[Prepper Pauly]

Hello everyone:

I recently moved from close to sea level to a mountain cabin at 2,500 feet. The long-term food stores that I brought with me in 5-gal buckets sealed in mylar bags with absorbers (mostly the beans and rice) went from packages so tight that you can see every bean, to being a little loose, where you can't see them at all.

Has anyone else ever experienced this? And, do you think it's okay not to repackage it all...a lot of work.

Thank you.

 

[inceptor]

Hello everyone:

I recently moved from close to sea level to a mountain cabin at 2,500 feet. The long-term food stores that I brought with me in 5-gal buckets sealed in mylar bags with absorbers (mostly the beans and rice) went from packages so tight that you can see every bean, to being a little loose, where you can't see them at all.

Has anyone else ever experienced this? And, do you think it's okay not to repackage it all...a lot of work.

Thank you.

For a while I had a place in Texas and in Colorado. Where I lived we were at 9,000 feet. Bring stuff up from Texas was enlightening in that sealed things changed. Like bags of chips still sealed would expand due to the change in pressure. I never had an issue with that.

Where I was it was valley at 9k feet surrounded by mountains. The only way in or out was over a pass in any direction. The biggest issue there seemed to be a lack of o2. My theory was that inside the mountians they had giant vacuums there, sucked out as much oxygen as they could and pump it to DC. I figured that DC needed the extra oxygen to fuel all the BS that is spewed there.

 

[Prepper Pauly]

For a while I had a place in Texas and in Colorado. Where I lived we were at 9,000 feet. Bring stuff up from Texas was enlightening in that sealed things changed. Like bags of chips still sealed would expand due to the change in pressure. I never had an issue with that.

Where I was it was valley at 9k feet surrounded by mountains. The only way in or out was over a pass in any direction. The biggest issue there seemed to be a lack of o2. My theory was that inside the mountians they had giant vacuums there, sucked out as much oxygen as they could and pump it to DC. I figured that DC needed the extra oxygen to fuel all the BS that is spewed there.

Haha. Major BS there.

Hard to picture. Why would it expand inside the bags? Maybe less o2 pressure outside the bags to hold them back from expanding...it has nothing to do with what's inside the bag. Or not.

Thanks for the response, sir.

 

[paraquack]

If the O2 absorbers did their job, the "air" in the bag should be oxygen free. What is left would be nitrogen. The reason the bags "inflated" would be the difference in pressure from where the bags were sealed. With our instruments to tests the gases in the bag, it's going to be a guess.
I'd squeez the bag to see if you can force the "air" out of the bag, which would indicate it leaked. If ok, I would take one bag, open it slowly and carefully. Nitrogen is heavier than air. Take a long match, light it, let the chems burn off and insert it into the bag. If the oxygen is gone, it should go out very quickly. If it were me, I wouldn't worry about it, IF you are sure the bags were "shrunk down" and OK before the move.
When I first started out putting up dry foods in Mylar bags with oxygen absorbers, I used a nitrogen purge, so the bags never "shrunk down".

 

[inceptor]

Haha. Major BS there.

Hard to picture. Why would it expand inside the bags? Maybe less o2 pressure outside the bags to hold them back from expanding...it has nothing to do with what's inside the bag. Or not.

Thanks for the response, sir.

That was back in the early 90's and I'm an old guy. It could have been exactly opposite. I was trying to remember and I guess I had it backwards.

 

[Prepper Pauly]

If the O2 absorbers did their job, the "air" in the bag should be oxygen free. What is left would be nitrogen. The reason the bags "inflated" would be the difference in pressure from where the bags were sealed. With our instruments to tests the gases in the bag, it's going to be a guess.
I'd squeez the bag to see if you can force the "air" out of the bag, which would indicate it leaked. If ok, I would take one bag, open it slowly and carefully. Nitrogen is heavier than air. Take a long match, light it, let the chems burn off and insert it into the bag. If the oxygen is gone, it should go out very quickly. If it were me, I wouldn't worry about it, IF you are sure the bags were "shrunk down" and OK before the move.
When I first started out putting up dry foods in Mylar bags with oxygen absorbers, I used a nitrogen purge, so the bags never "shrunk down".

Great advice. I've guessing they didn't leak since the nitrogen didn't expand the bags to capacity in any of the buckets, just a little, and evenly. I'm sure it's fine, but since the food is only two years old, and there's 300 lbs of rice and 250 lbs of three types of beans, I'm think it might be best to repackage them all up there at the cabin...to be absolutely sure.

Thanks for info.