Mylar Bags

Vacuum sealing jars of beans or rice is great for rotating food in and out of a pantry, but if you are looking to put away large amounts of 'forever food' you are going to want to look into Mylar bags.

Together, rice and beans contain all nine essential amino acids to form a complete source of protein, so this is a great place to start. You will need to supplement with vitamin D to stay healthy, and you are probably going to want to grow some fresh herbs and spices to keep yourself sane but if food ever becomes scarce, it's nice to know you have a few extra months (or years) of nutritious food tucked away.

The process is the same for every type of food, so we'll do a quick rundown here, and create a page for each type of food to get suggestions.

The Process

A couple of tips

Make sure you prepare everything you need ahead of time. As soon as you open the oxygen absorbers, they begin to do their job.

Speaking of oxygen absorbers, I don't depend on them totally but use a vacuum to suck out as much air as possible before sealing. I have noticed when I just use the absorbers the bag does 'tighten up' but still remains soft. When I use the vacuum and absorbers the bags become rock hard.

I originally ordered the largest bags to store the most food, but when completely filled, they don't fit in the buckets. I though I could just cut them into smaller bags and real all corners but I had too many leaks.

It's better to go with multiple smaller bags in a bucket. Mix beans and rice in each bucket (but not in the same bag). You won't have to open a huge bag of rice, and a huge bag of beans.

Once you have sealed the mylar bags you can put them outside to kill any weevil eggs in the rice or wheat (the all contain them). the lack of oxygen should stop them from hatching, but better safe than sorry.