Adding to the long-term food stocks

[moose42]

Contact your local LDS (Mormon) ward. Someone should be able to help you with your canning projects. All over the US and Canada there are church canning facilities you do need a member to take you to those though.

Where I live we usually do a few canning sessions each year in someones garage. We get the canning machines and help each other can beans, rice, wheat, sugar, powdered milk, pasta, etc.

I've used the pouches and the #10 cans. #10 cans are superior for a variety of reasons. You can probably get the cans free from your local school, we do. There is a machine called a re-flanger that cuts off the top of the can and bends the lip to make it like a new can.

You need the nitrogen (O2 absorbing) packets for everything but sugar. DO NOT put a nitrogen packet into sugar you'll be sorry.

[workinwifdakids]

Workin, you putting the O2 absorbers into the bags pre-sealing? Or are you sealing the bags, then throwing them all in a bucket w. O2 absorber or two?

As soon as my sealer arrives, I want to break out of newb status ASAP!

I'm using 1.5GAL mylar bags with two O2 absorbers sealed inside.

Aren't you potentially adding out gassing toxins from the non-food safe buckets and lids?

I got the foodsafe ones and the gamma seal lids. Gamma seal lids are SOOOO much more friendly to use

There's no substitute for those sturdy buckets and gamma seal lids. Unfortunately, right now it's just not in my budget. I weighed the pros and cons for my specific area (average heat, cold, humidity, and location of storage) and I was willing to make that trade. As far as toxins, AFAIK that's only a concern if a) your food is touching the container, or b) your food loses a vacuum for a long period. Even then, it's probably negligible.

[Precision]

I got (6) 5 gal buckets (the REALLY thick ones) - color coded - and 6 gamma seal (white) lids including shipping for something like $58. Since then, I've found a local place to get buckets for $5. Typical.

[Aglifter]

Er... fellas, if you need foodsafe buckets, let me know. Depending on how many you need, you need to check out your local restaurant supply/find a way to order from ULine. Grainger also carries food safe buckets.

[rightisright]

Got my Foodsaver yesterday. Tried it out on some dried beans. Sweet! I'm going to wait til I get the O2 absorbers before I seal anything else...

Workin, are the 3 mil bags you bought the Foodsaver brand or generic?

[workinwifdakids]

Sorry, no. I buy mylar bags for long-term (30yr+) food storage, and I use a little trick to vacuum seal those using the Food Saver. I don't believe the regular Food Saver bags are safe or effective for long-term storage. However, if you're using Food Saver see-through plastic bags, ONLY buy the proprietary bags. The eBay aftermarket bags are trash.

[Aglifter]

? Are you trying to store 30 years worth of food?

[workinwifdakids]

? Are you trying to store 30 years worth of food?

That would be awesome. No, I just want some things in stock that will outlast canned goods. Near as I can ascertain, the farthest out you'd want to consider eating canned goods* is 5 years**. I don't want to store 30 years worth of food, but I'm storing food that I won't ever have to rotate in my lifetime.

*By canned goods, I'm talking about store-bought food in a can, not home canning in glass.
**And YMMV. Don't come to me all pissed off during the apocalypse because you got botulism.

[Aglifter]

I would think rotation would be a regular part of food storage* - about the only, really long term thing I know of is irradiation, but that destroys so much nutrient value, that it's not really effective.

*I admit, the seed project, involving burying seeds in the Arctic - Antarctic would probably be better - may work, but its not really practical for most of us.

I think the only, really effective, thing to do is live somewhere which allows you to produce your own food supply, and keep enough on hand to make it through a couple years - at the outside. Its important to provide for crop failures.

[George guy]

While this doesn't deal directly in "adding to the stocks", a garden or greenhouse with a bunch of nonhybrid vegetable seeds would help in the area of food independence nonetheless.