Long-Term Food Storage in Mylar Bags

If you’ve spent any time in the emergency preparedness world, you’ve probably heard about long-term food storage in Mylar bags. We all know by now that food preservation and long-term food storage is one of the most important facets of emergency preparedness. However, you can only store so Many mason jars of pickles, jam and soup. Plus, while those items are shelf-stable for at least a year or two, they do have a shorter shelf-life than many correctly-stored dried goods.

Mylar bags are an excellent solution for long-term storage of dry pantry staples, bulk foods, and even freeze-dried foods. When stored correctly, these dry foods have a very long shelf life. In fact, properly dried foods stored in Mylar are often good for 25-30 years! Most seasoned “preppers” agree that it’s the best way to store a lot of food for an extended period of time.

 

What Is Mylar

Mylar is the brand name for a product called BoPET (biaxially oriented polyethylene terephthalate). Put simply, it’s a very strong but thin polyester film. Mylar bags have a layer of the polyester film on either side of a sheet of aluminum. The result is a flexible and strong barrier that is perfect for long-term food storage.

While it can often be confused with or referred to as a food-preservation method, storing foods in Mylar is actually not a form of food preservation; it’s simply a form of food storage. With Mylar, you’re taking foods that are already preserved in a shelf-stable format (ie. dried), and you’re simply extending their shelf-life by packaging (or re-packaging) them in Mylar.

 

What Can (and Can’t) be Stored in Mylar Bags?

The best options for long term storage in Mylar bags are dry goods such as white rice, beans, dry pasta, oats, wheat and whole grains, white sugar, and salt, as well as freeze-dried foods. 

While you can technically store dehydrated foods—like dried vegetables and fruits—in Mylar, it’s not recommended because even dehydrated foods often have some moisture left in them. This is what often makes them chewy and flexible. Home food dehydrators often only remove up to 80-90% moisture from foods. Freeze drying foods, however, removes up to 99% moisture from foods, making them much more suitable for long-term food storage.

Certain foods are not suitable for storage in Mylar bags, such as oily/fatty foods like nuts, seeds, roasted coffee beans, or beef jerky. Brown rice also isn’t ideal for long-term storage, as they contain oils that will cause them to go rancid quickly. Anything with a moisture content, even a little bit, is also a no-go. This means that things like brown sugar, molasses, and dried fruits are not suitable for storage in Mylar bags either.

 

Safety Considerations for Mylar Bags

Safety is always the most important consideration when it comes to any type of food preservation or food storage. It doesn’t mater how much food you’ve got stored away if it’s unsafe to eat!

Overall, it’s very safe to store dried foods in Mylar. The main thing to worry about is moisture content, as anything with any amount of moisture packaged in an airtight environment has the potential to develop botulism spores. Botulism is a rare but very serious illness that can be fatal in some cases, so it’s best to ensure you’re only storing completely dry foods in Mylar.

 

Choosing Mylar Bags

Mylar bags come in various sizes, from ½-pint Mylar pouches for small amounts of sugar or salt, to 5-gallon bags for storing pounds of rice and other bulk foods.  They also come in a variety of styles, such as gusseted or not, or with or without a zip-lock seal. This largely comes down to personal preference and the amount of food being stored.

Mylar bags also come in different thicknesses, but for long term food storage, you want to be using 5mil thickness or above.

You can generally find Mylar food storage bags, along with other supplies, in many online stores that focuses on preparedness. You can also get them on Amazon. The good news is that they’re also quite inexpensive – you can usually get a pretty good deal on a large quantity.

 

Oxygen Absorbers & Desiccants

Oxygen Absorbers are recommended when packaging food in Mylar, as they remove all of the oxygen from the package and increase the shelf life while preventing food spoilage. Oxygen Absorbers (OAs) are small packets filled with iron oxide that react with and “burn up” available oxygen. OAs come in different sizes, which are indicated by CCs (cubic centimeters of oxygen absorbed). Different sizes of Mylar bags and different types of food require different sizes / amounts of OAs. We cover this much more in-depth inside my Practical Preparedness Crash Course, where I walk you through exactly what you need to do to prepare yourself and your family for a short or long-term emergency situation, including how to store food in Mylar bags, how to store and purify water for emergencies, what medical supplies you need on hand in case you can’t get to a doctor, how to heat and cook off-grid, and much more.

Desiccant packets differ from OAs in that they absorb moisture. They’re not entirely necessary, but some people like to use them in things like sugar and salt to prevent them from clumping over time. Another use is to protect tools, firearms and important documents from moisture. Some people even package those things in Mylar bags with desiccant packets!

 

Other Supplies

In order to package your food in Mylar bags, you will also need some kind of heat sealer (a hair straightener or an impulse sealer are your best options). Avoid using something like the food-saver vacuum sealer – these are for different kinds of bags. An iron could also work, although you need to be careful as Mylar can melt if the heat sealer you’re using is held to the Mylar for too long.

You will also want to have a sharpie for labeling and dating the bags, and storage bins and/or buckets.

 

Storage of Mylar Bags

Storage bins and food storage buckets are useful for protecting the Mylar bags from rodents or pests. You can use food-grade plastic gallon buckets, regular storage bins, or anything else that is rodent proof. You can find food-grade buckets online from some sites geared toward survival or chefs. But I like to get mine locally from Canadian Tire (here in Canada), or you can sometimes even get them free from restaurants and bulk food shops that have more than they need. Once you’ve ensured that all of your bags are packaged, sealed, labeled and dated correctly, they can be placed into their respective buckets or bins, and then stored in a cool, dry place. A temperature-controlled area like a basement is best.

Another thing I really like is using gamma lids. These lids snap on tightly to large food-grade buckets, but they have a piece in the middle that twists on and off for easy access (because those regular storage bucket lids can be so tight that they’re hard to pull off once they’re on!

 

Ready to Learn More?

If you’re eager to get started with long-term food storage in Mylar bags, be sure to check out my Practical Preparedness Crash Course. It’s a comprehensive and actionable online course with easy-to-follow video lessons and downloads (such as my cheat sheets that show you how long different foods last in Mylar, or how many oxygen absorbers to use for different size bags) that I put together so you can sleep a little bit easier knowing that you have the skills and resources necessary to weather any storm.

In the course, I show you step-by-step how to store food in Mylar bags. We also dive deeper into the rest of the 6 Areas of Preparedness such as layering your food storage, emergency water preparedness, safety and security, emergency medical preparedness, and so much more.

Have you tried storing food in Mylar bags before? What are some of the other ways that you’re keeping your family prepared for whatever may come? Let me know in the comments 👇

Ready to Learn More?

If you’re eager to get started with long-term food storage in Mylar bags, be sure to check out my Practical Preparedness Crash Course. It’s a comprehensive and actionable online course with easy-to-follow video lessons and downloads that I put together so you can sleep a little bit easier knowing that you have the skills and resources necessary to weather any storm.

We dive deeper into the 6 Areas of Preparedness such as layering your food storage, emergency water preparedness, safety and security, emergency medical preparedness, and so much more.

>> Click here to learn more and start preparing now!