Dry Pack Canning At Home

I’ve done lots of dry packing in my time. Usually at a church cannery, sometimes at a church building using cannery equipment and always with the #10 cans. I had never used the Mylar bags that are available at the cannery until now. Now I use them at home. I can dry pack as little or as much as I want, in the comfort of my own home. I can even do it in my pajamas if I want. Thanks to Kathy Clark, author of “Dinner is in the Jar,” she teaches how to dry pack in Mylar bags at home. Now I can dry pack the dehydrated vegetables I’ve dried, in any quantity I want so that I can open and use as much as I want at a time. This also enables me to buy items in bulk that I’d like to store a smaller amount of, and seal them in bags, easier to access.
What you need:
Mylar Bags – buy from your local church cannery or order online
Oxygen Absorber packets – also available at the cannery, Honeyville Grain, or Walton Feed
An iron
A piece of wood or metal to iron on.

For my project – Dry packing the dried corn I just did, I cut 1 Mylar bag in half lengthwise and then I sealed the cut sides with the iron, medium hot and no steam – for just a few seconds to seal the cut edges (that I just cut) on the bags making two bags, with 3 sealed sides, from one larger bag. Fill each smaller bag with about a quart of dried product, add an oxygen absorber packet and seal the top of the bag with the iron. Add a label telling what is inside and the date you sealed it and you’re done! So easy and fun. This has opened a whole new world up to me. The possibilities are endless. I can’t wait to see what I can store now. In a later post I’ll tell you more about Kathy’s book, “Dinner is in the Jar.” It is an awesome book with tons of great food storage ideas and recipes.