Freeze dried ingredients

[Netpackrat]

I want to get some freeze dried butter and tomato to keep out at the remote [strike]bunker[/strike] cabin for cooking, so I won't have to worry about it going bad (butter) or freezing (canned tomato sauce/paste) during the winter. So far, I've only been able to find the stuff in #10 cans (the huge ones) from one of the preparedness supply places. I had been hoping to find something smaller, because it would take us probably decades to use up one of the big cans. My two questions are, do I have to worry about this stuff going bad in some fashion after the cans have been opened, or is there a source for it in smaller packages? I'm not trying to prepare for doomsday, I just want to have as much in the way of cooking staples pre-positioned as possible, so we don't have to pack as much in on our camping trips. The normal canned stuff is not really an option either, because it will freeze during the winter, so I have to take any unused canned goods home at the end of every summer. The temperature out there drops down to -50F or so during the coldest part of the winter.

[Termite]

Have you considered buying the #10 cans of the items you want, breaking them down into smaller quantaties, and re-vaccum packing them?
You could use a Food Saver vaccuum sealer to re-seal pint/quart quantaties, then put the sealed bags in wide mouth jars for rodent protection.

I vaccuum packed home made jerky, and packs of pistatios and pecans to send to a friend in Iraq.
Mrs Termite vaccuum seals our bulk amounts of pecans(locally grown, hand shelled) before tossing them in the freezer.

[Netpackrat]

Yeah, I thought about it. I probably should buy a vacuum packer anyway; I just haven't gotten around to it.

[Termite]

Thinking about jerky reminds me: do you make your own salmon jerky?

I need to get Mrs Termite's nephew to send me some salmon jerky. He's stationed at Elmendorf.

[Netpackrat]

Thinking about jerky reminds me: do you make your own salmon jerky?

I know how to make hard smoked salmon (not the same as jerky), but I have not done so in years, which is a shame, since it is one of the few ways I actually like to eat fish. It takes a bit of a time commitment, but maybe next year if I get my shit together I'll build a new smokehouse here in Anchorage. I still have one at my stepmom's place but I hardly ever get down there, and never for long enough to smoke fish. AlaskaTRX uses it some every year when he is up, but he just smokes fillets before vacuum sealing and freezing them.

[Rich Jordan]

Foodsaver bags are reportedly not completely impervious to oxygen. Plus when you open the can and separate the ingredients you will get some moisture in there. The canned foods of that type I've seen all recommend using the contents within 5-10 days of opening.

If info in some of the more survival oriented fora are accurate you would be better off using mylar bags and oxygen absorbers. But I don't have authoritative info on that...