You would need to heat seal in a Mylar bag for O2 absorbers to be effective.
Preparations Update
- Thread starter Sentry18
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I get my O2 absorbers and large mylar bags that fit a 5 gallon bucket from our local WINCO store.. One bag for everything and a few oxygen absorbers couldn't hurt....Sealing them up might also help with high humidity summers. Just use your fancy electric hair straightening press to seal them after you suck out the air with a vacuum cleaner.
I didn't know sealing in mylar was that easy. I'm still a rookie with long term food storage.
For now I'll stick with rotation for pre-packaged foods I eat on a regular bases. In the future I'll start using mylar for home dried foods with the intention of having a long term food supply without rotation. I figure those foods will be the just add water type with a short cook time, or just warm, or eat cold in a pinch.
Edit: I'll also plan on mylar for homemade beef jerky and dried fruits. That stage shouldn't be too far out.
For now I'll stick with rotation for pre-packaged foods I eat on a regular bases. In the future I'll start using mylar for home dried foods with the intention of having a long term food supply without rotation. I figure those foods will be the just add water type with a short cook time, or just warm, or eat cold in a pinch.
Edit: I'll also plan on mylar for homemade beef jerky and dried fruits. That stage shouldn't be too far out.
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Have fun on your food preservation journey..
If you have others who depend on you or you want to go for a year or five without any harvesting or replenishment ask me about freeze dryers.....they really work. I have been freeze drying for a couple of years and consider the pure unadultarated food a really good investment....plus it can be just add water and eat it out of the bag.
our local big box has them down to $1695 or about the same price as four five gallon pails of good meat.
Got some needed replacement tools in today. My files were in sad shape, especially the needle files. My Allen wrenches were a joke, some missing, some rusty. All my good cold chisels are missing. Only one left was 3/8ths made by craftsman, something I had to buy on a job somewhere.
Klein tools I recognized along with Mayhew chisels, they’re decent. Couldn’t find a brand of files I recognized. Took a chance on ‘Rexbeti’, nice zip up case and handles. Guess I’ll have to wait and see on the quality.
I do like the handle for the Klein allens (metric and sae). I can see where that'd be useful.
Klein tools I recognized along with Mayhew chisels, they’re decent. Couldn’t find a brand of files I recognized. Took a chance on ‘Rexbeti’, nice zip up case and handles. Guess I’ll have to wait and see on the quality.
I do like the handle for the Klein allens (metric and sae). I can see where that'd be useful.
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Did you buy that non-contact thermometer on the right in this purchase too?
They are a very useful tool. I use those for everything from cooking to checking cooling systems and insulation to monitoring the operating temperature of drive components in the trucks (unimogs). We base some of our lubrication choices on operating temperature.
No, not a part of this purchase. I've been using them for years though. Bought my first one when experimenting with hydrogen cells. First cells I built had thermal issues, had to keep an eye on them.
I use one in the kitchen for cooking all the time, very handy for that! I deep fry in a cast iron dutch oven. Makes keeping up with oil temp easy.
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Kinda got busy and forgot to monitor my (new) battery bank.
Its been barely holding its own the last month solar wise, but It snowed (for the first time this year) last week and totally killed even the little solar I was getting.
I learned that lithiums when they get to a low enough voltage, shut ALL the way off. So much so the charge controller display went blank.
So far off, my trickle charger won't even recognize them as batteries anymore. I had to put a portable jump starter on them, then while it was on, hook up my trickle charger....then remove the jump starter, without removing the trickle charger....
Guess I need to spend a little time wiring things up so that there is a cut off before they batteries reach that point. I don't know if a sunny day would have provided enough juice to the charge controller to get things started again or not, but it was kinda interesting finding myself in a 'black start' situation.
After trickle charging overnight, all seems well, of course it will take about two days for the trickle charger to re-charge the batteries but after about 12 I'm up to 12.4 volts after starting at 10.9 once I got the system registering again.
Its been barely holding its own the last month solar wise, but It snowed (for the first time this year) last week and totally killed even the little solar I was getting.
I learned that lithiums when they get to a low enough voltage, shut ALL the way off. So much so the charge controller display went blank.
So far off, my trickle charger won't even recognize them as batteries anymore. I had to put a portable jump starter on them, then while it was on, hook up my trickle charger....then remove the jump starter, without removing the trickle charger....
Guess I need to spend a little time wiring things up so that there is a cut off before they batteries reach that point. I don't know if a sunny day would have provided enough juice to the charge controller to get things started again or not, but it was kinda interesting finding myself in a 'black start' situation.
After trickle charging overnight, all seems well, of course it will take about two days for the trickle charger to re-charge the batteries but after about 12 I'm up to 12.4 volts after starting at 10.9 once I got the system registering again.
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The new lithiums out have a cutoff on them, so when it says 0 percent, it's not, there's a reserve on them so that won't happen where they're not recoverable. Our new Millertech lithiums have bluetooth on them to tell you their state of charge. I think that's handy.
I just got 4 Li 18650 batteries and a 4 stall charger. The batteries were about 1/16” shorter than my other 18650 batteries so using them in my current devices is a problem.
Ordered a second inverter mentioned in post #4493 along with 8 more 20V batteries and a car jumper cable, and a light.
https://www.amazon.com/Flood-Work-L...ols,tools,165&sr=1-63&xpid=a_pIAtKGDuv3V&th=1
https://www.amazon.com/Kzreect-Port...8-3-spons&sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9hdGY&th=1
Ordered a second inverter mentioned in post #4493 along with 8 more 20V batteries and a car jumper cable, and a light.
https://www.amazon.com/Flood-Work-L...ols,tools,165&sr=1-63&xpid=a_pIAtKGDuv3V&th=1
https://www.amazon.com/Kzreect-Port...8-3-spons&sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9hdGY&th=1
Dug out a forgotten tote of food while rotating, discovered that somehow it got filled with water. Saved what I could, including some sunflower protein powder which made nice keto cookies.
Started refilling my canned goods, I had gone through quite a bit of them this summer.
Went over plans for stealth housing and noise control, while still having good visibility to the outdoors.
Started refilling my canned goods, I had gone through quite a bit of them this summer.
Went over plans for stealth housing and noise control, while still having good visibility to the outdoors.
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- Sep 4, 2020
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Are you ready to be stuck in your car? We are getting ready for another major storm that is supposed to hit tomorrow. Even though I have the luxury of staying home, I still added a few things to my car in the event I did have to leave, and did get stuck. Remember the people in Atlanta that were stuck on the highway? What if that was you?
My biggest concern is water. Not that I couldn't store it, but temps are supposed to be single digit. I am concerned about it freezing.
My biggest concern is water. Not that I couldn't store it, but temps are supposed to be single digit. I am concerned about it freezing.
One of the better tools i have added for storing food. whether freeze dried, dehydrated or just something that benefits from O2 absorbers. i do matches, socks for the pack and anything else i can think of.
I have been using this one since march of 2023 and it has been busy. It will work with the cheaper freezer bags as well as the heavy duty mylar bags. it first sucks the air out of the bag then heat seals it... The suck time and sealing time are adjustable. I have had zero problems with it.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B08R...&pd_rd_r=3c330701-0ef6-4b59-8377-a25113d4d99d
Got new calipers today, 6 inch with digital readouts. I went with functional for my current needs. The 12 inch Starrett dial calipers are still on my list. At $250+ they were out of my budget this month.
Also got 2 sheets of Kydex, gonna try my hand at making a knife sheath. They were supposed to come with rivets! But there weren't any in the box. Have to figure that out tonight, maybe I messed up the order.
Needed wire wheels for my dremel so I got a big bag of knock offs for $30.
Also got 2 sheets of Kydex, gonna try my hand at making a knife sheath. They were supposed to come with rivets! But there weren't any in the box. Have to figure that out tonight, maybe I messed up the order.
Needed wire wheels for my dremel so I got a big bag of knock offs for $30.
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While I own a few digital calipers, I prefer the dial indicators because they are EMP proof.
Ben
I have several calipers, my digital can switch back and fort from metric to american.....i still have a caliper bought at sears under the craftsman name that is non dial but more like a slide rule with a vernier scale....won't measure a gnats eyelash but it is good enough for a lot of things and will last longer than I will.
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I have been looking for a 24" caliper but the price of a dial version is outside my budget.
But a vernier version may be.
Ben
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I have dreams of converting my milling machine and lathe to steam driven line shaft. I will have to do some alignment between pulleys and RPM conversion.
It a dream but it is mine.
Ben
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Bill have you run that magic sealer for long sessions? I have a small vacuum sealer that I like to use but I have found that if I'm putting up a lot of food, it will only go about 4 or 5 bags and then won't vacuum properly again until I stop and let it cool down. That gets frustrating. That sealer looks really expensive but might be a good investment, as now that my greenhouses are up I hope to be getting some longer grow seasons and do a lot of dehydrating.
Morgan thanks for the reminder to update the possibles bag in my truck. I haven't repacked it in quite a while and need to do that. I do keep water and food in it; I use water in pouches that I found on amazon and haven't had any issues with them breaking or leaking when freezing. The bag lives under the back seat of the truck and I occasionally raid it for a pair of gloves or some antihistamine when I'm out on fieldwork, so I've been in there and verified no problems. I think the water pouches currently in the bag have been there a at least a couple of years, so certainly past time to refresh.
Morgan thanks for the reminder to update the possibles bag in my truck. I haven't repacked it in quite a while and need to do that. I do keep water and food in it; I use water in pouches that I found on amazon and haven't had any issues with them breaking or leaking when freezing. The bag lives under the back seat of the truck and I occasionally raid it for a pair of gloves or some antihistamine when I'm out on fieldwork, so I've been in there and verified no problems. I think the water pouches currently in the bag have been there a at least a couple of years, so certainly past time to refresh.
I have a metal water bottle that I’ve never had any problems with. I don’t fill it to the rim, but I do tighten the lid. (I tested it on accident
). It passed the test.
So far I mainly vacume pack the food from my large harvest rite freeze dryer...that can be anywhere from 4 to 8 heavy mylar bags. The larger are at least two quart and my sealer sucks the bags down tight on the food...
I have had the flat plastic probe get stuck together from the heat or food residue probably. When that happens I carefully work a small knife or a few tines of a fork into the probe to open it up. I also lube the knife or fork with some olive oil..
They are expensive but with good food and some 02 absorbers in the bags I figure sucking out the air will help the food last longer with less chance of going bad..
What ever you can do to store food efficiently is worth it I feel.....the times they are changing......and not for the better for a while..
Metal is a good choice partly because if you really have to you can cook with it. Also no plastic leakage into the water.I have a metal water bottle that I’ve never had any problems with. I don’t fill it to the rim, but I do tighten the lid. (I tested it on accident
