Mylar Bags

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You can't simply vacuum seal food in mylar for preservation purposes. The food inside needs to be sterilised to kill off all the micro organisms in a manner akin to pressure canning. If you look into "retort pouches", the method is well described

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Retort_pouch

It could be achieved if you had a pressure canner, Balls Blue book, and high quality (7m'+) mylar pouches I suppose
 
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You can't simply vacuum seal food in mylar for preservation purposes. The food inside needs to be sterilised to kill off all the micro organisms in a manner akin to pressure canning. If you look into "retort pouches", the method is well described

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Retort_pouch

It could be achieved if you had a pressure canner, Balls Blue book, and high quality (7m'+) mylar pouches I suppose
I see but you can put food in and freeze it is that right thanks
 
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A Mylar bag would make no difference over the standard plastic vacuum sealer bags/rolls unless as Red says the food is heat treated.
 
You can indeed. Mylar is a moisture and oxygen proof barrier film. If you put, for example, dry rice in a mylar bag, you can extend the shelf life to decades. Its the fact of the rice being dry that preserves it however, the mylar prevents rehydration from atmospheric moisture. Think of mylar as a flexible jar and you won't go far wrong. Its a great tool used correctly. You could indeed seal up something like bannock mix. With flour I would then freeze the whole pouch for 48 hours to kill any weevil eggs (all flour has them). Other foods need other techniques. Sadly food preservation is a huge subject and there are no short cuts to a simple solution.
 
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You can indeed. Mylar is a moisture and oxygen proof barrier film. If you put, for example, dry rice in a mylar bag, you can extend the shelf life to decades. Its the fact of the rice being dry that preserves it however, the mylar prevents rehydration from atmospheric moisture. Think of mylar as a flexible jar and you won't go far wrong. Its a great tool used correctly. You could indeed seal up something like bannock mix. With flour I would then freeze the whole pouch for 48 hours to kill any weevil eggs (all flour has them). Other foods need other techniques. Sadly food preservation is a huge subject and there are no short cuts to a simple solution.
Thanks for the info Red most helpful buddy ATB Phil.
 
I mylar goose and venison jerky with moisture absorbers and and oxygen absorbers and stays good for 2 years so far.
Goose venison is a new one on me.
And considering the fat content of goose isn't it difficult to get it down to a level where it doesn't become rancid ??
 
Goose venison is a new one on me.
And considering the fat content of goose isn't it difficult to get it down to a level where it doesn't become rancid ??
If you prep it well you can cook out the fat, but it gets really gamey. I don't care for goose at all, but I cooked it on Tuesday night for Michaelmas. Let's just say we're going back to duck next year!
 
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Am also on the cusp of mylaring, would be grateful for any recommendations
I think it may also depend upon ones intended "depth" of stores being stockpiled.

If it's long, long term I think it's going to be quite different to short small scale ' just in case '

Seems to be mostly carb based staples possibly flour , sugar etc
 
I'm doing dried apple rings in mine just now....we're awash with apples. Next up will be pears.

They're very good for breaking up catering sized packages into useable sizes. We do dried tomato powder, nutritional yeast and instant potatoes.

Interesting.

Have you mylared apple rings before ?
Just thinking about how dehydrated they would need to be to make it the Mylar process work fully without any moisture being enclosed ??

I kinda discounted anything possible that retains moisture as a no-no but maybe I need to rethink it.
 
You really need to dry them down, and then you need to seal them very quickly.
I opened a bag a month ago that I made the year before I became ill, so that would be about this time (since they're the apples from my own tree) 2023, and they're fine.

M
 
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We vacuum pack COPIOUS amounts of supplies. You can vaccum pack stuff like flour, pulses, grains and anything we collect and dry, e.g. mushrooms, powdered mushrooms, that kind of thing; these keep really well, for many years.

Forget mylar bags, they are pointless -AND they do not actually vacuum as that's not what the bags are designed for; you need the textured inside wall in the specific vacuum pack bags to allow sucking out the air. Mylar bags simply seal, otherwise they are too smooth at the mouth and don't allow the vac machine to suck the air out of them, and it struggles. You can add oxy and humidity absorbers, and these will take up all the oxygen and vapours, but they will not do the same 'vacuum' in the same sense as you will achieve with vacuum bags.

Get actual vacuum pack bags, or rolls -better, as you can make them to the length you require. They are dirt cheap, way cheaper than mylar bags.

Mylar bags have their place of course; we use those for sealing stuff like batteries and other stuff that should stay dry or isolated from air. You can add oxy and humidity absorbers, or things like VP90 pads for metal stuff to stop corrosion, but it's pointless for foodstuff as it's too expensive and you are better off with vac bags.

Do not ever try to use vacuum packing in lieu of canning. Unless you are talking about very dried stuff, it does not preserve food. We can a lot of food every year, both water-bath canning and pressure canning. There are very specific guidelines for what can be done and under what conditions, and it will kill you if you get it wrong. Vacuum packing will not stop bacterial growth.

If you make your own pancake mix, or oats and dried fruits, or risotto mix / similar and want to preserve it during hikes, I would recommend vacuum packing. Mylar bags do have the advantage of being resealable though, so you might want to get for those if you won't be using the whole thing in one go. Or, make your own small vacuum bags from rolls cut to the length you want, and portion it.
 
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Goose venison is a new one on me.
And considering the fat content of goose isn't it difficult to get it down to a level where it doesn't become rancid ??
Apologies, domestic goose is fatty, wild goose is lean with any fat being carried subcutaneously with little in the meat.

8hrs in dehydrator tends to give good results.
 
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