Use Mylar bags for dehydrated food storage after your dehydrated food has been vacuum sealed in either pint- or quart sized-vacuum bags.
(The last step for proper food storage are the plastic lidded bins, or buckets which store our Mylar bags for long-term food storage).
These special bags are made from a polyester film and are very
shiny in appearance. They keep out air, light, moisture, and BUGS!
Mylar bags are very tough and tear-resistant and are ideal for food packaging—it gives an extra layer of protection to our individual food packets that you'll place inside for safekeeping.
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Mylar bags are made from polyester film. This material was developed in the 1950s by DuPont and is now produced by a number of different companies. It's a strong, durable, and flexible material that can be used for a variety of applications. It's a silvery gray color.
When it comes to storing dried foods, Mylar bags are a great option. They're also airtight and moisture-resistant, so they'll keep your dried foods fresh and free from mold and other contaminants.
Mylar bags can be placed inside food storage containers, or they can be used on their own.
They're strong and durable, and they offer an extra layer of protection against the three enemies: moisture, air, and light. If you're looking for a simple and effective way to store your dried foods, Mylar bags are a great way to go.
Mylar bags are smooth, both inside and out, unlike food vacuum-sealer bags.
Mylar bags, when sealed properly, are easy to write on with a black felt-tipped pen/marker so you know what's in them!
The reason you can't vacuum these bags, (or is at least VERY hard to
do), is that both sides of the Mylar bag are smooth and there's no need to draw the air out. Use Mylar bags to store your filled vacuum-sealed bags.
Here's the reason for the textured side in vacuum-sealer bags:
Food vacuum-sealer bags need to have one inner side textured. You need to have a way for the air to be drawn out when vacuum-sealing your packages that are filled with dehydrated food!
Look closely at the plastic vacuum bags that the dehydrated food goes into first; you'll notice that one side is smooth and the other side is 'bumpy', for want of a better word.
These textured 'bumps' enable the air to actually be drawn out of
the bag, otherwise the two smooth surfaces just simply clamp shut tight
together! Yeah, repeating myself here, but ... just want to get the point across!
When you've filled your 10 inch x 14 inch Mylar bags, use a black felt-tipped pen as mentioned above to describe the contents of the bags. Write the date on it too!
Keep reading to see the ideal number of vacuum-sealed packages that can fit inside one of the bags.
I can get at least three plastic-wrap vacuum-packed packages into one bag, sometimes four. Don't overstuff. If you try to get more in, it makes it harder to seal the bag,
plus you risk puncturing the vacuum-sealed packages inside, when one
pokes against the other. That's the reason why I plastic-wrap the packages after vacuum sealing. For a 10 inch by 14 inch bag, use a 300cc oxypack.
NOTE: To make sure you understand—we do not vacuum the Mylar bags, we only use the sealing function on the vacuum-sealer machine; not the air removal function.
The vacuum AND sealing takes place only on the food vacuum-sealer bags, or the food vacuum-sealer rolls. We only draw AIR out of our food vacuum sealer bags that have the oxygen absorber tucked in prior to vacuuming it!
Don't forget to check out Amazon for the best prices—and as you can see in the Amazon ads shown farther up the page, some Mylar bags come complete with a matching number of appropriately sized oxygen absorbers!
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Thanks for reading about mylar bags for dehydrated food storage. I hope you found the information useful, especially regarding why we do not vacuum the air out of Mylar bags!
Questions? Write to me here.
Susan Gast began Easy Food Dehydrating in December 2010. Read Susan's story of what sparked her interest in all things related to "food dehydrating."
Susan is featured on Mother Earth News blog, and on Solo Build It (SBI) who host this site along with her sister site, Finally-Keto. Read her first SBI interview, and her second SBI interview. Susan also runs an additional SBI website: SusanGast.com - Non-Fiction Author - and showcases many of the books she's created and marketed over the years.
Since 1980, Susan's involvement in publishing - in one form or another - led her to create a "review site" of products related to the publishing industry. Visit ePubTechReviews today.
Do you want to send Susan a quick message? Visit her contact page here. She'd love to hear from you!