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- Where to buy silica gel packets how to#
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- Where to buy silica gel packets free#
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Trim the final sewed edge with pinking shears to reduce fraying. This will create individual desiccant packs. Use pinking shears to cut between each double set of seams. Continue in this manner, adding beads and double seams, until you reach the end of the tube. The two seams you made will keep the beads secure in a new “pocket.” Again, use the chopsticks to hold the beads in place, and sew as above.
Where to buy silica gel packets full#
Remove from the sewing machine, and spoon another tablespoon full of beads into the tube. Sew a second seam across the tube about 3/4″ from your first seam. Use the chopsticks to hold the beads in place, then sew across the tube near the chopsticks. Hold the tube upright so the beads fall to the bottom. Spoon one tablespoon full of silica gel beads into the tube. You now have a long, skinny tube with a closed end.
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Using a basic straight stitch, sew up the long side and across one end.
Where to buy silica gel packets how to#
Related: Bulk Food Storage: How to Buy (and Store) Natural Foodsįold fabric in half lengthwise, wrong sides together. You can use whatever scrap fabric you have at hand, but a long narrow piece will allow you to make many desiccant packs at once as I did. This made a dozen desiccant packs, about 2″ square. I started with a length of fabric roughly 4″ wide and 24″ long. Instead of making one bag at a time, though, you can do many at once. Wooden chopsticks (optional, but helpful)īasically what you’ll be doing here is creating little bean bags.Silica gel beads (the ones I used are no longer available - these non-toxic clay beads would be a good substitute).But if you store a lot of food, homemade desiccant packs can be more cost effective, and I suspect they’ll last longer. You can even (I’m told) reuse these moisture absorbers by following the method I outline below.
Where to buy silica gel packets free#
Get a free excerpt from my book, Attainable Sustainable: The Lost Art of Self-Reliant Living! You’ll also get my free weekly newsletter, complete with recipes, gardening tips, and a little peek at what’s going on around here - both the zany and the mundane. (Thanks, Flavia!) Moisture packsįirst, you should know that if you don’t sew or just can’t be bothered, regular ole Joe Consumer can buy desiccant packs for food storage. It took me an embarrassingly long time to implement her tactics and make some of these moisture packs, but here I am, finally sharing it with you. One of my readers–who happens to live on this island and is familiar with the climate–shared her successful storage secret with me: Homemade desiccant packs. Even stored in a five-gallon food grade bucket, moisture was causing them to go “off” and eventually mold. Many years later, those little moisture packs came into my awareness again. I was lamenting the loss of bulk oats to our humid climate. Poison control assured me that while it’s probably not something I’d want to add to my daily menu, the silica gel inside the moisture pack was non-toxic. Then my wily two-year-old (who is now an adult) found a packet in a shoe box. They were just another bit of packaging that I disposed of. For years, I didn’t give them a second thought. You know that little white moisture absorber that come in food and supplement packages? That is a desiccant. And these moisture packs? They’re reusable! Using a moisture absorber to keep foods fresh can prevent a tremendous amount of food waste. These homemade desiccant packs are a great way to preserve the quality of your bulk dry goods.
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