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About

As many folks have mentioned, its definitely time to update my About page!

My name is Toby Truman.  I am: blessed by my Creator, middle-aged entrepreneur, Full-Time Husband and father of 3 amazing girls. We live on the 40 acre Zombiewood Farms with +/- 23 chickens, a 110 pound house pig, an elderly miniature pinscher named Arnold, a mutt named Ellie, 2 cats and my Mother-In-Law.  My best friend lives in the pool house and works with me as our attorney and design guy. (We’re trying to upgrade him to a tiny house, but holy cow that’s a project and a half!)  I started the blog and business out of my basement over nearly 10 years ago now, and it has grown beyond our wildest imaginings.  In 2016 we purchased our farm and a warehouse in Lewisburg, TN.

I became interested in preparedness/survivalism in 2007, slowly built up over a year’s supply worth of food, water filtration and other items you’ll find in many prepper’s pantries.  After our move, we chose to leave our food at Survival Club North, so I am back to rebuilding a year’s supply for 11 people.

I don’t believe the world is going to end, but I know it is prudent to be prepared for whatever may come our way.  Like most prepper’s, I’m not ‘afraid’ of anything and view preparing as just another form of insurance for my family.

I’m not a tinfoil hatter and I don’t believe many conspiracy theories, but I am concerned about the state of freedom in our country.  I would love to see Congress spend several full terms NOT passing new laws, and simply removing outdated ones, ones that have been proven to not work, or ones that waste money (ie. most of them).

Our family is debt-free except for our home and warehouse, and financial preparedness is an essential part of our overall plan.  My current goal is to pay off our home as quickly as possible, though that is still more than a few years away.

While I love prepping and running the business seems endless sometimes, I have many other hobbies.  I love to hike, camp, shoot, play board and video games, and watch movies with my wife.  I am a Kurzweil-inspired futurist that believes mankind will soon be capable of even more amazing things than it already is.

While for most of my life I pined for the day I could retire, after growing my business I can’t imagine not working on something new for as long as I am able.  I want to write books, design games, build websites, and sell millions of Mylar Bags.  I want to hear from you, listen to your stories, your victories and your failures both.

I am blessed by Providence, beyond all measure.  I believe any person can build a life on their own terms, as we have.  If you need inspiration or motivation, drop me an email at admin@discountmylarbags.com, and I’ll do my best to provide.

I may still fail.  But not today.

0 Comments Add Yours ↓

The upper is the most recent comment

  1. Beverly Tate #
    1

    What are you doing for lunch tomorrow ? I need an ear!

  2. 2

    Hello,

    We have been ordering bags from you for quite some time. What started out as a preparedness plan has turned into a full blown business for us as well. We sell Survival seed banks on our website and Ebay. I’m an artist at first but have now quit my Full time job to pack seed banks. We still run it out of our house and every order is packed by yours truly. It’s just so awesome to see someone else paving their own path to being self-sufficient and having financial freedom. I’m a single Mom of two that busted my butt for a company for over 6 years and now I make a product I am proud of and I’m helping people in a small way. I just wanted to give you a big Thank you from My Seedcellar because we couldn’t do it without our wonderful suppliers!

    Sincerely,

    Chris

  3. Silvia Meyer #
    3

    Question: HOW MANY MYLAR BAGS AND WHAT SIZE BAG WOULD I NEED
    TO STORE 25LBS. OF WHITE RAICE?

  4. 4

    Ma’am,

    You could store 25lbs of rice in 5 1 gallon bags, 2-3 2 gallon bags and or 1 5 gallon bag.

    Good luck!
    Tobias

  5. 5

    Ma’am,

    Thank you for the great story, and sorry about the slow reply…business has been crazy and I haven’t been able to get over here for ages. ‘On the edge of burnout and entrepreneurial vigor’ as I call it! Owning a small business is a blessing, and I preach being a ‘merchant’ to being anyone who will listen. It’s something anyone can do with a little drive can do; for anyone who has been on unemployment for 99 weeks, that’s far longer than it took to get DMB up and running!

    Thank you!
    Tobias

  6. Craig Ramsay #
    6

    Talked to your Dad, Joe, a few nights ago. Sounds like life is a blast for him and exciting as well. Glad about that. Hope to get to dinner with him soon and his new wife & daughter. Jackie & I used to own your old house in CT – 13 Egypt Lane. Loved the house. We now live here in Murfreesboro, TN. Had to leave our daughter & their 5 children to do it. Had three of them here with us last month. What a wonderful time we had. Glad your site is working for you. Sounds exciting. Have been going through the survival literature on-line myself. Seems only normal with all of the potential environmental disturbances available to the environment – Floods, Tornadoes, Hurricanes, Civil Unrest, etc. Need to look your site over more. All the best to you and your growing family. Craig

  7. Scott #
    7

    Can you vacuum seal the mylar bags? If so, are the oxygen absorbers needed?
    Thanks.

  8. 8

    Sir,

    Sorry for the slow reply, I missed this one. Yes, you can vacuum seal many Mylar bags, but I don’t recommend it as Oxygen Absorbers are about 20 times more effective at removing oxygen; plus, some Mylar bags can puncture if put under a full vacuum with certain foods. An oxygen absorber will remove down to about .1% oxygen, while vacuum sealing leaves about 2% oxygen (still good though!).

    Thanks!
    Tobias

  9. Kathy Pichowski #
    9

    Hi Tobias,
    How can I call in an order? Can’t fine a phone number anywhere on your site and don’t want to order online. Please help .
    Thank You.
    Kathy

  10. 10

    could you send me a sample of your 1 gal mylar bag, i have purchased some before from another supplier and they are just to thick, hard to put things is a seal up with iron. They are way to stiff.
    Before i purchase hundreds of these i would like to see for myself what thickness they are and if they can easily hold food and be sealed at the top.

    Thank you,
    Lynn

  11. Rick #
    11

    I purchased your Mylar bags from Amazon. Thanks for all the info on your web site. I’m a disabled Vet, and I saw what you wrote about helping veterans. You’re very kind, I hope God blesses you for your kindness towards my brothers. I am blessed to have means to pay for what I need, but it could use a military discount to help me out. Do you offer a military discount? Thanks in advance
    Rick
    MCPO USN (ret)

  12. CanadianEh #
    12

    Will you ship mylar bags to Canada?

  13. Howard May #
    13

    HI , WE ARE NEW TO THIS BUT WE BOUGHT THE QUART SIZE BAGS FROM YOU AND GOT THE OBSORBERS WITH THEM . WE HAVE PUT OATS , CORN MEAL , FLOUR , GRITS , PINTO BEANS IN THE BAGS WITH 1 OBSORBER WE HAVEN’T HAD VERY MANY OF THE BAGS GET HARD TO LET US KNOW THE OXYGEN IS OUT OF THEM . DID WE DO SOMETHING WRONG OR DO THEY HAVE TO BE HARD TO KNOW THEY ARE WORKING ? DO WE NEED TO DO THEM AGAIN ? WILL THEY SPOIL ? PLEASE RESPOND AS SOON AS POSSIBLE . I WOULD LIKE TO DO SOME MORE STORAGE . THANKS FOR YOUR HELP .

  14. kytriya #
    14

    Why do you call England “Deathtrap Island”? Just curious. Thanks!

  15. 15

    I have this vision of my head of England during the ’28 Days’ series of movies. If some horrible EOTWAWKI event happened there, there’s really no place to go. It could be they could switch back to an agrarian society quicker than we could, but I wonder what the maximum carrying capacity of the British Isles is if forced back to 1800’s technology. I felt the same way about my previous home…we lived on a densely populated peninsula, and it would’ve been impossible to escape once the roads were blocked. Trapped with 15,000 people on 5 square miles of land sounded a lot like a deathtrap.=)

  16. Jon Ziegler #
    16

    I was getting ready to rotate my foods. I’m learning along the way and have a question. I store my beans, rice and flour in 5 gal buckets and now I’m going to start using Mylar bags and absorbers. Does it matter if I put the whole unopened 25 lb bag of beans or whatever, into the Mylar bag with its absorbers and seal it, or should the products be pored into the mylar bags and removed from their packaging?

    Also, I bought the ziplock Mylar bags. How does one pull a vacuum on the bag and seal it without a machine specifically for this part of the storing process? I understand the ironing process for the final seal but not clear on pulling the vacuum and holding it, while sealing. Any help would be appreciated. thanks, Jon Z.

  17. Michael #
    17

    Thank you for including the insert explaining the pin hole information. While researching before purchasing your bags months and months ago I saw in the comments that many people were having issues with pinholes. When I received the first order through Amazon from you 6 of the 10 bags had pinholes and I returned them because I was told to use a flashlight to inspect before using. I now want to apologize for doing this after reading your FAQ’s on the website. Now that I understand I will not return any more. I know this is your livelyhood and this makes a difference when people know that they are dealing with people, not a company in China that is selling faulty product. I just received another order from you and had the explanation insert included. Thank you for this because without it I would return the order if I found even the tiniest pin hole. I stand corrected.

  18. Esther #
    18

    We live just north of Nashville, halfway to Clarksville. We too experienced the devastating flood of 2010 at my mother’s in Bellevue.

    I’d like to store 50 lbs of rice in 1 lb packets (what size mylar is that? 1 qt per lb??) Need your advice on how to best store 50 lbs of rice for 2 people.

    And based on that, what size O2 absorber would I need? I want to get the gusset type with the ziplock.

    Thank you! We have friends whose parents live on a farm in Lewisburg, as well.

    Esther



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