Storing Food Long Term

[ms1984]

Hi guys :-) My name's Mike and I'm new to the forum, I've joined this and another forum hoping someone can give me some more info on the things I need to know. I want to store
food long-term, I have canned food but want to store grain, rice etc preferably lasting as long as possible! Does anyone have any experience in long-term food
storage, I know there's bags you can buy, but what the difference is between mylar and aluminium foil coated bags I have no idea! Anyone with any experience
or links I' be grateful. Thanks for your time guys and thanks for the forum!

Mike

[RandyRhoads]

Haven't gotten it packaged up yet but I have a stack of food grade buckets I'm going to fill with flour sugar salt and such...

[SlowRide13]

usplastic dot com --food grade plastic containers of all types.

sorbentsystems dot com --Mylar - at one time in the 90's they produced 80% of the foil type bags found in a grocery store, things like potato chip bags. Their products are first rate. They have a line of sealers designed for their mylar bags.

desiccare dot com --Moisture and oxygen absorbers. Their products ship in metal containers similar to one gallon metal paint cans.

The really savvy folks fill the mylar-lined bucket with loose grain, get a nitrogen bottle, regulator, hose, and pump nitrogen into the bottom of the grain until they can feel the cold coming out the top. Then seal it up. This displaces all the oxygen and makes the grain last longer.
Pete

[RandyRhoads]

Don't waste money buying food grade buckets. You can get them free from most supermarkets with a abakery..

[LowKey]

You can try. When I worked in a bakery, if the store employees didn't get them first, there was a list. Whoever got there first usually got the buckets.
Finally got so bad, we had to stop giving them away. Some of them, the frosting ones, I don't think you can ever get the grease out of the plastic. And the smaller fruit buckets always smelled of whatever was in them. Suppose the smell wouldn't matter if you use mylar.

If you aren't into putting it all up yourself, you can buy grains and other items already sealed in buckets.
Has anyone noticed the LDS community isn't so open to selling their pre-bundled supplies any more? But there are other sources out there.

[RandyRhoads]

It was a chore. I went to 8-10 stores before I found one. But now I can get as many as I want.

I used soap and wter scrub. Then a light bleach solution and there's no more frosting smell or residue.

[pete lynch]

Walmart wont give away their empty food-grade buckets. A manager told me it was a department of health thing.
I work with a guy who runs a catering crew in his spare time who has given me a few.

[Sarge47]

We've gotten several from hamburger joints that get their sliced picles ion them as well as bought some off of Emergency Essentials....

[hunter63]

We've gotten several from hamburger joints that get their sliced picles ion them as well as bought some off of Emergency Essentials....

LOL, I have an old shop vac that uses a 5 gal bucket as the bottom....metal one rusted out, replaced it with a "pickle" bucket from Wendy's

To this day when I use it , smells like pickles.

When storing food that may keep you alive someday....I don't believe it is in your best interest to do everything on "The cheap".
Spend the money, do it correctly, and buy your self a piece of mind.

[Rick]

+1 on that. Do anything on the cheap that will be used in a disaster could be a disaster in itself.

[crashdive123]

Grocery store (Publix) bakeries have been my source.

[RandyRhoads]

There is nothing wrong with getting a perfectly good bucket used one time for free.

If you have a Home Depot the Homer buckets are also food grade.

[hunter63]

There is nothing wrong with getting a perfectly good bucket used one time for free.

If you have a Home Depot the Homer buckets are also food grade.

Didn't say there was....it's just after chasing around looking for them, trying to clean them out and so forth, sometimes it's just better to bite the bullet and purchase what you need.
Y'all do what you want......I can still smell pickles when ever I use the shop vac.....

[RandyRhoads]

I guess I haven't checked that site but the ones I have looked at were astronomically priced especially after shipping

[finallyME]

Has anyone noticed the LDS community isn't so open to selling their pre-bundled supplies any more? But there are other sources out there.

No I haven't. They still sell them online and in stores.
http://store.lds.org/webapp/wcs/stor...370_-1__195787

[Rick]

I can still smell pickles when ever I use the shop vac.

Thanks for the laugh. I can see it now...flip on the vac....get hungry.....have a snack....flip on the vac....get hungry...have a ..... well, you get it.

[crashdive123]

Good thing it was pickles.

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[ms1984]

Hi again, thanks so much for the information. I'm pretty excited to get everything ready although maybe I should have started earlier. Never too late though I suppose! :-) I decided I want to go with Mylar rather than other foil bags as, for the price extra, I think it's worth it. I ended up going with these bags: www . mylarshop.com/mylar-bags/heavy-duty-mylar-bag-25cm-x-35cm as I'm in the UK so the Sorbent Systems shipping is too much. They should arrive any day so I'll put up a review if / when they arrive! I haven't got a heat sealing thing but apparently an iron will do. If anyone knows of any shops in the UK other than the one I picked I'd be grateful. Anyway I'll be back with a review and maybe a video on how to store grain if I can find a video camera. Thanks everyone and thanks for your time. Mike

[Rick]

It's easy to have a sense of urgency and think you have started too late. But don't fret about that. All of us started at some point. Set aside a comfortable amount of your budget and do a little each payday or when you can. You don't have to try to get it all done at once. Take small steps and you'll be amazed at how quickly it all adds up. Don't forget that water treatment/storage is probably more important than food stores. You can live longer without food than you can without water. And don't forget that your hot water heater is a ready made reservoir for storing water.

[hunter63]

FYI on water......

Every time I happen to look in my sump pump pit in the basement......always seems to be standing water in it.....I can pump it down and the drain tiles will fill it back up in a few minutes.....They tells me the amount of water level under the house.

Haven't ever just pumped it to see how much was there.....but I would definitely look to it as a water source, should I happen to need it. with purification of course.

During a rainy week or so...it runs a lot, but mostly is off.

Both neighbors on either side, pumps run a lot of the time on/off....(their floats are not set up correctly)...but their foundations are about a foot deeper into the ground than mine.