Mylar Bags with Oxygen Absorbers - Pack of 50

Fifty 8 x 12 in mylar bags with oxygen absorbers: one 300cc absorber for every bag, $35.99 for the pack. Each bag holds about 2 quarts, is 7 mil thick, and has a gusseted bottom, so it stands on its own once there’s some food in it.

Why mylar bags with oxygen absorbers work

Freeze drying takes the water out. It doesn’t take the air away from the food afterward. Oxygen is the main cause of spoilage in freeze dried food, partly because fats and oils can auto-oxidize, which is how they turn rancid. So storage comes down to two jobs: keep oxygen from getting in, and remove what’s already sealed inside.

The bag handles the first job. These have a 12 micron aluminum layer and a higher ratio of aluminum to plastic, which stops oxygen from slowly working its way through the film. That same barrier blocks strong odors, so a bag of onion won’t scent the shelf. They’re BPA-free.

The absorber handles the second. It’s a small packet that reacts with the oxygen left in the bag after you seal it (Wikipedia’s oxygen scavenger article covers the chemistry).

Why not clear-front bags?

They don’t work for freeze dried food. Stick with foil on both sides, like these mylar bags with oxygen absorbers.

Filling and sealing mylar bags with oxygen absorbers

• Bag the food soon after the cycle ends. Freeze dried food pulls moisture out of room air quickly.
• Fill to a couple of inches below the top so there’s clean, flat material left to seal.
• Wipe the inside of the seal area. Crumbs or powder in the seam make a weak seal.
• Drop one absorber in last, right before you seal.
• Press out the extra air and heat-seal straight across with an impulse sealer. Blue Alpine dryers come with one.
• Write the contents and the date on the bag.

After sealing, the bag may pull in slightly as the absorber takes up the oxygen. That’s normal. Air is roughly a fifth oxygen, so the volume drops a bit.

Handling the absorbers

Absorbers start working the moment they hit air, and they don’t stop. Have everything filled and lined up before you open the packet of absorbers, work quickly, and put any you don’t use right away into a small airtight jar. Leave them sitting out on the counter and they can be used up before they ever reach a bag.

Storing sealed bags

Somewhere cool, dark and dry. A closet or a basement shelf is better than a garage that bakes in summer. Sharp pieces, like the ends of pasta or bits of bone, can puncture the film, so wrap or cushion those before they go in, and don’t pack bags so tightly in a bin that corners get crushed.

Two quarts per bag is a handy portion. You open one, use it over a few days, and leave the rest of your stock sealed. For a bigger household, a few bags from the same batch stored together are easier to rotate than one huge bag.

Bags or glass jars?

Glass canning jars work too. They’re reusable, but heavier and breakable. Mylar bags with oxygen absorbers are lighter, pack flatter on a shelf and don’t shatter if you drop one. You can use both: jars for things you dip into weekly, bags for the long-term stock.

Running low on mylar bags with oxygen absorbers?

Each Blue Alpine dryer ships with 50 bags and 50 absorbers, and this pack is the refill. If you’re adding a spare set of large trays to run more batches, order bags at the same time. If you have storage questions, the National Center for Home Food Preservation is a solid reference, and you can reach us on +1 (443) 514-5708 or through our help page.