O2 packs

[mommato3boys]

For about a week now I have been hunting O2 absorbers. Sticker shock city. I finally found some on the LDS online pantry that decently priced but I could only order 2 packs. Each pack has 100 300cc absorbers in it. So hopefully I can order more soon. I plan on dehydrating a lot this year. I want to make soups and other meals and put in mylar backs for camping or bugging out or running away, whichever I decide to do LOL. Any way two packs with $3 shipping was only $24.50. Compare to other places that wanted that much just for 10 absorbers. Have people lost their everloving minds?

[The WE2's]

We bought tons of them ... some several years ago and some about a year ago.  Sadly...some of them were no good.  We have since learned (from checking online) that many suppliers order them in bulk, vacuum seal them in smaller packages and sell them.  Problem?  If there's only ONE that is good, it will have the little pink(?) symbol and you'll think they're all good.  NOT!  So now, we have to put one in a half pint jar, put a lid and ring on it and wait to see if it will seal.  If so we quickly transfer it into our jar, if not...trash.  Grrrrr! 

[mommato3boys]

Well snapdragon! The mail delivery was early and we missed it. My 02 packets were due in today so now hubby has to pick them up Monday at the PO. But that is ok it will give me an extra day for cooling. Don't want to make the same mistake I made with my peaches - I didn't let them cool long enough before packing them away. The veggies are going in first. I have blueberries to dry as well. I like cooking with dry blueberries better than fresh. Dry berries don't sink to the bottom nor do they add extra moisture.

[mommato3boys]

Well today we got home from church and there was a box at our door. It seems my 02 packs came via FedEx. The package at the PO is hubs. I guess I set up the dehydrator tomorrow evening and let it run all night. Our one of the two splurges from the stimulus checks was a large air fryer oven type and it dehydrates also. We will see. Not sure I trust it enough to go to bed and sleep with it running. The other splurge was fishing poles. I fishing poles did not survive the move to Texas and we have never replaced. them. Now GS is almost 3 I want tot take him fishing.

[Andrea]

Instead of O2 absorbers, have you thought about purchasing a vacuum sealer?  I have one like this:

Pump-N-Seal® Food Saver Vacuum Sealer - Fastest vacuum sealer for marinating - Food Saver - Long Term Food Storage

 

It works great for storing in quart size jars.  I just made some 15 bean soup from a dried bean mix that I sealed in a glass jar 12 years ago.  In fact, this is my preferred way to store bulk dry beans.  I've found that the #10 cans of beans can become impossibly hard, even after freezing and or pressure cooking.  Rice, on the other hand, needs to be eaten within 5 years or it seems to go rancid.  But, my rice in #10 cans that was 15 years old was just fine.   

 

I'm no longer storing for an army, or for a millenium, but I do try to keep at least a year on hand of most shelf-stable foods.  The vacuum sealer which I bought 20+ years ago still remains one of my favorite methods of storage.  

[Littlesister]

I haven't checked the O2 aborbers in a while. I still have some and will be hopefully getting my dehydrator going in the next couple of weeks. But I will check my sources to see if I can get them and how much they are now. Never thought about prices of those going up. But then I haven't dehydrated anything in well over a year now.