Food storage

[Guest USMC 2013]

What are all of you using for bulk food storage? I found some USDA approved 5g buckets on Home Depots site for about $5 and was thinking about buying some gamma lids for them. Anyone ever use them? Thoughts, or other advice? Semper Fi!

Joe

[Timestepper]

Haven't used them, but sounds like the way to go. We use 2 & 3 gallon buckets (for easier portability in a pinch), but I'm not sure where my wife gets them.

I also have a cache up on the ridge containing enough food and water for a couple of days, plus some extra ammo. I made it out of a 36" section of thick walled 10" pvc pipe. The bottom is a glued on, well sealed end cap and the top has a threaded and well sealed plug. I've got it buried about 18" down - to keep the water from freezing - and I check it a couple of times a year to rotate out older foodstuffs and to keep the ground loose enough to get to it in a hurry if need be. I guess if I were smart, I'd have several caches in different locations just in case I couldn't make it to a particular spot, but I haven't gotten quite that ambitious yet. :-\

...TS...

[UncleJak]

Another thread on here had someone mentioning wise foods products. I contacted them and got a free sample sent to me. It was decent (I'm picky). I think I am going to buy some of their products. They are in mylar bags and stored in buckets. Best of all 25 year shelf life so i don't have to rotate.

[Timestepper]

Yeah, we had our sample for supper last night and it was pretty tolerable. No plans to order any yet, but only because I've got medical bills to pay and possibly a new furnace to buy.

[UncleJak]

I had the stroganoff. I am not a fan of stroganoff, but it was edible. The other stuff looked better. Figures that the one thing I don't care for would be the free sample (murphey's law).

[Sheepdog]

My sources:

5-gallon buckets, food grade, $4.69 each: 5 Gallon Plastic Pail S-7914 - Uline

Gamma Seal screw top lids: GAMMA SEALS AS LOW AS $3.99 EACH

Mylar bags: Mylar® Bags - SorbentSystems.com

I buy wheat at a local health food store, $41.00 for 50 pounds. Canned goods, bulk sugar and salt at Costco. Picked up honey a couple of years ago at $65/5 gallons--I'm sure it's much more, now. Ball mason jars for home canning of fruit preserves; hope to learn to can butter soon.

[bigwakes]

Check out Beprepared.com. My wife does coupons and even with coupons we couldn't get beans cheaper than they send it to your door. They charge no more than $12 per order for shipping.

[Guest thorn]

If you are close to Hendersonville email Tobias (tobias.truman@gmail.com) from Discount Mylar Bags for lids, bags and 02 absorbers. You can save on the shipping and if you spend a few bucks he will save you even more.

Check your local Tractor Supply for the buckets Fortiflex Industrial Container, 5 gal. Capacity, White - 2224579 | Tractor Supply Company

[Guest Baron]

Do not store food directly in the Home Depot buckets.

I stored some rice in Home Depot buckets and when I went to rotate it out a year later, the first 1-2 outer inches were stained and had a bad chemical smell. I read somewhere that its due to the dye they use to make the buckets orange. I do not know if the same is for the Lowes buckets, but I never tried them to store food that way.

If your using bags, then they are fine and the bucket is just critter protection. That is how I store food now.

[broylz]

the white buckets at walmart are supposedly food grade for $2.xx in the paint section. also ive seen white buckets at home depot that were advertised as food grade. i get mine from the local walmart bakery, depending on which one of the ladies i speak to, i either get them free or for $1/ea. they are always cleaned out and smell like butter cream frosting. i wash them again with dish soap and let them dry for a few days. i have some newer ones that i use mylar in but my first dozen, i didnt use mylar and they are fine. thats what ive been rotating through this year.

my next step is to get a few food grade steel drums for dry grain storage out in the garage.

[Spook]

I also picked up three of the five gallon frosting buckets at my local Wally World. They were free and I'll use them for long term food storage. Just need to procure some gamma seals for ease in access.

[Guest]

Another thread on here had someone mentioning wise foods products. I contacted them and got a free sample sent to me. It was decent (I'm picky). I think I am going to buy some of their products. They are in mylar bags and stored in buckets. Best of all 25 year shelf life so i don't have to rotate.

I have one of those samples on the way. The stuff looked to be a pretty good deal. However, I was on their site again last night, and now I am wondering, when it says quantity of "60" is that 60 packages, or 60 servings? It almost looks more like 60 servings than 60 packs. That's a big difference, because 60 packs at 1,000 calories would be a month's food for a person, but 60 servings would be about a week's worth.

[Dolomite_supafly]

For food grade buckets go to local stores that have bakeries. I picked up 25 buckets for free with lids. They have rubber seals and are food grade because that is what is in them. Most stores just throw them out. You will have to wash them out but better than paying for them.

Dolomite

[Guest Lester Weevils]

I have one of those samples on the way. The stuff looked to be a pretty good deal. However, I was on their site again last night, and now I am wondering, when it says quantity of "60" is that 60 packages, or 60 servings? It almost looks more like 60 servings than 60 packs. That's a big difference, because 60 packs at 1,000 calories would be a month's food for a person, but 60 servings would be about a week's worth.

I think the wise foods stuff is almost all 4 servings per pack, except a few are 2 servings per pack.

It would probably be good to divide by 2 their days rating of how long it would last, if that is all that one would be eating. However even at the 500 cal per day of 2 of their servings, one would starve slower than with nothing at all.

If eating a full package (4 servings) per day per person, the sodium content would be higher than the RDA. Not of much concern to young folks, but concerning to old people, especially if the blood pressure pills and diuretics are no longer available.

The main advantages I see with the Wise Foods are very long shelf life (if the estimates are to be believed) and it looks like they could probably get flooded out underwater for awhile and still be useful once you dry out the packages.

Another advantage would be easy preparation, probably without making much food smell and using little cooking energy. They could probably be just soaked fer awhile and choked down if there was no way to cook em.

The relatively nutritious and relatively inexpensive long-term storage diets such as the Mormons often use-- It would probably be fine out on a farm. But in a SHTF true famine, in the burbs or the city-- Will there be energy/fuel to cook beans all day, or grind stored hard wheat and cook bread? If you are cooking bread and all yer neighbors are starving, I figger once they smell those good beans and bread cooking, they will either expect to share your stock, or take it from you if you didn't feel generous.

Edited December 18, 2011 by Lester Weevils

[Guest]

Yeah, I figured if you were eating solely the Wise stuff, you'd need two packs per day (2,000 calories), which cuts their day claim by 4. It seems a lot of the "emergency" food is rated that way, with perhaps 500 calories per day. Sure, that might work for a few days in an ice storm, but if the problem only lasts a few days, I've still got plenty of food in the cabinet. I'm not sure about selling months' or a year's 'worth of food' claims at 500 calories per day. If you really had to eat on your stockpile for a year, you'd be so busy with other manual labor you wouldn't last long at 500 cal.....

[Guest Lester Weevils]

It wouldn't hurt me to live on 1000 cals per day for an extended time, but then again my metabolism is slower than the typical tree sloth.

Going for a 2000 cal diet solely on the Wise Foods fare, the sodium content might be a definite worry except for young healthy individuals. Not that you can't find numerous higher-sodium foods at walmart. 2000 cals per day of Ramen noodles or Lipton dry soup would REALLY max the sodium.

Beans, lentils, rice, macaroni and oatmeal would be worthwhile storage to boost the calorie count. Or wheat if one can routinely bake bread after the end of the world as we know it.

[Guest Scramasax]

For those of you not happy with basic rations, stock up on spices. You will want to rotate them as well. Those you buy at the store are already old. They don't have the "kick" of fresh ones.

Cheers,

ts

[hkgonra]

Been meaning to check this place out for spices.

ICA Gourment Seasoning and Barzi

[Guest]

For those of you not happy with basic rations, stock up on spices. You will want to rotate them as well. Those you buy at the store are already old. They don't have the "kick" of fresh ones.

I wonder if they still lose their kick if you vacuum seal them? Perhaps in small mylar bags with a small O2 absorber.

[Guest Lester Weevils]

Me and wife's basic plan in event of emergency would be to eat out of the refrigerator until the fridge is empty or the food goes bad, then eat from stored shelves of inexpensive grocery store canned goods, grains and pasta. Also have some long shelf life dehydrated goods to dig into after short-shelf-life inexpensive grocery store goods are gone.

For one thing eat the shortest-shelf-life stuff first. Hopefully the emergency would be of shorter duration than the stock of cans, beans and rice. For another thing, have a sneaking suspicion that although inexpensive grocery goods might taste plain, they might taste better than long-shelf-life dehydrated goods. Maybe that isn't the case, dunno. Just have a sneaking suspicion that after a few months eating dehydrated food, maybe a fella would remember with fond nostalgia the long gone luxurious days of eating lentils and spam, red beans and rice, mac&cheese, ramen noodles and canned veggies.

So I have a few MRE's and quite awhile ago bought one bucket of the Wise Foods emergency food. Havent taste-tasted either. As earlier discussed, according to the nutrition stickers the Wise Foods stuff gives the impression of being a little high on sodium and low on calories.

So earlier this year had got the impression that the Lindon Farms product might be a little better. More calories, more variety and less sodium, and sportsmans warehouse was selling the 180 serving buckets for about $180 and I got one to put on the shelf. Haven't cracked it open or tested the wares. It would be a cruel trick if all these companies are just selling buckets of sawdust but nobody will notice until after the end of the world. Supposedly 6 servings are about 2000 calories per day, and the 180 serving bucket would feed one fella an "active lifestyle" amount of calories for a month.

Got another one of those Lindon Farms buckets this weekend, and got curious about the prices and calories of the various companies in that market. Wasted too much time today checking it out. There are a few companies in the market. If you buy a years worth of food most companies charge less per serving than if you buy a weeks worth of food so I tried comparing prices when you buy "about a month's worth of food". I tried to determine the number of calories in each package, then divide by the price to determine rough estimate of CaloriesPerDollar. Some companies have very detailed nutrition info online and some companies don't hardly list any nutritional info online, though surely it would be on the packages if one were to buy the product. So there is a bit of guesswork and possible inaccuracies in these results--

Chef's Banquet Ark-- 512 CaloriesPerDollar

Food Health Emergency Survival Food Supply-- 332 CaloriesPerDollar

Augason Farms 30 day combo bucket-- 466 CaloriesPerDollar

Augason Farms One Month Pack (bigger variety of food)-- 313 to 277 CaloriesPerDollar

Lindon Farms 180 serving bucket-- 167 CaloriesPerDollar

Wise Foods 60 serving bucket-- 160 CaloriesPerDollar

Relief Foods buckets-- Very limited variety in the meals and was not able to find the calorie counts online. This may be the least expensive per calorie or maybe not, but if this is all you eat you will get probably get tired of the food long before you eat it all.

I didn't take close enough notes. On thing, is that you can find much lower than retail pricing on some of the packages on Overstock.com. But I've never used Overstock.com and dunno if it would be worth the trouble. Bro-in-law a few years ago said he didn't have good experience buying computer parts from Overstock.com, but that was a few years ago, and it was computer parts rather than food. Sometimes the price is a little lower than retail on Amazon.

If curious you can google into the web sites of the companies and check out the details.

The best company online documentation is from Augason Farms. Head and shoulders better variety and documentation at Augason. Some of the Augason stuff would need access to a kitchen and take at least a little work to cook it, but other Augason products are more "add hot water" instant emergency food. That Augason set of products like the One Month Pack and bigger supplies, are mostly in dehydrated cans rather than plastic bags, and if one had a kitchen to cook them in it might be about as good taste and variety as eating grocery food.

The less-expensive Augason 30 day bucket has smaller variety of "easier to cook" goods compared to the more-expensive 30 day supply shipped in 48 cans. But for the price the less expensive kit is very impressive, at least on paper. Retail $130, today $99 on Overstock.com. Thirty days of 1800 calories per day for one person, and each bucket also includes a plastic water-filtration bottle and sealed gel-fuel to use for cooking the meals. Almost sounds too good to be true. Almost tempted to try living out of one of those for a month just to find out.

Some of the companies have fairly limited variety and maybe some of the meals are not especially tasty, dunno.

The thought occurred to me, that perhaps if one were to stock a month or two of food from several of the companies, it might help with variety. Ferinstance that Relief Foods outfit, the only two breakfast items on the menu are pancakes and cream of wheat. That would sure get old after a few months, but on the other hand occasional pancakes and cream of wheat might work real good, mixing and matching menu with some of the other brands.

[Guest Razz]

I wonder if they still lose their kick if you vacuum seal them? Perhaps in small mylar bags with a small O2 absorber.

Vacuum sealing does help.

Also, a lot of spices that are high in oils, such as coriander and other seeds, can be toasted after long storage and the flavor will brighten up quite a bit.

Also, +1 on getting free buckets from stores and restaurants. Check with any restaurant that serves pickles with their sandwiches. 5 gallon pickle buckets are GREAT for water-tight storage. Just make sure you clean them with bleach...otherwise it takes forever to get the pickle smell out.

I have a steady supply of pickle buckets if anyone in my area is interested. I'll even wash them for you

Razz

[Guest Anonymous86]

Come down to Sportsman's Warehouse. We have more of a variety to choose from now more than ever. I work there.

[bigbabysweets]

We use those big juice bottles when we're done, we had some 2 liters before I quit drinking soft drinks and we use milk jugs for water.... Free storage save money for things that need storing!

[Guest Southern Christian Armed]

Just my 2 cents but we do not plan to bug out but bug in. BUT we are off the beaten path. I just feel even if you are on the beaten path in real life your are better off holding your ground where all your preps are. Thats unless you are downtown in a major city. If not, stock up on caned foods, some bottled gallon waters, and some MRE's. I utilize the space in every crevice in my home for canned food. I will not bug out. I will stay put. I am away from any major city, nuc plant, etc. So why bug out when all my preps are here. My ammo, food, etc are all at arms reach. I find canned veggies on sale at our local store for .49 cents a can, generic spam for $1 a can, tuna on sale, chili, mac, and other prepared canned meals on sale, canned fruits, and canned broths on sale. They have a date of about 3 years but I have personally had them 6 yrs past date. Also, I am on a well, have devised a plan to pull well and use hand crank to have water. I have done it and it took less than a day to pull well, insert hand device and be pulling 8 gallons an hour. As for rice, flour, cornmeal, beans, etc. Look in to dry canning. We also dry can eggs after we dehydrate them. It is easier than you think. Take any non oil based item, preheat oven to 200 degrees, add your product to a mason jar, put in oven one hour, take it out and seal it. Eggs are just as easy. Dehydrate them first for 4 hours precooked with no oil, blend them into powder, then dry can them.

[Guest Southern Christian Armed]

FYI, It helps to have a close knit group of friends locally that will share ideas, funds, resources, and manpower which I have. You CANNOT and WILL NOT do it alone. Form a group of preppers where you live. IT gives peace of mind like a fully loaded .45 acp on your night stand. I promise.