Food Storage

John and I decided that we should be a little more proactive in regards to long-term food storage, so we purchased an impulse sealer from the church distribution center in November or December. In January, we went to the bishop's storehouse and purchased wheat, beans, and oatmeal in bulk. It has been sitting in big bags in my garage since then, waiting for me to do something with it. So, after talking to Mom (who also bought bulk food in January and needs to package her stuff) suggested that we start work. As it turned out, Mom and Dad had some things come up that evening, but I decided to start by myself. The above is the sealer the first time out of the box.

And this is the first successful bag of food packaged - oatmeal. It wasn't terribly difficult, but it there were a few things that have to be done to make sure that you get a good seal. A little practice, and it works fairly smoothly.

Mom came over after a while and helped me, and it was fairly short work with her help. A finished bag (with label) looks like this.

And, this is what we got done in two hours. You can see that there is still one bag of beans left, but it was a good night's work. You add oxygen packets to the bag before you seal them, so over the next couple of days, most of the bags had some of the air sucked out. They store better without the excess air making them slide around. I can't wait to do some more!