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Bulk Packing Storage Food a review.

I mentioned bulk packing in conjunction with freeze-drying. I’m talking about inert atmosphere storage

rather than conventional canning or drying food. I thought I would do a review of some of the techniques

used in home bulk packing for the old hands. Maybe something new for those just starting out.

The concept with the commercial storage food companies: It was found or more rightly termed appliedwould be more exact. That if dry food were sealed in an inert atmosphere. It would have a greatly extended

shelf life. The products that are best adapted to this technique are wheat and other relatively dry grains. It is

also helpful for other dry products like pastas, dry milk, freeze-dried or conventionally dried fruits and

vegetables. It even can be used on dried meats. There is the possibility of storing complete meals or meal

mixes. Meals could be made be made as a whole such as soup or stew then freeze-dried. Or the components

could be individually processed then mixed for storage.

The inert atmosphere replaces the oxygen in the storage container. Oxygen is a main contributor to the

deterioration of the food. Also any small bugs or their eggs that may get into the product can’t live without

oxygen. Thus less loss do to insect infestations. By replacing it allows the food to store longer. Another 

enemy is heat or even worse cycling temperatures. So once the food is packaged it is best stored in a cool

dry location.

The best gas for this process is nitrogen. That is what the major companies use. The product is nominally packed in number 10 cans. The cans are placed in a vacuum chamber or a chamber that is over pressured

with nitrogen to displace the air. This either draws out the oxygen to be flooded with nitrogen or replacesthe oxygen with the over pressure of nitrogen. Then the cans are sealed and removed from the chamber.

Preppers, being a rather inventive lot with a strong do-it-yourself bent. Would rather figure out ways of 

doing things at home rather than shelling out cash to someone else. They much prefer to spend time and

sweat equity rather than hard cash. Some sat down to figure a way to do it on small-scale cottage level

 process. Success was achieved when CO2 was tried. CO2 has several properties that makes it work for our 

needs. First it is inert. That is the entire purpose of the exercise. Maybe it is not quite as good as nitrogen

 but it is adequate. It is heavier than air. That way we can fill a container from the bottom and it willdisplace the air and pushing it out the top. Hence it does not require elaborate equipment to perform the

task. While CO2 is heavier than air it is not so by that much. If the container is handled roughly it can cause

a loss of some of the CO2 and mixing some air into the container. Especially when you are sealing thechosen container use care and disturb it as little as possible. It is relatively easy to obtain in the form of dry

ice. Suppliers can be found in most towns of reasonably modest size. Therefore unless you are really out in

the boonies it should be nearby. While not exactly cheap. It is a great deal cheaper to get than nitrogen. It is

also easier to get and handle than nitrogen. But remember dry ice is very cold. You don’t want frost bit

fingers. Be careful handling it.

The most common item that a home prepper will bulk store is wheat. But could be almost anything. So

when I talk about wheat you can substitute what ever you decide to store. The typical amount of wheat

stored is a 5-gallon bucket worth. Large enough to be practical yet small enough it is easily used up before

it spoils. It is also small enough to be easily handled. Again the actual size of container can be from a pint-

canning jar on up. While you can go larger than 5 gallons the weight and bulk can quickly become

overwhelming. Also going much larger you run the risk of the food spoiling before it is used up once it has

 been opened. With items that are less frequently used or used in much smaller quantities smaller containersare more practical. Hence the stored quantity has to be adjusted to the speed that a product will be used up.

You will use 5 gallons of wheat far quicker than 5 gallons of garlic powder. Also the size of the product being stored will matter. The smaller it is the greater the exposed surface area it has for the volume. That is

why it is better to store wheat or the like in berry form rather than ground into flour. You can grind the

grain into flour just prior to using it.

While it is possible to store food directly in a food grade very clean plastic bucket. It is not the best thing to

do. Plastic is vapor permeable. That means that oxygen you worked so hard to get out will slowly and

eventually seep back in. It will take a while but it will happen. This is also the reason you do not store food

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in the same location as toxic chemicals. A good example is storing gasoline next to your water storage

 bottles. Eventually there will be a migration of the vapors causing cross contamination. Gasoline flavored

water or any food for that matter tastes terrible. Gasoline and other toxic chemicals can have adverse

effects on your health if consumed. Others may not have a bad taste the way gasoline does to warn you they

are present.

Since plastic leaks abet slowly as that is a better way needed to be found. The big factories use metal cans,which are ideal. There are machines that sized and made for the home user to purchase to seal cans.

Unfortunately they are difficult to operate and very expensive. Additionally the cans don’t exactly come

cheap. Another factor in the expense is that with the old style can openers that slice open the top of the can

they are a one shot deal. Although with the newer style openers that split the rim it might be possible to

reuse the cans. I’m not that well versed in the can operation to know for sure. If it did work it would reduce

the cost somewhat.

Lining the bucket with a Mylar bag can solve the problem. Many of the commercial dry soups are packed

in foil packets for this reason. It can also be compared to those foil pouches of tuna. The Mylar bag is an

extremely thin sheet of metal coated plastic. These bags can be heat sealed easily at home. If the bag is

carefully cut to only remove the sealing area. The bags can be resealed just like the vacuum storage bags.

Although with each reuse it is slightly smaller because of the cut off portion. Yes, there is a slight amount

of plastic involved in the seal. It is a mere fraction of the total bag. So gaseous migration is of a lesser 

concern.

Everyone is familiar with Mylar bags. They are the exact same things as those shiny metallic balloons seenat fairs and celebrations. In fact the effects can be observed and demonstrated quickly enough to see the

 process using helium filled balloons. Helium is a far smaller and slipperier molecule than oxygen or any

other vapor or gas you will be concerned with. Therefore the effects will be shown at a much faster rate.

But it is still the same process. Take a rubber or more rightly a flexible plastic balloon filled with helium.

By the next day it has lost so much gas that it is on the floor. Yes, the balloon is much thinner than a

 bucket. The only thing that means is it will take somewhat longer to happen with a bucket. I have had a

Mylar balloon on my ceiling for 3 weeks. I doubt it will last much longer but it is hanging in there. You can

see that it is slowly deflating. Still it has only lost 1/4 to 1/3 as much helium in 3 weeks as the regular  balloon does in 12 to 18 hours. That means the Mylar bags will retain the inert atmosphere much longer 

than a plastic bucket.

Yet the plastic bucket is still important in the storage equation. The Mylar bags are fairly fragile and easily

 punctured. The bucket will protect the bags. Make them easier to handle. The buckets are also stackable to

save floor space, which the bags are not. And it does take a while for the migration to happen. Meaning a

longer storage time available. First the air has to get through the bucket then the bag. You can line a bucket

with a single full sized bag. But you also have the option of filling the bucket with any number of smaller sized bags that will fit. Depending upon what you are storing and desire. This could be a smaller amount of 

a single product to be used at one time. Or it could be a mix of lesser-used more concentrated items. If you

do go with a mixed batch remember to label the contents.

 Now that the storage containment materials and the food product to be stored have been selected it is time

to see how the entire process is done. If a bucket alone is used a disposable pie pan is filled with a chunk of 

dry ice and covered with another pan. This is then placed in the bottom of the bucket. Then the bucket is

filled with wheat. Or you do essentially the same thing only into the bottom of the Mylar bag that you placed in the bucket. As the ice melts the dry ice sublimates into CO2 gas. The gas slowly fills the bucket

or bag pushing the air out the top. Once the dry ice is completely evaporated you seal the lid, bag or bothcarefully so as not to spill out the CO2 and mix in normal air. You also have to be careful not to seal the

container too soon. Dry ice expands roughly 800 times going from solid form to gaseous. If the sealed

 before the dry ice has completely sublimated to gas there can be a tremendous build up of pressure. This

could pop the lid or explode the bucket. Not exactly what you want as an end result of your work. As you

can see it doesn’t take too big a chunk of dry ice to fill the voids in a bucket that is full of grain to begin

with. You could also fill the space between the bucket and bag with CO2 the same way. This might be

especially helpful if the bucket is filled with multiple smaller bags.

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Because of the freeze-drying article, I’ll cover an alternate method of filling the bucket or bag with CO2.

Again we will be using the fact than CO2 is heavier than air. That makes it so convenient and easy to fill

our container to begin with. Take a box. In the case of the previous article this would be our quick freezing

chest. Place one or several holes in the bottom. Insert and seal tubes in the holes. Because of the coldtemperatures involved the first portion of the tube should be metallic. The lower portion can be flexible for 

ease of handling. Then the chest is placed in an elevated position. Something similar in appearance to asiphoning set up. When the dry ice becomes CO2 gas gravity will cause the CO2 to flow down the tubes. If 

the tube runs to the bottom of a bucket or bag placed below the chest it will start filling the container 

displacing the air. Fill the container with the food to be stored. When the container is filled with CO2. Pull

out the tube and seal the package. You can provide either a shut off in the tube or raise the end above the

chest. This is to save CO2 when finishing filling one container and prior to starting a new one. Why waste

the CO2 especially when the plan is to make double duty use of the dry ice.

“A STRONG WORD OF CAUTION.” Since CO2 can displace oxygen and you need that to breathe. You

should only work with it in a well-ventilated area. Also if you begin to feel the least bit odd get out

immediately into some fresh air. Don’t take chances. Then find a way to increase the ventilation in the

workspace.

Hopefully this has imparted some useful information. It may also generate an idea or two. Of course there

are other ways to do the same thing. If interested you can do a little research. Look around and find a waythat works the best for you.