MYLAR BAGS / FOOD – PREPPING FOR the APOCALYPSE
Riots, Blizzards, Quakes, Strikes, War, Invasion, Tsunami
*NONE OF THE FOLLLOWING MATTERS IF YOU DON’T HAVE WATER *
S U R V I V A L I S P O L I T I C A L
Sealing Mylar. Oxygen Absorber Chart.
Taking your future into your own hands……… Doesn’t it feel good!
Mylar bag food storage can give you up to 25 years of non-electric, safe, food storage.
SEALING MYLAR
YouTube is full of creative ways to seal your mylar bags including using your regular clothes iron on “wool” or “cotton” and holding the mylar bag steady on a metal-edged carpenter’s level while you press it shut…..
….. A much simpler way is to use a hair iron. Pictured here is a Remington. Hair irons run from $20 to $25 on eBay or Amazon or Walmart or Walgreen…. (More expensive ones are not necessary.)
This particular one has temperatures ranging from 300F to 450F, has a temp locking mechanism by simply pressing the “-” button for a couple of seconds, has a swivel cord for easy maneuvering, and turns off automatically after one hour. It also locks in the closed position for easier storage. These are all great features to have in your iron.
I put the temperature lock ON. It is so very easy to change your setting without realizing you’ve done it. (Also, mine times out in an hour. An hour can go by pretty fast when you are filling and sealing. So if you notice that the iron isn’t doing what it’s supposed to – check and see if it’s still on…)
You want to play with your aluminum-lined mylar and your iron, make several practice seals. A good seal is one that cannot be torn apart. Using a temperature that is too low will give you a seal that can be fairly easily peeled back. Too hot, on the other hand, leaves your mylar looking melted – which it is.
And you want your seals as smooth as possible. Ripples could mean leaks. Still, I have yet to seal a bag that is perfectly smooth….. And my bags are doing just fine.
Bring a smile with you when you do your mylar bags. This is your project to make happen! And going back over a seal is just fine. Be aware, however, that the mylar you just sealed is still HOT. (Very hot.)
Folks usually seal more than one bag at a time though that is not written in stone. You find a way to stand the bags up so you can fill them. Play with how full you want them to be. 2/3 to 3/4 may be about right. That also leaves some extra flap to fold over to reclose or to reseal once opened.
Seal all the filled bags part way. Leave enough room to get your oxygen absorber in.
I seal at 380 F, temp locked. I place my iron over the top edge of the bag which I have pulled as taut as I can so I get a smoother seal. Then I clamp it down right on the bag, bordering on that upper edge and count to ten, not too slowly. Don’t get your fingers too close to the business end of your iron.
Some people prefer to seal below the edge and that is fine. It is the quality of the seal that counts.
When you’ve got all your bags partially sealed it’s time to bring out the oxygen absorbers. As we discussed in Part One, the packaging of oxygen absorbers is an issue. The 5-packs of 100 cc and 300 cc are much better for the now-and-again mylar bag sealing projects.
Put the right oxygen absorber in the first mylar bag, keeping the other absorbers covered. If your bag size calls for 300 cc, you can also use (3) 100 cc or (6) 50 cc or a 500 cc. More can’t hurt in a mylar bag.
Once the absorber is inside the bag, push out as much air as you can without spilling the contents onto the surface you’re going to seal. (If necessary, wipe the inside clean and dry.) Then clamp your iron over the remaining open edge and seal it.
Some of the larger bags present an added challenge. A hair iron only has 5 to 6 inches of heated blades. But it does have additional neck room so you can extend it over an additional 3 to 5 inches to seal. However, even coming from both sides it won’t seal a twenty inch+ wide bag.
So, you seal the first time going straight along the edge. Your next seal overlaps the edge of the first seal. The next seal comes over the top edge and down at a slight angle overlapping the previous seal. And so on until you’re ready to put in your oxygen absorber.
Turn your bag around so you can do your final seal from the open end, then put in your absorber, push out the extra air, and seal that last bit, overlapping the previous seal you did.
It won’t be your prettiest seal and you can go over your seal again if you’re worried that some place is not tight. But it does work. (There are other sealers and other methods. Check YouTube.)
Another tip: Mylar bags have very sharp, pointed corners. Lightly rounding off those edges can go a long way to preventing bags from puncturing each other in storage. Scissors work well on mylar.
Within an hour or so you may begin to see the bags reacting to the oxygen being absorbed. They crinkle, dimple, pull in. There are those who say that you may not see any of that but in my own experience, all of my bags have evidenced some of this within 24 hours.
Label your bags with contents and date in TWO places. Tags fall off. Ink gets smeared. Just do it.
And take a minute to congratulate yourself on a darned good job well done!
OXYGEN ABSORBER CHART FOR VARIOUS MYLAR BAGS
There are many charts online telling you how many oxygen absorbers to use per mylar bag. The problem is, they don’t all say the same thing. One rule of thumb that seems on target is to use 300cc to 500cc of absorbers for every gallon you are sealing.
The following additional points are from various online retailers of mylar bags and oxygen absorbers.
Point One: If you need a 1,000 cc oxygen absorber you can use a 1,000 cc absorber OR two 500 cc absorbers OR ten 100 cc absorbers OR any combination that comes up to, or over, your 1,000 cc’s.
Point Two: Adding more absorbers does not present any problems inside a mylar bag.
Point Three: There are very simple variables to consider when determining the amount of oxygen absorbers to use. If your product is very fine and dense, like flour, you will need less. If your product is larger with more airspace, like beans, you will need more. If your product naturally has a lot of air space, like elbow macaroni, you will need the most.
Point Four: The less head space you seal in, the less oxygen absorption is needed. That’s why you carefully press out the excess air before your final seal.
According to various manufacturers the following are ranges of oxygen absorbers needed for various sized mylar bags filled (in order) with your finest flours and powdery mixes; to your beans; to your most air-filled content.
FOOD TYPES:
Bag FLOUR BEANS MACARONI (ELBOW)
Size OYGEN ABSORBERS – Total cc’s needed
Pint Bag 50 cc 100cc 100cc
Quart Bag: 100cc 200cc 200cc
½ Gallon 150cc 200cc 400cc
Gallon 300cc 400cc 500cc
2 Gallon 1,000cc 1,500cc 2,000cc **
5-6 Gallon 2,000cc 2,500cc 3,000cc **
** There is a lot of variance in the published charts on how much your bigger bags need. I have tried to stay to the upper edge so you don’t have to worry.
END NOTES:
One, you can put up food in a Seal-a-Meal vacuum bag, and freeze. This is fine for maybe 4 to 5 years storage if the power grid stays up. But the plastic can absorb air over time, and the plastic can be permeated with odors. This is versus up to 25 years of non-electric storage with your mylar bags, according to mylar manufacturers.
Two, you can buy mylar bag survival food. It is available online, at the big box stores, at the health food stores. And having some is definitely better than having none. “The event” WILL come.
However, there are many caveats to buying. Is the food put up in aluminum-lined mylar? This is a huge issue because so many of them put their foods up in see-through mylar which lets light in which deteriorates your food. And as mylar is plastic, in time air and odors may get in also. Make them tell you if it is the good aluminum-lined mylar.
Is the food even remotely nutritious? “The events” will be very trying times and a bunch of sugar-coated GMO’d chemicals will not be helpful and may actually harm your health. Read the ingredients for yourself. Don’t buy the ad hype. Some are basically sugar and pasta and color.
You can buy organic survival food and, if you are going to buy, that is what I would recommend. But when you catch the prices you may catch your breath at the same time. Quite expensive….
And that is why I am bringing you these articles. You can do this. It isn’t complicated. It takes a little time, just some basic equipment, and an eagerness to prepare for your future. And it is fun and it gives you an enormous sense of something well done!
Coming soon in…
Part Three: Mylar Bags / Sprouting – Prepping for the Apocalypse
Part Four: Mylar Bags / Food Drying – Prepping for the Apocalypse
This will be some fun stuff!
© 2016 Ronnie Herne – All Rights Reserved
