How long will items stay good once package opened?

[saltysack]

Looking at a few different meals for this years CT hike that will need to be bought and split up a month or so ahead of time and mailed out...items such as dehydrated re fried beans, powered cheese, nido, rice etc.....was planning on putting in quart freezer bag.


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[Tipi Walter]

Nido might get a little rancid but most everything else has a long shelf life when properly ziplocked. I home dry all my food and it goes months before consuming---in hefty quart bags stored in the pantry. Dried soups, dried tomatoes, dried burritos, dried cauliflower, dried Amy's vegetarian chilis, dried great northern and pinto and kidney beans, dried cooked quinoa---you name it.

[saltysack]

Nido might get a little rancid but most everything else has a long shelf life when properly ziplocked. I home dry all my food and it goes months before consuming---in hefty quart bags stored in the pantry. Dried soups, dried tomatoes, dried burritos, dried cauliflower, dried Amy's vegetarian chilis, dried great northern and pinto and kidney beans, dried cooked quinoa---you name it.

What's your repacking procedure?


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[Tipi Walter]

What's your repacking procedure?


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By "repacking" I assume you mean getting bulk commercially produced dehydrated foods (like Mt House meals or bulk Mary Jane's Farm stuff) and repackaging. I used to do this all the time before jumping into home drying. Mary Jane used to make an excellent pasta meal with dehydrated cheese and I just divided it up into quart ziplocks (hefty with the slider zips---found thru experience that hefty stays closed better than ziploc).

In my demented years when I consumed Mt House (and other) meals I'd remove each meal from the packaging and put in my hefty quart bags. Less trash and all my meals are made in my cook pot anyway. I never had a spoilage issue with any meals containing dried eggs or dried cheese or milk etc. But YMMV.

Best thing to do is right now run your experiment at home and see what happens. Ziplock some stuff and put it in storage and see how it does, before the trip.

[kestral]

Consider buying small oxygen absorbers to place in each bag. You can get them on Amazon. The things that cause spoilage are oxygen, moisture and to a lesser degree heat. Also consider putting your divided up packages in freezer until you ship if you don't want to go oxygen absorber route.

Good luck!

[saltysack]

I plan to wait till about two weeks prior to start date to repackage...which would be lil over 30 days till the latest one consumed.


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[Rex Clifton]

You may want to consider a vacuum sealer. I use mine all the time, not just for backpacking food.


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[Hosh]

I use a vacuum sealer to store dehydrated food for future trips in mason jars, packaged in zip locks for trips. If you package in seal-a-bags, add a paper towel to prevent hard, sharp foods from puncturing the bags.

In Colorado, I won't worry storing open for 30 days with our low humidity. Since you're originating in Florida I would use oxygen absorbers just to be safe.

[rocketsocks]

Nido might get a little rancid but most everything else has a long shelf life when properly ziplocked. I home dry all my food and it goes months before consuming---in hefty quart bags stored in the pantry. Dried soups, dried tomatoes, dried burritos, dried cauliflower, dried Amy's vegetarian chilis, dried great northern and pinto and kidney beans, dried cooked quinoa---you name it.

I may have asked you this before, but don't recall the awnser...do you rehydrate the burritos bites before eating?

[Tipi Walter]

I may have asked you this before, but don't recall the awnser...do you rehydrate the burritos bites before eating?

No, I slice them thin and dry and eat as a snack right out of the bag---

[Venchka]

Ziploc also makes 1 pint Freezer Bags. I can get a lot of dry food in Snack and Sandwich bags and group together by meals in either Pint or Quart bags.
Wayne


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[HooKooDooKu]

For my JMT thru, I used a vacuum sealer and oxygen absorbers.
Two things that come to mind that lasted pretty well even though I had to pRE-package about 2 months ahead of time:
1. Mountain House can of Dehydrated Chicken. I think they would have lasted just fine for a year.
2. Armour can of sliced Dried Beef (the stuff in the vacuum packed glass jar at WalMart). I did a test ahead of time where I repackaged this in a vacuum sealed bag WITHOUT an oxygen absorber, and in less than a month, the color noticeably changed. With an absorber, I think it would easily last 3 months.

[saltysack]

I'm mainly talking about minute rice, dehydrated refried beens and nido....meat will be packaged jerky or pepperoni


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[saltysack]

Beans.....


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[TwoSpirits]

Dehydrating burritos. That is brilliant! I never would have thought (I rarely think of brilliant things....) I want to give this a try -- can you tell me how long and at what temp you do these? Sorry if I missed you saying before.

[Tipi Walter]

Dehydrating burritos. That is brilliant! I never would have thought (I rarely think of brilliant things....) I want to give this a try -- can you tell me how long and at what temp you do these? Sorry if I missed you saying before.

I dried them at around 115F for many hours, maybe 10-12. Picking the right burrito is also important as dried whole beans are a little crunchy and tough to chew. The best burrito I found is Amy's spinach as below---
TRIP 152 006-XL.jpg

[TwoSpirits]

Excellent. Thanks!

[lonehiker]

I'm mainly talking about minute rice, dehydrated refried beens and nido....meat will be packaged jerky or pepperoni


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As long as you keep moisture out, those type of foods will keep for months. I've had Nido, stored in pantry, that has been a couple of years old and it tasted fine. Well, as good as dehydrated milk can taste that is... I agree with those that recommend vacuum sealing as well.

[Tipi Walter]

Excellent. Thanks!

Warning: It must be remembered that all my burritos are vegetarian and therefore can be dried at lower temps than burritos containing Meat. Such products would need to be dried at least at 145F for many hours---to render the meat properly dehydrated. Just a head's up.

[saltysack]

As long as you keep moisture out, those type of foods will keep for months. I've had Nido, stored in pantry, that has been a couple of years old and it tasted fine. Well, as good as dehydrated milk can taste that is... I agree with those that recommend vacuum sealing as well.

How was it stored? Ziplock or vacuum sealed? The O2 removal packs are cheap guess I'll try those....rather not spend $$ on vacuum sealer.


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