Food Storage FAQ
Food Storage FAQ
Comprehensive Food Storage FAQ v. 0.2.0, updated 08/30/2018
What is an Oxygen Absorber?
An oxygen absorber is a small packet of material used to prolong the shelf life of food. They are used in food packaging to prevent food color change, to stop oils in foods from becoming rancid, and also retard the growth of oxygen-using aerobic microorganisms such as fungi.
The active ingredient is an iron oxide powder, which when it chemically reacts (IE. rusts) removes oxygen from the atmosphere.
How do I know when an oxygen absorber is working?
The most obvious sign an oxygen packet is working is that it gets warm. When continuously exposed to oxygen, some can get so hot as to be uncomfortable to touch, and will often form condensation on the inside of the outer package. On some occasions, typically when it’s very dry, an absorber might not get warm…that doesn’t mean there is anything wrong with it; it will work in your bag up to 7 days or until all the oxygen is removed. Oxygen scavengers have a ridiculously low failure rate. If you are calling to tell us ‘my absorbers didn’t work’, in 99.9% cases that’s wrong. An anecdote to go with that claim:
We have had several cases where customers went so far as to simply tape up (or staple, or wrap in paper towels) their oxygen absorber bag and send it back with a nastygram attached about how their oxygen absorbers were broken. In a couple of those cases, even after several days in the mail, we were able to put several of those unsealed absorbers in some random food storage project we were working on, and they worked perfectly.
In only 1 case in all my years of storing food and working with others doing the same, was there a verifiable case of ‘oxygen absorbers not working.’ Those were due to a supplier error…we immediately discarded the affected cases (they were years beyond their best by date) and reshipped good product to the customer (with some extra as an apology).
In the vast majority of cases, if your ‘oxygen absorber didn’t work’ it’s because the seal on your Mylar bag is compromised. We recommend for the average 1 gallon bag a 2″ seal. All those little seams you see when you iron a Mylar bag are potential ‘straws’ that will let air in, so you need a good large seal to make sure those straws don’t make it from the top of the seal to the bottom.
How do I know when an oxygen absorber is used up or no good?
This is one of the most frequently asked questions we get. The easiest way to tell if an oxygen absorber is good is to pinch the packet. If it feels ‘soft’ or powdery, the iron oxide powder is still in its original state and it is good. If it feels ‘hard’ or like a solid wafer in the packet, it is completely spent and should be replaced.
(An update to this question 8_30_18): Please note that the manufacturing process of oxygen absorbers has changed and improved over the years since we started selling them. While this may still hold true for many or even most oxygen absorbers, for many others it isn’t. They will simply stay as a powder for their entire life, while good and used up.
At the end of the day, they only way to know whether an absorber is good is if it gets warm, and to buy them from someone you absolutely trust to discard old absorbers when they aren’t working any more. (That’s us; I regularly throw away oxygen absorbers, desiccant and Mylar bags that aren’t 100%…better that than risking someone’s food storage)
How long should it take for my absorber to remove all the air from my bag?
Some conditions are better than others for the speed at which an oxygen absorber works. For example, in a very dry climate, it might take up to a week for an absorber to fully activate. In a warm, humid climate it might take only 48 hours.
How many oxygen absorbers should I use? (Updated)
For 1-gallon bags, you should use 1 500cc or 2 300cc oxygen absorbers. For 5-gallon bags you should use 1 2000cc and 1 500cc oxygen absorber. You should adjust this number up a little bit if you are storing less dense foods, such as pasta or some lentils, because the bags will contain more air even when full in comparison to very dense foods such as rice or wheat.
Please note I’ve changed this answer somewhat. Over the last 9 years since I did the original FAQ, I’ve worked with 100’s of businesses and thousands of customers who are storing everything from dried goods, freeze dried food to hops and cannabis to pharmaceuticals. While a 300cc oxygen absorber is enough in most cases, there are more fail (not many, just more) cases using just 300cc. Things like freeze dried food, which naturally have a lot of internal airspace, should definitely have 2. However, that is also slightly overkill, so the easiest ‘new’ answer is 1 500cc per 1 gallon bag. This amount will cover far more cases with far fewer failures.
Do I need to use oxygen absorbers with everything I store?
Most foods will benefit in longevity when using oxygen absorbers. However, they are unnecessary when storing sugar or salt, which will last forever all on their own. In some cases, using an absorber with these foods will cause significant clumping, although it won’t harm them otherwise. Also note that some foods may not store well for long periods of time no matter the method used (for example flour, yeast and some spices).
I ordered 20/50/100 Oxygen Absorbers, I’m definitely not going to use that many…what should I do with the rest?
The best way to store oxygen absorbers is to use a small mason jar with a gasketed lid. You’ll know you have a good seal because the absorbers will pull the pop-top down. (If you have a Food Saver and jar attachment, you can use that to draw out excess air) Try to use the smallest jar possible to minimize the work the absorbers you are storing need to do to clear the jar. You can also re-vacuum seal the absorbers in their original or another oxygen barrier bag. Second best to using a mason jar is to use a Mylar bag. Please note, oxygen absorbers will NEVER cause a bag to contract, no matter how many are in a bag. See my answer below about ‘why didn’t my bags get hard.’
What is Mylar?
BoPET (Biaxially-oriented polyethylene terephthalate) is a polyester film made from stretched polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and is used for its high tensile strength, chemical and dimensional stability, transparency, reflectivity, gas and aroma barrier properties and electrical insulation.
A variety of companies manufacture boPET and other polyester films under different brand names. In the US and Britain, the most well-known trade names are Mylar, Melinex and Hostaphan.
To be honest, Mylar isn’t any better or worse than many other sealant layers, such as branded films of LLDPE. It is just the most widely known.
Wait, your Mylar bags aren’t clear; what’s up?
The polyester film is combined with an aluminum foil layer and in some cases one or more other sealant layers of PE, PET, and/or LLDPE (Linear Low-Density Polyethylene); this allows for good heat-sealing, UV protection, incredibly low odor transmission, and high puncture resistance. Aluminum foil is the best barrier layer available in food storage packaging today. Some Mylar bags may have one or more specialty layers as well (for example, our 7.5 mil bags have a layer of Nylon which helps with tensile strength)
How do I seal Mylar bags?
Please see this post and video about sealing Mylar bags. Mylar can be sealed with a variety of devices, including a hotjaw sealer, clothes iron, or hair straightener.
OMG, I can see pinholes of light coming through the Mylar bag, why is that?
All foil structure Mylar bags will have small pinholes in the foil layer. There is a measurement, ‘Pinholes per meter squared’, that is part of the specification of foil bags. Pinholes affect all foil structures, from a thin 2.5mil bag to the thickest 7-8 mil bags. The other transparent layers of the bag keep the integrity of these bags, and it is only very rarely (less than 1/100th of 1%) an actual ‘pinhole puncture’. Plus, some pinholes are so small they are invisible to the naked eye, but they are still there.
Why don’t my bags get hard when I use an oxygen absorber?
This is our third most common question. While there will often be compression of the Mylar bag after sealing due to the oxygen absorber, an absorber is only removing the 20% of the atmosphere in the bag that is oxygen, leaving the 80% that is nitrogen intact.
There is also a specific density of food to headspace (air) that is also required. As I mentioned above, you could put 100 oxygen absorbers into a small Mylar bag and it won’t contract. Obviously there is plenty of absorption capacity, but the packets themselves don’t have the required density/shape to allow contraction. In terms of headspace, as little as .1 liters of air can cause extreme contraction in one bag and mild contraction in another.
Please note also that 3.5 mil bags tend to show their compression a lot more, down to the shape of a kernel of wheat. 5 mil bags may ‘feel’ tight but show compression much less. A 7 or 7.5 mil bag may simply ‘feel’ compressed without much visible sign.
A tip: when sealing alufoil bags make sure you remove as much of the ‘headspace’ as you can; this is the area at the top of the bag you seal. Even a little headspace can use up much of the power of the oxygen absorber.
You Folded the Bags, eek! Does folding hurt Mylar Bags?
The short answer is no, folding does not impact the longevity of food stored in Mylar bags. The longer answer can be found here explaining why.
Can I store Hops in Mylar Bags?
Yes, much of the hops industry has moved to Mylar Bags for transport, storage and sale of their product. The barrier properties of a Mylar bag simply can’t be beat for the cost.
Can I store cannabis in Mylar Bags?
Yes, as above, the new best practice for storage of cannabis is either in large or small Mylar bags. Large 5 gallon Mylar bags (18”x28” to 20”x30”) are often used for flowers and storage. Small bags, sometimes clear front or and sometimes solid silver or colored are used in almost every dispensary and by every cannabis distributor.
I see another seller saying imported Mylar bags are no good and the American ones are better, is that true?
The short answer is no. The long answer is very long, but you can read it below or skip to the end!
The sellers saying this are selling almost exclusively on Amazon. In the early 20-teens, a new kind of infomercial came out, mostly online, that told people how to market and sell stuff on Amazon. Part of those courses teach sellers to ‘private label’ products that others are selling, and simply make the listings better, prettier, with nicer pictures and good bullet points on why you should buy their products over the originals. I’ll admit many of these kinds of sellers make prettier listings than I do!
I’ll also be very clear…there isn’t a whit of difference between a US made and an imported bag. They are made from the exact same filmstock, the same layers of Mylar, polyethylene, and aluminum foil, in the same thicknesses. The main culprit on Amazon simply had to find a way to justify that the cost of his bags is 20-30% higher, and the thickness is up to 20% lower than ours and is waving the ‘made in the USA’ banner to do that.
Now don’t get me wrong, I love Made in the USA products, so let me clarify. We sold only USA bags for many years…but honestly, the bags made by American manufacturers were simply not as good as what we sell now. They had a higher error rate on both orders and product. They had lower mil rates and inferior specs. If you want to support American companies, awesome, I do too! If you want the best product for your food storage? Don’t assume an American company makes that, because more often than not, they don’t. The error rate on Asian shipments is infinitesimal compared to American manufacturers. We manufactured 3 full CONTAINERS of product in Asia before we had a single (minor) problem in a shipment. In the early days when we were ordering single pallets of products from American manufacturers, we had problems on every order. Every…single…one (including the oxygen absorber fiasco I listed above). In two cases, they produced the wrong product and shipped it.
Another point on this question is that any seller who claims this just doesn’t know much about packaging. Mylar is ONLY made by a consortium that includes foreign companies (Teijin and Dupont). So any company that says they are selling ‘USA made’ Mylar bags may be speaking about the actual physical assembly of the bag, but very rarely are the films in Mylar bag manufacturing made in America (I know of only one plant in the US that makes it, and they don’t sell to this small Amazon seller).
Finally, one of the sellers who is saying these things on Amazon is purchasing from an American company that imports millions of Mylar bags from Asia. We’re talking many containers a month. There is no way the seller has chain of custody documents that can guarantee his particular Mylar bags are made in America.
Why did I spend so much time and space on the above answer?
Integrity. One thing many of my customers have noticed over the years is that I answer questions, emails and phone calls to the best of my ability (some months are not as good as others). And my answers are NEVER predicated on you buying anything from me. Many times, I actually steer people away from buying something because what I sell won’t help them achieve their goal.
I want people to store food. Whether its in boxes, glass jars, beach buckets, coffee cups or anything else, I just want people to be prepared. My answers to questions are based on this fact. I’ve referred folks to other businesses when mine wasn’t best suited to serving them. The LDS storehouse in Hendersonville used to refer customers to us because they knew we cared about not just the product, but the process of storing food.
I spent so much time on the above question because the seller mentioned is questioning my integrity. I wouldn’t sell you bags if I couldn’t sell you awesome bags. I wouldn’t sell you oxygen absorbers if I didn’t carry the most reliable brands of oxygen absorber. And when I do make a mistake, I usually follow it up with something like ‘oh crap, I made a mistake, here’s what I’m going to do to try to make it right.’
How do I contact ShieldPro or Discount Mylar Bags?
Email is always easiest for us. I still work in the warehouse every day and so its easiest for me to get to your question or issue if you email me. Our email is admin@discountmylarbags.com
However, if you do need to call us, that’s cool too! 615-945-0762
If you have a question not answered by this FAQ, let me know and I’ll update and republish it!
Thank you so much for being my customers all these years. I’ve been amazingly blessed to be in this business and able to work with many of the most industrious and imaginative folks you can imagine.
Heya, thanks for the question! I recommend absorbers over vacuum sealing simply because they are more effective. A vacuum sealer can remove down to about 2% oxygen remaining in a bag, where oxygen absorbers remove down to .1%, or a factor of 20 better. Vacuum sealing is still a good process, but if you want the longest possible shelf life, oxygen absorbers are the way to go.
Thank you!
Tobias
Ma’am,
Hey there! Pail diameter is generally 12″ for a 5 gallon (and 6) bucket. The smaller buckets will not work with the Gamma Lids. The 1 gallon buckets can store about 10 lbs, and the 2 gallons about 18-20lbs.
Thank you!
Tobias
Ma’am,
Generally, my rule is, ‘do what you can.’ If you can’t fit all the ‘best’ criteria, then meet as many as you can. Hawaii is beautiful, but definitely a challenge for storing food due to the climate! I’ll see what I can work up in the way of some tips for more tropical climates!
Thank you!
Tobias
For a pint size, 200cc will work and will likely be a little overkill (never a bad thing!!). 100cc will work as well!
Thank you!
Tobias
I know that storing flour long term is not recommended. But if a person was going to do it what would be the best way? to leave the flour in the paper bag and put that inside the myler with an oxygen absorber between the pAper and mylar then in a 5 gallon pail… or to dump the flour into the mylar with the oxygen absorber directly in the flour and then put it in a 5 gallon pail? .. Also same question for rice in plastic bags Thanks-Mike
Hello, I have a Professional III Foodsaver brand vacuum sealer. Will your mylar bags works with that product?
can you use o2 absorbers with Quaker oats oatmeal ?
Tobias,
I’ve seen on Youtube folk’s who are taking Pasta Sides pouches as well as Rice Sides packages with the noodle or rice and flavor packets inside, poking a hole in the package with a hole punch, placing 10 of the pouches in a food storage bucket, adding a couple oxygen absorbers, then sealing it up, stating it will last 5 years. I’ve also seen folk’s putting the Pasta Sides pouches, poking a hole in the pouch, then putting the pouches in mylar, sealing the with oxygen absorbers. Those rice and pasta side sell for about $1 ea. I want to know if this is a methid that would work and really last 5 years? Or, do you have a better way of doing it? My concern is that putting the actual puechased pouch from the store in mylar or just in a food grade bucket, the pouch itself may containmate the contents. I’d like to know your thoughts on this method that a lot of people are doing now before I waste money in doing it myself.
Thanks,
Forrest
Sir,
Heya, thanks for the question; sorry for the ultra slow reply, catching up on months of comments…yes, I’m a terrible blogger!! Most of those pouches are dried pretty thoroughly; they are probably good for double their shelf life. If I had to guess, they’d probably last 5 years without doing too much too them! I don’t like the first method of putting the pouches into a bucket and using absorbers, as buckets aren’t airtight and so there is no low-oxy environment there. The 2nd method would work and at least double the shelf life; 5 years isn’t far fetched. As you alluded to, I much prefer taking food out of its original container and putting it directly into Mylar to avoid the potential for bacterial growth.
For me, there are probably a lot better foods to store than pasta sides, for two reasons. First, they are pretty bulky for the calories you are getting. Second, you have to add water. In a disaster situation, that water might be better used for something else. I’d much rather store canned soup even though its a little bulkier, because it contains its own water and has an essentially infinite shelf life!
Thank you!
Tobias
Sir,
Yes, absolutely!
Thank you!
Tobias
Ma’am,
Foodsavers will seal Mylar bags, however because they don’t have channels, the vacuum function won’t work. One note, because Foodsaver seals also tend to be a little thin, I always recommend doubling up on the seal if using one!
Thank you!
Tobias
Sir,
I always recommend removing food from the original container to prevent the opportunity for bacterial growth on the packaging.
Thank you!
Tobias
I have just found this wonderful world of Mylar bags and oxygen absorbers, I thought that I did enough research to begin storing my food. I’m having problems with air in about half of my bags, I repackaged the problem bags and increased the absorbers and still about half didn’t set up. I only gave them two days to do their thing should I give it more time?
Thank you for your time, Ramona from Alaska
Ma’am,
Thanks for the note and questions! Many folks expect all their bags to ‘contract’ like a vacuum seal bag, however that will only happen with some types of foods. As you said you had the same food and tried to seal it twice, I am guessing that you are storing a type of food that does not contract much. For example, oats, flour, and other very dense or very fluffy foods will rarely contract. Also, the amount of headspace in a bag (The total amount of air in a bag after sealing) helps determine if a bag contracts or not. In those cases, all of the oxygen is still removed, but the bag might only contract slightly or unnoticeably. I would also check the seals on your bag; they should be between 1″-2″ thick, and you should be able to squeeze the bag lightly without any air coming out. If you had 10 bags that did contract, and 10 that did not, for example, I think you probably did everything correctly and just got some different results based on your food type and headspace gas.
Thank you!
Tobias
What are the recommendations on using pre-used buckets for long time storage? I have frosting buckets with gaskets given to me by local bakeries. Trying to keep cost down due to a limited budget.
If you have already posted please direct me, as I am new to your site.
Thank you for the time it takes you to blog back. Your site is quite informative and easy to use. Thank you.
Heya, thanks for the note! Feel free to use any bucket that once had food in it from a bakery or restaurant. Just wash it out well with a light bleach rinse. The buckets are more to protect the Mylar bag, so almost any type of bucket will work.
Thanks!
Tobias
When I seal my mylar bags I use a iron.After I make a 2in seal on the bag I use the edge of the iron and go across the place where I sealed the bag.I think this gives a extra thin line of protection.It can’t hurt and it might help to seal the bag.Just a theory of mine.
I was wondering if I need to put desiccants in my mylar bags when storing sugar?
Can I store Bean, rice, etc in fruit jars using oxygen absorbers? If so what
size? I am new to this and any advice is helpful.
Sure, you can use canning jars; you want the kind with the ring and seal. Use a 100cc absorber for a 1 quart jar. Try to keep them out of the light if possible, as that can damage the nutrients in the foods you are storing.
Thanks!
Tobias
Heya, thanks for the question. If you live in a humid environment, it can be a good idea to reduce the ambient moisture in the bag when first storing.
Thanks!
Tobias
Maybe I haven’t looked far enough yet but my question is: When using the canning jars to store, how many & what size of oxygen absorbers should I use?
So far I plan to store rice, oatmeal, cereal macaroni & pancake mix. I have purchased the wide-mouth jars quart size jars. I am a newbie to doing this & I am quite excited about getting started. Thanking you in advance. Linda
Just today a friend and I put up for long term storage a variety of dried beans and golden parboiled rice using mylar bags and oxygen absorbers that came in a kit.
I had wanted to use nitrogen gas that would flush the oxygen out of the mylar bags I used in conjunction with food grade five gallon buckets.
While getting my needed buckets, mylar bags and the O2 absorbers, I discovered that trying to obtain the nitrogen, regulator and tubing was either expensive or just unavailable for the average consumer like myself.
So I decided to use dry ice for flushing out most of the O2 out of each mylar lined bucket. I read that using about a 1/4 pound chunk of dry ice in each of the buckets would help to remove the O2. Per directions, I poured a few inches of rice or dried beans into the mylar bag and then pour the remainder of whatever I was preparing for long term storage. I waited for a minimum of an hour for each of my ten buckets. Then with the help of a friend, we manually removed as much air (CO2) as possible, then sealed each mylar bag with a hot iron, leaving only enough space to insert a oxygen absorber into each bag and then a vacuum hose with a small adapter into the small opening we left for that purpose. We removed as much air as we possibly could then carefully finished sealing each mylar bag. We waited long enough to make sure that each mylar bag was sealed properly. Then placed the top on each bucket making sure I had a good seal.
Within ten or fifteen minutes we noticed that each lid had started bulging outward. So we used the lid opener to release the pressure build up, then made sure each bucket had resealed properly.
I thought that taking that extra step in the process took care of the problem with the pressure buildup.
Well, about thirty or forty minutes later and much to my surprise, one of the lids blew off of one of the buckets and the sealed mylar bag was bulging out of that bucket, obviously full of CO2 gas. All I could do was punch a tiny hole in the mylar bag and slowly force whatever gas I could out of the bag, seal the tiny hole and fold the bag back into the bucket and placed the lid back onto the bucket making sure I had a good seal.
WHAT did I do wrong in what I thought was a carefully done process? Should I have waited another hour or two for the dry ice to finish it’s process or did I do something else wrong?
I will be storing more “dry goods” in the near future, but not until I find out what I did wrong. Please advise.
Sir,
Heya, thanks for the very detailed comment; my very first attempts to store food were with dry ice and CO2 flushing, and I had about the same results! In general, oxygen absorbers are used as a replacement for nitrogen/CO2 flushing. Gas flushing, as you have found out, is a little hit or miss. Plus, flushing removes down to about 5% oxygen (in general) due to its difficulty to regulate and seal without residual air returning. Oxygen absorbers remove down to about .1% oxygen, or about 50 times better. Vacuum sealing alone gets to about 2%, or also quite a bit better than flushing, though still 20 times less effective than O2 absorbers; I would suggest just vacuuming and using absorbers and skip the CO2 flush.
Good luck!
Thank you!
Tobias
When I repackage dry goods by emptying contents from original packaging to the mylar bags, do I just drop the oxygen absorbers into the mylar bag onto my dry goods. The chemical reaction will not hurt the foods? Do you have a chart showing the approximate length of time foods can be stored without going bad. For example oats, flour, sugar, rice, beans, etc.
If you place a case of canned goods in a vacuum bag and sealed it, would this keep it from rusting? Would place in black bag and store in cool dry and dark place, how long would this increase shelf life?
Ma’am,
Vacuum sealing a bag with cans in it may prevent oxidation (aluminum cans don’t rust per se), however as that is an exterior process, it won’t generally harm your food. Storing in a cool place is the biggest thing you can do to increase the shelf life of canned goods, as the food is already protected from oxygen, light and moisture. There are many products like canned veggies and fruits that can store essentially indefinitely. As time goes on, their taste may change, but there have been cans (and canning jars) opened up from the 50’s where the food still retains a decent percentage (50%+) of its nutritional value, although taste can suffer greatly.
I hope that helps!
Tobias
How should I pack many half gallon bags (already prepared and sealed in individual Mylar Bags) inside a 5 gal. Bucket? Just place all the packets inside the bucket or do I put all the Mylar Packets inside another big Mylar bag inside the bucket?
I have a 5lb. pound bucket with a no. 2 in a triangle and, a HDPE on bottom, it’s orange (Home Depot). Is it a safe bucket to store in, I have only seen white storage buckets and wondered if the color would leach through? I have 25 yr. food and though that it would be ok just to store it in, with no oxygen absorbers. Whats your thought on the bucket? Real new at this!
I was wondering if there is a way to use the mylar bags and not have the food come in direct contact with the bag…could I put beans,rice, etc. in a paper bag and put the oxygen absorber between the two bags. I’m worried about mylar plastic chemicals leaching into the food. Thanks
I do realize my bucket does not weigh 5 lbs, but do wonder about orange bucket. thanks
Heya, thanks for the note, sorry for the very slow reply. I don’t get over here much with the twins and the business! The top and bottom layers of a Mylar bag are inert; ie. they are less likely to react with food than the paper in a paper bag. Plus, paper can hold bacteria, where the PET layers of a Mylar bag won’t. Technically you can keep your food in its original packaging, but I always recommend removing it, as the materials in Mylar bags are as ‘clean’ as they come.
I found “http://adviceandbeans.com/tag/mylar-bags/” in my search for a way to vacuum seal mylar bags. While the trick you showed worked initially, about a month after I did my first bag, it lost its seal at the place where the food saver piece was inserted into the mylar bag. Is there another work around that works long term?
I only wanted to thank you for all the help you give people! I read many of the questions and answers and am amazed how many times there are repeat questions. You are very generous. May God bless you and your family
Do u have to use oxygen absorbs in vacuum pack jar.??
Please match the comments to your answers using numbers. I enjoyed reading and learning from both, but I was not sure which question you were answering sometimes. Please do not list this as a comment, as it is more of a suggestion. Thanks!
Hi dear ,
Question,How much time we have to work on the Disccant Or Oxygen Absorber
Our Products is instant powder drink ,please be advice .What We need for My product gen between the Disccant and Oxygen Absorber.
Thank You
Christine Tran
I just received some of your Mylar Bags. They have a zip lock closure on them. Do I still have to use an iron.
Next question: During an EMP attack, will these hold up or should the Mylar Bags be additionally put into the Faraday Cage? Please answer or send me an email.
Addtional question. I have a 350W Portable Solar unit in like a small suitcase. Would I need a special Mylar Bag to protect the inverter during an EMP. Additionally should it be in the Faraday Cage.
I have read that there is nitrogen left in the bags after the oxygen absorber does it’s thing, so does that mean you have to add nitrogen absorbers as well to keep things truly fresh?
Sir, heya, thanks for the question, my apologies for the very slow response. As you can tell, I don’t get over here very often. Nitrogen is inert, so it doesn’t damage food (it doesn’t even interact) in any way! Oxygen causes oxidation, which is what damages food. This is why many companies for decades have used a process called ‘nitrogen flushing’ to replace all the gases in a bag with nitrogen.
Heya, thanks for the note, sorry for the ultimately slow reply.=) No, Nitrogen is inert, and does not damage food in any way. Many companies actually add nitrogen to bags after they remove oxygen; potato chips, for example, are nitrogen packed.
Hi! I’m beginning the challenge of setting food aside for long term storage. Unfortunately, I will be preparing & storing my food in less than ideal circumstances. The food will be stored in the basement where it will be dark, with very stable temperatures. However, Georgia, and this basement in particular, is not dry. It is not uncommon to have humidity readings in the 70’s. I am planning on dehydrating a lot of fruit & veggies. Should I use both a dessicant and an oxygen absorber as well?
Thank you!
Michele