Food storage in buckets/mylar bags question

[H2o-hs]

Hello,
My first post! I did some experimenting with sealing rice in a mylar bag within a storage bucket. I followed directions over at Waltonfeed. Before I sealed the bag, 2, 300cc O2 absorbers were placed in the bag. Then sealed w/ an iron. After a few hours, the bag did show a vacuum to it, but there still seems to be quite a bit of air in the bag (not compressed to the food). I don't think I pushed enough out before it was hit w/ the iron. Can anyone advise if I should re-do it and push more air out to maximize storage life, or will it be fine w/ the slight vacuum and a bit of air in it?
Thanks!

 

[doobie]

Hello,
My first post! I did some experimenting with sealing rice in a mylar bag within a storage bucket. I followed directions over at Waltonfeed. Before I sealed the bag, 2, 300cc O2 absorbers were placed in the bag. Then sealed w/ an iron. After a few hours, the bag did show a vacuum to it, but there still seems to be quite a bit of air in the bag (not compressed to the food). I don't think I pushed enough out before it was hit w/ the iron. Can anyone advise if I should re-do it and push more air out to maximize storage life, or will it be fine w/ the slight vacuum and a bit of air in it?
Thanks!

With just mylar bags you can't get all the air out even with all the O2 absorbers you can find. It is best to use a vacuum sealer with the proper bags which are ripped to help it suck the air out.

Note: when sealing chicken/beef/other meats I recommend freezing them first, otherwise the sealer sucks the juices out and will affect the seal/dirty your sealer.

 

[Adam_MA]

Don't worry about it, though in the future I would use at least 3 of the 300cc O2 absorbers. Even if you have more than you need, you may not get a vacuum, but the O2 will have been consumed, so the air in there won't be O2.

Also, too hard of a vacuum on a bag full of rice runs the risk of puncturing the bag with the grains.

 

[doobie]

Also, too hard of a vacuum on a bag full of rice runs the risk of puncturing the bag with the grains.

Line the bags with paper towels if you can. I do that when I make cookies in bulk and want to freeze a few tens of dozens.