When preparing dried foods for long-term storage, keeping the food away from oxygen, moisture and vermin is paramount (and as a commenter on YouTube noted, it keeps the food away from light - a BIG destroyer of nutrients - as well).
This video tutorial demonstrates how to store rice in mylar bags and food-grade buckets. This same technique works equally well with any dried grains or legumes such as wheat, corn, beans and barley.
Rice (and most dried grains and legumes) stored in this manner can expect to have a shelf life of more than 20 years if kept below 70 degrees Fahrenheit.
Accept The Challenge
Buying food in bulk is a great way to put large amounts of food into storage for very little cost. The rice in this video was on sale for $0.35 a pound. So the 40 pounds was $14. Remember: that cost includes deilvery as well. The bucket and lid were $8.92, the mylar bag was $1.82, the oxygen absorbers were $0.15 each - $0.60 total. Grand total for everything - $25.34.
Walton Feed (whom I love) wants $36.25 for the same set-up (4 more pounds of rice - so you can deduct $1.40 if you want to!). BUT to have it shipped to California is another $25.01, for a grand total of $61.26 - more than twice the cost.
Put a little time and effort into your food storage preparedness, and you can significantly stretch your prepping dollars.
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Copyright 2009 Bison Risk Management Associates. All rights reserved. You are encouraged to repost this information so long as it is credited to Bison Risk Management Associates. www.BisonRMA.com
6 comments:
I bought a ton of stuff in nitrogen packed pails in 1999. Only the corn meal went bad on me over the years and I am still eating this food now in 2010. I have also stored rice and beans I bought myself by packing them in pails and leaving them in a climate controlled, dark space. They last a long time. The more ways you stash and the more you put away, the better off you are overall I think.
One of the things I should have mentioned is that by using the oxygen absorbers, you're essentially packing your foods in nitrogen.
Air is (roughly) 80/20 nitrogen/oxygen. Remove the oxygen and most of what's left is nitrogen.
Corn meal has really surprised me. I did that test last March where I opened a vacuum sealed corn meal, and it was fine. It was a year old.
I've got one more package from the March 2008 group. I'll crack it open this coming March and do another test.
I have a source for 5 gallon buckets/lids (grocery stores and bakeries), but what's the best sources for mylar bags and oxygen absorbers?
I get mine from
https://www.usaemergencysupply.com/
I really enjoyed your blog... It motivated me to buy a grain mill and all of the other equipment to store several hundred pounds of grains. Thanks again!
My work here is done. ;-)
That's great news. Self-sufficiency is the only way to go.
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