The previous Food Storage thread is closed and I thought it might be good to start anew with several questions I could not find answers to in the older threads.
I finally began acquiring food grade pails with lids and I am planning to create “kits” in each one. One of the kits will include rice, potato flakes, pancake mix, flour, sugar, yeast, and powdered milk. I plan to place in bucket in original packaging or in zip-lock bags.
My questions:
Thanks in advance! I visit every day and I have learned a tremendous amount of prep knowledge. Certainly enough to figure that my family will have better than average chances of getting through to the pandemic recovery phase.
analyst4mkts – at 11:56
I can’t answer all your questions but I can tell you what I have done with good success. I leave my flour in the original packaging and seal them in ziplock freezer bags, then pop them in the freezer for 3 days.
Yeast will last longer if it is kept in the freezer or refrigerator. Usually you can go a year past the expiration date.
I have been freezing every item that won’t be adversely afffected by the cold. So far I have done flour, pancake mix, rice mixes and mac-n-cheese. After freezing I wrap the original cardboard box packaging in plastic wrap and seal with masking tape.
Don’t know about the oxygen absorbers (and would like to know), but if you give people a pail with white rice, white potatoes, white flour, white flour mix, white sugar, and milk (all carbs and starches) and they have diabetes, they will go into insulin shock. If they are borderline diabetic, this diet could tip them over. Diabetes runs in my family, and even though the above are good staples, I stay away from them as much as I can, or use in small quantities. No use pushing my luck.
People with arthritis or other inflamatory illnesses may react to this diet with an extreme, painful inflamation, possibly with minimal or no medications available. I would go heavier on the beans, lentils, and protein. Also, some salt. If you are baking, salt is needed as well.
There are a lot of different kinds of beans and lentils. You could make a soup mix, or bag them separately, maybe with some bouillon cubes or seasoning packets. Ramen seasoning packets would even work, or make your own. I just went to a market that specializes in foreign foods, and was amazed at the different kinds of legumes and grains available. Some types: red, black, pinto, pink, navy, fava, mung or lima beans, green and yellow split peas, also red, green or brown lentils. Also, barley is a grain, stores well and is good in soups. Best of all are “chana dal,” (yellow beans that look like split peas, found in Indian markets). They are really low on the glycemic index, which means they “stick to your ribs” and don’t give you that “sugar crash” a few hours after you eat. Good if you’re food rationing. I’m really stocking up on them. You could put a lot of beans in with rice, along with some flour, etc, and have more of a balanced meal. One advantage to beans and rice is that you don’t need butter or oil to cook them, just water, and maybe some salt. I just bought some bulgur too - good til May 2008.
Since you have time to plan now, you might want to think more “complete meals,” since nobody can cook from scratch anymore and they may not know how to take the best advantage of what you’re givng them. Look for recipes and throw a few in the pail - if they can’t cook they’re going to need some guidance, otherwise wasted food from botched “experiments.” A basic “red beans and rice” recipe with spice packets, and a soup recipe or two, would stop people from panicking when they see a pail of food that they have no idea what to do with, and they’re hungry. Maybe some oatmeal or basic, compact, no-cooking-needed whole grain cereal. Everybody knows what to do with that, and little kids or sick people can eat it.
LA Escapee – at 13:18
I appreciate your concern and your input but the described “kit” was to divide basic staples in managable subsets for use within my household. There was no intention for this to be a distributed bucket on which to base daily nutition.
I do not what to have to open numerous buckets (i.e. 1 flour, 1 rice, 1 sugar etc) when I will not need such large quantities.
Concerning salt: I didn’t think salt needed any storage prep other than to be kept dry. It is not susceptible to pests etc so why use up bucket space.
Our supplies go well beyond what I plan to store in buckets including numerous cases of veges, meats, soups, stews, pasta, fruits, powdered eggs and so forth. I will aslo supllement with freeze dried as budget permits.
You point regarding beans and health is well taken, although I am challeged by trying to feed small children and adults who are not too keen on beans. I have some to add with freeze dried veges for soup but not a lot. I have tried to mix beans with rice and serve burrito style and my kids remove them one by one.
Therefore my focus has been to stock up on foods that I know will be eaten whether they are needed for pandemic or rotated into basic daily menu.
Sorry for the misunderstanding!
analyst4markets, just a thought, do you think your kids would eat a few if they were smaller beans? If you’re serving kidney beans, they are pretty big, and their size makes 1 or 2 beans affect the mouth feel of the whole bite (starchy and bland). Maybe small beans or skinless beans, soaked and chopped? (I’m all for being sneaky for a good purpose. :) )
LA Escapee – at 14:01
No problem. My mother is diabetic and I am probably highest risk in my household to contract adult onset. I already suffer from gout and have approximately 6 months of meds on hand. I will have to monitor SIP diet quite closely for myself. My kids, three growing boys, will probably need all the starch, carbs, protien I can give them to keep energy and growth on par. All of them will easily be 6 feet plus 1–4 inches and 185 lbs plus full grown. Our family reunions look like bouncer conventions!
analyst4mkts – at 11:56
Some thoughts….I have food stored a couple of different ways:
For easy retrieval I have buckets of flour (I always store all-purpose only so I don’t forget which I have), sugar, rice & pasta. The flour is prepared in the freezer in their original packaging, then everything is opened from their original packaging (saves space, making everything more compact), measured into ziplocks of varying amounts (2 cup, 4 cup, etc) and then I sprinkled bay leaves in the bucket (bugs hate bay leaf) and around 5 oxy abs loose in the bucket & sealed it up. Works great. I’ve used product stored this way up to a year without it going bad — flour has a short shelf-life. Remember that both ziplock bags AND plastic buckets have air exchange and eventually air will pass through the plastic (don’t ask me how) and affect the food. That’s why you use mylar for longer effectiveness.
For longer term storage I keep the same basics. I use a mylar bag, prepare ingredients the same way, and depending on the weight, I add oxy abs. Once I’ve emptied one of the short term buckets, I open one of these & set up the contents in the short term buckets, then fill the long term bucket with fresh inventory & seal — should stay fresh for several years that way, and if they have been professionally sealed, depending on what temperature you store your buckets, they should last 20 years of more.
There is a post on the Flu Preps thread I think it is, that describes in detail how to use the oxy abs. If I can find the direct link I’ll post it.
From the Flu Prep XIX thread:
I’m-workin’-on-it – at 13:15
By the way, here’s some oxy info:
from this website: http://tinyurl.com/mw33v
Number of oxygen absorbers needed: We [Walton Feed] sell 500cc absorbers. They will absorb 500+ cc of oxygen. A #10 can holds 13 cups or very roughly 3300cc. Air is 21% oxygen. So that empty 3300cc #10 can actually has about 683cc of oxygen in it. If you take a full cup of beans it takes about 0.375 cups of water to bring the water level up to the top of the cup. I’ve found this to be true with most of the whole seeds I’ve measured including wheat and rice. This figure is important because it also tells you how much air is in the can when it is full of seeds - 37.5%. With a #10 can full of these products, you now have about 256cc of oxygen left in the can. If you are canning a powder you probably have less air than this but foods like macaroni would have more. Already you can see that one 750cc absorber should do the job nicely, in fact it’s a bit of overkill. A 300cc absorber would also do the trick. We use one 500cc absorber in each of our #10 cans as we’d rather have a bit of overkill than a little oxygen left in the can should the absorber become loaded. Actually, on the cans, this is a lot of overkill as the absorbers we use now actually have more than twice as much oxygen absorbing capacity as what they are rated for.
There is also the dry ice method of removing O2 in large buckets. I have used both methods and both work well. Dry ice is cheapeer though. I have ground some of my beans and add them to different things to be sneaky. It helps. Ground beans are undetectable and do add protein. I even put them in brownies…fooled the kids.
Everything not already canned should be frozen before storage and either put under inert gas or o2 absorbers used. Yeast is good for a least a year at ambient and 3+ years if frozen. Yeast spores are pretty hardy things and dont forget you can always “make more” by just keeping the batch going and not cooking it all. If it comes to this dont worry you will figure it out as you will have way too much time on your hands. Ziplock over time will admit oxygen and the plastic molecules are not tight enough. You need HDPE that comes close to zero oxygen movement. Think soda bottles or 5 gallon buckets. It will say on the bottom what kind of plastic its made out of. The limit on stored food is oxidation. Fats go rancid with exposure to oxygen and can turn toxic, dont panic you wont eat it trust me. But if stored correctly I would venture a guess of several years.
analyst4mkts, I too have gout and have had for 25 years. I take allopurinol every day, 450 mg. I only have 2 months worth saved but I’m workin’ on it. Good to know there is someone that (as President Clinton once said) can “feel your pain”. Tell me more about your gout and what makes it flair. Thanks
This is great, I apprciate everyone’s chipping with comments and suggestions.
I’m-workin’-on-it Annoyed Max- Thanks for the detailed info. Looks like a little calculating for me to do. I am expecting oxy absorbers to arrive toady from Honeyville.
HB - I might use your technique as well ofr some mid-term storage or at start of SIP when I may break open some of the buckets which will then be converted to water storage if I don’t have enough already ready…I’m not sure I’ll ever be 100% comfortable with amount of water on hand.
Jane & Safty Lady - You two are devious aren’t you! I’ve had some pretty unusual brownies in my early years but BEANS! I guess I’ll have to be a little more creative with some recipes.
PBQ - I closing in on my fourteeth year of gout. Its just one of those things where you never forget the first time! Pain isn’t an adaquate description of the agony that severe attack can incure. Luckily, I have learned how to keep it mostly under control by watching what I intake relative to physical activity, stress and fatigue. For me it is a combined impact that flairs the gout. I have even been able to do the atkins diet (more red meat than you shake a stick at) without too much difficulty. If I take Naproxen in the early stages of an attact, it stops it before it really hits. I have had to go the allopurinol route and even colchicine before but now I just stay ahead of it. The biggest surprise food to trigger gout for me is strawberries…these I have to watch because I love them and would eat a pound at one sitting if it were not for the fear of triggering an attack. Have you tried cherries as remedy to disolve the uric acid crystals? This was the only effective cure in the colonial days and I had thought of trying get some freze dried cherries for long term storage. I also have some canned ones but I don’t know if either is as effective as fresh fruit.
Take care
While dry rice and beans are a great, cheap food source, don’t forget to pile up some canned beans and instant rice. If there is no/limited power for cooking, regular rice and beans take a long time to cook and would use a lot of precious cooking fuel. I’ve kept most of my dry goods in the original containers which I then placed in the heavy-duty Rubbermaid containers you can get at Target, etc. I keep bird food stored in the garage in them and we have all kinds of critters coming in an out of there all the time (the kids never close the doors!) and they’ve never broken into them.
I think another thread mentioned getting a few bucket openers if you go that route because the lids are hard to get off.
Here is excellent information on oxygen obsorbers,,,,,,and how to use. We are updating our stash and getting more preps and using these. http://waltonfeed.com/self/upack/oxyintro.html
Whoops forgot to add my name on anonymous – at 19:59
I dislike anyone that uses the name “anonymous” shows not only a lack of inspiration but a lack of civility. Any name would do except ANONYMOUS
This may be a silly question, but are all #10 cans the same size, because it seems like certain companies get 24 1/2 cup servings of diced apples and others get only 16 1/2 cup servings? Unfortunately they do not put the weight on the websites.
All 10′s are the same size…..it’s the size of the food that makes the difference!
Thanks, I’m workin’-on-it
analyst4mkts – at 17:14 “Have you tried cherries as remedy to disolve the uric acid crystals? This was the only effective cure in the colonial days and I had thought of trying get some freze dried cherries for long term storage. I also have some canned ones but I don’t know if either is as effective as fresh fruit.” There are tart cherry capsules available at the health food stores. They work for folks I know. Watch the sugar on some brands.
analyst4mkts, Cholchine does a number on me and I have some at home but that is the drug of last resort because of the internal and external bleeding it causes. Mine is pretty well under control but I can no longer bend my big toe on my right foot. Prolly have to have the joint cleaned out in a couple of years.
Yes I’ve heard of tart cherries helping with gout but I’ve never used it. I do have lots of freeze dried (sweet) cherries in my preps. I know that when my feet start hurting sometimes I am “drawn” to the cherries and will eat a cup or so before I know it. Allopurinal changed my life for ther better. Between that and my CPAP for sleep apnea and Advil I’m pretty good to go.
It’s just good to know that someone else besides me has this. Thanks for all the info and if you try the tart cherries let me know!
Where to put all this stuff: My greatest challenge!
I don’t have a huge storeroom for this stuff. Although I have a nice size kitchen pantry and a lot of storage in my kitchen, most of that area is needed for “right now” living. I had to get creative in storing this stuff. The things I did have helped me stay organized, so I can remember where what is located… and dates.
I have organized bedrooms by years. This mainly pertains to canned goods. On the left and right side of each closet I have placed shelves inwhich I store canned goods. On the top shelves in the closets, above the hanging clothes, I also have designated to food storage. (That is where I put a lot of bulky items.) Additionally, I have put all the beds on bed-risers. This allows for more storage in each room.
My linen closet, in the hallway, is where I store flour and sugar. And things I will need in bulk over time are stored there. My extra linens are packed up in storage.
In the living room: Our entertainment center is very deep. It sits under AC vents. I store home canned items in the very back, with stuff concealing it in front… VCR, DVD’s, flowerpots, etc. I have a few chest-a-drawers (junk-tique) doubling as decor/storage in the LR. Also, the base of my china cabinet has emergency food items for diarreah, vomitting, & dehydration. Under my dining table I place buckets. It is sorta the same in the den.
My husband put shelves up for me… up high around the ceiling. These are put up down the hallway (all baking items like b. powder, etc stored here in containers), in the den (dehydrated food storage containers)& master bedroom over the windows (specific dehydrated foods), over the bathtub in the master bathroom (this is a shelf that fits into a corner & I store TONS of candles there.)
Every knook and cranny is being filled with something. And… when you walk into my house… it doesn’t look like the corner store. This stuff is concealed/disguised.
I know this wasn’t exactly about the storing “up” of the food… but storing this stuff can be a challenge in and of itself! I hope it wasn’t too off topic!
analyst4mkts My buckets are recycled pickle buckets. Is dilute bleah solution adaquate for sterlizing?
A 10% Bleach (1 part household bleach 9 parts tap water) sol will do fine for sterilizing, but remember if you rinse the bleach sol. out you may reintroduce bacteria or other nasties if the rinse water is not setrile. A good way to be sure that your not contaminating after you sterilize is to rinse with boiling water. Home brew (mmmmm Beer!) makers use this technique all the time.
oh and be carefull not to burn yourself, boiling water is well… after all boiling. :)
I have 3 buckets stacked up together, covered with TWO round tableclothes (it took that to fill in gaps made because it’s taller than an actual round accent table) with a round glass tabletop on top — that’s for my opened flour, sugar and rice. Easy to lift off the top from underneath, lay it over on the bed, get out of the bucket what I need to refill my canisters, then recover the buckets in a snap.
I also have skirts around my soft and loveseat, so I have about 20 gallons of water, stored in ziplock bags and sitting in aluminum baking pans under the sofa out of sight, and 20 or so rolls of paper towels under the loveseat. If yours doesn’t have skirts, think about adding some of that thick ‘fringe’ —what’s it called? Bullion?? - around the base of the furniture — a hot glue gun will do the trick if you’re careful. You might need 2 layers to give you the best camoflouge.
I also moved my books on the bookcases to th very front of the shelves & store things behind the books.
mj – at 21:38
I will add the tart cherries to my preps. I would much prefer a natural treatment and save my Naproxen for emergencies and other treatments (works great for back sprains tendenitis etc)
PBQ – at 23:07
Sorry to hear about the toe. The damage caused by the crytals may be unreversable at this stage. I have never heard of getting a joint cleaned. Colchicine is definitely “last resort”…the side effects are awful! I have limited movement in both big toes. Have also be hit in the thumbs and the knees in the past.
Oh and I also bought some “mini” storage cubes — the kind that aren’t square but have an open side, from WalMart — set of 3 and I bought 6 of them, stacked them up, glued them together, put a 24″ board across the top & glued that to the cubes and now it sits in my narrow hallway (I only had a 30″ space between doors) with batteries sized in each of the bins — lots of D’s and C’s, and spare lights for the flashlights & the battery lanterns in bins by themselves. I haven’t made a table skirt for it yet, but that’s the plan, to attach something around the shelf to hide what I’ve got in there.
EnoughAlready – at 23:11 You don’t mention a basement, so I assume you are on a slab foundation. If you do have a basement, I found the paper goods (tp, towels, tampax, etc) fit quite nicely betwenn the 16″ on center floor joists. I place packages between the joists and then staple cardboard to the joists. This “found” space presently holds hundreds of rolls of tp etc without taking any floor space. The cardboard also helps reduce dipping into preps for daily use.
Caution: I don’t put any paper within 15 feet of furnance. Also avoid cardboard that previously contained food products (often has insect eggs within corrugated folds).
Analst4mkts, Rather than getting a joint replacement (they wear out after about 10–15 years) docs can go in and clean the joint and muck out the crystals and just tidy up. Sorry to hear about your thumbs and knees. My Dad has gout (runs in families) and his feet and hands are so stiff! I’m told that by talking medicine I will be able to postpone or eliminate that completley.
Also go on line and find the foods that increase crystal production for most people and decrease those in your preps. It seems that you have a handle on what causes flairs for you. I’m not that smart. I tend to ignore my body too much for its own good. A lot of my favorite foods are those high in purines. It took me years to figure that out! Time for work.
Dried cherries available online (trader joe’s ) or your local health food store will help the gout! Watch your beer intake!
analyst4mkts – at 09:29
No basement, I live in the deep south! I don’t think many of us have basements down here! But thanks for the concern!
analyst4mkts ¨C at 09:29
Sorry, meant to add…”betwenn the 16¡å on center floor joists”… where is that? You mean the floor? How do I get to it w/o ripping up the floor? Sorry if this is a stupid question. Appreciate your concern and help… I just don’t know what to do with it. (Although I hope to learn how to do it!)
EnoughAlready, Could you tell me how you were storing your noodles that they got bugs? The floor joist that are being talked about are the first floor joist, if you go in the basement and look up you see the joist for the first floor.
nevermind, I read on another thread how the noodles were stored, thanks
Chesapeake – at 06:59
Bottom line with the pasta- I really think they came with bugs (larvae), & I didn’t do the proper steps to kill them off before storing them. I have had problems with pasta in just regular household storage. More so than with flour or any other thing. Maybe it is something about where I live, I dunno. I guess they were weevils… but I really don’t know what a weevil looks like, so who knows. I was thinking so much about flour, rice, and other ground meal products I just didn’t even think pasta (which was stupid… because it has been my biggest problem historically.)
Yikes, I’m going to start checking all my pasta — didn’t think of freezing that like I did flour. Thanks
There is a good chance that the bugs you find in pasta, flour etc are mealworms. They are not worms by definition, but larvae of flouring beetles. The link below gives a good description and has drawings of larvae and adult beetle.
It is interesting to note that on this link they recommend freezing flour etc for 7 days to kill them wheras most posts I have seen on Fluwiki recommend 3 days
Sorry that I didn’t clarify the floor joist storage point. Chesapeke has it correct, the ground floor joists are exposed in an unfinished basement ceiling. There is a lot of “dead” space between these joists that can be utilized creatively for storage that would otherwise take up useable living space. In additional to paper products, I am storing empty 2 liter pop bottles that will be filled with water at start of SIP.
Okay… this thread (& those bugs) have me in a new frame of prepping. I have 6 gallon buckets I have picked up as a “prep” because of recommendations on various threads. I have used a couple to store stuff, but I am ready to store some flour and rice. I looked into purchasing the buckets filled and prepared… but man-alive, the shipping cost is out of sight! I am gonna do it myself.
So… where is the best place to buy mylar bags? And… I remember discussions about using vacuum sealing… either the method for clothes like going into a suitcase or else the food saver (if this is like a seal a meal, I don’t know how it would work.) Has anybody done this? I’d appreciate any ideas, information or suggestions!
Gant, on the Flu Prep XXIII thread, said you can get bucket openers at Ace Hdw. He said he probably paid less than $3 for two.
Sorry… Galt, not Gant.
EA---Check the Walton Feed site they have a lot of information on storing food and I think they sell the mylar bags. It is well worth a look. I have a vacum sealer and I love it. I seal dog food, rice, pasta, meat for the freezer, coffee beans etc. When I seal meat it stays so nice no freezer burn at all even some chicken I lost and found 18 months later took it out and it was perfect and tasted good. I have wheat and oats in buckets with oxygen abs. So far so good. I would think the flour would work like that too. Happy prepping
Well that was me Love Texas
Cooking oil : the gallon plastic containers mention an expiry date one year away. As we cook mostly subcontinental Indian style, we vuse a lot of it. I would have thought that cooking oil is a relatively inert substance. I see no other option than to store in the original containers and at room temperature (which is quite high over here). We use soya oil and canola. Anyone knows more about this ?
Gout : Hello fellow gout sufferers ! Nice to know I am in good company :) No colchicine for me. The treatment dose and the toxic dose are very close to one another. I stay away from it.I tried allopurinol but it caused unpleasant side effects. My experience: beer seems to be the main culprit. I stopped drinking beer a couple of years ago because stomach problems and my gout attacks have almost disappeared. When my big toe starts playing up, I either use naproxene or just wait it out if it is a minor attack. The good news : scotch does not aggravate the problem.
We have lost some stored foor items due to ants, cockroaches and bugs in the rice. We have learnt from it and developed a system of packing, freezing and storing that keeps our storage safe. Unfortunately, we will last only a couple of weeks with what we stored. Storing for six persons is a voluminous affair !
Love Texas… I forgot about Waltons! Thanks. What brand vacuum sealer do you have? And, where did you get it? I’d prefer a vacuum sealer. Again, thank you for your reply!!!!!!!!
Albert… I, too, have a large family. It is a challenge. I am waiting until the last minute to purchase oil. We use mostly peanut oil. I’m not sure what to do about storing oil, either. I’ve seen dehydrated oil products on some websites. I was curious how that stuff works. Is it flavored? Or for real?
EnoughAlready : yes, the last minute shopping strategy. That is our plan B, C & D ! I have a big pile of cash at home and whilst my wife will go on mad shopping trips with the stationwagon, I will use the other car to empty half the pharmacy, get more cash from the bank, go to the fresh vegetable and fish markets, panick, and go on a second and third shopping trip :) Till we run out of time, or money, whatever comes first :)
Speaking of storing for large families. <sigh> Our family of 7 has been a challenge for sure. I can probably piece out most things to have basic meals … some fancy, some comfort, some just plain <grin> … for about 5 months.
I found canning meats really upped the number of meals I could get by with. A quart of canned meat drastically stretches the rice and pasta type dishes into something that will actually feed my crew to the satiation point rather than leaving them hungry.
Another way that I’ve pieced out meals is to remember to keep a fiber in each meal and at the end of at least every other day a dessert … sweet or savory doesn’t matter.
And of course, there is the old stand-by popcorn. It actually stores fairly well in 2-liter bottles. The trick is going to be to rotate it out so that none of it over-dries and goes bad.
A good fifty-pound bag of rice will also help you stretch those budget dollars. It can be a pain to store once you start running out of room, but you can add rice to most dishes … soups, stews, beans, etc. … and it helps to stretch the other ingredients out.
I just want to let you know that I stopped at 3 different Ace Hardware stores for bucket openers & no one knew what I was talking about — I even took one with me that I already have & they had had never seen one — they have those little paint can openers but NOT bucket openers where Iv’e been. I ended up ordering mine online. Got one for my attic storage, one for my ‘basement’ storage & one for my kitchen.
I’m working’ in it, stop by a paint store. They will have the opener you need.
Kathy, we are storing our rice, legumes, beans, and oatmeal in new 5 gallon pails. The lids have Rieki spouts, so we can simply pour out what we need. These pails can stack pretty well, too. You will discover that it only takes 3 pails to hold 100 pounds of rice. Depending upon the density of the item, we can get from 20 pounds(oatmeal) to 45 pounds (popcorn) of dry food in each pail. Although we ran out of the new pails with their nifty spouts, we have arranged to get more pails from a local restaurant. Thse new ones are not factory fresh, so we are only using them to store packaged goods, such as sauces, mixes, medications, and toiletries. No shelves required.
Bugs? We had them. All through the house. Both Granary Weevils and Grain beetles. Very similar in appearance. Thank goodness they can not fly. Anyway, the source was bird seed that we left unattended in the garage. We sprayed every nook and cranny with something from Bayer.
The preservation treatment we did for all of our unprotected food came from an online source. It recommended 5 days at zero Fahrenheit. That was in June and although we have been opening our bulk containers to inspect the contents every month, we have not suffered from a recurrence. Just to play it safe, however, we do not leave any bagged or boxed foods in our storage room without protection. Unless it is already canned or bottled, it goes into a 5 gallon pail with an “O” ring sealed lid. We date it and reinspect it periodically, just to be sure we didn’t bring anything home.
We did see something that might have moved in a bag of lentils, so we simply put the entire pail full of one pound lentil bags in the freezer for a full week.
EA---I have a foodsaver brand vacum sealer. I can’t remember----I think I bought it at walmart. I have had it about 4 years or so it is a 550, but they keep inproving them so just get the latest.
EA—if you buy one be sure and buy the foodsaver store and cut. It holds the rolls of bags and helps you cut them straight, because it is a pain trying to cut them even, trust me you need it and it is cheap.
Kathy in FL – at 08:49
It can be a pain to store once you start running out of room,
This is pathetic, but true… I have even thought about putting rice in those plastic zipper pillow bags, cover with a pillow case, and calling them “accessories.”
Love Texas – at 20:12
Thank you so much! Finally--- something I understand! I have seen these, and know exactly where they are located in the store!
Dr Dave – at 13:51
The lids have Rieki spouts, so we can simply pour out what we need.
Pour? sheesh… I can’t even lift those buckets! (seriously)
“O” rings? You mean those silver clamps? Did you buy it as an accessory, or buy the lid with it on … because I haven’t seen those kind. (being mine are coming from restaurant trash piles, that doesn’t surprise me) Why are the “o” rings important. (I’m not trying to be a trouble maker, honest. Really wanting to know!)
EnoughAlready,
My pails do not have clamps. When you push the lids down onto the pails, four tabs under the lids snap over the rim of the pail. Some lids snap into place in eight locations. If a 5 gallon pail is meant for liquids, such as paint, it will have a hollow rubber hoop that is recessed beneath the sealing edge of the lid. If you were to cut this rubber hoop in cross section, it would have the shape of an “O”. The cross section is about 3/8″ in diameter. When you close the lid of one of these pails, the hoop, or “O” ring, is compressed against the opening of the pail, thereby creating a waterproof fit.
My wife just picked up another 40 of these from the Carey Corporation, in Addison, IL, for $1.16 each. We are going to use them on the 5 gallon pails that the local restaurant is giving us for free. If you need to see how these work, search online for plastic pails or stop by a paint store. I think mine were manufacured by Bennett, but there are several outfits in the USA that make 5 gallon pails with matching lids. A single distributor will have a variety of pails. Look for a maximum price of $5 for 90 mil HDPE pails with lids that snap into place. Screw-ons and clamp-ons will cost you more.
I use the clamp on lids on my stored buckets & screw on Gamma lids on the 3 I keep out that I use out of…..open maybe once every month to refill my canisters out of, or something like that. Love the gammas!!
I am a single male and severly handicapped and workig on one of my last preps, storing rice. I know little about food preperation and hope someone will be able to specifically answer my questions.
I have bought rice at Walmarts in 20# loose plastic bags and now want to prep it for long term storage.
I should freeze it first for 7days. Right? Won’t that add moisture?
Then I plan to vacumm pack it with my Foodsaver. Do I need to add a oxy absorber inside my vacumm pack?
Then I was going to store the vac paks in plastic containers I bought at Walmart.
Can anyone answer my questionsor or give me a better procedure? This is all so confusing to me.
Thank you in advance
econ101, you may do it a couple of ways:
freeze the rice for the 7 days, then leave it sitting out for several hours to allow the moisture to evaporate, then continue sealing
OR
(what I do) vaccuum seal the rice after writing the cooking instructions on the bag in magic marker (so you’ll have the cooking instructions along with the rice) then put it in the freezer — that way you don’t have to worry about it absorbing moisture.
When you seal the vaccuum bag, use the regular sealing button that sucks the air out & seals it, then slide the edge of the bag out slightly but still on top of the sealing strip, and press the manual seal button so that you end up with 2 rows of seams, that way, just in case the first seal isn’t secure, the second seal should still hold the vaccuum.
I would EITHER use oxy abs in the bucket (not iside the vac bag) or just doublebag the rice first in the vac bags (you don’t have to seal the first bag, just fill it, fold the top over & drop down inside another bag and seal that outer bag).
The reason I say that is because uncooked rice has veeeeeerrrrryyyy rough edges and can puncture the bag material — once you’ve sealed it, let it sit out for several hours to make certain that it’s sealed — I’ve had several come unvaccuumed even with the 2 seams at the top of the single bag, and the only explanation was that there was a small puncture from a piece of sharp rice that let air in over time.
Just leave the sealed bags sitting out on your counter for a few hours, then put in a bucket (remember too that it’s not very efficient storage since the vaccuumed bags don’t ‘bend’ well, so there’s a lot of wasted space in the bucket).
OR store the rice in ziplocks after you’ve frozen the rice, since the zips will pack in a bucket much tighter — can be molded easier to fill in the bucket, then put bay leaves & oxy abs down in the bucket before sealing. Bugs hate bay leaves so if there’s any bugs trying to get into a loosely sealed bucket, that should help deter them.
If you’re not storing in buckets with a rubber seal, but rather something like a Tupperware container, then remember that the plastic container won’t be air tight & you’ll probably waste your money putting oxy abs in. Even the hard plastic food grade buckets you can get free from bakeries, etc., will eventually let air in, but the oxy abs will at least keep the air exchange to a minimum to them. You’d be better off putting FOOD GRADE MOISTURE absorbers into other types of plastic containers and passing on the oxy abs. Hope that helps!
From, the magazine REAL SIMPLE this month: white flour can store up to a year in an airtight container. However, wheat flour should be rotated every six months. It contains some oils that can go bad. One option is to freeze it (although that takes up precious freezer space). Sugar can two years in an airtight container - cool dry place.
here we have this tuna cans with some different asian sauses with a litle vegetables in. A good “packet meal” would be one tunabox, a bag of rice and a smaller bag of different small lentils / beans. This I think would be a very complete meal. Make some of this packets. Add a bottle of alchohol (I buy consentrated carwindow fluid, very cheap and is ethanol), it can be used as both hand sanitizer and for other desinfecting use. It will also work as fuel for a improvised alchohol stove made of empty aluminium drink cans. Anyone can make this stowes, only print out the DIY from the net and put in the packages. The handsantizer would be bether with 5% glyserol added for skin protection, but a moisture cream after use is also fine.
A real “ragnarock” packet would be a 10 liter plastic bucket with lid, filled with:
-1 Doulton gravity filter. 36$ ? (Or just the bleach..) -the food mentioned, + a bottle of olive oil. -3 alu cans with sugar cola. And a to make the stove, and to boil in. Perhaps a cheap camping kasserole. -1 liter of cheap alchohol (carwindow fluid is perfect) -0,5 liter of bleach -some instant coffe -1 very small spraycan for hand desinfecting (with the alcohol), + paper tissus -a few disposable masks N95, and some more surgical masks, Preferbaly cloth ones to wash and reuse) -a packet of painkillers -a cheap thermometer. -ORT powder mix -a small and cheap led lamp -a printed guide on sick treatment, water etc etc.
this should keep a family on its feets for a while until they can start handeling the situation…
Laura B. I bought some flour in 5 gal containers that is supposed to last for several years according to the supplier.
Urdar-Norge – at 08:00 those are great ideas and anyone in need of food would be very lucky to have someone like you provide something like that to them! Quick, easy, simple, complete with just the basics to stay alive thanks to your efforts to put together a way to meet their basic needs long enough for them to get help from somewhere else.
thx: lucily I will not have to buy the doulton filters for my packets. I do trust the water supply here. All of the workers will be on tamiflu prophylactic, and its all gravity feed with very few potentital pathogens in the water, and a new water treatment plant has been buildt in double configuration with the old one as a backup. I would just trow in a thick candle in this packets as well. Cant aford more than just a few of them :)
The sharper image catalog front page features plastic food storage items called Fresh Longer. Ridgid, plastic, impermeable (air), incorporates silver into the base plastic, anti microbial…about the same price as the Tupperware set I was considering.
I am concerned about proper storage for my dehydrated food after opening the #10 cans.
sharperimage.com…is the site…not sure how to create link.
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