long term food storage tips - Backdoor Survival

Strategic Living, a Message from Gaye and George and a Contest Winner

Posted on September 12, 2011 by Gaye Levy

As promised, I have a bit of news about the site that my long-time friend George and I have been kicking around, Strategic Living.

We have settled upon a magazine format for this new site, with a blog page titled “Reasonings” where we post our musings and our rants. You can expect a single new article a week, although we also plan to include on an ongoing basis the best of Backdoor Survival, Urban Survival and yes, even selected archival content from the subscriber based Peoplenomics.

One unique aspect of Strategic Living with be “The Electric Tribe.” Think of it as an online bulletin board for you, the reader, to pin up a post-it and connected with other like minded folks. Once we figure out the technical details, that is.

Also, we have a contest winner!

. . . read more . . .

Food Storage Part II: Unraveling the Mystique of Mylar Bags

Posted on August 31, 2011 by Gaye Levy

Today I would like to help unravel the mystique of the Mylar bag. As with the ubiquitous oxygen absorber, the mention of Mylar bags brings up as many questions as there are answers. We have all heard that the best way to store dry goods for long term storage is in a Mylar bag but what exactly is a Mylar bag and, more specifically, how are they used?

What is a Mylar bag?

First and foremost, the term “Mylar” is actually a trade name for a polyester film called BoPet. For the technically inclined and the curious, that stands for “Biaxially-oriented polyethylene terephthalate”. This film was developed by DuPont in the 1950’s and was first used by NASA.

Since then, many uses for Mylar (which by the way is one of many trade names) have been embraced due to its high tensile strength and its moisture, light, gas and aroma barrier properties. Mylar is a also good insulator against electrical disturbances.

For all of these reasons and more, Mylar bags are considered a gold standard when it comes to long term food storage.

. . . read more . . .