I have all my mylar bags and am ready to package them into my buckets. Attempted the first bucket with the noodles, then on to other products. My question is - when I place the oxy. ab. into the bag and iron it shut does it absorb all the air out of the bag so that it looks like the air has been vacuumed out or what? I am not sure if I did my first bucket right and was wondering if anyone has some experience monkeying around with all this already. I am sure learning a lot from all messages on this board. Thanks, Mary

-- Mary Howe (doesnotmatter@thistime.com), November 13, 1998

Answers

Yep, they vaccuum seal, all right. May take awhile though. Give'm time. Some of ours took over night.

-- Alive in 2000 (sarmstro@seidata.com), November 13, 1998.

If you're using mylar bags you want to be sure that you don't leave a lot of air space in the bag when you seal it. That is, the seal line should be right above the top of the food. If you move up several inches you're leaving a lot of air in the bag and the ox.ab. won't be able to get all the O2 out.

-- rocky (rknolls@hotmail.com), November 13, 1998.

We store food in Ziploc bags this way: Put whatever it is into the ziploc bag. Stick a straw into the bag, careful not to touch the contents. Zip the seal closed tight until the straw stops it. PInch the seal shut around the straw and suck most of the air out of the bag. You will see the bag collapse as the pressure inside falls. Pull out the straw and quickly complete the zipseal.

Should work with larger bags -- give it a try.

-- Tom Carey (tomcarey@mindspring.com), November 14, 1998.

The way we stored our dry foods was with dry ice, in a 5 gallen plastic bucket you wrap about 4 oz. of dry ice in a paper towel, place it in the bottom of the bucket, put your dry foods on top. Place your lid on loose for a couple of hours, untill you cannot feel the ice from the bottom any longer, then seal it. The dry ice turns to nitrogen which obsorbs the oxy. If you put too much dry ice your top will swell, just burp it. Dixie

-- Dixie Hughes (peppye@bellsouth.net), November 14, 1998.

Dixie Hughes:

-- Ken Goljan (darkcoyote@msn.com), November 14, 1998.

Dixie Hughes: I am afraid you are passing on some misinformation!!! Dry ice is solidified carbon dioxide or CO2. It is NOT nitrogen (N), and it does NOT change to nitrogen, and it does NOT absorb oxygen. However, as the solidified carbon dioxide sublimates to carbon dioxide gas (the white cool hazy mist coming off of dry ice) it will displace air in your container, since it is heavier than air. Eventually nearly all the air is replaced with carbon dioxide and free oxygen, which is in the air, is removed from your container.

A word of caution, carbon dioxide is heavier than air and will settle to the lower areas of the room you may be working in. This can be lethal to pets and small children that may be playing on or near the floor. Therefore, it is EXTREMELY IMPORTANT that you ventilate the area you are working in. Also, do not handle dry ice with your bare hands - use gloves to avoid frostbite, which will happen with frightening speed to bare skin. Do not be afraid of dry ice, it is very helpful and an easy material to use - just use common sense using the stuff. Have fun!!!

-- Ken Goljan (darkcoyote@msn.com), November 14, 1998.

Do you have to wrap the dry ice? Or can you just toss a piece into the bucket and put your rice on top?

-- Bill (bill@microsoft.com), November 14, 1998.

excuse my ignorance - i'm relatively new - but what type of stores sell dry ice?

-- Christine (a@newbie.com), November 14, 1998.

Just don't let the dry ice sit directly on the plastic. It will make the plastic extremely brittle and vulnerable to cracking if the pressure in the bucket rises.

Also be sure to wipe the frost off the dry ice before you put it in. You don't want a puddle of water at the bottom of your bucket.

-- Ned (entaylor@cloudnet.com), November 14, 1998.

Christine: A) Ice companies

B) Ice cream companies

C) Yellow Pages Under Dry Ice (look for AGA Gas, or etc.)

cr

-- Chuck a Night Driver (rienzoo@en.com), November 14, 1998.

I bought dry ice today at Safeway. Ask at the front counter, they get it from the storage room. Other grocery stores have it, too. Just be sure to bring a small cooler with to carry it home in.

-- Bill (bill@microsoft.com), November 15, 1998.

Mary,

You do not create a complete vacuum with the O2 absorbers. Oxygen comprises 21% of the atmosphere so you are pulling approximately a 20% pressure decrease. Do not worry about how much space you leave in the bag as someone else wrote after you. Merely guesstimate the volume of air left and size your absorbers accordingly.

For example, a 750cc O2 absorber will pull out 750ccs of oxygen. Since that is 20% of the gas in the bag, divide 750 by .20 and you get the total gas volume that absorber will handle. Likewise with any other size absorber. In the above example, the absorber will handle the O2 in 3,750 cubic centimeters.

Now, stay with me here. There are about 2.5 centimeters in an inch so 2.5 x 2.5 x 2.5 = 15.63 cubic cent. in one cubic inch.

Dividing 3,750 by 15.63 and you get 239.93 cubic inches of air that that absorber will handle.

Hope this helps. I found this easier by far than nitrogen or dry ice. Once the O2 absorber does it's thing, you *have* a nitrogen packed bucket!

Will

-- Will Huett (willhuett@usa.net), November 15, 1998.

You can also purchase dry ice, in small but very adequate quantities, at some WalMart stores and some Homeland Grocery stores.

-- Ken Goljan (darkcoyote@msn.com), November 15, 1998.