Oxygen Absorbers

[jerrob]

Looking to bump up my mid to long term stores and would appreciate any guidance offered.
I'm wanting to store some salt, sugar and flour in some 1/2 gallon Ball jars that are just sitting around empty. I have done a fair amount of research as to weather or not I should use an oxygen absorber, and keep finding conflicting opinions.
Anyone have experience with this?
I'd rather not do a 3 year experiment just to find out I guessed wrong.
Thanks in advance.

 

[flyingsquirrel]

In ball jars, why not use vacuum sealer attachment to rid ox? I'm new to this so excuse me if I am ignorant

 

[BigBoxaJunk]

Salt and sugar don't need an O2 absorber. We've put up both in half-gallon ball jars, and they've been fine after 5 years. We've never put up flour for long-term storage, since I've read that it doesn't do well.


You could always put an O2 absorber in half of your jars, and leave the other half without. That way, the most you'd be is half-wrong.

 

[SmileDocHill]

I thought you guys were going to talk about my ex wife based on the title.

 

[jerrob]

In ball jars, why not use vacuum sealer attachment to rid ox? I'm new to this so excuse me if I am ignorant

Well there's varying opinions on that as well, I've heard not to use them on powdered products and others say it's fine to use.
Since I don't own one, I'll go with that reason and excuse myself from the debate.
Thanks for your reply, much appreciated.

 

[jerrob]

I thought you guys were going to talk about my ex wife based on the title.

LMAO!!!

 

[jerrob]

Salt and sugar don't need an O2 absorber. We've put up both in half-gallon ball jars, and they've been fine after 5 years. We've never put up flour for long-term storage, since I've read that it doesn't do well.


You could always put an O2 absorber in half of your jars, and leave the other half without. That way, the most you'd be is half-wrong.

Thanks, much appreciated. Out of all the opinions I've heard, yours is the only with first hand experience and not theory or "a buddy of mine did it" reference.
Maybe we'll do the flour in less quantity and smaller quart jars and concentrate on a steady rotation.

 

[JeepHammer]

Been doing this about 15 years,
Sugar is a nitrate, keep it dry and it stores forever. The only tip is fill the jars up, wipe rims before you seal up.
For me, once used lids work fine for this, keep the rings on.

Salt needs no storage requirements other than dry.

Flour, grains, rice, run up to about 250*F in the oven to kill off any 'Critters'/eggs, and seal the jars up.
This also works for dried pasta.
Lasts for years, I just had 7 year old pasta for dinner, wasn't fresh, but wasn't any worse than comes from the grocery store.
The pasta/meat sauce was 4 years old, made from my garden.

The vacuum packer works to keep things fresh for a little while.
Freezing flour/grain doesn't kill critters 100% of the time, and doesn't reduce moisture.
I just had to throw out rice that I tried the freezing method, and flour doesn't survive because of the same reason.
If the right critter is there, freezing doesn't do it, nothing survives heat at 250*F.

Depending on family size, consider your sizing carefully.
While salt & sugar aren't issues, but flour, grains, pasta can very well go bad before you can use them up.
Not everyone wants bean soup 3 times a day, and bean soup without some canned meat gets old real fast...
A quart of anything is quite a lot, half gallons are off the charts unless you are feeding a squad.

I can bean soup, not just beans. Nice having heat & eat, but it takes a pressure canner for non-acidic foods like soups & stews.
Dry beans go a long way towards other recipes, from refried beans to bean flour breads.
Bean flour breads are really nutritional, not like wheat flour breads that are mostly starch with no food value.

Don't forget to get a flour grinder!
Mill grinders are crazy good for really fresh food. Grinding a couple cups of grain produces wonderful breads & pastas, and the clock pretty well stops once you heat treat the grain, beans or whatever...

 

[jerrob]

Thanks JeepHammer, great info.
Much appreciated.

 

[JeepHammer]

I'm not a 'Prepper', I just like to eat well.
I like 'White' wheat (whole grain) in breads & pasta instead of that little hard red wheat most breads are made out of.
All the commercial stuff is virtually 100% starch, no real food value (or taste).
Whole grain is MUCH better flavor & food value.
All ultra fine ground starch does is turn to blood sugar in the digestive tract.

I keep sea salt, kosher salt, mineral salt, etc for cooking/preserving.
It's just a different taste, and since it's cooking only (not utility), it lasts quite long.

Don't forget pepper corns!
Life without pepper isn't worth living.
They come dried, a little time in the oven in pint or half pint jars and they last virtually forever.
Vacuum machines work with pepper corns as far as I know, but I just throw them in the oven with everything else.
A grinder (pepper mill) and you are in business.

Don't use thread or string on chilies. String/thread can wick moister into your chilies.
To dry, I use copper wire, when dry I grind & can right along with everything else.
One tip, don't grind chilies in the house! Ghost chilies ran us out of the house, not even the dog could take it!
I use a coffee grinder to grind chilies, and it seems to work fine.
Chilies last about a year on wire, after that they get too dry and won't soften/plump when cooked, you can't chew through the skins.

When spices/herbs are 'Dry Enough' stick them in a jar.
This preserves moisture left and keeps them from drying to dust & twigs.
Herbs/spices often have to be rotated every year, some last a long time, but they loose flavor.

If you have a garden, don't harvest everything, letting some go to seed and collect seeds.
Generational seeds (''heritage" seeds) can be replanted.
Even window box & bucket grows are good for herbs & spices and teach you how to start plants from scratch.

My favorite place is the garden, can you tell?