videos167: Bag It! Packaging Bulk Foods with Nitrogen
Nevada County locals Jim Wray and Loraine Webb demonstrate the how and why of packaging bulk foods with nitrogen. They’re using equipment available for community members to use at minimal cost. Jim demonstrates packaging: make plastic bags using a heat sealer, fill with foodstuffs, suck out the oxygen with a small vacuum, then replace the air with nitrogen and seal.
Loraine, organizer of The Neighborhood Readiness Project, has arranged with several locally-owned grocery stores to sell 25 pound bags of grains, beans and other bulk foods at just above cost. Loraine’s vision is our having food caches in every neighborhood in the county, so that, if the trucks stop rolling in an emergency, we’ll have food for ourselves AND to share with our neighbors. (www.NeighborRP.org).
Listen to audio. Read Janaia’s journal “Storing Bulk Food - for Neighborhood Security” about taping this show.
April 27th, 2010 at 7:33 pm
Interesting show. I was told by an Englishman who frequently traveled to Africa that Ugandans are quite good at growing corn, the problem is storage. The mice and rats, the natural spoilage that takes place in the tropics, all made for big losses in stored corn. The nitrogen storage method might help them with the spoilage problem, but $500 is a hefty investment for the Africans. I wonder if some silo method is more efficient, although they seem to blow up all the time!
April 27th, 2010 at 11:01 pm
Good idea but…
It uses plastic! Fossil fuel dependant packaging that is unlikely to be recycled. What about using a similar method for glass containers? You then don’t need an impulse sealer or the bags, saving quite a few dollars.
Thinks… you’ll need a drill, but have self sealing grommet that is placed into the lid of the jar. This can then take the football inflator spike for sucking out the air and inserting the nitrogen.
The customer can supply their own containers and for a small fee have the grommet fitted. The grommet could be OK for quite a few cycles.
The only thing that I am not sure about is that instead of being a a partial vacuum with nitrogen, it would be slightly pressurised with nitrogen. My experience with working in an apple coolstore as a child, this wasn’t a problem. Any thoughts on this?
April 30th, 2010 at 7:39 pm
Plastics are permeable to air. You should use mylar bags.
May 8th, 2010 at 9:13 am
I’ve packaged foods for years in a much simpler way that’s been promoted for years by the Mormon church. You simply put your foods in a bucket type container and lay a piece of dry ice on a wrapped in a paper towel at the bottom of your container of grains or rice or whatever. Put the lid on loosely (never on tight as the dry ice evaporates and expands giving off carbon dioxide). Once the dry ice is gone the container may be sealed. This leaves a carbon dioxide filled container which will kills any residual pests. The carbon dioxide will remain in the bucket as long as the bucket isn’t tipped over (it’ll ‘pour’ out) and the containers are resealable with no waste. Some caution must be used as dry ice can burn your hands but a little common sense goes a long way. Dry ice is sold in most larger grocery stores. I believe the book “Making the Best of Basics” by Stevens covers this in detail. This method is more more affordable and sustainable.