Mason Jars and Oxygen Absorbers

[jimmycthemd]

I've searched the forum for a while and can't seem to find the answer to this. I've seen references to dehydrating vegetables, etc., and storing them in mason jars. The question I have is how many (in cc's) oxygen absorbers should you use in pint or quart mason jars assuming you fill them pretty full. I've got an attachment for my FoodSaver so I'll be able to vacuum out some of the air. Either way I'd like some idea of how many cc's of Oxygen Absorbers I should use.

I plan on running some tests but would like an idea where to start.

[goatlady]

Probably not much help, but I have been drying veggies for years and storing in canning jars without O2 absorbers or even vac-sealing. No problems in the last 10 years and the veggies keep their color and rehydrate nicely in soups and stews which is basically how I use dried veggies. The "trick" is to be sure the food is crispy dry.

[610Alpha]

Well I use a 2000 cc absorber for a 5 gal bucket of rice/beans etc.

I currently have a 300 cc in a mason jar with dehydrated peas & another with green beans.

[1Admin]

A 300cc in a quart jar ought to suffice.

Not your best bet long term, but if you already have the jars..... If you have to buy the jars then it's not economical compared to mylar.

No light protection compared to mylar though.

[jimmycthemd]

Probably not much help, but I have been drying veggies for years and storing in canning jars without O2 absorbers or even vac-sealing. No problems in the last 10 years and the veggies keep their color and rehydrate nicely in soups and stews which is basically how I use dried veggies. The "trick" is to be sure the food is crispy dry.

How long do you keep them until they get used? I'm just getting started in this and would like to get an idea how long I can expect them to last, assuming I dehydrate properly.

[jimmycthemd]

A 300cc in a quart jar ought to suffice.

Not your best bet long term, but if you already have the jars..... If you have to buy the jars then it's not economical compared to mylar.

No light protection compared to mylar though.

This is an experiment, more to test my dehydration process. I want to dehydrate some veggies, vacuum/oxygen absorbers and see how long they last. The only way to tell with mylar is to open them. With mason jars (I already have a few), I can do a visual check.

I've broken up my food storage into three basic categories (assuming no electricity):

1) Short term. Refrigerator/freezer. Will last 2-5 days depending upon what it is and conditions/handling.
2) Normal pantry food. We keep enough veggies/baked beans/canned meat/pasta/rice, etc. for about 3 weeks to a month. Most have a shelf life of 1-5 years.
3) LTS The rice/beans/oats, etc. I currently have enough for about three months. I've been doing this for about three months and have been able to put away about a month's LTS per month that goes by without negatively impacting my budget.

I've also been busy picking up first aid items, water filtration stuff and putting together a rain barrel system to gather water.

I'm lacking in the veggies in the pantry food and in the LTS. I want to extend the pantry food to about three to four months but don't have the space. By dehydrating and packing in mylar or mason jars, I can accommodate more food in the pantry. I'll have to go the commercially packed food for LTS as I don't have the technology to reliably pack veggies/fruits that last that long. I hope this explains my methodology. I ALWAYS experiment and test the results before I depend upon any process.

[WiseOwl]

FYI on the Mason jars, seals and lids........

Dollar General has jars by the case for $7.75, a couple of bucks cheaper than Wally World. A couple of different sizes also

[goatlady]

I have carrots, green beans, potato rounds, and yellow squash dried in canning jars on the shelf that are at least 10 years old. Other than faded color, they work fine when I toss in soups/stews. Very mild flavor, but rehydrate well. Have absolutely no idea of nutritional value but since they are just additives and not a solo item, I eat them anyway.

[jimmycthemd]

Thanks, goatlady. You're extremely helpful, as usual. I tried some frozen french-cut green beans this morning. In about 2 1/2 hours they were completely dry and brittle. A couple of lessons learned:

1) they were cut too small so I had trouble keeping them from falling through the grates on my dehydrator.
2) they were cut so small that only 1 pound fit in my dehydrator (a Nesco SnackMaster).
3) 1 pound would fill about 1/4 to 1/3 of a mason jar after dehydration.

I went back to Sams Club and bought a couple of pounds of fresh french green beans and they're in the dehydrator now. They weren't pre-cut so I had to do some prep work on them but found that about 1 1/2 pounds now fit. I know that, since they're in bigger chuncks, they'll take longer to dry.

I also found that outside weather conditions don't matter. I picked the worst day of the month to dehydrate as it's 100% humidity and it's raining outside.

Thanks again for the info and support :-)

[jimmycthemd]

I finished the second batch of French green beans...they took almost 12 hours. Now, this is under about the worst conditions possible. As previously stated, it was a rainy day in Georgia so, even indoors and air conditioned, the humidity was pretty high. This is probably not the most labor- or cost-effective way for me to process my long term storage. For those that get their raw materials 'dirt cheap' (pun intended) by growing it themselves, it probably makes sense. I'll do this in limited quantity to augment my pantry but will probably buy the #2 1/2 cans that are professionally done for my LTS. The #10 cans are too big for two people to consume in a timely fashion in an emergency situation (I'm assuming no air conditioning and high humidity conditions). If the #10 cans are all I can get then so be it but I probably will go for the #2 1/2 if I can find them. I'll check the JHR site among others and start planning/saving for that. In the meantime, I'll continue dehydrating for the pantry as time/money permit. I'll also continue experimenting with other veggies and see what makes sense.

The bottom line is that it DOES work even under less than ideal conditions. That lesson was learned. Another practiced skill/tool to but in my toolbox.

[goatlady]

You can buy plastic "sheets" that fit the dehydrator trays - good for making fruit roll-ups AND for keeping small stuff from falling through the "slats" I use them for quick drying herbs and even frozen mixed veggies. Also when you dry fruits if you spray those trays with a "Pam" type spray the fruit does not stick and the trays are much easier to wash up.

[jimmycthemd]

I have one of the plastic trays but didn't think to use it as I didn't know what it'd do to the drying time. Now that I know that the french cut green beans dry so fast I'll give that a try the next time for the smaller chunks.

[jimmycthemd]

I've finished the 'dehydrate green beans' initial phase. For you veterans, this is probably not news. This is more for my fellow newbies.

Here are my findings:

1) To dehydrate 1 pound of frozen French cut green beans on a rainy Georgia day it took about 3 hours.
2) To dehydrate 1 1/2 pounds of fresh French green beans cut into 2 inch pieces on the same rainy Georgia day, it took around 10 to 11 hours.
3) Approximately 2 pounds (before dehydration) of green beans fit in a 1 pint Mason jar.
4) The canning jar attachment to the FoodSaver works well on the Mason jars (sealed well and the top 'popped' the way it should).
5) Although using mylar and oxygen absorbers would save space and block light, dehydrated green beans are brittle (if you do it right). Unless you have something hard-sided to store the mylar bag in for support, you would probably end up with green bean powder. I'm sure there are ways to work around this, but that's yet another experiment.

Pros:

Saves lots of space.
Lasts longer than frozen or fresh (up to 10 years according to goatlady).

Cons:

Time consuming (see dehydration times).
Cost (about $8 for the green beans...I'm sure you can get them for a lot less but I was in a hurry to start my experiment). Plus you have to add in the electricity for the dehydration process.

Although this probably won't be my primary veggie storage method, I'll definitely use it to extend my pantry 'no electricity' storage space. The right tool for the right job :-)

[1Admin]

We have to keep in mind time and labor costs. Even if you feel your time worth nothing, their is always the OPPORTUNITY costs.

Yes, if you are homesteading and have an acre of beans, corn, etc. is this the way to go? Well it's one of MANY. Is it viable long term? I don't agree that home dried fruits are going to last any where near the time that I've SEEN AND EXPERIENCED commercially dehydrated foods last. Apple slices dried at home in an Excalibur last year and stuck in mason jars look like CRAP now. Light barrier? Oh that's right, their isn't one.

For those that don't have tons of produce they grew on their own, for those that have to BUY the produce, BUY the mason jars and then use their time to dry them and put them up, where is the real cost savings versus buying a commercially dehydrated true long term storage product? One could argue "for practice and knowing how" and yes I agree, but ECONOMIES OF SCALE *for me* say it doesn't make sense to BUY all your produce, BUY the mason jars, spend the time processing and drying to end up with a product inferior in moisture content to true dehydrated long term food products.

Yes, those of us like Goatlady that have large gardens (no I don't mean a single 4x4' raised bed in the backyard) CAN see a savings in the home dried and put up method. Why? Because we aren't BUYING the food!

A sit down with a calculator, pencil and paper will show this.

And yes, we have a load of apples drying right now with the Excalibur and the boy is out picking green beans. The apples will simply be put in gallon ziplock bags and treated as short term rotation items (roughly a year), the green beans will be canned (mason jar) and used within a few years. Since we have been doing this this way for years, the jars on mostly on their 8th to 10th rotation and most of which were purchased for $4. a case new.

Again, we need to differentiate between the average "prepper" going out and BUYING produce and doing this versus having the produce already.

It's easy to think "well MY situation is like this" and relate that to everyone else, but that's not reality. Your average "prepper" lives in suburbia and has a poststamp for a backyard. Producing enough food in quantities to justify this isn't an option for someone like that. Dabbling in it to get experience YES without a doubt. That was all we were able to do in suburbia but that trial and error helped us get ready for larger projects later. However it was not our main food storage plan.

[610Alpha]

We have to keep in mind time and labor costs. Even if you feel your time worth nothing, their is always the OPPORTUNITY costs.

Yes, if you are homesteading and have an acre of beans, corn, etc. is this the way to go? Well it's one of MANY. Is it viable long term? I don't agree that home dried fruits are going to last any where near the time that I've SEEN AND EXPERIENCED commercially dehydrated foods last. Apple slices dried at home in an Excalibur last year and stuck in mason jars look like CRAP now. Light barrier? Oh that's right, their isn't one.

For those that don't have tons of produce they grew on their own, for those that have to BUY the produce, BUY the mason jars and then use their time to dry them and put them up, where is the real cost savings versus buying a commercially dehydrated true long term storage product? One could argue "for practice and knowing how" and yes I agree, but ECONOMIES OF SCALE *for me* say it doesn't make sense to BUY all your produce, BUY the mason jars, spend the time processing and drying to end up with a product inferior in moisture content to true dehydrated long term food products.

Yes, those of us like Goatlady that have large gardens (no I don't mean a single 4x4' raised bed in the backyard) CAN see a savings in the home dried and put up method. Why? Because we aren't BUYING the food!

A sit down with a calculator, pencil and paper will show this.

And yes, we have a load of apples drying right now with the Excalibur and the boy is out picking green beans. The apples will simply be put in gallon ziplock bags and treated as short term rotation items (roughly a year), the green beans will be canned (mason jar) and used within a few years. Since we have been doing this this way for years, the jars on mostly on their 8th to 10th rotation and most of which were purchased for $4. a case new.

Again, we need to differentiate between the average "prepper" going out and BUYING produce and doing this versus having the produce already.

It's easy to think "well MY situation is like this" and relate that to everyone else, but that's not reality. Your average "prepper" lives in suburbia and has a poststamp for a backyard. Producing enough food in quantities to justify this isn't an option for someone like that. Dabbling in it to get experience YES without a doubt. That was all we were able to do in suburbia but that trial and error helped us get ready for larger projects later. However it was not our main food storage plan.

Well said!! Couldn't agree more. I have noticed that most people forget to account for their time in these ROI discussions. The one thing you can't create more of and we ignore its value!!!! SHEESH that is the one thing we should be focused on the most is getting the most out of our time. What is going to give you the most bang for your time. I remember hearing my grandma say "Work smarter not harder", I have come to realize that means don't do re-work and/or work that doesn't give you the most for your time.

I remember 1Admin talking about having a log splitter because it is a time saver for him. Its not that he can't do it or doesn't know how...he just has better things to be doing with his LIMITED time.