Food Storage: Oxygen Absorbers Facts for Extending the Shelf Life of Dry Goods

Are you using oxygen absorbers correctly in your food storage? In this video, we share with you exactly what oxygen absorbers are, when to use them, and how to use them. We also share a few important cautions that you may not know about.

How to Safely Use Oxygen Absorbers to Extend the Shelf-Life of Long-Term Food Storage

How to Package Dry Foods in Mylar Bags for Long-Term Storage

Packaging Dry Foods in Glass Jars for Long-Term Food Storage

Packaging Dry Foods in Plastic Bottles for Long-Term Food Storage

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[lyndabuchholz]

Now I understand why some of my jars didn't seal or seem to work. I was putting a desiccant pkg in all my jars of freeze dried foods along with the oxygen absorber. Please keep offering us all this good information. Food is too expensive to waste because of not knowing.

[jojow]

Before I complete the seal using my iron, I always leave a corner of the mylar bag open then I insert a straw and such out the air. With that process and the oxygen absorber my bags always developed dimples. Success!

[dennisgeroux]

I’ve actually went to different sites looking for more info on oxygen absorbers and yours was one of them and you actually helped me on an older video. Now with this video I will definitely put this one in my saved file.

[bittehiereinfugen]

Thank you so much for bringing up this topic again.
I think many feel the same way I do that I am completely on my own when problems arise on this topic, I have no one to ask. Except YouTube, and especially your videos because they offer me really reliable information.
Wouldn't you like to create a downloadable brochure (possibly also for a fee) on this topic? Especially for beginners it is really difficult to find reliable instructions and information.
A brochure in which all information would be bundled, possibly with trouble shooting, would certainly be helpful for many.
Kind regards and stay safe!

[StuckInNy]

I love your channel and I watch it often. I don't know if this helps any one, but I'll share it anyway. When I open a long term storage container, say a # 10 can of dehydrated vegetables, or a larger mylar bag of rice, I place the items into usable size mason jars with both a moisturizer absorber and a loose leaf, draw string, empty teabag full of salt. The larger the jar, more I fill the teabag with salt. The salt does absorb some moisture, and if I had to hand someone a jar of food in an emergency or a barter situation, the jar also contains a teabag full of valuable salt!

[Sunnytrailrunner]

I watched this video to confirm I’ve done my food storage correctly. Ha Ha! Well, I can clearly see I’ve made a couple of minor mistakes, but I feel grateful to know how to rectify this, & that they can be easily corrected. Thank you for always being cautious. I think I heard you say ‘2005’ as an approximate date given for a food storage item you did in the past. Now THAT’S experience, not to mention you’ve carefully prepared & stored your food to be 100% safe for your children & other family members. I realize it’s not a competition, but it kinda makes you guys ‘The Experts’ in my opinion. You KNOW WHAT YOU’RE DOING, so I hope viewers & subscribers alike will pay attention to what you say.

[lostinvictory]

Great video. I put too many oxygen absorbers in beans and after 3 years I needed to get in to my stash. They were fine to eat of course but the skins were tough and needed to be soaked for a couple of days instead of one and cooked a bit longer. This meant the inside of the bean would be mushy even though the skins were a bit hard. An experienced prepper told me it was because I had put in too many oxygen absorbers.
Since then I heard about nixtamalizing which is a process used for maize, cooking it or soaking it in an alkaline solution (ash was traditionally used but lye, lime water, sodium bicarbonate are all fine). I tried it with some tough skinned dried peas I had and it worked very well. One quarter of a teaspoon of sodium bicarbonate in the soaking water for 2 cups of peas is enough, any more and it will go too mushy.

[babymacbean]

Wow, it always impresses me that if somebody drops a video I’m the first one to like it and watch it

[dennisgeroux]

In my buckets I put my vacuum sealed and Mylar bag sealed food with the oxygen absorbers inside with the food and after I fill the bucket with the bags I throw a couple of descant bags inside the bucket to help pick up any moisture that might be in the bucket during storage. Weather or not it is doing it’s job it should help somewhat and it gives me peace of mind.

[fallonw]

Wow thank you for this! I'm a seasoned prepper and I didn't know about the bags being fine if they look like they have air in there still! I always assumed it needed redone if it didn't suck in and have that vac sealed look!

[seekingtheminimumlevel]

Thank you for your very educational videos. I have learned so much from watching your videos. I didn't think I could use regular glass jars (non-canning variety) or PETE plastic for storage even with oxygen absorbers.

[theoldguy]

A excellent summary. One that will likely be referred to many times by many preppers. And should be.
I would note that while the glass does not pass air, those little rubber seals in the canning lids do, albeit very slowly. Mylar does have a longer storage life, but more likely talking 25 years as opposed to 5 years (assuming you get an initial seal).
Another item is that the density of what you store can be important. There is a lot less air in that gallon bag of rice that there is in that gallon bag of freeze dried broccoli crowns. You may want to be overly safe at times and use more OA when the food packed in is not so dense,
Personally, if possible I both vacuum seal and use OAs -- overkill is always good.

[libertylover]

KYLENE & JOHN - 2 QUESTIONS :
1) Which size of oxygen absorber do I need per each gallon Mylar bag?
2) Please explain WHY you can’t use silica gel with an oxygen absorber - what is the reaction if using both together in one Mylar bag or jar?

[AboveandBeyond]

Been watching you for years. Was awesome to see Lynette have you guys on her channel. 😎👍

[jbeachbob]

Hi Kylenre and Jonathan. Another great and full review in detail. I'm glad I already knew much of the information in this video. Why am I confident? Because of you two. I have watched all your vids and review them often. Fantastic channel guys.

[monstersmomma]

Was just wondering if I needed these! Thanks for your videos!

[nancysala]

Fantastic information! Now I have to figure out why YouTube is not putting your videos on my feed, even though I have the notification bell on. I’ve missed a lot of videos. I have to catch-up

[n.watson]

Good talk. One thing--I have used a lot of desiccant packets in glass jars with foods that are in powder form and have come to the conclusion that the packets are useless for things like flour, milk powder, gelatin, etc... The jars almost without fail eventually lose their seals. And I do make sure the rubber seals and the glass rims are super clean before I secure the lids. However, I have never experienced any clumping of the foods.

[ChantillyWhite]

Thank you so much for this clear, easy-to-follow video! I'm very new to prepping and have been bingeing all sorts of videos and channels, but there's a lot of conflicting, or just incomplete, information out there that has made the process extra confusing. 

I just put up my first 200 pounds of various foods and was stressing because my Mylar bags had not "sucked in" like they'd been vacuum sealed. I was worried the oxygen absorbers weren't working. The other problem I encountered was that my first attempt at heat-sealing the bags wasn't totally successful. I got slightly thicker bags and evidently had not put the heat setting on a high enough level. They were ziplocked, at least, and partially heat sealed, but I ended up going back and redoing the heat seal on all of them. Hopefully that's enough!

[daphneraven]

The provident prepper. I would agree with you about your policy of staying below 10% moisture. Because if you get more than that then you’re having to juggle the other factors, it gets a bit formulaic and convoluted. Complicating matters has never been a great way to success.

There are a couple of other factors that we can throw in here that might be useful for your purposes.

Temperature could be important here. If you’ve got goods even if they have a little more moisture counted in them, keeping them At a very consistent, low temperature tends to really limit biological activity; it will also reduce oxidation and the rate at which any fats will go rancid. This is not small. Even the shelf life of something like olive oil, which tends to be quite limited, can be extended many, many fold, if it is frozen. This could be important in the next few years.

PH is important. If you’re storing foods that are fairly basic in terms of pH, that’s an important factor in terms of botulism. Graph absolutely right about those three big factors, but there’s a reason why people stopped canning pumpkin purée, and for which it’s a bad idea to store foods with a significant moisture content, at a basic pH, add warm temperatures, where there’s some oxygen involved. Really, you’re dealing with about five factors that are necessary for botulism to thrive and poison your food. It’s important to know this, and beyond that, these five factors give you five ways in which you can limit or maybe even prevent botulism from colonizing in we’re thriving in your Food storage.

Thank you for your extremely valuable videos. You are among those who provide all sorts of untold opportunities for the average person who has become comfortable with practises that are being established for the generations, to examine those practices, and apply the newest knowledge, resulting in a much face safer food supply and storage. Thank you very much for this.