How to Use Ziplock Bags and Oxygen Absorbers for Food Storage
Ziplock bags are useful for creating easy-to-separate portions of food for storage. Oxygen absorbers remove the oxygen from the air within a container. This helps prevent insects and organisms from contaminating the stored food. The seal on Ziplock bags is not sufficient to effectively work with oxygen absorbers directly. Oxygen absorbers can be used with food stored in Ziplock bags by placing them in a food storage bucket, which provides sufficient seal to keep outside air from contaminating the food. Does this Spark an idea?
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Instructions
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Place the food to be stored into Ziplock bags.
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Place the Ziplock bags into the food storage bucket. An HDPE or steel food storage bucket works well for this type of food storage.
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Place a number of oxygen absorber packets into the food storage bucket equal to the number of gallons the bucket is rated to hold. The number of packets is based solely on the size of the food storage bucket. An almost-empty 5-gallon bucket and a completely-full 5-gallon bucket both need five oxygen absorber packets. Do not decrease the number of packets used if you do not fill the bucket.
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Seal the lid onto the bucket. If you open the bucket, replace the oxygen absorber packets.
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Tips & Warnings
Refrigeration and freezing is not necessary for food stored this way. Refrigeration and freezing are used to slow or completely stop bacterial growth. This storage method stops bacterial growth by removing oxygen from the container.
Although this type of storage can be used for any type of food, it typically works better for food that can be kept at room temperature for extended periods, like rice, dry pasta or cereal. These types of food cause bacteria to grow more slowly.
Do not use old discarded food buckets from grocery stores, bakeries, butchers or other food stores. There is a risk of cross-contaminating the food stored in these buckets with microorganisms from the original food stored.
Different kinds of food should be stored in different food buckets. Foods can still become cross-contaminated if this is not done..
Only use food safe oxygen absorbers. The packets can be discarded in the trash.
Some bacteria simply go dormant when deprived of oxygen. They start reproducing when the bucket is opened and exposed to oxygen. New oxygen packets will remove the oxygen when the bucket is sealed, but there will be more dormant bacteria left on the food. Food will spoil more quickly if the bucket is opened and resealed repeatedly.
