple so we don’t really need Mylar bags or a heat sealer this time around. However, if you feel more adventurous then give it a go! Let’s have some fun!!!
Using mason jars is so easy a caveman can do it. Remember…no Mylar bags or 5 gallon buckets are needed for this homework assignment.
So, let’s pick up some quart sized Mason Jars (comes with the lids and rings), 1 large bag of rice and pick up some oxygen absorbers here. Keep in mind that we will only need to use one oxygen absorber at the bottom (or top) of a quart sized Mason Jar instead of three due to the much smaller size and the size of the oxygen absorber should be 50 cc.
Note: make sure you thoroughly wash and dry the mason jars before filling them with goodies
Ok, fill mason jar with rice and leave enough room at the top for your oxygen absorber. Place oxygen absorber on top, put lid on and tighten the jar lid into place. Holy cannoli, was that simple or what!?
Note: you will notice that the lid will depress down just like any jar of food that you buy in the supermarket due to the oxygen being pulled out of the air thus creating a vacuum. If this does not happen then the seal is not good and should not be trusted.
There you have it! Fill as many jars as you like but feel free to use a different size that will fit your family needs.
Let’s go!
neat stuff, cheers man
I LOVE that we can use Mason jars for long-term storage, especially since our is just for two people. We have a whole basement to put shelving in. It will not only be fun and easy to do, but it will look beautiful, too! Thanks for the link to get the oxygen absorber packets! Now, to design the whole area?
For quart mason jars, if I use foodsaver vacuum jar sealer to get air out do I still need a 50cc oxygen absorber for each quart jar for long term storage?
Thanks
There certainly is no harm in taking that extra step, however, it can be a bit of an overkill. As long as the seal on the lid is good, you should be just fine. Hope that helps : ) Oh, and one little tip in regards to doing sugar this way is to not vacuum seal the jar at all and definitely don’t use an oxygen absorber. Sugar does not need to have all of the air taken out of the container to stay good on the shelf but rather just air tight. The sugar will get hard in the container after a while but it will still be good and a little elbow grease will fix the hardness. Take care!
HELLO I HAVE BEEN DOING ALL YOU HAVE SAID ALONG WITH PUTTING OXYGEN ABSORBERS IN FOOD SAVER BAGS AND VACUUM SEALING MY RICE, BEANS, AND FLOUR THEN PUTTING THEM IN MYLAR BAGS LABELING THEM AND PUTTING THEM IN REGULAR STORAGE CONTAINERS. I HAVE LEARNED NOT TO SET ANYTHING DIRECTLY ON THE FLOOR. I SET MY 5 GAL. AND OTHER CONTAINERS ON RUGS OR 1 X12s . I AM ALSO BUYING A COOKBOOK ON LONG TERM STORAGE FOOD AND GOING TO START USING MY NEWLY DEHYDRATED FRUIT AND VEGETABLES AND KNOW SOME GOOD RECIPES TO USE WHEN THE HARD TIMES COME.
What would happen is you vacuum sealed the sugar in a canning jar? I have a bunch of jars and only 3 people so I really don’t want to buy the #10 cans. They say you have to use in a week after opening. Not going to eat all those carrots, etc. What size oxygen absorber do you use for a half gallon jar? I’ve read there are two kinds of oxygen absorbers what kind do I use or doesn’t it matter? Do you have a list of what I can do in jars and how long they will last stored? I have always bought extra food but would like to start a long term storage for 5 years. Any advice? Trying to find info online is kind of confusing and hard everyone just wants to sell you cans. If I buy cans can they be repacked into canning jars? How long would they then be good for?Is there any books on dry canning?
Sorry this is so long.
Thanks
katherin
kittenrusty@yahoo.com
Hi Katherin,
Sorry for taking so long to reply. Crazy week. Anywho, you can easily vacuum seal sugar in a mason jar if you want to make smaller units for a smaller family. I am pretty sure you can use your dry canned goods for a bit longer than just one week after opening. Also, you don’t want to use an oxygen absorber when you are canning sugar. You only need to make the container air tight when it comes to sugar. This is pretty much the only food stuff that does not require the oxygen absorber. If you go on to my main page, you will see a link for providentliving.org that has a list of various foods and the corresponding shelf life. Depending on where you live, they have local canneries that you can actually buy bulk foods to can right on the premises. they will teach you what you need to know to get going and you use all of their equipment as well as give you the supplies (cans and oxygen absorbers). this is a great place to start and I have been going to these canneries for a while now and my personal supplies has grown substantially. The providentliving.org site has a list of locations and they are found in many states. They are Mormon based but they open their canneries to the general public. Hope this helps and feel free to ask away if you have more questions.
Can I save organic sugar, long term?
Yes you can. there should be no difference between organic sugar or the regular stuff. Just remember that you don’t need to add the oxygen absorber to sugar as you would with other foods to preserve long term. Hope this helps.
I just rec’d my oxygen absorber packet from sorbent systems. I ordered 200 of the 50 cc to use in my quart mason jars.
There are no “instructions” or words of advice or caution with the oxygen absorbers. They come shrink-wrapped. This suggests to me that they will begin ‘working’ once I break this seal?
My question: how are they activated? Will all 200 of them be activated when I open the seal of the package? I’m not prepared with 200 empty mason jars or 200 mason jars worth of dry goods to put in them. I’m trying to do a little at a time. I need some help on this one. . .
Thank you for your help. Great site and great links. We appreciate your willingness to share with all of us newbies who are trying to prepare. I see you quoted the bible. Good man. I am thinking that we, as the church, will have a great opportunity to be a helping hand to others who have not prepared. It is srciptual to be prepared. Why else would God have said “Go to the ant, you sluggard. . .”
Looking forward to your answer.
Mark Mateya
The oxygen absorbers are made of powdered iron which actually start to warm up and rust when they come in contact with the open air (oxygen specifically). They will pull as much oxygen out of the air as they can until they completely harden and then have no more capabilities. However, you don’t need to worry what happens after you break the seal as long as you make the package air tight after you take out the oxygen absorbers you are going to use. The absorbers left in the bag will deplete the rest of the oxygen that is left in bag once you seal it off. When sealing off the bag, make sure you press all extra air out before sealing. Any oxygen left in the bag after doing this is way too small to render the absorbers useless. As long as they are sealed, they will not stay activated for very long so they will stay fresh for the next time you open the sealed bag. I know they sell specific clamps for the bags that make them air tight again but I would imagine that they carry them at the same place you bought the absorbers originally. Hope this helps and thanks for the kind words. Keep me posted on how everything turns out.
the victory garden man
Can you please tell me the cc oxygen absorbers needed for each jar size. Also I can not find the list of various foods and the corresponding shelf life on your other site. Thanks for helping!! God Bless!!
If you are going to be using mason jars to seal off dried foods for preservation then the smallest oxygen absorber can be used because there will not be much air in the jar to begin with. However, you need to use larger (and use more than one) absorbers if you are going to do it in 5 gallon buckets due to the much larger volume involved. Hope this helps.
oops. Forgot to mention the shelf life site I use. Go to stilltasty.com. They have all different foods with the shelf life for each one. Hope that helps.
Thanks for the great article!
Question: If I don’t want to make the entire 5 gallon bucket rice can I put a mylar packs of rice, a pack of beans ,etc, all in one bucket or will the multiple packets prevent it from packing together tightly enough to lower the oxygen levels?
I would like to only open one bucket at a time for use (in the event of an emergency) and not open a ‘rice’ bucket a ‘bean’ bucket etc… breaking the low oxygen seal and letting it deteriorate faster. Plus I can make one bucket per payday and have some selection of food in each bucket.
Thanks for your help and advice!
Is it safe to store rice/beans in 5 gal buckets (after freezing/thawing) with just oxygen absorbers? If so, is it still 3-500cc per bucket?
I am new to your site. I love that we can use mason jars for long term storage. Just wondering about pasta. Can pasta be stored in a mason jar using 50cc absorbers?
Thank you so much. I love your website!
I am so sorry for the delay in response. I have been having major computer issues but are resolved now. Anywho, when storing rice or beans in buckets, the beans should be dehydrated so I am not sure what you mean by “after freezing or thawing”. If they are completely dehydrated then storing them in the 5 gal buckets with the oxygen absorbers will be just fine. Hope this helps.
I am very sorry for the delay in response but I have been having computer issues. So, yes you can easily separate out the mylar bags in the 5 gallon buckets if you like and I dont see any issues with it other than taking up a little more space than you should in the buckets. Just remember to use a sharpie or something to label each mylar bag so you remember what is in each one. Just also make sure you put an oxygen absorber in each bag as well. Now that I think about it…I really like your idea. I might have to use that myself : ) Hope this helps.
thanks for the kind words. yes…you can easily use mason jars to store pasta with the 50cc oxygen absorbers. However, you can also use a vacuum sealer with a mason jar attachment as well. I know the food saver brand makes it and it will pull the oxygen out nicely and will save you from buying the oxygen absorbers. Hope this helps.
Okay so the lids of mason jars have glue around the lid and when you boil it the glue helps stick the lid to the jar. Is there anything you need to do to get that good seal with dry goods? and how long can dry foods in a mason jar with an oxygen absorver last on the shelf? I would assume its longer then with the mylar. I hear mylar can break down over time and can let oxygen in.
The lids of the mason jars don’t quite have glue around the rim as opposed to more of a rubber material. When you boil the lids, the rubber softens thus allowing the lids to mold to the rim of the jar and creates a tight seal. The process is much more important when canning foods that need to be cooked. However, with dried foods you should still boil them to sterilize but they need to also be dried so they will be cooler when applied. The rubber around the lid will still be soft enough to create a tight seal when the ring is screwed on after the oxygen absorber is added. It is safe to assume that the mason jars will keep the foods longer due to the possibility of damage to the mylar bags. However, it is easier to store much more bulk with the bags and there are different grades of mylar bags too which have varying thickness. I hope this helps : )
Hello.
Question: I have square plastic containers , size 1#, containing Peanut Butter filled pretzels. I do not know when they were packed, but they seem to have a use with in 1 year date. They are not hard plastic containers, but rather the soft, mass produced food containers you see on grocery store shelves. Are these acceptable for long term food storage with the use of oxygen absorbers? ….. I found your web site three nights ago, and really enjoyed it. Have it in my “Bookmarks” and will be returning to it often for more information. Your web site is most interesting and helpful.
Thank you.
Vaughn Healy
Sorry for the delayed response. Been pretty sick this week but feeling much better now. Anyway, I do not recommend using those plastic containers at all. They will not be able to keep a good enough of a seal to prevent oxygen from getting into the container. However, you could use them if you were to use a mylar bag with the oxygen absorber inside the bags. So, the plastic container would be used mostly to keep the bag from the elements and other pests. Hope this helps.