I think things brown nicer in coconut oil than bacon fat.....

Sacrilege!
(It's because of the scorching temps between them, palm and coconut oil can get hotter without burning. It's still sacrilege.)
😉
-P

Can you store mushrooms long term using the Mylar Bag / O2 method?

I'm think dehydrated Shiitake Mushrooms.

Also, does Textured Vegetable Protein age well in Mylar/O2?

I have had mushrooms that I have done for up to three years at this time, but I have no data further then that from personal use and I do not have the Textured Veg protein, so someone else will need to talk to that one..

Right now I am using dried mushrooms that are about 6 years old. I say about, because the label that the date was written on is partially gone, so am using my best guestamation. They were just stored in a glass gallon jar with a really tight fitting lid. I had some problems with the sharp edges of the mushrooms poking thru the mylar. The two small bags got punctured, picked up moisture and molded. Was quite a surprise to open a bag and find rotten mushrooms; so it is bottles for me. The ones I am using were stored in a dry, dark cupboard, and are every bit as good today as the day I stored them. Don't use TVP, so can not comment on that. Hope this helps.

KK

We are considering purchasing a Food Saver brand vacuum sealer with a jar sealer. Would anyone please tell us if this would be a good investment, or not. I currently pack most od my dehydrated foof in 1.9 l jars. Would really like to vacuum seal those jars for longer term storage. Thanks in advance for any thoughts on this.

I have a food saver with the 2 sizes of jar sealers and use it on a regular basis. Its been a wonderful investment. I do long term storage with it and so much more. It is a bit tricky trying to vacuum seal mylar but once you get the trick its easy.

Thank you Adagio for the info. I ordered a unit, including jar sealer and bottle stopper online today. Should be here in a couple of weeks, so will do an update then.

Got our Food Saver a few days ago, and vacuumed up two pork roasts yesterday. Really worked well. Will have to order a large size jar sealer as the one that came with the unit is for regular sized jars, not wide mouth. Oh well, such is life! I do have one more question, though. Can I vacuum seal already frozen stuff like sausages, etc? I have several packs of specialty sausages (made just for us) in the freezer, that I would like to vacuum seal.
Thanks
KK

Sure you can vacuum seal frozen stuff. In fact it works better. I actually will sometimes lightly freeze meats or fruits prior to sealing them. Then your not dealing with the blood or meats juices getting sucked up the bags where it gets sealed.

What's the storing difference between regular dried beans and the kinds provided by emergency storage companies (think #10 cans of Thrive, Nutri-Store, etc)?. From my point of view a regular bag of dried pintos/navy beans is $1-2/lb regular dried, whereas these cans seems to be around $10 per lb in a can that says 'for emergencies', and that's hard to justify.

Rachel, I think that a lot of the canned beans are pre-cooked and then dried and will be a quick cooking process as opposed to the dried beans in bags or in bulk food stores. You are paying for the convenience and the smaller amount of liquid required to make the food edible. I could be wrong but I think that may be the difference.

I'm not a food leader so I hope I am not stepping on toes, but I had looked at the same issue before...

The reason preparing and storing your own through mylar bags and/or cans is so popular is that you can do it yourself for a fraction of the cost of purchasing it pre packaged. For staples like Rice, Beans, Oats, etc. is makes the most economical sense to do this yourself. Storing mylar you can pack more into say a 5 gal. bucket. Bags have some forgiveness unlike #10 cans. Cans...whether you purchase them pre made them yourself your looking at a fixed amount of space. You can usually put a "bit" more in each can if your physically packing this yourself also. The LDS stopped packaging materials and you can only buy cans there now. Not sure unless you have your own setup where to go to can goods anymore in Ontario.

Where purchasing prepackaged is advantageous is when you start looking at fortified foods with nutrients/vitamins and also smaller prepackaged "meals." for example its nice to have meals pre made which only need to add water and be heated to give you pasta, or mashed potatoes, etc. Because balanced nutrients and vitamins are so important, its beneficial to have some of these fortified foods. That being said...they are wildly expensive in my opinion. Thrive, Mountain House, etc. do have some tasty items but extremely pricey. If your looking for good tasting but dont want to kill the budget Costco, FoodforLife are a couple other more moderately priced (but still expensive compared to bagging food yourself) routes to go.

Sorry if I sound long winded. But in summary...storing basic staples on your own is much more economical. The pre packaged food from companies is nice to have and their is a place for it. The storing difference is in your favour if you do it yourself.

Thanks!

I have a food saver with the 2 sizes of jar sealers and use it on a regular basis. Its been a wonderful investment. I do long term storage with it and so much more. It is a bit tricky trying to vacuum seal mylar but once you get the trick its easy.

I own a foodsaver unit, and also mylar bags.

I "thought" I could use the mylar bags on the food saver unit, but the bags seem to stick on the foodsaver, and they do not form a seal or get vacuumed at all.

Additionally, I'm worried it might damage my foodsaver unit.

Should I be able to do this?

I find even the off market brand foodsaver type bags don't even work, and I end up throwing a ton of that material away.
I've learned to not cheap out and buy foodsaver brand bags, but they are mega expensive.

When I use the mylar bags, I've developed a technique where I use a standard household iron, seal 3/4 of the top of the bag leaving a channel on one side, then, I insert a tube that I've duct taped to a regular vacuum cleaner and suck out the air while I run the iron over the rest of the top of the bag to seal it.
Kida sux (pardon the pun!) to do it this way, but it does work, but not as good as the food saver could do it.

If you know of a way to use the foodsaver unit with the rest of my mylar bags, please let me know!
🙂

Mylar is typically used with oxygen absorbers.

If your referring as a food saver to the 'vacuum seal' bags, mylar is an exensive option. Actually so are the bags they sell in the stores alongside the vacuum seal machines....

The best and least expensive option: Milk Bags. Not the big ones that you buy milk in, but those clear plastic 1L bags. They work great.