Long Term Food Storage Essentials | Do You Need a Freeze Dryer? 

It’s so nice to know I’m not alone in prepping, although I have to find “my people” on RU-vid😂. However, today much to my surprise, someone told me they have bought Mylar bags and a vacuum sealer for glass jars. I asked if they also purchased O2 absorbers and hair straightener or impulse sealer and they looked like a deer in the headlights. They thought using the zipper on the bags was enough. Nope! It’s a start but back to the drawing board.😂. I told them I’m available if they need guidance as I had to learn on my own.

I’m preparing for my son and my 25 yr old grandson. Because my son thinks I’m a crazy old woman for trying to prepare for the unknown. I pressure can ,dehydrate and use the Mylar bags and oxygen absorbers. I love your new room with the freeze drier. Would love to have a freeze drier but I’m 71 and a widow on SS But that doesn’t mean I don’t prep. Wallaby bags are great and their oxygen absorbers are really good..❤️

Carter I agree with you. I pray for my children and grandchildren. That really hit me hard when my daughter and granddaughter came home during Covid. She and her husband divorced she lost her job and was diagnosed with an autoimmune disease. I appreciate this video.

Thank you for your views and info. Also, I appreciate that you purchased your own freeze dryer as opposed being gifted one like a lot of you tubers (influencers) to show and drum up business for the freeze dryer company.

Wallaby goods are the best Mylar bags by far. And thanks you, Carter for stating this in a calm manner. I am 60 and my brother and I started this process of pantry planning and long term storage a year ago. In that time we have put away all varieties of preparedness including commercial canned goods, home canned goods, and freeze dried in Mylar for both our families. We don’t own a a freeze drier yet but we have found 3-4 different bulk freeze dried food distributors. So we now have over 400 MRE bags that we have put away. Many with fruit, vegetables and actual meals. Anything you can do as a meal in jar with Freeze dried you can put in a Mylar bag. Each bag holds enough food to actually feed 2-3 people. Wallaby is by far the best Mylar bags on the market. We each have families of 6, so a lot of mouths if to feed if for some reason the supply chain were to be interrupted. Enjoy your Mylar bags preparing. It’s the best. Advice… best to store your mylar bags in totes. Mice will find them. Ask me how I know! 😩. Even in my clean interior kitchen pantry a mouse found them and got into 2 of them. I never dreamed I would have a mouse gain access.

Those wallaby bags are reasonably priced which was a nice surprise. Freeze dryers are out of my budget I spent that on my solar generators. I am going to get organic wheatberrys for my grain and this makes more sense then a bucket. Once you open the bucket the air comes in makes more sense to have individual packets and put those in a bucket.

Thank you so much, Carter! I preserve as much as I’m able from the garden and sales: canning, dehydrating, and freezing. We’re in our late 60s, and my kids and grands wonder why I’m still doing so much work for “just the two of us.” Of course, the work is for peace of mind and the hope that if TSHF my family and neighbors will be okay. It’s nice to know I’m not the only one thinking this way. 😊

We need to prepare for what's coming. Thank you

Omg, fantastic information, Carter; I am getting ready to do an order from Wallaby. I never would have thought, and honestly, freeze dryers are so expensive, but now that I know I don't need a freeze dryer to use the Myler bags, this will be a game-changer for me. This is why I love your channel; you always have realistic information. Thank you so much!❤

Carter, do you know of Sue Becker? There are SO many grains that David CAN eat that won't mess with his blood sugar! I love Sue's Millet mac and cheese! Hominy- home made of course, is high in nutrition. Then there is RoseRed Homestead. Ms. Pam and Mr. Jim are THE best teachers. But, check out her sprouted wheat. You have so many options! I have a peg board in my pantry for my Mylar bags. I love it! I glance at the bags and grab what I need. 😊

My wife is putting up lemon pepper chicken and curried chicken along with broth from a sale at the local stores today. So happy to have her support! Great video, made me think of a few things I can do 💐

Hi Carter. We’ve bagged up 1 cup bags of rice with a bag of beans. Put them in Mylar, than in a five gallon bucket. In case the SHTF, and it will, we have food we can share.

I’m so glad I found you in RU-vid. I have the same grave concerns about our economy and the stability of our world. We are empty nesters now with our 5 kids grown and gone but I feel the need to make our home a safe place with enough food for whatever is ahead of us. Wish you were my neighbor so I could really pick your brain! Since you’re in TN and I’m in Ga., I’ll just keep on watching! Thank you so much!

I will make more comments on this vid, but this is why I can food and freeze dry too. In early human kind, grains came in handy because dense calories were hard to come by and life was hard. Now days our physical lives are easier so concentrated calories from grains are detrimental. If food becomes hard to get, those extra calories may be useful again to extend the normal food we preserve. Freeze drying things like potatoes allow us really long term storage that we do not have to eat or rotate, but is secure in our pantries if needed. You can also store longer than a couple years freeze dried, things like carrots that you might not like, but you could grab a cup or 2 for soups for guests that like carrots etc.

You can "seal" the unused O2 absorber in Quart jars or in a mylar bag. Have everything lined up that you want to seal in mylar. Open the O2 absorbs and put one in your mylar food bags and then put the rest in a Quart Jar, pint jar or mylar bag and seal them the same way you are sealing your food bags. If you have a vacuum sealer and seal them in a regular vacuum seal bag. I just got into my O2 absorbers yesterday and put the unused ones back into the quart jar they came out of and vacuum sealed the jar. If you don't have a jar sealer the O2 absorbers will seal themselves into a jar after you put the lid on. It is my understanding that it takes 2-4 hours to become saturated when exposed. I am just very quick when I am processing anything.

The one grain I do keep in a 3.5 gallon bucket, is jasmine rice, because I do occasionally eat that, and it seems to be less irritating to paleo kind of eating. I know many whine and say no dont eat that, but I have a friend who is Diabetic and she says it does NOT move her blood sugar levels like other grains, so I feel comfortable keeping it and occasionally cooking with it. I also keep Sugar in the 3.5 gallon bucket because of canning, not certain if you can keep the allulose stuff in a bucket, but since you do a lot of canning might look into it??? and 5 gallon, I keep spare pet food, for emergencies. Okay just sharing my weird bucket keeps. I want to add a freeze dryer because I want to freeze dry liver and other organ meats for the pets as well and other crazy things. :) not happening this year, new roof comes first, but its on my list!

I have a freeze dryer…please show us all you freeze dry…very intrested 😊

PEACE OF MIND IS PRICELESS. Thank you.

I KNOW without a shadow of a doubt that I do NOT have enough food stored for two people if something were to happen, much less if one of the kids had to come home. I put the oxygen absorbers in a half pint jars. Just learned about Parish Rice which supposedly has a glycemic index of 41, which is outstanding. Just purchased some to try and see if I like it. I also like Basmati Rice, which has a 51-58 glycemic index, whereas, white/brown rice has 71 glycemic index. Always looking for some different stuff. 😁

Great video, Carter! I appreciate your jumping in and sharing your knowledge.

Owning a freeze dryer has been a dream of mine for sometime. I dehydrate fruits, vegetables, sauces, broths, eggs, and have even ventured into dehydrating chicken. Heidi of rain country has been a true inspiration in this area. Have you freeze dried meats? More importantly, have you cooked with the freeze dried meats? I would love for you to experiment with cooking freeze dried meats. As usual, I learn so much from your teaching. Thank you.

@growandpreserve, take that big bag of oxygen absorbers and divide it into several mason jars and put on the lid. It should keep them "good" for a while as long as the lids seals. I did that with mine and I have had them for almost a year and they are still good. Its insane that these company put all those absorbers in a single bag. FYI: if you have multiple absorbers in a jar, there is no need to suction it. It will seal on its own. I will be investing in Wallaby. They look like great bags.

I appreciate your tight prices. Thank you!

I will say, my sister and I were talking about this very thing today. We had a sissy day and were talking about my dream for the past 2 weeks about my kiddos. Surprisingly, she has the same dreams. We worried the same as you she.has 2 children and 2 grandbabies. I have 3 children. It's a scary world right now. I worry like you. Even though they may be on their own, I will make sure my babies have what they need as well. I was always confused about which absorbers to use for what packets. I will definitely be using wallaby for the assortment and seeing what the bags look like. I love they have the zipper seal on them as well. I also love the MRE sizes for all together meals. Thank you for your informative video. I would love to see your progress in preserving your stock. God bless and stay safe 🙏 ❤

Was just thinking the same. Great tips as always, Carter. We have a kid at home temporarily right now in this exact circumstance (until Tuesday) and the amount of food consumed has gone way up in the last few weeks, which has had me thinking the same way. If both came back with their significant others, we’d be out of food pretty fast. They’re both vegetarian (although that would likely go out the window in a crisis). It has always been my priority to have staple dried foods stored in bulk, so vital wheat gluten, various types of flours, salt, seasonings, dried potato, dried milk, dried butter, dried cheeses, rice, quinoa, pasta, beans, etc are purchased in large quantities and rotated as we use them. We don’t have a freeze dryer (yet) so we are a ReadyWise bucket household. I’m going to look right now to see if my vacuum sealer is hot enough to seal Mylar bags and get a smarter and longer term storage situation for some of these staples that I already have.

I love my freeze dryer but I haven’t put up much for long long term storage. That’s my plan for this garden season now that I know the food lasts and tastes great! I like how you organized everything. I’m about to place a big bulk food order. Have my Mylar bags ready! Thanks for the tip to put servings and cooking directions on the bags!

I live in Florida and we get hurricanes so we always have to be prepared. We have always cooked from scratch and have a well stocked pantry but after the grocery store shortages in 2020 we have stocked up a lot more. We grind our own flour from wheat berries so I store lots of grains, rice, oats, beans. I store them in Mylar bags in 5 gallon buckets and I only use wallaby’s love them.

I love Wallaby, hadn't seen the Mre size, would be great for single meals. As you know, my harvest right runs 24-7. Refried beans in now, salsa just came out! I cut the cooking labels off my grain packages and put them inside each bag. Try purchasing 02 absorbers in packs of 5 in a 50 or 100 count bag. A trick is to get your mylar ready, open your absorbers take out what you need and then reseal that little plastic pouch with your impulse sealer! That saves them until you need the rest. Darn I did not think to use my tomato funnel. Tks😉 love your room redo it's perfect!

Thank you for the reminder! I've had them bookmarked for a few years now and never got around to placing an order! I really need to start writing things down...lol! They come highly recommended by many prepper channels, so you're in good company. 😉

You sound like me. My husband did lose his job the same month my oldest graduated from college. Neither one have any nibbles for a job. I have been prepping for years so we are ok. But there are 7 of us. BTW, fresh milled grains don’t raise my blood sugar like store bought bread. I’m working on sourdough. I have a type 1 diabetic so we need carbs. Thanks for sharing.

If the power grid is taken down, all electric appliances will no longer work. The freezer, the freezer dryer, and all other electric appliances will not work. Your canned food and freeze dried foods will be your food and canning meat is very smart. I truly enjoy your videos. I have learned a lot from you and you are a great and talented presenter. All God's best to you and yours.

Thank you! Great Topic! Garden season, perfect timing getting the freeze dryer.

Thanks this is great video. I never thought about putting my dehydrated foods in Mylar. I put my unused o2 absorbers in canning jar and vacuum seal until I use again. I like wallaby bags.

I will be ordering these milar bags.

Having an extended pantry is peace of mind. Its also a way of life

I worry for my kids too. 22 and 20. Just starting out in this mess. So unsettling. Our home will be stocked up.

Put your dehydrated food and an oxygen absorber in a mason jar. Suck the air out using the attachment to your food saver. Screw the band down on the canning jar lid tight to protect it from weather caused air pressure changes and assorted accidental bumps. Make a light blocking sleeve for the jar from old socks, sweaters or whatever. Store it away in the back of a closet or on dry basement shelves. It will be good for probably as long as you want.

If you do have canned foods that are sitting there aging, you can now open the jars and freeze dry that food. I always make menus, so I can see what we eat in a month, 6 months, or a year. That helps me to know how many pounds of meat we need for a year, how many jars of this or that for a year, and that is how we plan for a year. Quick question: Does anyone know how long a mylar bag will last? I'd hate for my bags to disintegrate around my rice and beans!!

The black bags would be great for our dog’s dry food. She eats incredibly expensive wheat free kibble, we store it, than rotate it over two years. Fortunately, we have a weevil free home.

I am listening to your ideas, I am parallel with you for food storage, do not and very doubtful will get freeze dryer, not compatible with my home, my heart is in same place to prepare for my adult kids should the need arise, you never know ‘great information thanks for your ideas.

loves this ive not thought about some of the thing you talk about

Please speak with your children about making extra principal payments to pay the mortgage off faster. So glad I did. Wow! Happy Birthday to you Carter. Lucky Lady and a freeze dryer! I like the black bags. Look into purchasing a roll of Magic tape or Monster, Nano or Flex tape or Dollar Tree any brand. Place a strip on your shelf and nothing will slide down. It's Reusable.

Love this! I’ve been using Mylar bags fur awhile but haven’t created this brand!! I’m going to order some like the O2 absorbers with those!! Thanks Carter!!❤

You may want your next investment to be a vacuum chamber.... better for sucking the air out of the bags and a better seal than the sealer that comes with the freeze dryer. I'm 4 years ahead of you on this one, but glad to see you got it now. And even with a 4 year head start, I don't feel like I have done enough! You did a great job of not fear mongering, but I have grave concerns about the state of the world right now and no level of preparation seems adequate. BTW, just wait until you get to FD'ing broth instead of canning it! I think if time allows, you will find quite a few things you will choose to FD rather than can. If I can make a recommendation... learn to use the FD'd foods now, while you can make changes to how you package them. Learn how meats differ from veggies when you reconstitute them. I'm sure you have already found Retired at 40 but there are a few other great FD'ing channels. Phil at 4800' does a lot of product comparisons and testing of mylar and o2 absorbers. And you'll find that some things you'll actually prefer the non-gusseted bags, like herbs. We learned that smaller bags were better for us on some things, just like you would choose to can in a pint knowing you could grab 2 pints if needed but sometimes a quart is too much. Figuring that out before you get too far into things will save you down the road. I highly recommend you check your trays while they are around 125° to feel for cold spots. You'll miss spots if you check at lower temps, and that can make a whole bag go bad. And keep in mind when you are planning whole meals on how the ingredients reconstitute. For instance, I find peas, potatoes and sweet potatoes take longer than veggies and meat, so I choose to exclude them from meals but FD and bag them separate so I can start the reconstitution process for those earlier, then add them to the meal. Can't remember more examples off the top of my head, but experiment with some of each type of food (you can steal some off the trays before bagging and practice with them... and see how the texture changes for different things. Most things will come back as if they had been frozen and thawed. You'll learn what things you prefer to eat FD'd vs reconstituted, like fruits, desserts, grilled cheese, and french toast. Oh, and you might to FD some stuff in multiple forms... like raw ground beef vs cooked, or raw eggs vs cooked. One day I'll have to tell you the story of our first FD'er. Best advice I can give you is to make sure there is no food debris from a prior load in your rubber gasket on the front... and don't be in a hurry to update software right away. Let others guinea pig the new versions 😉

WHAT TO DO REGARDING O2 ABSORBERS. You can stockpile your dried goods until you have 10 mylar bags full of dried goods before you take the step of reaching for your O2 absorbers. I try to get as much air out of bag and zipper it almost entirely closed ; then slide the O2 in ; finish zippering it. After all bags have been zippered they can be heat sealed. Iron on wool setting.

❤

Lots of great info, thanks!

Greed-flation. I understand your concerns. Same here.

Would you please link the cart that you got on Amazon that are using for your freeze dryer? I am waiting on the delivery of my medium freeze dryer and know that cart is the perfect size for its use would be very helpful. Thank you for your time. I just love your channel. So much helpful information.

How long can you store nuts and seeds?

I watched a RU-vid video that said if you couldn’t go to a grocery store you would need 500 jars per person per year.

Please put your Mylar products in a tote or bucket to protect from bugs and rot ants

I can't purchase a freeze dryer. I can't add the breaker for it in my apartment. I will have to buy freeze dryed products. So that is an option for people in my situation.

Your discount code is not working

Freeze dryers are terribly expensive especially for seniors.

There will be an IQ test November 5, 2024