What is best for shelf life of rice/beans — silica or oxygen absorber? I have heard it said they don’t work well together.
Should I just put a mylar bag over 25# rice bags or should i empty the contents into food grade buckets?
whoops i see o2 absorber and silica work fine together now.
With grains you just need to keep them dry, sealed, and out of the sunlight.
Think about what stuff “needs” to stay alive and grow—the come up with a way to prevent it.
For smaller bags of beans I just took the original package and dropped them in sealable bag and sucked the air out. I tossed those into a bucket. I check on them every year or so and they are fine.
A lot of this depends on your location, heat, humidity, and where you store them. So what works in AZ might not be applicable to New England (aside from the general things.)