# Repackaging



## piratemike (Feb 2, 2012)

Hello Everyone,
I am new here and to the prepping world in general. I am currently just stocking up on staple items for long term storage. That has led to a question. Can freeze dried or dehydrated food items be opened and then repackaged? What I am thinking is that I do not want everything in#10 cans.It seems like it would be useful to open the #10 can, repackage food items(vacuum seal and/or O2 absorbers) in smaller quanties. Has anyone tried this? Are there any draw backs to doing this.

Any info would be greatly appreciated.

Mike


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## AlabamaGal (Dec 27, 2011)

Truly, a #10 can is not that big, especially since the things inside that you are talking about (freeze dried and dehydrated food) are already very shelf stable anyway. This is one thing I wouldn't sweat. Repackaging is going to really add to the price without really adding to the benefit.

When you buy products in paper sacks, or you get stuff from the grocery store, like 1# plastic bags of beans that could use longer term storage protection, then you want to repackage. Beans have great longevity, but they get drier and harder with time -- which means more water and energy to cook.

Wheat (and it's varieties like spelt, emmer and kamut) vre also _very_ shelf stable, but you really should be eating out of your storage to keep it rotated, and 50# sack of wheat takes a long while to get through. Mylar bags, sealed with a regular clothes iron and with an O2 absorber inside works very well. A couple of days later they will be shrivelled up tight like they were vacuum sealed. You can then store the mylar bags in any sturdy, stackable container. Used buckets from construction sites, kitty litter containers, etc. Sometimes the bags lose their seal so you should check them periodically and eat the ones which have lost their seal or redo them.

The reality, however, is that mylar bags are pretty pricey and the repackaging is a pain. You have to gauge the longevity of the item with how fast you are going to eat it. I say you "should" eat from your storage and rotate it, but some people chose not to and stockpile stuff they never touch. You have to decide what you'll do. Still, a #10 can in a crisis is not going to seem like too much.

Personally, I have about 250# of wheat sitting in their sealed, nitrogen packed white HDPE buckets except the one I am eating from with the Gamma Seal lid on top. 45# bucket is cheaper than 50# sack after I buy the mylar bags. These buckets are pretty awesome for storage for a few years, but they are not as impervious as mylar. If you want to stock up for 30 years, open the bucket, pour out the grain, put it a BIG mylar bag and put the grain back in. Seal the mylar and then the bucket again and you are good to go. Some suppliers sell mylar-lined buckets already.

White rice comes in the plastic-line burlap sack, and sugar somes in paper, so I seal that in mylar and it goes into kitty litter buckets, which have the virtual of being square, incredibly durable and interlock very snugly when stacked. (And I also have a never-ending supply of them.)


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