A weekly shop at the local supermarket was all I needed to keep my cupboard stocked with family food staples. Until it wasn’t. Since 2020, the two largest supermarket chains in Australia have struggled to keep common food items on their shelves. And in 2022 the price of that food has jumped around 6%. How do you protect yourself? In this article you’ll learn how to use mylar bags with oxygen absorbers to keep your pantry stocked and food fresh when the supermarkets run out. You’ll also learn how using mylar bags can save you money for years to come.

Why use mylar bags for food storage?

In four words: food shortages and inflation.

How mylar bags help protect you from food shortages

For the last 2 and half years supermarkets have been running out of food. Whether its food production or supply chain disruptions, we’ve all been impacted.

In 2020, the first time I experienced empty supermarket shelves I was confronted. Never in my life had I worried about not being able to get what I needed at the supermarket.

And that wasn’t the last time food shortages have slapped me upside the head. in 2022, food shortages in South East Queensland caused by flooded transport routes lead to more empty shelves and panic buying.

But how do you protect yourself from food shortages in future natural disasters and emergencies?

Because with a growing population, global conflict and changing climate, this won’t be the last we see of disruptions to food production and distribution.

Snap back 12 months to 2021. What did we do during Covid?

We bought food in bulk and prepared it for long term storage. Dry foods were first cab off the rank. We used mylar bags to store our bulk purchases long term, because they’re an affordable and easy solution.

At the same as trying to insulate ourselves from food shortages, we learned a valuable lesson.

Buying in bulk, and storing long term, will save you money. Especially in uncertain times. Let me explain.

How to save money using mylar bags and oxygen absorbers

What if I said the average family could save $234 just on dried goods over 5 years, using mylar bags with oxygen absorbers? It’s completely reasonable. Here’s how:

We eat a lot of rice. So we bought 50kg of rice in early 2021 after supermarket shelves went bare of many items. We bought it on sale at half price for $10 per 5kg bag. We got it home and packed it in mylar bags.

That same rice is no longer offered on sale. And the price has gone up from $20 to $24 per 5kg bag.

It turns out that buying in bulk avoided a 20% price increase over 12 months. That single act saved us $140.

This got me thinking about locking in today’s prices for food that can be stored over the long term.

Instead of paying 3% more each year for food because of inflation, buy now and eat later.

Let’s look how much this would save over 5 years. There are lot of different dried goods you can store in mylar bags for longer than 5 years.

We all know that inflation pushes up the price of our food. A typical basket of food worth $500 in 2020 will be worth $583 in 2025. That’s at 3% inflation.

3% is the inflation rate in normal times.

Headline inflation in 2022 is over 8% in the US and is expected by the Reserve Bank of Australia to reach 7% here in Australia. The RBA thinks it will be 2024 before price increases return to typical 2-3% levels.

If the 2022/23 ‘spike’ pushes average inflation up just 1% (to 4%) your $500 bag of groceries in 2020 now costs $600 by 2025.

With the savings on a $500 bulk purchase of dried food items over 5 years, you’ve already paid for your mylar bag food storage gear.

And that doesn’t account for discounts on bulk items.

How to save $234 on food using mylar bags

Now the average grocery bill is $150 a week or $7800 a year in Australia. And grains make up roughly 22% of our diet. But they’re cheaper than other food types like meat. So say they represented just 15% of our grocery spend, that’s $1170 a year per family on grains.

Buying in bulk and using mylar bags would save that family $194 over 5 years at 3% inflation and $234 at the more likely average of 4%. The thing is, you can store more than grains long term with mylar bags.

If saving money and keeping your pantry stocked has you interested, let’s get to the juicy bit – what are mylar bags and how do you use them.

What are mylar bags?

Mylar bags are opaque plastic bags that look like they’re made of alfoil. They come with a ziplock top or without, and are available in different sizes from small (500ml) to large (10 – 12kg).

Ready-made supermarket food products and electronics are often packaged in mylar bags when we buy them.

You can also buy empty mylar bags. They are great to have at home to store different types of household items, if you want to protect them from damage.

In this article we are going to focus on using mylar bags to store food. But we’ll also throw in a list of common non-food items that you can use mylar bags for, in an emergency. Because we’re all about emergency preparedness! 🙂

What are mylar bags made of?

Mylar bags are made from a kind of stretched polyester thin-film material.  This polyester film is known for being durable, flexible, and for acting as a barrier to gases like oxygen and to smells. Mylar is also great at providing electrical insulation.

The film itself is clear and glassy. But when it’s used for food, the mylar material is covered with a super thin layer of aluminium foil.

The combination of plastic and foil transforms the mylar material from transparent to opaque, so that you can’t see through it. The purpose of this is to stop the light from getting in. We will explain why this is important for long term food storage next.

What are mylar bags used for?

We may need them to survive, but oxygen, water and light are the enemies of long term food storage! Oxygen and moisture causes food to lose flavour, texture and nutritional value over time.

This is where mylar bags come in.

Mylar bags are used for food storage at room temperature. The bags are designed as a barrier to oxygen, moisture and light. Keeping these three elements out of food helps preserve it over years. Here’s a quick run through of how.

Bacteria and bugs are the most common cause of food waste. Both of them thrive on moisture. So regulating the moisture level of food is one of the most important things we can do to extend its storage life.

Light on the other hand causes chemical reactions in food that lead to spoilage. One of the most effective ways of reducing light-induced food spoilage is to pack it inside something that blocks sunlight.

You’re only able to keep food fresh long term at room temperature by removing these elements from the food.

If you want to store certain foods in your pantry for more than a year, mylar bags are an inexpensive way to do it.

An important detail before we move on is that mylar bags are only for dried foods. Foods with a moisture content of less than 10% to be specific. You can’t store wet foods in mylar bags. You’ll need to use alternative preserving methods for food that contains moisture.

So if it’s not dry, don’t try!

You can look up the moisture content of different types of food online. This database was a huge help when we first started researching long term food storage using mylar bags a year ago.

You can use mylar bags to store all kinds of dried goods, like rice, flour, and dehydrated foods. Below, we run through a list of what you can store and of what can’t store in mylar bags!

First, lets take a look at what oxygen absorbers are.

What are oxygen absorbers?

To store food in mylar bags long-term (for multiple years), you will need to use oxygen absorbers.

Oxygen absorbers are small packets of grain-like beads whose job it is to absorb surrounding oxygen. They exist because oxygen and food storage are arch enemies. You’ve probably fished an oxygen absorber from the bottom of a packet of dried fruit or similar.

The beads inside oxygen absorber packets are actually made of iron. When they come into contact with oxygen, a chemical reaction happens that transforms the iron into rust.

This reaction is what sucks the oxygen out of mylar bags, and it’s how oxygen absorbers preserve food. When put inside mylar bags, oxygen absorbers will remove oxygen from the bag, causing the bag to look shrivelled.

The whole shrivelling process takes from a couple of days to a week. It’s a good indicator that you have a proper seal on your packed mylar bag.

You can buy oxygen absorbers in bulk packs either online or in some hardware stores. They come in different sizes or ‘cc ratings‘, depending on the amount of oxygen they absorb.

Picking the right cc ratings is important to getting a long shelf life from your food. We explain how next.

How may oxygen absorbers do you need?

Not all oxygen absorbers are made equal. It’s true, but it doesn’t have to make things complicated. Let me explain.

To use mylar bags with oxygen absorbers, you need to get the ratio of ‘bag size to cc rating’ right.

It’s also true that the more dense the food you are storing, the fewer oxygen absorbers you’ll need.

So if you have a mylar bag full of pasta for example, you’d need an oxygen absorber with a higher cc rating than you would for a bag full of white rice. Because dried pasta has more air in it.

Now here’s the bit you may find tricky: if you use too few absorbers in the mylar bag, your food won’t store for as long.

Now don’t worry, you don’t have to do any weird or complex calculations to work this out! Someone else has done all the hard work for you.

Here is an awesome list of how many oxygen absorbers you need for different sized mylar bags. If you’re from Australia, 1 gallon = 3.79kg.

Use this list when you’re packing your mylar bags.

What foods can be stored in mylar bags with oxygen absorbers?

When trying to work out what foods you can store in mylar bags, we find it easiest to break your food down to 3 types. Here’s what you can store in mylar bags with oxygen absorbers:

Dehydrated food – grains, beans, wheat, rice, lentils, quinao, chickpeas, herbs like rosemary, thyme, oats, couscous

Freeze dried food – fruit, vegetables, jerky, and tonnes of freeze dried powdered foods like potato mix, teas, ground coffee beans.

Powdered food – spices of all kinds, flour, cornflour, cornmeal, cocoa, instant coffee, milk powder, cheese powder, egg powder.

What to store without oxygen absorbers

Salt and sugar will go rock hard if you store them in mylar bags with oxygen absorbers.

So store them without! But you can get a super long life out of salt and sugar by just using the mylar bags.

Nuts, seeds and whole grains don’t really work with oxygen absorbers either. The oil content is too high.

Add to that list food mixes that contain things like baking soda, baking powder, or yeast. We’re talking pancake mixes, muffin mix, cake mix. The jury is out on whether it’s safe to use OA long term with these foods. The concern is that the iron in the absorbers may react with these ingredients, spoiling your food.

You can still store these things in mylar bags to prolong their shelf life. But it’s probably best to avoid oxygen absorbers, which means they won’t last as long once stored.

What NOT to store in mylar bags

Anything that’s not dried food! If it doesn’t snap when bent, or shatter under pressure then don’t use a mylar bag to store it long term.

Just because you might buy sauces and other ready-made foods in what look like mylar bags from the supermarket, doesn’t mean you should do this yourself!

To store these types of foods in sealed bags at room temperature, manufacturers use tonnes of additives and preservatives to prolong life and avoid spoilage.

Trying to store wet foods in mylar bags will cause your food to spoil and could lead to some pretty nasty illnesses from bacteria like botulism if you eat that food.

The good thing about storing dried food long term is that most dried food needs to be boiled to reconstitute it. The World Health Organisation says boiling food for 5 minutes removes any traces of botulism. A handy thing to remember if you’re worried about this.

And there are more appropriate ways to preserve non dried foods – such as canning and freezing it.

How long will food last in mylar bags? The benefits of using them

Here’s a very handy list of foods to store in mylar bags. It shows the pantry shelf life of different foods using mylar bags. We have added the original shelf life so you can see the benefits of proper storage with mylar bags.

What can you store in mylar bags & how long will it last?

Food	Original shelf life (years)	Shelf life with mylar bag (years)
Nuts	6 months	<1
Chips / crisps	4 monts	<1
Chocolate / lollies / candy	4 months	<1
Brown rice	6 months	<1
Coffee beans	5 months	<1
Powdered supplements (protein powder etc.)	1.5	<1
Beef jerky / Biltong	2 months	1 to 3
Dry biscuits	6 months	1 to 3
Ground herbs	6 months	3 to 5
Full fat powdered milk	1	3 to 5
Cornmeal	1	3 to 5
Granola	9 months	5 to 10
Herbs (whole)	1 to 2	5 to 10
Millet	2 months	5 to 10
Mung beans	1 to 2	5 to 10
Quinoa	4 months	5 to 10
Peppercorns (whole)	1 to 2	5 to 10
Powdered peanut butter	1	5 to 10
Powdered egg	5 to 10	5 to 10
Unbleached flour	1	5 to 10
Rye	6 months	5 to 10
Wholewheat flour	12	10 to 20
Cocoa powder	3	10 to 20
White flour	1	10 to 20
Chickpeas	2 to 3	10 to 20
Buckwheat	2 months	10 to 20
Butter powder		10 to 20
Instant coffee	1	20 to 30
Freeze dried fruit & vegetables	25 to 30	20 to 30
Pasta	2	20 to 30
Rolled & hulled oats	4 months	20 to 30
White rice	2	20 to 30
Tea (bags or leaf)	2	20 to 30
Lentils	1	20 to 30
Lima beans	1 to 2	20 to 30
Kidney beans	1 o 2	20 to 30
Honey	2	Indefinitely
Salt	Indefinitely	Indefinitely
Sugar	Indefinitely	Indefinitely

How to store food in mylar bags – the secret to success

It’s best to have everything laid out and ready before you start using your mylar bags. Why? Because a quick process is a good process when it comes to oxygen removal! Moving quickly helps the oxygen absorbers do their job and helps you maximise the shelf life of your food.

What you’ll need:

• dried foods ready for storing,
• permanent marker or sharpie,
• mylar bags,
• oxygen absorbers,
• oxygen absorber chart (so you know how many packets you need in each bag)
• your choice of sealing tool (flat iron, clothes iron, vacuum sealer)
• rodent proof storage container.

The total cost (without food) is around $100 at the time of writing.

The step by step process to store food in mylar bags long term:

1. Prepare your mylar bags by writing on each one the (intended) contents and date of storage.
2. Fill your bags. Not too full! Leave at least 3 cm at the top of the bag, so you can seal it later. Make sure the food is completely dry before storing in a mylar bag.
3. Pop the oxygen absorbers into each bag. You want to do this step quickly! Keep the oxygen absorbers in their sealed packaging until it’s time to use them. The more quickly you transfer the absorbers from one seal bag to another, the more effective they will be.
4. Seal up the top of the bag from corner to corner. It must be airtight. We run through the easiest and fastest way to seal mylar bags next.
5. Store the bag in a rodent proof container. We use galvanized steel bins with tight fitting lids. Some people use plastic storage containers.

Once the mylar bag is sealed with an oxygen absorber, it can be stored for years. Or even decades according to manufacturers such as Pro Ex!

How to seal mylar bags

There are three ways to properly seal mylar bags at home:

How to seal mylar bags with a flat iron / hair straightener

A flat iron (or hair straightener) is our preferred method for sealing mylar bags. It’s quick, easy and doesn’t require any expensive extra equipment. You can pick up a reasonable hair iron that will do the job online for around $30.

Here’s how to seal a mylar bag with a flat iron:

1. Set your flat iron to around 350 degrees F (170-180 degrees C).
2. The mylar bag should be standing up on its base and full.
3. Hold the opening of the bag closed so that both edges meet.
4. Test the iron heat. Holding the the mylar bag closed, pull the flat iron horizontally along both top edges for a few centimetres. Check the bag is not melted.
5. Continue pulling the flat iron along the top of the bag as you hold the edges together. You’re aiming for a seal of around 1 centimetre thick. Move quickly, so you don’t overheat the mylar.
6. Set the bag down and let it cool before checking the seal is airtight.

How to seal mylar bags with a clothes iron

If you don’t have a flat iron, you can use a clothes iron instead. It’s not as quick or easy, but it will do the job. Here’s how:

1. Stand the filled mylar bag up on its base.
2. Set your clothes iron to ‘Cotton’ and turn off the steam setting.
3. Place a piece of timber 4 or 5 cm wide along the top edge of the bag.
4. Fold both top edges of the mylar bag over the timber so you have a double layer of mylar to iron. The fold should be at least 2 cm thick.
5. Test the iron heat by ironing one edge of the mylar.
6. Hold the bag in place and run the iron over the top of the timber and the bag. Again, you need to move quickly so as not to melt the bag.
7. Leave the bag sit and cool for several minutes before checking the seal.

How to seal mylar bags with Foodsaver or other vacuum sealer

A Foodsaver is a popular brand of vacuum sealer, used for food preservation. Vacuum sealers suck the air out of bags and containers and create an air-tight seal to lock in freshness and protect food from spoiling.

If you have a Foodsaver, you can use that to seal mylar bags. If you don’t have one, then its cheaper, more efficient and just as effective to pick one of the options above. We’ll explain why in a minute.

Here’s how to seal a mylar bag with a vacuum sealer like Foodsaver:

1. After you have put the food inside the bag, the machine will vacuum the air out and heat seal the bag closed.
2. Place the open mylar bag on the Foodsaver sealing strip or ‘drip tray’.
3. Stretch the bag gently to flatten it. Make sure the opening is curled downwards
4. Put the lid down and push the ‘vacuum seal’ button.
5. The machine should turn off automatically. Wait for the VAC light to go off. When it does, open the lid and remove the mylar bag.

The difference between using a flat iron and Foodsaver is that you have to leave 7.5cm extra space from the food to the top edge of the bag to allow a good seal. So it’s far less ‘space saving’. You need to use more bags per kilogram or pound of food you want to seal.

That will cost you more in the end.

8 top tips for using mylar bags with oxygen absorbers

Here are some tips for using mylar bags for food storage:

1. Buy ‘food grade’ 5ml mylar bags. You need 5ml thick mylar material for bag durability. The more durable the mylar, the longer the shelf life of your food in the bag.

2. Buy the gusset bags (also called pouches)! These have a flat bottom and can stand on their own. It’s much easier to seal them.
3. Label mylar bags with the contents and date so you know what is inside and how long it has been stored.
4. Take items out of the original packaging. This will help extend the shelf life. Remember, the oxygen absorbers need to be in with the actual food product to work! They won’t work if that food is in another bag.
5. Freeze items like oats, white flour and rice before storing them in mylar bags to kill off any weevils or bugs. Make sure you transfer from the freezer directly into the mylar bag and do not let thaw. This way you avoid damp and moisture hitting your food.
6. Reuse your mylar bags to save money! You can cut the top off a used mylar bag and it will reseal. This works for ziplock mylar bags as well. Keep cutting the top off until it’s no longer practical to use the bag. Clean with detergent and a damp, clean cloth between uses.
7. Store mylar bags in a cool, dark place. Especially if you’re in the northern half of Australia.
8. Store any left over oxygen absorbers in an air tight or sealed jar or container.

Following these tips will help you get the most out of mylar bags for food storage.

Using mylar bags for emergencies

Mylar bags are handy to have on in your Home Emergency Kit, Emergency Go Bag or Bug out Bag during a natural disaster or emergency. Here’s what else you can use mylar bags for:

• important documents in hard copy – There are just some important documents you always have in hard copy – your marriage certificate, birth certificate and passport are examples. In a flood or storm, you’re going to need to keep these documents sealed up, dry and away from prying eyes. Mylar bags will do just this!
• electronics – if you want to keep moisture out of sensitive cables and electronic devices, mylar bags are great. We recommend keeping back up hard drives with digital copies of your critical documents, in a mylar bag.
• tablets and other medicines – tablets are often sold in alfoil dispensers, inside cardboard boxes. I don’t know about you but i often find random tablets half disintegrated, at the bottom of my handbag or medicine draw. Mostly because the original packaging has failed. Avoid this happening inside your emergency go bag or bug out bag by storing your tablets in mylar bags first.
• valuables like jewellery, keepsakes and photos – not only will they be protected from getting wet, no-one will be able to see what you have!

Conclusion

If you’re looking for a way to protect yourself against food shortages and save money, buying in bulk and storing food in mylar bags with oxygen absorbers is the way to go. Just make sure that you only use mylar bags to store dried foods with less than 10% moisture content. You can get all of the materials you need for under $100, so start preparing today! Be sure to check out our website for more tips on how to get the most out of food storage for emergencies and natural disasters.

FAQs

How long can you store flour in mylar bags?

According to Pro Ex (Australian manufacturer of packaging such as mylar bags, you can store white flour in mylar bags with oxygen absorbers for between 10 and 20 years.

Unbleached flour has a higher moisture content and will last between 5 and 10 years.

How long will oats last in mylar bags?

Pro Ex, manufacturer of protective packaging such as mylar bags, suggest that rolled or hulled oats stored in mylar bags with oxygen absorbers will last between 20 and 30 years.

How to store flour in mylar bags?

To store flour in mylar bags, you can follow the steps 1 to 5:

1. Prepare your mylar bags by writing on them the contents and date of storage.
2. Fill your bags with dried food.
3. Quickly pop the proper amount of oxygen absorbers into each bag.
4. Seal up the top of the bag from corner to corner using a flat iron, clothes iron or vacuum sealer.
5. Store the bag in a rodent proof container.

Before we start the storage process, we like to freeze our flour for 3 days in the deep freezer to get rid of any bugs like weevils. We freeze it sealed in its original packaging.

If you do decide to freeze the flour first, take it straight from the freezer and begin the mylar bag packing process immediately. This will help avoid the flour getting damp as its original packaging defrosts.

How to store rice long-term in mylar bags

You can store white rice in mylar bags for between 20 and 30 years by following this 5 step process:

1. Prepare your mylar bags by writing on them the contents and date of storage.
2. Fill your bags with rice.
3. Quickly pop the proper amount of oxygen absorbers into each bag.
4. Seal up the top of the bag from corner to corner using a flat iron, clothes iron or vacuum sealer.
5. Store the bag in a rodent proof container.

Brown rice, which has a much higher moisture content in the husk, will only keep for up to 1 year! You can follow the same process to store it as white rice.

How to store sugar long-term in mylar bags

There’s a trick to storing sugar long term in mylar bags – don’t use oxygen absorbers!

Sugar will store indefinitely in mylar bags without using oxygen absorbers, so you don’t need them anyway. Follow this easy 4-step process to store your sugar in mylar bags:

1. Prepare your mylar bags by writing on them the contents and date of storage.
2. Fill your bags with sugar.
3. Seal up the top of the bag from corner to corner using a flat iron, clothes iron or vacuum sealer.
4. Store the bag in a rodent proof container.

How long does dehydrated food last in mylar bags

Dehydrated food such as jerky, biltong or dehydrated fruits and vegetables will last between 1 and 3 years in mylar bags.

Freeze dried food on the other hand will last much longer, between 20 and 30 years!