Question about Food Saver vacuum sealing

[Sodbuster]

Okay, so you normally keep your grains, rice, beans in containers with oxygen absorbers, etc. Does anyone use the Food Saver vacuum sealing products to store rice/grain/beans? Do we have any info on use of that product for long term storage?

It would be nice to have rice in smaller portions in a 5 gal bucket that could be opened as needed instead of opening the entire bucket.

Any help and suggestions gladly accepted.

Sod

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[SIXGUNRUGER]

That sounds like a great idea. I have bags of rice in storage and it makes sense to open it up and make smaller portions. I would hate to have to open up a 25lb bag in a storm/flood or something like that and have the whole bag get wet. I think if you at least made some 1 or 2lb bags it would be better than nothing. I don't think you would have any problems with the foodsaver bags for this purpose. Thanks for the idea.

BTW, what is that video from? I cant stop watching it!!

 

[Sodbuster]

The clip is from Mad TV. Skit is "Kenny Rogers Jacka**". You can catch it on YouTube. Here's a link to one (of the many) that you can find. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VV6I...08E38BF2E&playnext_from=PL&index=0&playnext=1

Enjoy.

Sod "I was born on the dairy ..."

 

[varmiter]

no info on rice or beans but works great on sized and primed brass if not packed to tight so I am sure it would work for what you want.

 

[wilma]

Great idea.....sorry i don't have..i have <broken link removed> ...

I think vacuum sealing attach with foodsaver...and the benefit of it removing air from a food package is the increased storage time of refrigerated, dried and frozen foods. If air is not removed when food is put in a package or container, oxygen can cause fats to develop "bad" flavors and change the food's color.

 

[Gunner69]

I do have a Food Saver and use it alot for regular food and bulk ammo that may be sitting for extended periods ie stuff that is brand new in the rotation... I think for storing for long term I would still toss a O2 absorber and a food safe dessicant packet into the bag just prior to sealing it.

 

[Sodbuster]

I do have a Food Saver and use it alot for regular food and bulk ammo that may be sitting for extended periods ie stuff that is brand new in the rotation... I think for storing for long term I would still toss a O2 absorber and a food safe dessicant packet into the bag just prior to sealing it.

Good ideas. Best to make sure the moisture content and O2 content stay low to non-existant.

Sod

 

[The Cheese]

you can also buy smaller mylar bags to do just what you are wanting to. And with the cost of the foodsaver bags I do believe it would be a bit cheaper. If not, it would last longer. I think foodsaver bags are only "good" for a year or so. Mylar is good for a lot longer than that. Check out SorbentSystems.com. great selection and not bad pricing. All you do is throw in the 02 absorber for the size you want, seal it with an Iron and you are gtg.

 

[pdx lefty]

Good question. I sealed some rice with a food saver about this time last year. It feels and looks like it held it's seal. I'll open a bag this weekend and cook it. I'll let you guys know if it's good, bad or disgusting. If it kills me, it was nice knowing you guys!

Lefty.

 

[cyborg]

I have done some research on LT storage of food. Apparently the only way to make a 100% O2 barrier is to use metal, like a can or specially sealed heavy foil bags. Of course we want to use our Foodsaver vacuum packers and Mylar bags. What I have read is that plastic and Mylars have some degree of oxygen permeability and will eventually let oxygen in. Think about mylar balloons and how they go limp and flat after a few days.(Of course that is Helium leaking which occurs much faster than O2 would)

Apparently the best we can do is multiple layers of plastic and Mylar. I am making smaller bags of Rice and Beans and vacuum packing them. I am then placing those into a 6 gallon Mylar. I am flooding the Mylar with CO2 (My beer dispensing equipment is handy for that) thus purging out much of the O2 and adding O2 absorbers. Sealing the Mylars and placing them into 5 gallon heavy duty NAMPAC buckets with oring sealing lids.

When I need to open my bucket and slice into the large Mylar bag inside I will have smaller packets of food inside for dry, easy dispensing even under adverse conditions. This is of course a LOT more work than simply sealing everything into one big Mylar so I wont do this with every bucket I put away.

This will give me triple layer protection and drastically slow the ingress of O2. Who knows how long this will allow the items to last but it is about the best I can see to do. Combined with storing the buckets in a cool dark environment and some rotation of stock should keep you squared away just fine.

FWIW

Cyborg

 

[Gunner69]

Actually Cyborg your doing just the opposite not only are you introducing oxygen into the bag you are also introducing an amount albeit minute of moisture. If you want to purge the air our of there you need to use nitrogen. There's a reason the snack industry uses it in your potato chip bags etc instead of CO2.

 

[cyborg]

I am aware that nitrogen is superior for this purpose but I dont have a bottle of nitrogen available. If you are suggesting that CO2 has more Oxygen in it than air then that is news to me.... I will have to look that up. Seems a lot of food preservation people who use dry ice which sublimates to CO2 to displace air may be getting it wrong.

Thanks for the tip... back to my research.

 

[Gunner69]

Its not that it has more. Oxygen is O2 two oxygen molecules CO2 is two oxygen molecules attached to carbon molecule. While it is an inert gas it still contains oxygen and absorbers will absorb CO2 almost as readily as plain air. If you were using CO2 in a gaseous state it would be "dry" but the CO2 that your Kegerator uses is actually in liquid form in the cylinder and unless you are running it through a drier you will introduce some moisture into the food packaging that you are trying to store.

I pulled this off Wiki but its fairly accurate...

Applications
Because of the non-reactive properties of inert gases they are often useful to prevent undesirable chemical reactions from taking place. For example molecular nitrogen, a molecular inert gas, is often used in food packaging to ensure that food does not spoil in transit since no bacteria or fungi can flourish without the reactive gases oxygen or carbon dioxide, which the molecular nitrogen displaces, since most extant cells on Earth require the reactions which these gases are involved in to function. Most importantly since molecular nitrogen is inert it will not cause any reactions to take place in the food, possibly changing the intrinsic taste or smell, nor will it cause any chemical reactions in the human body. Thus the inert gas is used as a passive preservative, preventing biological decay, while being undetectable to the consumer since taste and olfactory senses require a chemical reaction to take place in order to send a signal to the brain. This is in contrast to active preservatives which react with the biological material of bacteria, fungi, and possibly the food itself changing the food's intrinsic taste or smell, or may even act directly on the consumer's taste and olfactory mechanisms.

Inert Gases and Usage

 

[pdx lefty]

Good question. I sealed some rice with a food saver about this time last year. It feels and looks like it held it's seal. I'll open a bag this weekend and cook it. I'll let you guys know if it's good, bad or disgusting. If it kills me, it was nice knowing you guys!

Lefty.

I made it. I didn't notice anything different. It tasted like rice and nothing changed as far as my trips to the restroom if you will.

However i did learn somethings about long term food storage on this thread and appreciate it.

Lefty.

 

[Trlsmn]

Heck rice will keep a couple years without any special sealing.

 

[Gunner3456]

Heck rice will keep a couple years without any special sealing.

What is heck rice?

 

[dbag]

If any of you are looking for a food saver / Seal a meal then look no farther than your local goodwill / salvation army type of store. My mother has found over 3 of them there for under $20, compared to the $50-$100+ range in the stores its a steal. Two of them still had the wrapping paper on them.

You know someones grandma would be upset at their grandchild if they knew

 

[CJ49er]

I am wondering if I can use mylar bags with my food saver? Anyone try this? I read that the mylar bags can be sealed with a hot iron, but maybe the food saver gets too hot?

 

[DALE]

I am wondering if I can use mylar bags with my food saver? Anyone try this? I read that the mylar bags can be sealed with a hot iron, but maybe the food saver gets too hot?

Sure, works great.

 

[Burt Gummer]

Food Saver sealed bags are good for precious metal storage. Ran into a guy that other day that was moving so he dug up the gold and silver he buried 30 years ago in his back yard. Put in ammo can and then just loose baggies . All the silver looked like crap. Guess the sealer bags weren't around back then or he just didn't know about it. Tarnish does devalue metals when selling to a casual buyer for sure. Told him not to polish them up, dip them of course.