Did I screw up with my oxygen absorbers?
 

I vaccum sealed a bunch of wheat and beans last night. It was the first time I used oxygen absorbers, and there wasn't any instructions so I just put one in each bag while I was working then sealed all the bags at once. The absorbers were out for about a half hour. I just found out they go bad in 20 minutes in the air. :thumpdown I wish there was a warning on those things because I spent so much time packaging all this crap, now I have to do it all over. :banghead:

Does anyone have any tips working with these things? I don't see how you can use these with confidence unless you are lightning fast.

Does anyone use CO2 to package thier foods? It seems it would be cheaper and more sustainable in the long run (the absorbers expire quick so they are no good for stockpiling). CO2 is cheap and I think you can just rent the tank for a small deposit. I just don't know how well it would work with a vacuum sealer. Is that more work then its worth?

Re: Did I screw up with my oxygen absorbers?
 

see if this will help...

http://sorbentsystems.com/o2absorbers_2.html

I have used them before...they work fine, just remember to either vacuum seal the unused absorber packets quickly or place them in a tightly sealable mason jar.

Re: Did I screw up with my oxygen absorbers?
 

They are a pain in the butt to use. What size bags did you seal up? They might be okay, but I'd be kind of nervous about it.

Here's how we do it:
1) If you can get someone to help you, it will be much easier.
2) Have a large canning jar or two on standby. A plastic food storage container with a rubber gasket also works well.
3) Open the bag of oxygen absorbers and stuff them all into the canning jar or storage container and close it. Find a size that allows the least amount of air space possible after the oxygen absorbers are in it. They should be fine in those. I put a couple of leftover oxygen absorbers and the color indicator tablets in a plastic storage container with a rubber gasket, and it was almost 4 weeks before the color tablet indicated saturation.
4) Get your bag ready to seal and get the number of oxygen absorbers you need out of the jar. Put the lid back on the jar first, toss your absorbers in the bag, and seal.
5) When in doubt, throw in extra oxygen absorbers.

Don't feel bad. The first time I packaged food that way, I didn't realize how sensitive they were and that they were activated immediately by the presence of air. I had 100 absorbers and 3 buckets of food. :laugh: What a waste! I also had no idea what a pain in the butt it is to seal those mylar bags well. Geez! What a mess! (I kept thinking of that I Love Lucy episode where Lucy and Ethel can't keep up with the conveyor belt in the chocolate factory!)

Re: Did I screw up with my oxygen absorbers?
 

I cut the bags from my food saver roll. They were about 12+ inches in length. The oxygen absorbers were the smaller ones from Walton Feed.

Do you know what the stuff on the inside is supposed to look like when its cut open? I cut some used ones open and their was lots of a dark rust powder in it (Rust is how they absorb the oxygen.) I'm just not sure what the new ones look like inside. I cut one of my unused one open and it looks the same, but I left the bag open last night so they may be no good. I was hoping I could open one of my foods and look inside the absorber to get some clue if they are still OK. Is there anyway to tell by looking at the contents?

Oh well, I guess it doesn't matter, i'm going to have to order more anyway. Maybe I'll just throw these in as extras. :thinkey:

Re: Did I screw up with my oxygen absorbers?
 

Does anybody know if using dry ice with a vacuum sealer has any benefit in displacing oxygen? Any drawbacks like burning the food or packaging?

Re: Did I screw up with my oxygen absorbers?
 

I don't know what the stuff on the inside is supposed to look like. Did your bag of oxygen absorbers come with those little tablets that change color to indicate when the oxygen absorbers are fully saturated? That might tell you whether they were still any good. You can always watch the bag of food you sealed. If the bag is sucked in really tight against the food, then everything is as it should be. If it's not, you still have air in there. By now, the oxygen absorbers should have sucked the bag in snugly against the contents.

I use mylar bags for mine. You have to be careful not to crinkle the mylar in the least when you're sealing them, which isn't easy when the bags are full. The first couple of times I went nuts worrying about whether I got the bags sealed well and if I'd gotten them sealed before the oxygen aborbers sucked up too much oxygen. All but one bag worked fine, however (obviously had a leak), and I haven't stressed as much about it more recently. A few minutes doesn't seem to make that much difference.

The food saver bags are easier to seal, but I was going for ultra long-term storage on my rice and beans. I'm about to do another batch, as my sister wants rice, beans, and storage food for Christmas. I've got the buckets and bags and beans. I'm just waiting on Walton Feed to get my order of oxygen absorbers to me. Their shipping is always so SLOW.

Atahualpa, the only problem I've heard associated with using dry ice to displace oxygen is a moisture one. You have to be very careful that the dry ice hasn't frozen moisture from the air onto it's surface (don't do it on a humid day!). If it has, that moisture could end up in your food as the ice melts. I think most folks these days feel the oxygen absorbers do such a good job that it's not worth risking getting moisture into your food.