# Self Sufficiency/Living off the Land or Off the Grid > Cooking, Food Storage, & Preserving >  New, newest way to seal mylar bags

## linkmissing

I have a foodsaver w/ the outside port for canning jars. I DO NOT use the sealer bags for long term storage. They are inconsistant with some holding and many not. They wear holes with hard, non smooth items and the seals are not dependable. MYLARS are the way to go for dependability. I have done well over 1000 lbs in them. Sealing them is much easier with a hair straightening iron than a regular iron. It is also much easier to vacuum them with a suction cup method and vacuum sealer than the vacuum bag strip and vacuum sealer method. After I found the suction cup method I just went to town on packing with a smile on my face.
Trust me on this.

I prefer this way: 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7C-g4...eature=related


He does it with bottles and jars; I do it to mylars. Just fill your bags and leave about 2-3 inches free at the top, use a sharp knife tip and punch a tiny hole about 1 1/2 in from the top, then do what he says to do except carry it one step further and while the tape is still on, use your hair straightening iron on just a couple notches below the hottest setting, and seal it. Then remove the tiny piece of tape and run it over one more time with the hot hair iron. It works great!

I used to do it this way:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fnMOV8sWuiI

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## Ken

Good link, Link!  Thanks!   :Smile:

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## gryffynklm

OOOOO I like that.

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## crashdive123

Nice idea.

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## Winnie

> OOOOO I like that.



Ditto!!  :Smile:

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## Rick

What kind of foodsaver do you use and have you tried using it partially freezing the contents? Most of what I've read says the seals on the bags only go bad if you get juice or food contaminants in the seal. 

I'm currently looking at the Foodsaver Gameserver Turbo so any info you have would be great. 

Finally, does anyone know if Foodsaver bought Tilia? All the Tilia vacuum sealers have Foodsaver on the front of them. 

Great post, by the way.

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## linkmissing

I have a cheaper foodsaver v2060.  It is not the sealer it is the bags.  Although I hate Foodsaver products because they don't last long if you are a serious user. You can order the 3.5 ml and 4 ml online which are better bags and they say the type with nylon content are stronger.
The serious/better small commersial sealers are the Weston Pro 2100 or VacUpack sealer.  But I would not depend on the bags for long term storage!  If you read alot of posts, they are pretty consistant with the majority saying not to depend on them.  I just use my sealer for the port sealer to do the mylars.
Some fishermen like the VacUpack when going out to seal up all the fish.  My husband used to go to Alaska every yr. and the salmon and halibut the commercial packers vacuum packed lasted yrs.  But those bags are very heavy and thick.  I don't know where they get theirs or what equipment they use.

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## Rick

Wouldn't it be cheaper then to use a hand vacuum device rather than the FoodSaver? I know you have it so you use it but for someone that doesn't have one there really isn't a reason to invest in one just for that. Agree?

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## linkmissing

The hand helds I've seen use specal bags and containers.  I had bought the sealer before I knew it was not useful for pkging.  The port is great tho for the mylars.  But now that you mention the hand helds, I am going to go look at one and see if it can be used with the suction cups.  If they can that would be even easier.  
So, yea, if you can use a hand sealer with suction cups to vacuum pack your mylars and you don't need the vacuum sealer bagging for short term supplies, I would not waste my money.

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## Rick

Take a look at this short thread. 

http://www.wilderness-survival.net/f...t=vacuum+brake

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## linkmissing

Yea, I remember you posting that.  At the time I was looking for something to vacuum the jars and not the mylars.  I actually went and looked at the brake thing, I didn't want to spend as much as they wanted for it.  $1.99 for Harbor Freight thing might work tho.  I'll have to go look at it.
Thanks again, Rick

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## finallyME

Great post.

Anyone want a mylar lesson?  Too bad, you can't escape.  Most of this is just a semantics lesson, but will help explain why mylar bags are so great for storage.  Anyways, in case no one told you, mylar is clear.  Mylar is a trade name for a type of PET film.  Another use for PET is a soda bottle.  A mylar bag is composed (generally) of three layers.  One layer is generally PE, one aluminum, and one mylar.  The PE is used because it is easy to heat seal.  You can seal PET, but it requires much higher temps.  Both the mylar and aluminum act as gas barriers.  A bag of one layer of PE (I believe most vacuum pack bags are PE), will allow air through over time.  Anyways, carry on.  :Wavey:

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## linkmissing

I was just on another site I check often and there was a post from a guy who did adapt his hand held vacuum sealer for kilchen plastic bags with a plastic hose and suction cup and it worked great.  That would be even better to use cuz 1.  It's a cheap item and 2.  It's much easier to manipulate and 3.  It's battery operated so you could do it anywhere that's convenient for you.   
That's it; I'm getting one.

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## spd

I can't view your youtube link as it is private.  Is there somewhere I could view it or gain access to the youtube vid?
Thanks

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## crashdive123

None of us can see it.  The Youtube user made it private.

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