Silica gel and food storage

[Prepper_Ed]

Hello all,

Let me start by telling that I am entirely new to prepping. I have always like having a proper food supply in the house, just because it's handy when you need something, but I never really thought about prepping. Looking on the web for handy things to put into a little survival kit for when I go hiking or camping I naturally came across sides about food and water storage and eventually prepping. And even though I don't see myself stocking up on a year's supply of beans (or my wife won't let me or think I've gone completely bonkers..) it does make absolute sense to me to be prepared and at least make sure you can make it on your own for a little while.

I live in Ireland (the west), where it is not unusual to be left without water or electricity for at least a couple of hours every year and WSHTF I am sure that we can be waiting a long time for clean drinking water and power (floodings last year in other parts of the country proofed this, it took the county councils or government or whoever is suppose to do this several days if not more than a week to get tankers with drinking water into areas where the normal water supply was contaminated because of the floods and at the moment they are still busy fixing the damage (including dykes supposed to protect from the water)). To make a long story short, even though it is a lovely place to live in a lot of things in this country are backwards (healthcare, infrastructure, education, to name a few). But on the other hand, there is still enough space to be surviving of the land if need be, so we'll be all right!

Anyway, a big problem here is also the dampness. We live in an old farmhouse, and even though we made some efforts insulating it the humidity in the house is quite high. Ventilation and a dehumidifier (which doesn't work without power obviously) help a bit, but I am a bit worried about stocking up dry food in this environment.

So I've been thinking: Would it be at all helpful to use those little silica gel sachets to absorb the moisture that could get (or be) in the food? And obviously I am also wondering if this could be harmful for the food.

And even though you can buy these bags fairly cheap on ebay, I've been looking at other options. One thought came about when I spotted a dumped diaper that some *£&&$&*" left somewhere because they don't care about the environment or how disgusting it is for other people to find a used diaper! Beside certain content that I won't be telling you about, the diaper was spilling little balls that looked a lot like the balls inside the silica bags. Obviously they have the same function, to absorb moisture, but are they exactly the same thing? You would get a lot of these balls from a pack of (unused) diapers, so it might work out cheaper to put these in pouches than to buy them online...

Looking forward to hear what your thoughts are on this.

[preppingsu]

HiPrepperEd,
I'm sure that someone wil be along shortly to offer advice or point you to a thread where we discuss food storage.
In the meantime could you please pop along to the new members section and introduce yourself.
Cheers preppingsu.

Oh and a big welcome to you.....

[itsybitsy]

Hi Ed!

I'm just going to move this whole thread into the New Members section, and voila - intro sorted.

[diamond lil]

Hi Ed!

[preppingsu]

Hi Ed!

I'm just going to move this whole thread into the New Members section, and voila - intro sorted.

Doh, why didn't I think of that!!

[preppingsu]

Here's a thread to start with. Find the post by Whitewolf and it has a video to watch.

viewtopic.php?f=21&t=3321&p=36641&hilit ... age#p36641

[maxilaura]

hello and welcome

[Alleycat]

Helloooo

[Prepper_Ed]

Hello everybody,

Thanks for your welcome and even more for all the information on this forum.

@preppingsu: Thank you very much for pointing out that topic and video for me. I did come across those oxygen absorbers, they are absolutely great of course. But unfortunately, oxygen is not the only thing that causes food to go bad. Any dampness trapped inside the container or mylar bag (not sure what I'll use) will cause havoc as well. Nothing can sprout without oxygen, but stuff might still go soggy and deteriorate over time. Or maybe I could be wrong and the little bit of damp the stuff picks up from the air doesn't really harm the food. No idea, but I'd rather be safe than sorry. So any input in using Silica gel sachet with food would be great!

Many thanks and happy prepping!

[Prepper_Ed]

Hello everybody,

As this section of the forum is just about new members introducing themselves, I have moved the discussion about silica gel to the 'Food, Nutrition and Agriculture' section.