Some Long Term Storage I've Been Working On.

[Jeepers]

Some things I bagged up for long term storage. The bags are quart size. All vacuum sealed except the popcorn. It's in a quart Mylar bag with two 300cc oxygen absorbers. I also did 16 bags of cereal in 1 gallon Mylar bags. I'm too tired to take pictures of them tonight. 

 

Popcorn. 20 bags.  3 cups each.

 

Parboiled Rice.  21 bags.  3 cups each.

 

White Rice.  18 bags.  4 cups each.

 

Corn Meal.  24 bags.  3 cups each. 

 

Wide Noodles.  16 bags.

 

Medium Noodles.  16 bags.

 

Kluski Noodles.  18 bags.

 

[euphrasyne]

The tidy stack of packages gave my OCD a moment of bliss.  Very nice.  

[Jeepers]

LOL Euphrasyne, It is a thing of beauty huh. 

 

Except that one package of the Wide Noodles. The package on the left isn't standing up straight enough. I don't know how that escaped my attention.  

[Jeepers]

Crackers.  I was going through some of my dried food stuff getting ready for another trip to Indy. I'm not sure I'll ever get all of this food carted over there. What a chore I created for myself.  Anyway...

 

The other night I opened a jar of oyster crackers and noticed they were starting to go rancid. I vacuum sealed them around 2020. They were an off brand. Remember 2020? You got whatever you could find. 

 

I decided to replace them all this morning. I got the Premium brand and they even looked different. The other brand had a lot of overly brown tops and a lot of half pieces. Probably didn't have anything to do with them going bad but the Premium brand looked a whole lot nicer. 

 

So FYI, the little Premium brand oyster crackers came in a 9 oz. bag.

One bag filled one quart tightly packed with about a cup left over.

Two bags loosely filled two half gallon jars.

Four bags filled two half gallon jars plus one quart jar tightly packed down

I had a total of five bags that filled 2 half gallon jars plus a quart jar tightly packed with about a cup left over. The leftovers were mostly odds and ends with a lot of crumbs.

 

I decided to buy another package and fill another quart jar. The two half gallon jars will go in the pantry and the two quart jars can go in the kitchen cupboard.

 

I'm a tad OCD so while I didn't go through each cracker, I did grab a little hand full out of the bag to shake the cracker dust off and removed any little pieces.

 

Of the six bags I have about a pint left that weren't quite jar worthy. I’ll eat them here at the house.

 

 

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Cookies. I reported about Nilla Wafers a few years ago. They really hold up well! I opened a jar that I had sealed around 2019-2020 and they were just like the day I had sealed them. If you think you might want to store something sweet and you like them, I can recommend vacuum sealing some. I had upset stomach in mind when I stored mine. I only had a few left so I replaced them.

 

I also did some Ginger snap cookies for the same reason. They are the little round hard ones. They stored perfectly too. But they are pretty hard. They will either need to be gnawed at or dunked. But to be fair, they are that way fresh out of the box. But I didn't see any change in them. I had about a quart left so I’ll eat them and I refilled the jars.

 

I forgot to count the boxes it took to fill a jar of cookies. I’m guessing about five boxes for the Ginger Snaps and 7 boxes for the Nilla Wafers. The Nilla Wafers are smaller and I didn’t use the half pieces. I’ll eat them but used the best ones for storage. Normal people can probably get away with fewer boxes.   

 

I just thought, the Nilla Wafer pieces and crumbs could be crushed and sealed away for things like a pie crust or a topping for something like candied yams. I'm going to do that. 

 

Also, a few years ago I sealed some Lorna Doone cookies. Not recommended for long term storage. They went rancid.

 

I really don't have much of a sweet tooth but for some reason I fear nausea in a Stuff Hits The Fan situation.  

 

I also topped off the onion soup mix into two quart jars. Some of it was homemade and some is Lipton's. It was cheaper to buy the Lipton's to top off the jars than to make it from scratch. I only needed four boxes to finish the jars though. I dumped it all in a pot and gave it a stir and refilled the jars. I won't be able to tell the homemade from the store bought. In theory. 

 

 

               Oyster Crackers. Half gallon and quart jars.                                              Nilla Wafers. Half Gallon jars.

     

 

                       Ginger Snaps. Half gallon jars.                                                         Onion Soup Mix. Quart jars.

     

 

 

[snapshotmiki]

That looks great and  good  information, too!

[Annarchy]

Thank you, for your report!  I’m not a sweet eater, but DH is.  Right now, keeping up with his Hersheys dark chocolate habit, has been fun.  I get 4 large bars, every grocery run.  Also, his nuts.  He’s been ordering sunflower seeds, from Amazon, 4, 16 oz bags.  I freeze them, then jar them with absorbers.  And his pure tart cherry juice… yikes, it’s expensive but the reviews say it is extremely good for his heart.  
 

Speaking of that, 3.8 cm aneurism, needs to be monitored annually.  CT confirmed it.  The Dr faxed the info to his heart Dr, his next apt is next week anyway…. 
 

Good grief, gotta go, his next Amazon order is here…. More of his juice and 

he ordered another tarp….so I can make replacement seat covers & top cover for his side by side…..  AZ sun, disintegrated, the last ones I made, 4 years ago….  Sigh…..   

[Annarchy]

Instead of the camo material, which was 3,000 dnr, supposed to be sun resistant.  But temps, over the last few years have exceeded 120°F. So it died.  
 

We got a tarp for our kayaks, it lasted 6 years, got a replacement, it’s still doing good.  So, he decided, to get me a tarp, like that, to cut up & make his seat covers & sun roof.  Here’s the old seat covers….  The sun destroyed the drivers seat side…sooo… I’m planning to make a sun shade for the drivers side…. God willing…..  I will share pics, when I’m done cutting, sewing and installing the ‘new’. 
 

[Annarchy]

Oh, look, red cones…. Part of the gas company’s holes in our yard. 

[Annarchy]

Long term storage…. Gotta share… 

 

A distributor, that regularly ships to us, includes Desiccare, Inc desiccant packets, or Desi Pak Deshydratant packs…. They are awesome for keeping my daily use 1/2 gallon jars, fresh.  The Desiccare, actually has instructions on them for re-activating them!    They are 3”x 6” packets.  I opened a jar of white rice, from, 2016… it smelled as good as opening a fresh bag of white rice!  Plus, I can re-activate them & re-use….  
 

I’m a hoarder when it comes to those packets, food, meds, etc….all get saved, re-activated and re-used…. 

[euphrasyne]

Cherry Juice is also really good for female problems.  It helps regulate your cycle.  Some people also use it to help relieve gout symptoms.  

[Virginia]

I may have already posted this somewhere, but my dear Mother told me how to make crackers and cookies freshen up.  Spread one layer on a cookie sheet and heat in a low degree oven, maybe 250, for a short time.  I just tried it with graham crackers and it works great.  Think I tried saltines once, and it worked too. 

[Mt_Rider]

On 9/1/2022 at 3:35 PM, Jeepers said:

didn’t use the half pieces. I’ll eat them but used the best ones for storage

 

LOL   Yeah, I'd probably eat the cracked and crumbled ones too.      Now I have to go get a ginger cookie...    I use for upset stomach ....sometimes with 7-up.  But I like them too.  We're very dry here....arid West.  But maybe repackaging would help.  

 

If you store in glass jars, make sure they set where the sun can't get to them.  Our sun at our altitude is so powerful, it fades and degrades anything.  [Like Annarchy's seat covers and lid.]  Maui was much worse.  Left some swim fins on the porch and you could pull them apart with your hands.  Leave a roll of Duct tape on the picnic table for an hour and.....permanently glued together.  Back and threads peel off from the glue.  Just the day we needed that for tape repair of fiberglass tent poles that had also seen too much Hawai'i sun over time.  We really had to get creative on that kayak-campout with adjudicated teens.   

 

But I had some dehy veggie in a jar....in the kitchen....on a shelf.  Not near window.  Got ugly/faded and threw them out.  Can't remember ....some veggie I'd dehydrated. 

 

MtRider 

[Darlene]

I wonder if you put a roof on the side by side if that would help protect also from sun and weather.

[Littlesister]

Don't know how I missed this post.  Jeepers you were a busy lady back then. It all looks good. And yes a lot of moving to Indy. But well worth it. 

Annarchy, did you ever get those seat covers made? If so I bet they turned out really great. 

 

I think I missed a lot of posts while the construction was going on. Things were crazy then. Jeepers at least you don't have to live in your house while the construction is going on. It was a mess with all that dust and stuff. 

[Jeepers]

Yeah, I was on a mission. One good thing is all of that food is safely in Indiana waiting Armageddon.  

 

I'm glad I don't have to live in the Ohio house too. I was there through most of the demo packing up stuff but I was in a different part of the house. I think the renovation will be worse when they have to do all of that drywall and spackling and sanding. That's why I tried to pack up a lot of my things in boxes and move some things to the garage. It will get nasty. 

[Littlesister]

Packing it all up and moving it to the garage and where ever else you can find a place for it is a lot of work. And then having to bring it all back in and get it all put away again is even more work as I try to sort through things and get rid of a lot of things. But will be worth it in the end. 

 

Jeepers since you are moving you won't have to bring boxes back in. Just load up what you are keeping and take it to Indy. That would make moving a little easier on you I think. 

 

I am still fighting the sawdust and stuff. I think it is coming out of the furniture despite how many times I have vacuumed it.

I thought I had read on here that I think about taking your pillows, cushions, and such, putting them into a plastic bag, then closing the bag up and putting the vacuum hose in, and blowing them out. Sort of like the airbags to store things in.  It should suck the dust out of anything you put in the bags. Though I did wash all the bed pillows and things. But the cushions on the couch and chairs are another story.  

[Jeepers]

Littlesister, that's what I plan to do. Being in the garage just moves them closer to a U-Haul or son's trailer. They aren't coming back into the house. I can use the boxes in Indy in the garden area for weed control. And on the wire shelves to help stabilize the cans of food. 

 

I do the dust sucking thing out of fabric. You can put pillows and cushions and things in one of those big space bags, seal it and attach a vacuum hose to it. It will suck everything out that is loose. Remove the items and do some more. That way you really only need one bag. Trash bag will work too. I do couch cushions the same way. Put it in a garbage bag insert the vacuum hose and make a tight seal around the opening with your hand. Turn the vacuum cleaner on. It is kind of scary at first because it really sucks the air out fast. Be sure to not put the end of the hose against whatever you are trying to vacuum or it won't properly remove all of the air. If you have something bigger then a contractor bag will work. Those things are about 5 foot long. 

[Littlesister]

Thanks, Jeepers.  I do have a couple of the big space bags I'm not using right now. I will pull those out to use. Might be easier than a trash bag.

Seems you have everything set to move out to Indy as soon as you get the U haul or DS's truck. You are getting things together better than you think. You will be moved to Indy before you know it as long as the construction goes fast. 

[euphrasyne]

That is a good idea to clean fabric.  I need to try that on some of my pillows. Thanks.

[Ambergris]

Pancake pillows!