diff --git a/src/axolotl/utils/data.py b/src/axolotl/utils/data.py
index 581b48a88..a168c5247 100644
--- a/src/axolotl/utils/data.py
+++ b/src/axolotl/utils/data.py
@@ -31,13 +31,7 @@ from axolotl.prompters import (
 )
 
 
-def load_prepare_datasets(tokenizer, cfg, default_dataset_prepared_path):
-    max_packed_sequence_len = (
-        cfg.max_packed_sequence_len if cfg.max_packed_sequence_len else cfg.sequence_len
-    )
-    max_packed_sequence_len = min(
-        max_packed_sequence_len, cfg.sequence_len
-    )  # make sure we don't accidentally set it larger than sequence_len
+def load_tokenized_prepared_datasets(tokenizer, cfg, default_dataset_prepared_path):
     ds_hash = str(
         md5(
             (
@@ -54,7 +48,7 @@ def load_prepare_datasets(tokenizer, cfg, default_dataset_prepared_path):
     )
 
     if any(prepared_ds_path.glob("*")):
-        logging.info(f"Loading prepared dataset from disk ay {prepared_ds_path}...")
+        logging.info(f"Loading prepared dataset from disk at {prepared_ds_path}...")
         dataset = load_from_disk(str(prepared_ds_path))
         logging.info("Prepared dataset loaded from disk...")
     else:
@@ -153,14 +147,78 @@ def load_prepare_datasets(tokenizer, cfg, default_dataset_prepared_path):
             )
             dataset.save_to_disk(prepared_ds_path)
 
+    return dataset
+
+
+def load_prepare_datasets(tokenizer, cfg, default_dataset_prepared_path):
+    max_packed_sequence_len = (
+        cfg.max_packed_sequence_len if cfg.max_packed_sequence_len else cfg.sequence_len
+    )
+    max_packed_sequence_len = min(
+        max_packed_sequence_len, cfg.sequence_len
+    )  # make sure we don't accidentally set it larger than sequence_len
+
     if cfg.max_packed_sequence_len is not None:
-        constant_len_dataset = ConstantLengthDataset(
-            tokenizer,
-            [dataset],
-            seq_length=max_packed_sequence_len,
+        # see if we can go ahead and load the stacked dataset
+
+        ds_hash = str(
+            md5(
+                (
+                    str(cfg.sequence_len)
+                    + "@"
+                    + str(max_packed_sequence_len)
+                    + "|".join(sorted([f"{d.path}:{d.type}" for d in cfg.datasets]))
+                ).encode("utf-8")
+            ).hexdigest()
         )
-        logging.info(f"packing master dataset to len: {cfg.max_packed_sequence_len}")
-        dataset = Dataset.from_list([_ for _ in constant_len_dataset])
+        prepared_ds_path = (
+            Path(cfg.dataset_prepared_path) / ds_hash
+            if cfg.dataset_prepared_path
+            else Path(default_dataset_prepared_path) / ds_hash
+        )
+
+        if any(prepared_ds_path.glob("*")):
+            logging.info(
+                f"Loading prepared packed dataset from disk at {prepared_ds_path}..."
+            )
+            dataset = load_from_disk(str(prepared_ds_path))
+            logging.info("Prepared packed dataset loaded from disk...")
+        else:
+            dataset = load_tokenized_prepared_datasets(
+                tokenizer, cfg, default_dataset_prepared_path
+            )
+
+            constant_len_dataset = ConstantLengthDataset(
+                tokenizer,
+                [dataset],
+                seq_length=max_packed_sequence_len,
+            )
+            logging.info(
+                f"packing master dataset to len: {cfg.max_packed_sequence_len}"
+            )
+            dataset = Dataset.from_list([_ for _ in constant_len_dataset])
+
+            if cfg.local_rank == 0:
+                logging.info(
+                    f"Saving packed prepared dataset to disk... {prepared_ds_path}"
+                )
+                dataset.save_to_disk(prepared_ds_path)
+    else:
+        dataset = load_tokenized_prepared_datasets(
+            tokenizer, cfg, default_dataset_prepared_path
+        )
+
+    # filter out bad data
+    dataset = Dataset.from_list(
+        [
+            d
+            for d in dataset
+            if len(d["input_ids"]) > cfg.sequence_len
+               and len(d["input_ids"]) > 0
+               and len(d["input_ids"]) == len(d["attention_mask"])
+               and len(d["input_ids"]) == len(d["labels"])
+        ]
+    )
 
     if cfg.dataset_shard_num and cfg.dataset_shard_idx is not None:
         logging.info(
diff --git a/src/axolotl/utils/models.py b/src/axolotl/utils/models.py
index 2ca84b795..bec6d8194 100644
--- a/src/axolotl/utils/models.py
+++ b/src/axolotl/utils/models.py
@@ -181,6 +181,8 @@ def load_model(
         for k, v in cfg.tokens.items():
             tokenizer.add_special_tokens({k: v})
 
+    model.resize_token_embeddings(len(tokenizer))
+
     if cfg.adapter and load_in_8bit and not cfg.load_4bit:
         logging.info("converting PEFT model w/ prepare_model_for_int8_training")
         model = prepare_model_for_int8_training(model)