Making Oxygen absorbers and moisture eaters for storage.

[Magus]

Oxygen eaters are easy, get an old baby food jar and drill the lid full of 1/64th-inch holes like a pepper shaker.
Buy some steel wool with NO soap on it.
Cover it in salt and knead it up well.
Cram it in the jar and screw on the lid.
Be sure to place it at the bottom of whatever container you are protecting, ideally in an old sock.
Smaller ones can be made from old prescription bottles, Larger ones from defective canning jars, etc.

Moisture absorbers are even easier, pour some instant rice into an old sock with no holes in it, tie a knot in it, and chuck it in.
Old cornmeal does a respectable job as well. A jar such as the one I just mentioned works too.

Check your local hardware stores, many things are shipped with silica gel packs they only throw away, ask them to save them, don't worry if they are full, and put some in the oven on tin foil Just In Case, heat them for half an hour on 120 degrees to reactivate them.

Any more ideas?

 

[Buffalo]

So how do you determine the amount of oxygen your baby food jar will absorb? Meaning, how many baby jars are you putting in, say a five gallon bucket of beans?
Also, have you done any long term tests on these guys? Does the rust formed on the steel wool degrade the lid?

Not trying to be condescending, just am curious if this is something you have actually done or if it is just something off of the internet. I see a lot of posts like this on "survival" blogs, but they are more or less never tested and proven. If they do work as advertised, it would be something good to put aside for a time you were out of o2 absorbers or couldn't get any, but if it is just internet lore, then I think I would be a little cautious in relying on them to keep my food stores safe.

 

[Tim Horton]

I have seen a homemade moisture absorber made out of a certain type cat litter..
(100% silica ??)

Wrap about a half cup cat litter in a large coffee filter.. Tie shut with string. Poke lots of small nail holes in a used large mouth size lid, like a recycled 1 liter pickle jar. Suspend bag of cat litter under the lid. Put jar in desired location.. Make about 2 times the set ups you think you may need. They may not be as efficient as purchased absorbers, but will be very cheap to make.

We used them in a basement cold room pantry.. They collected very little water only in spring and early fall it seemed. Local climate and your individual storage conditions will vary greatly..