Storing frozen dried food th properly can make it last for years instead of months. Mylar bags help block air, light, and moisture so your food stays crisp, safe, and ready when you need it.
In this guide, we’ll walk through how to choose Mylar bags, what size oxygen absorbers to use, and a simple, step‑by‑step process to pack and store your food for years.
We’ll also talk about shelf life, best storage conditions, and how Wallaby Goods fits into long‑term food storage.
Why Mylar bags are ideal for freeze-dried food
Freeze-dried food has the moisture removed, which makes it extremely shelf‑stable, but that also makes it more vulnerable to oxygen, light, and humidity in the air. If you just leave it in thin plastic or regular zip bags, oxygen and moisture slowly seep in and start to impact flavor, color, and nutrients.
Mylar (metallized PET) storage material solves this by creating a strong barrier that blocks oxygen and light far better than standard plastic. Tests on metallized PET show oxygen transmission rates that are dramatically lower than common plastics, which is why Mylar is the go‑to for 20–30 year food storage.
Wallaby Goods designs its Mylar bags specifically for heavy‑duty, food‑grade layers that keep out light, moisture, and oxygen, so dry goods like grains and rice can stay usable for up to 30 years when packaged correctly.
Choosing the right Mylar bags and thickness
For freeze dried food, bag thickness and quality matter as much as size.
Key things to look for:
- Thickness (around 5–7.5 mil) for durability and puncture resistance.
- A metallized/aluminum internal layer to block light and act as a strong oxygen barrier.
- Food‑grade, BPA‑free construction designed for long‑term storage.
Wallaby Goods offers Mylar bags in different sizes (1‑gallon, 5‑gallon, and MRE pouches) with thick walls and matching oxygen absorbers, which makes it simple to match your food volume to the right bag.
For most preppers, 1‑gallon and 5‑gallon bags are the best: gallons for meals and smaller batches, 5‑gallons for bulk staples such as rice, wheat, wheat berries, oats, flour, and beans.
Oxygen absorbers: how many and why they matter
Even after you seal your Mylar bag, there’s still air trapped inside, and about 21% of that air is oxygen. Oxygen absorbers pull that oxygen down to very low levels, which slows oxidation, stops most insect eggs from developing, and helps protect fats, colors, and vitamins.
General rules many preppers follow:
- Around 100cc of oxygen absorbers per quart of space.
- Roughly 300–500cc for a 1‑gallon Mylar bag, depending on how much headspace and how “fluffy” the food is.
- Larger bags (5‑gallon) typically use 2000–2500 cc in total.
Freeze-dried foods are airy and trap more headspace, so they often need higher cc counts than dense dehydrated foods to hit the same low oxygen target.
Wallaby Goods bundles Mylar bags with correctly sized oxygen absorbers so you don’t have to guess, which is especially helpful when you’re just starting out.
Step‑by‑step: how to store freeze-dried food in Mylar bags
Whether it’s home freeze-dried meals or bulk commercial freeze‑dried foods, below is a simple process you can repeat for every batch:
1. Start with completely dry food
Make sure your freeze-dried food is truly finished: it should feel light, crisp, and dry all the way through, not cool or spongy in the center. Any residual moisture hidden inside chunks of meat or thick pieces of fruit can shorten shelf life dramatically, even if the outside feels dry.
2. Choose the right bag size
Pick a bag size that will be mostly full once you add the food; too much extra headspace means more air to remove.
- Use small MRE‑style Mylar bags for single meals or trail portions.
- Use 1‑gallon bags for family‑sized meal kits or medium batches of ingredients.
- Use 5‑gallon bags (often lined in buckets) for bulk staples like rice, wheat, oats, and beans.
Wallaby Goods Mylar bags come in all these sizes, so you can build a system with individual meals, pantry jars, and big “deep storage” buckets using the same brand.
3. Label before you fill
Write on the bag while it’s flat:
Food name.
Date of packaging.
Expected shelf‑life or “use by” year.
A simple marker on Wallaby’s matte or lightly textured Mylar surfaces stays readable for years and saves you from guessing later.
4. Fill the bag
Pour the freeze-dried food into the bag, gently shaking or tapping to settle pieces and remove hidden air pockets. Try not to crush delicate foods like berries or meals you want to rehydrate in larger pieces.
Leave a few inches of space at the top so you can easily heat‑seal the bag.
5. Add oxygen absorbers quickly
Just before sealing:
- Open the pouch of oxygen absorbers.
- Drop the right number/size of absorbers into each bag (usually on top of the food).
- Reseal any unused absorbers in an airtight container right away so they don’t exhaust themselves in room air.
Many Wallaby Goods bundles include matching oxygen absorbers for each bag size, which removes a lot of the guesswork.
6. Remove excess air and seal
Squeeze out as much air as you comfortably can by hand, then seal:
- Use an impulse sealer, household iron, or flat hair straightener set to a medium‑high temperature.
- Seal along the top seam, making sure you have a continuous, wrinkle‑free seal from edge to edge.
With zip‑seal Mylar, you can first seal above the zipper to lock in a long‑term seal and still keep the zipper for convenient opening later.
7. Check the seal and watch for “suck‑down”
After several hours to a day, a properly sealed Mylar bag with enough oxygen absorbers will often feel slightly “sucked in” as oxygen is removed.
Check:
- The seal line is solid, with no gaps or pinholes.
- The bag feels firm but not ballooned with air.
If a bag still feels puffy after a day and you suspect a problem, you can open it, replace the absorber, and reseal.
Ideal storage conditions for long (20-30 years) shelf life
The best Mylar bag needs the right environment to deliver a 20–30 year shelf life. Here’s how!
Aim for:
- Cool temperatures: ideally under about 70°F (21°C); many chemical reactions that spoil food speed up significantly as the temperature rises.
- Dry conditions: avoid damp basements, unventilated sheds, or high humidity; Mylar blocks moisture, but surrounding dampness is still a risk when bags are opened.
- Darkness: store in a dark pantry, tote, or inside buckets to protect against light and UV.
A common prepper setup is to place sealed 1‑gallon or 5‑gallon Wallaby Mylar bags inside food‑grade buckets or sturdy totes to add physical protection from pests and punctures.
Mylar bags vs other storage options
Mylar bags with oxygen absorbers are often described as the easiest and least expensive way for preppers to reach the 25+ year range on dry staples.
But here’s a quick comparison of where mylar shines compared to other food storage methods for freeze-dried foods.
Long‑term storage options overview;
|
Storage method |
Oxygen & light barrier |
Typical use length |
Pros |
Cons |
|
Mylar bags + Oxygen absorbers |
Excellent |
10–30+ years (dry goods) |
Best barrier, compact, affordable, scalable |
Needs heat sealing, not rigid on its own |
|
#10 cans + Oxygen absorbers |
Excellent |
|
Very long shelf life, stackable, durable |
Requires canning equipment, less flexible sizing |
|
Vacuum bags (LDPE) |
Poor‑moderate |
Weeks to months |
Good for short‑term freezer or pantry use |
|
|
Moderate |
1–5 years (with absorber) |
Stackable and pest‑resistant when lined with Mylar |
By themselves, buckets are more oxygen‑permeable than Mylar |
Wallaby Goods focuses specifically on this combination, offering Mylar bags, oxygen absorbers, and related storage gear as an integrated system for long‑term food storage.
Not every food belongs in long‑term Mylar storage, but many prepper staples do extremely well:
- Grains: white rice, wheat berries, oats, barley.
- Dry beans and lentils.
- Pasta and noodles.
- Freeze-dried fruits and vegetables.
- Freeze-dried full meals with low to moderate fat content.
High‑fat or very oily foods (like nuts, nut butters, and some meats) have shorter shelf lives because fats oxidize more quickly even in low‑oxygen environments.
Many preppers still pack these foods in Mylar, but they target shorter time frames and rotate them more aggressively.
Wallaby Mylar bags work well across all of these categories; you just adjust how long you expect them to stay at peak quality and how frequently you rotate.
How long can freeze-dried food last in Mylar bags?
With:
- Properly freeze-dried food (fully dry),
- Quality Mylar bags,
- Correct oxygen absorbers
- Cool, dark, and dry storage
Many dry staples can reach 20–30 years of usable shelf life. Grains, beans, and many freeze-dried ingredients like fruits and vegetables are commonly cited in this range when packed in sealed Mylar with oxygen absorbers.
Real‑world shelf life will always depend on:
- Average storage temperature.
- How consistently you seal and handle bags.
- The fat content of the food.
That’s why serious preppers label carefully, track dates, and combine a long‑term stash with ongoing rotation.
The smart way to store your freeze-dried food
When you know how to store dried food in Mylar bags, you’re not just “putting food away”—you’re creating a long‑term food storage plan for your family.
With the right Mylar thickness, correct oxygen absorbers, and cool, dark storage, you can confidently stack meals and staples that are ready to eat decades from now.
Wallaby Goods focuses on delivering heavy‑duty, food‑grade Mylar bags and oxygen absorbers built for long‑term food storage and emergency preparedness. Mylar bags are designed to:
- Offer thick (roughly 5–7.5 mil) construction for durability and puncture resistance.
- Block light, moisture, and oxygen for decades when paired with absorbers.
- Come in practical sizes from 1‑gallon and 5‑gallon bags to smaller MRE pouches so you can store both bulk staples and ready‑to‑go meals.
So, if you’re building a prepper pantry or just trying to protect your freeze-dried food for years, Wallaby’s mylar bags and oxygen absorbers make the process more reliable and repeatable.
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