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Recently I decided to work on my food storage again. I just want to be prepared for “whatever.” I actually love my job of feeding my family (though I still have the exhausted “I don’t want to cook” days like everyone else). Most of the time, though, I get such a thrill from feeding my people. I consider it my responsibility to make sure we always have the food we need, which includes planning food for the future.
All of my upper cabinets we had installed during our renovation are full of our food storage. Unfortunately, the food storage I bought years ago was full of items containing wheat that none of my kids can no longer eat. I gave away all of that and now I need to make sure we have lots of grains stored.
I’m by no means an expert in food storage, but I’m sharing what I did to inspire you to prepare for your family! It really is easiest to make small goals and achieve a little over time.
My recent project was choosing a few important grains my family uses regularly. When you pack Mylar bags, you want to focus on DRY foods. In my opinion, dry foods are really the safest option for this preserving method.
The process was actually so easy!
I was shocked by how simple this was. I wonder why I never did it before.
- Buy Mylar bags (I ordered this pack on Amazon and am pleased with it. It came with oxygen absorbers.)
- Buy dry food to pack.
- Fill the Mylar bag with the food.
- Drop an Oxygen absorber into the bag.
- Close the bag, trying to get out any oxygen you can reasonably get out, and then seal the bag shut with a straightening iron on the end. (Yes, it is this easy to seal it and you do not need expensive sealing equipment!)
Just for fun, I stacked together all the food packaging so I could see visually what I had accomplished.
What I just packed:
- rice
- oatmeal
- lentil beans
- kamut grain (Yes, this is technically wheat, but it is a special kind. I’m not storing a ton of it, but my husband still eats wheat. Wheat last for soooo long when stored properly.)
- GF pasta (only 2 boxes, I wanted to see how it went)
I used the labels in the Mylar Bag Kit I bought to label each bag.
Look at this enormous haul!!
Packing these items was so easy that I immediately made plans to do a few more items! I still have some Mylar bags left, I just need to buy the stuff to go inside.
What I’m packing next:
- sugar
- more GF pasta
Where I’m Storing the Mylar Bags
Now these bags are hiding nicely on the tops of my cabinets, totally hidden by the piece of trim that finishes the tops of the cabinets. You can’t see them, but they’re up there! This whole project felt like a really big win!
Hopefully you feel nudged that you can do something this easy too!
From my home to yours,
Mary
No expiration dates?
I don’t want to give any wrong info, so I’d google the specific item and look for an expert’s advice. I put the date I seal it because then I can do the math on the different versions of expiration dates when the time comes.