Video tutorial - packaging your own storage food

[opsec]

Packaging your own storage food is pretty straight forward. There's a three part instructional video on Youtube. Each part is only about 8 minutes long:

Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vW7_cTn6YpE&feature=related
Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PylQCiFBtH4&feature=related
Part 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GfcWNOWUit8&feature=related

This link will provide one stop shopping for mylar bags, heat sealers, oxygen absorbers, and moisture absorbers:
http://www.sorbentsystems.com/mylar.html

Oxygen absorbers will reduce the O2 content of the bucket down to 100 ppm. No insect can survive with that little amount of residual O2. Flushing a bucket of food with nitrogen will typically leave about 5% oxygen content inside the bucket which is sufficient for insect infestation to occur. Carbon dioxide (CO2) will actively kill insects in the food but the remaining oxygen will still degrade the stored food. Oxygen absorbers solve both problems simultaneously.

Not all mylar is created equal. The really thin guage material that they make balloons out of is permeable by oxygen. You need the mil-spec bags. The item number for the mylar bags you want for packing in 5 gallon buckets from the aforementioned company is #20MFS30. Those are designed to be used for food and will work in a 5 or 6 gallon bucket.

A tip: The use of moisture absorbers is optional since the food itself has a significant water content already, but if you decide to use both oxygen absorbers and moisture absorbers in the same bucket, then they will need to be kept apart inside the bucket. Each one will interfere with the chemistry of the other if they are in close proximity. The best solution for this is to put the moisture absorber in the bottom of the bucket and fill the bucket and put the oxygen absorber on top of the food as a last step before permanently sealing the bucket.

[Publius]

Good stuff opsec. One thing I noticed is that they are using feed wheat. I did this for Y2K, but one word of caution, is that feed wheat may have added antibiotics and stuff for the cattle and stuff that it's intended to feed. I couldn't get a straight answer from the store, and no one answered the phone at the packaging plant. I may be off my rocker, but be careful and check.

[opsec]

You can't add antibiotics to wheat in sufficient quantities to be effective in the animal that consumes them, so I wouldn't worry about that. What makes it feed wheat is that it isn't as good as other strains of wheat for making bread. It's only a matter of human taste. Feed wheat (usually Triticale) is just as edible as any other wheat.

[concernedjules]

Ok...so you store grains in 5 gallon buckets & seal them up.
What happens once you open that bucket and break the seal?  How long do they last at that point?  & ...do you leave the oxygen absorbers in there the whole time, or once the mylar bag has been opened- do you remove them?

[opsec]

The oxygen absorbers are disposable. Once you have decided to open the bucket and access the food, the O2 absorbers have fulfilled their destiny and are either disposed of or if you are resourceful you can quickly put them back in a sealed jar and re-use them if you decide to reseal another bag. Something to realize about the mylar bags is that they are resealable. Once you cut one one open and consume the contents, don't throw out the bag. You can wild harvest other food or harvest your garden and dehydrate the produce. Then toss it in the used bag, throw in the old O2 absorbers to get the last bit of life out of them and seal the bag with a clothes iron.

Once you open the bucket the food is once again exposed to the environment and assumes it's usual shelf life from that point. You will eat all the contents of the bucket long before it has a chance to go bad. Just keep the lid on the bucket to keep out moisture and insects etc.