Oxygen Absorbers for
Dehydrated Food

Today, I want to show you how to use oxygen absorbers for dehydrated food.

Are you ready to store your vacuum-sealed dehydrated fruits and/or vegetables? Good. but first, here are some questions:

Frequently Asked Questions:

Copy/Screenshot This Below and Print It Out for Future Reference:

Read the full story about different oxygen absorber sizes here.

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What is Inside an Oxygen Absorber and How Do They Work?

Oxygen absorbers are made of iron powder combined with salt. When exposed to oxygen, the iron oxidizes, effectively removing oxygen from the enclosed space. They are necessary for the following reasons:

1. Slow oxidation - Oxygen accelerates food spoilage. Removing oxygen drastically slows rancidity, mold growth, and insect infestations.
2. Moisture regulation - Iron oxidizing creates a small amount of heat that helps remove moisture condensation, keeping food crisp. Less moisture also inhibits mold as stated in #1.
3. Storage life extension - With both oxygen and moisture minimized by our oxygen absorbers, the shelf life of sealed dried foods like grains, beans, nuts, and snack items is extended several years longer than without.

While air-tight containers alone help, adding oxygen absorbers provides an extra level of protection by actively targeting the main causes of food deterioration: oxygen and moisture.

Oxygen Absorbers for Dehydrated Food:
What I Call "Life Support for Jars, Bags, Bins, and Buckets"

Remember: Tuck a 100cc oxygen absorber inside the food vacuum bag JUST BEFORE you vacuum seal it, or drop an oxygen absorber in the Mason jar just before screwing on its lid.

If you're using a small (half-pint) Mason jar, use a 50cc oxygen absorber.

For quart-sized Mason jars, use a 100cc oxygen absorber.

Oxygen Absorbers at Amazon

Create 5 Bags - Each Containing 20 Oxygen Absorbers (from a 100-pack)

If the pill is good i.e. "pink," I'll open the new 100-pack bag and take out 5 brand new quart-size vacuum-sealer bags.

I then place 20 oxygen absorbers from the 100-pack bag into each of the quart-size vacuum-sealer bags and immediately vacuum seal them all.

The reason for splitting them up is we don’t want to open and seal the original big bag over and over just to take out one or two oxygen absorbers. Doing that would soon ruin all the other oxygen absorbers (by air infiltration) before we even get a chance to use them!

This means I now have FIVE quart-size bags with 20 oxygen absorbers in each of them.

The pink pill from the original bag can go into one of the five bags—no need to throw it away, we can reuse it until it turns purple!

Cut Just Below the Old Seal

When I'm ready to use an oxygen absorber, I simply cut directly beneath the old seal at the top of the bag (shown as a dashed line at the top of the bag in the photo above).

Cut as straight as you can and as close to the old seal as you can—then I remove as many packets as I need and put them in the dehydrated food bags that are waiting to be vacuum sealed. Then reseal that package.

Because you're cutting off the top seal each time and then resealing at the top again, you will be moving farther down the bag, if you will. What I'm prattling on about is if you just just cut the bag willy-nilly, you're wasting the bag and resealing possibility. Heck, if there's a long way of describing an easy step, I'll find it! LOL

When that resealing job is done, you're good to carry on with vacuuming your dehydrated food goodies. Don't forget to add the dang oxygen absorber in the bag before vacuuming... (Yep, it happens).

Reseal Opened Oxygen Absorber Bags ASAP

Re-vacuum and seal the oxygen absorber bag (see photo above) after taking out what you need.

I can re-seal one of the oxygen absorber bags about four times... and if I've any remaining packets and the bag gets 'too short' to reseal, I'll put those remaining packets into a new bag and vacuum seal it!

Common Uses for Oxygen Absorbers in Home Kitchens

I use oxygen absorbers for dehydrated food storage for the following reasons:

• For dry foods - Oxygen absorbers prevent stale flavors, bugs, and rancidity in stored grains, beans, dried fruits, nuts, coffee, spices, and other dry goods.
• In Mylar bags - I use oxygen absorbers inside Mylar bags to remove oxygen when packaging bulk foods for long-term storage.
• Dehydrated foods - They help retain nutrients and prevent oxidation in dehydrated fruits, vegetables, and meats.
• Environmentally friendly - Oxygen absorbers reduce food waste by keeping home-preserved foods fresh for longer periods.

How Do I Know When My Sauce is Sufficiently Dehydrated?

Linda posted this question on our Facebook page:

"Hi, I am dehydrating items for a backpacking trip. I have some rice with Alfredo sauce going and was wondering how you know when things are dehydrated enough. I don't want to make anyone sick with my food."

Hey Linda! I hear you regarding not wanting to get sick!

When dehydrating the sauce, spread it out on a fruit leather tray on the dehydrator... dry it like a fruit leather. When it's dry, peel it off the tray and roll it up. When out and about, add enough water to reconstitute the sauce in a saucepan over heat.

As you can imagine, rice doesn't have/hold much water compared to a 'sauce.' I assume you're taking along with you "cooked" rice. If so, simply vacuum-seal it when it's cooled down to room temperature. Add in an oxygen absorber to both the sauce and rice packet(s) so it can do its job before vacuum-sealing. If you're going on a short trip, this method should work out fine for you.

Thanks for stopping by to learn about oxygen absorbers for dehydrated food usage and why there are different sizes. Questions? Write to me here.

Don't forget to get your free "Six Simple Steps" eBook where I share how to dehydrate food safely!