The Christmas wrap would be a very thin mylar and would probably rip very easily. Mylar bags are very tough and are difficult to puncture (not impossible tho) If you are going to store food for long term you really need to use the proper mylar - no sense storing $20.00 worth of food in a pail and cheaping out on the bag. Be patient and save up. I've never seen mylar at a home improvement store but if there is such a thing be sure it's food grade.

An alternative to mylar is recycled glass jars or old coffee cans. It may not deal with the oxygen but it will keep it dry and away from vermin and therefore it will extend the shelf life.

I use M&M packaged for storing meds because its quality Mylar. Some coffee bags are good as well. Not nearly as good but not bad would be Crispers and Bits and Bites bags. I keep them for future sandwich bags anyhow.

I collect any commercial size pickle jars as a major improvisation to mylar. Boil the lid and put it on warm to soften the seal into place. Adding a hand warmer is a cheap oxygen small scale absorber. 1 warmer will handle the pickle jar or any small jars. You can also paint them if you want light protection.

Here's my video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UjD9Xpq2NxE&feature=youtube_gdata_player

yycbm,

Excellent discovery.

I recommend all of you have a look of at least the first 2 and a half minutes of this video. It will give ideas about improvised mylar bags, recycling mylar bags and food storage.

yycbm,

What vacuum sealer unit are you using in the video?? It seems to do a very good job. Do you have any comments or lessons learned since making the video about re-using the mylar bags??

Thanks.

Cheers,

Mountainman.

I like that idea! I guess you need to eat a lot of Crispers 🙂 (and welcome too yycbusymom!)

Brilliant!