sugar and rice long term storage questions

[barfife]

Upon searching the archives I have found conflicting opinions about storing sugar and rice long term.

A couple of questions please:

Sugar/brown sugar storage in 3 gallon buckets with gasket lids:

No O2 is a given.
Store in original sugar package only, no mylar needed?
In original sugar package inside of mylar?
Remove original package and store in mylar?


White rice (Uncle Bens converted rice) storage in 3 gallon buckets with gasket lids:

Use mylar and O2.
Store in original rice package inside of mylar?
Remove original package and store in mylar?

Thanks for the advice.

BTW, today I put up:
100# yellow popcorn
100# wheat
25# lima beans
25# black eyed peas
25# red beans
50# navy beans

[jbman]

I thought that the issue with sugar is that it is hygroscopic, so you need to some silica packs to keep it from forming into a solid block of sugar. I would have thought that you would want to remove it from the original packaging to more into the bucket.

When I packed my rice I removed it from the original packaging since I used 5 gal buckets and want to fit as much as I could in the mylar.

Jack

[WiseOwl]

I pour my brown sugar in Mylar without the O2 and out of the original packaging. I only put 2lbs in a 1 gallon mylar.

As for the rice, I do an 02 per 1.5 lbs in mylar...I have been doing 3 lbs in a 1 gallon mylar.....and I take it out of the original packaging.

[jbman]

Here is a link on storing sugar from Univ of Utah

Fixed the link

Jack

[610Alpha]

that link was messed up: http://extension.usu.edu/foodstorage/htm/sugars/


There is a lot of info on that page and the links to the left....I have not read it all.

[Lowdown3]

Absolutely no need or reason to keep the original packaging for sugar or rice and put that IN TO the mylar. That's ridiculous.

You have no REAL IDEA how much residual moisture, mold spores, dirt, etc. is on the paper or cloth type sack packaging.

"but it's plastic!"

I've seen some of the little plastic baggies- most especially the little 1 lb. bags literally just turn into goo in a few years. Most commercial plastics like that are designed to biodegrade so as to make it easier on the landfills. Try storing water in milk jugs LONG TERM and you'll find out what I mean.

Use mylar and oxygen absorbers, take the food out of the original packaging, pour it in the mylars, put in your absorbers sized for the package, seal the package.

This is the problem with "conflicting" info. A helluva lot of people that have only been storing food a very short time talk about it on the net and are somehow thought of as "experts" because they show a couple pics of a dozen buckets.

You wouldn't ask the 15 year old that just got their learner's permit and made their first drive of 2 miles for advice in serious driving would you? You might be foolish if you did. You want to ask the cop, or the cabbie or something with years of driving EXPERIENCE and training, not just some yocal that drove for the first time yesterday and is now talking about it like they've done it forever.

And yes, the topic is that serious. Your food= YOUR LIFE AND YOUR FAMILIES LIFE. Be careful who you "listen to" and be sure to find out how LONG they have really been storing food. If you pay attention over the long term, you'll find that more than a few that people think know what the hell they are talking about haven't really been storing food very long.

Be careful when you write or read "silicia packets" in regards to food storage. When you are talking about DESSICANTS in food storage you are NOT talking about the little packets you get in new shoes nor stuff sold for moisture control with your guns. You need a FOOD GRADE dessicant. Thankfully 99% of the time you don't actually NEED a dessicant. In 25 years of packing and storing food in a high humidity environment I've never seen the real need for one in anything we have rotated. In MOST CASES it's a waste of time and money and of course if you use any old "silica packets" you find it could be a potential risk.

https://www.survivalandpreparednessf...et-answers-etc.

[barfife]

that link was messed up: http://extension.usu.edu/foodstorage/htm/sugars/


There is a lot of info on that page and the links to the left....I have not read it all.

great page guys. thanks for the responses.

[thedreamers]

great web page. thanks

[jbman]

Be careful when you write or read "silicia packets" in regards to food storage. When you are talking about DESSICANTS in food storage you are NOT talking about the little packets you get in new shoes nor stuff sold for moisture control with your guns. You need a FOOD GRADE dessicant. Thankfully 99% of the time you don't actually NEED a dessicant. In 25 years of packing and storing food in a high humidity environment I've never seen the real need for one in anything we have rotated. In MOST CASES it's a waste of time and money and of course if you use any old "silica packets" you find it could be a potential risk.

Thanks - for clarifying the need (or lack of need) for a dessicant and that it needs to be FOOD GRADE.

Jack

[kappydell]

to be honest, folks, i never store brown sugar. I add a tsp of molasses to a cup a white and make it as needed. White sugar stores the best and easiest. Honey too, though you might have to warm it if it crystallizes. Molasses stores OK in unopened bottles. I don't use much, so I have small bottles. never used dessicants with white sugar, and i live in humid area.