Topic: A different approach to food storage

[casualprofundity]

This isn't my original idea -- I got it from Chef Tess at cheftessbakeresse.blogspot.com.  It's called "meals in a jar."  You can do a web search or watch youtube videos which give recipes.  (A couple of good youtube channels for meals in a jar are perbain and 255sage.)

Basically, it's homemade MREs, where you control what goes into the pouch or canning jar.  They're easy to put together, and you don't have to worry about food stored in an opened #10 can going bad before you get around to using it all up.  (That was one of my biggest fears which kept me from starting prepping for so long.)  The best thing, though, is when you're in an emergency situation, you don't have to go looking through all your preps trying to find all the ingredients for a dish, as they're already put together in the jar or mylar pouch.  All you have to do is dump jar contents into a pot, add water, and dinner's ready in about 20 minutes.

Chef Tess really opened my eyes and helped me get started, to the point that now I'm developing my own recipes and would love to share some with willing testers.

[Pandora]

Where do you get your mylar bags?  Bulk?  Cheaper?

[casualprofundity]

You can get them from LDS canneries, or online at places like Amazon. (Think the LDS cannery sells them for 25 cents each?)  Mylar bags are more expensive to store your meals in than glass (since they can't be re-used), and rodents can and will get into the bags; so I'd suggest only using mylar for your bugout bag meals, or when you need to save weight.  (Or if you live in an earthquake area.)

Oh, one more thing about the bags sold at the cannery: they only come in 1 gallon size, but you can subdivide them into smaller sections, thus saving money.  I learned that tip from a fellow at the cannery.

[Pandora]

You can get them from LDS canneries, or online at places like Amazon. (Think the LDS cannery sells them for 25 cents each?)  Mylar bags are more expensive to store your meals in than glass (since they can't be re-used), and rodents can and will get into the bags; so I'd suggest only using mylar for your bugout bag meals, or when you need to save weight.  (Or if you live in an earthquake area.)

Yes, acknowledged.  I was a bit confused because you mentioned the bags in your first post.  I'd use the bags and then store in food-grade buckets.

Oh, one more thing about the bags sold at the cannery: they only come in 1 gallon size, but you can subdivide them into smaller sections, thus saving money.  I learned that tip from a fellow at the cannery.

How is that done?

We've done a fair bit of food prep posting in this section on various different threads.  Have a look.

[casualprofundity]

How do you subdivide a larger mylar bag into sections?  Basically, the same way you seal it.  Place the bag on a yardstick and seal a seam down the center (from top to bottom).  Now you have two sections, each 1/2 gallon.  If you want quarts, then fill the two sections less than halfway, then seal another seam from side to side.  Now the items in the lower section are sealed (be sure to put O2 absorbers in the sections before you seal).  Fill the upper sections with your storage food, add O2 absorbers, and seal those.  Now you have a gallon bag storing four quarts of food.  It can even be different things, or different meals.

I mentioned the bags in the first post because even though these are called "meals in a jar," you can store each individual meal in mylar rather than jars.  It's really up to you how you store them.  I like having them in jars, and live in a place where I don't really have to worry about earthquakes.

[Pandora]

How do you subdivide a larger mylar bag into sections?  Basically, the same way you seal it.  Place the bag on a yardstick and seal a seam down the center (from top to bottom).  Now you have two sections, each 1/2 gallon.  If you want quarts, then fill the two sections less than halfway, then seal another seam from side to side.  Now the items in the lower section are sealed (be sure to put O2 absorbers in the sections before you seal).  Fill the upper sections with your storage food, add O2 absorbers, and seal those.  Now you have a gallon bag storing four quarts of food.  It can even be different things, or different meals.

I mentioned the bags in the first post because even though these are called "meals in a jar," you can store each individual meal in mylar rather than jars.  It's really up to you how you store them.  I like having them in jars, and live in a place where I don't really have to worry about earthquakes.

Okay, got the principle.  Do you use a food-saver machine to do yours?  I've read accounts that an iron can be utilized.

[casualprofundity]

As far as I know (because I haven't tried this; was told this by the gentleman who worked at the cannery), you'd need an iron and yardstick for the method I outlined above.  Don't think it would work using a FoodSaver.

I own a cheap FoodSaver (no longer in production, so you can't get the book online from the manufacturer), so I don't know if mine will even do the vacuum sealing on mylar.  Also don't know if mine will do vacuum sealing on canning jars.  What I use is oxygen absorbers that I toss into the jar.  One 300cc size for a meal for two size jar.  100cc size for smaller jars (pint and smaller).

[Pandora]

Hmmmm .....

Okay, thanks for the information, casualprofundity.

[Maddy]

This and Freezer Meals In a Bag are really popular right now. I used to do this a lot but have been too busy - need to get off my butt and get back at it .

FYI, here's a site with some good ideas for Freezer Slow Cooker meals: http://www.sixsistersstuff.com/2012/09/slow-cooker-freezer-meals-make-8-meals.html