# Rice and Beans, Beans and Rice!!



## WWhermit (Mar 1, 2012)

Part of my food storage plan is having a weekly supply of food, stored in either mylar bags or canning jars, ready to pick up and go. This includes bags of beans and rice, sufficient for 2 people for a week, along with dehydrated veggies, dehydrated fruits, oatmeal, spices and bullion, and canned meat.

I've just finished the first part of the project, with the weekly bags of rice and beans. Each 1-gallon ziploc mylar bag contains 6 pounds of rice. This has 56 servings, or 4 servings per person for 1 week. It also contains 2 bags of 1-pound bags of beans. This gives 2 people 2 servings of beans for 6 days. I also threw a 500cc O2 absorber in there and sealed them up.

Pics!!










These are the bags 24 hours later, after sealing with a clothing iron.










Close-up of the labels.










These should keep well for about 15 years. I also think that these bags will be a fantastic barter item as well!!

I figure each bag cost me about $8. I want at least 60 of these, and plan to store them in Rubbermaid bins. I can fit 16 in a 30 gallon bin, or about 4 months worth.


----------



## PackerBacker (Dec 13, 2012)

Nice work!


----------



## Grimsonday (Oct 24, 2012)

How do you plan to measure out each serving?


----------



## WWhermit (Mar 1, 2012)

Servings for rice are 1/2 cup each cooked, 1/4 cup uncooked. I figure 2 servings, twice a day for that.

Servings for beans are the same, and only 1 serving, twice a day. It'd be easy to take a day's worth and cook it up each morning. To save fuel, you can soak the rice and beans overnight in the water. That way you save cooking time and fuel.


----------



## kappydell (Nov 27, 2011)

Nice Job! You are a great example of DIY food storage packaging!


----------



## IlliniWarrior (Nov 30, 2010)

the rice will probably be ok in 15 years just because it's resistant as hell .... but you cut your storage longevity substantially by not using the complete LTS food system .... the near airtite bucket is a big part of the storage system .... that's why you don't see the professional food packers offering just mylar bagged food .... the sealed mylar bag is better than a retail bag or box ..... but with more effort you'll get the full benefit of LTS food storage ....


----------



## ksmama10 (Sep 17, 2012)

IlliniWarrior said:


> the rice will probably be ok in 15 years just because it's resistant as hell .... but you cut your storage longevity substantially by not using the complete LTS food system .... the near airtite bucket is a big part of the storage system .... that's why you don't see the professional food packers offering just mylar bagged food .... the sealed mylar bag is better than a retail bag or box ..... but with more effort you'll get the full benefit of LTS food storage ....


I like the idea of bagging smaller amounts, tossing in the appropriate o2 absorber, then packing them in buckets. A whole five gallon bag of any one item might be a challenge to use up once opened.


----------



## WWhermit (Mar 1, 2012)

IlliniWarrior said:


> the rice will probably be ok in 15 years just because it's resistant as hell .... but you cut your storage longevity substantially by not using the complete LTS food system .... the near airtite bucket is a big part of the storage system .... that's why you don't see the professional food packers offering just mylar bagged food .... the sealed mylar bag is better than a retail bag or box ..... but with more effort you'll get the full benefit of LTS food storage ....


Could you please show me a study that proves this? I've read quite a bit, but have never seen any conclusive evidence that a "near airtight" container is any better than a Rubbermaid bin that it's currently stored in. I want to get the most out of my storage, but I don't see the point in putting up a bunch of protection when it's not needed. From what I understand, the mylar keeps out air and moisture, the buckets, or in my case, the rubbermaid bins, will keep out light, moisture, and critters.



ksmama10 said:


> I like the idea of bagging smaller amounts, tossing in the appropriate o2 absorber, then packing them in buckets. A whole five gallon bag of any one item might be a challenge to use up once opened.


Yep. I don't want to open up a 50 lb bag of rice, just to have some go bad or stale because I only needed 1 or 2 week's worth. Plus, it's much easier to grab a smaller bag for barter or emergencies.


----------



## SouthCentralUS (Nov 11, 2012)

What do you think of this idea? Buy your rice in bulk, separate and seal in small zip lock bags and then either seal with food saver or small mylar bags with several zip locks in the larger airtight bags. Just enough sealed in one airtight bag for a few days. Would that work just as well and you would open smaller bags?


----------



## PackerBacker (Dec 13, 2012)

IlliniWarrior said:


> the rice will probably be ok in 15 years just because it's resistant as hell .... but you cut your storage longevity substantially by not using the complete LTS food system .... the near airtite bucket is a big part of the storage system .... that's why you don't see the professional food packers offering just mylar bagged food .... the sealed mylar bag is better than a retail bag or box ..... but with more effort you'll get the full benefit of LTS food storage ....


"Near airtite" isn't air tight so what difference does it make?

It's my understanding that the bucket just makes it rodent resistant and stackable, in a nutshell.


----------



## WWhermit (Mar 1, 2012)

PackerBacker said:


> "Near airtite" isn't air tight so what difference does it make?
> 
> It's my understanding that the bucket just makes it rodent resistant and stackable, in a nutshell.


This is what I've concluded as well. No sense wrapping a safe in cardboard for extra protection, and I see putting an airtight mylar bag in a non-airtight bucket as the same thing. The bin should work fine.


----------



## Caribou (Aug 18, 2012)

Your 5 gallon buckets, and most other plastics are O2 permeable. The mylar is to stop the O2 and the plastic is to slow the critters and protect the mylar. I like the buckets but anything that slows the critters works. An old ammo can like they store rockets in would work even better but even I am not going to spend that much for a container.


----------

