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Thinking about long-term food storage? Dried beans, white rice, wheat berries, stone-ground oats are relatively cheap and can be purchased in bulk. Food grade containers, like 5 gal. buckets are essential, as well as mylar bags and O2 absorbers. This place has most everything you require. They ship fast, too.
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Thank you @JM. They sell 2 types of lids. Something called a gamma lid and regular plastic lids. Is there any preference between these two?
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I try to use only lids with a real rubber gasket….best seal. I’ve got other types of lids from free buckets but I’m careful what I put into those.
As for the question about gamma lids or just regular clamping down lids, there are a couple of issues. The regular lids are a dooozy to get off…and of course you want a good seal. Buy one [or two…three] of the lid lifters. Unless you like broken fingernails and frustration. But they are the cheapest. Even getting lids back on is sometimes a trick, so make sure they are fully clamped down.
The invention of gamma lids is great…but way more expensive. Most folks use the gamma lids for things they use often and just use regular clamp lids for longer term stored foods/stuff. The gamma lid fits over any standard 3-6 gallon bucket. The rim has a good gasket seal like the regular clamp-down lids. And is just as hard to clamp on and off.
But then there is an inner diameter of the lid that screws off/on. Not sure that’s a good description…check a picture. But it works slick. Easy access to contents and spin it shut tight again. Eventually one can wear out the threads of the gamma inner lid….but it takes years of use. [and a few mistakes in cross-threading] They’re made quite sturdy and you can still stack buckets on top of one another.
OldMtWoman ….and gamma lids even thwart efforts by raccoons to get at the dog food! 😉
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I keep Gama lids and use them only on a bucket in progress of being used. And even less now than before. I tend to package bucket contents into 5 or 6 smaller bags instead of a single page bag. I then take a bag upstairs to kitchen and reseal bucket with standard lid.
It is easier to rotate this way.
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<p style=”text-align: left;”>I have put several bags of like items such as sugars in one gamma lid bucket. We use sealed bucket for long term storage. Some items are in myler bags other items are just in the bucket with oxygen absorbers. We have 3 and 5 gallon sizes. Sugar and floor in 5 gallon popcorn in 3 gallon. They stack nicely but be careful we have cracked a lid by having a heavy bucket on top.</p>
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@Lee’s homestead
“other items are just in the bucket with oxygen absorbers”. I assume you mean in their original containers. I can see that the oxygen asorbers could probably pull the oxygen out of cardboard boxes. But what about rice and pasta? They come in sealed plastic. I can’t imagine the oxygen would come out of those without a hole being poked in the plastic covering. Should I poke a hole in these containers if not putting them in myler bags?
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I use the gamma lids because of my arthritic hands. But you are right they cost. But I get my food grade buckets for free from my husband’s cousin’s market. So I guess in one way it saves me for the extra it cost for the gamma lids. Yes I need knuckle replacement one day. So anything to make my life easier, I am on board. We have put up rice, sugar, flour, and some other things as well using the buckets and mylar with 02 absorbers. We have also oven canned a lot of things as well. What I would like to know is how many years some of it will last. I have heard anywhere from 10 to 30 years. But not sure on what is what on that. I am sure rice will keep that long but not sure of flour nor powdered milk.
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Stored food…what lasts long/short:
Just searched for these links…..no guarantee for the accuracy but these look about right. The last one is LDS and they’ve been doing this for generations. But each one says there are variables. If you’re forced to store in an area that heats up every summer, that will drastically cut those years back. Dry/cool is, of course, best. NOT stored directly on cement floors or up against cement walls either, by the way. Will cause condensation…moisture…spoilage.
Stockpiling 101: Which Foods REALLY Have The Longest Shelf Life?
https://www.lds.org/topics/food-storage/longer-term-food-supply?lang=eng&old=true
OldMtWoman
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I also used a gamma lid and quite satisfied with the lid. It creates a leak-proof and air-tight seal inside the bucket where I can store my food items securely. Yes, the price of the lid is expensive. But the quality of the lid rightly justifies the price.
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I have a questions about non food grade storage containers. I have several bags of a variety of commercially dried fruit in their original sealed, heavy duty plastic bags. Based on what I have read about such products it might not be a good idea to repackage them. To put the original bags into 5 gallon buckets would take up a lot of space. Does anyone know if I use a heavy duty plastic garbage container to store them in can leaching occur from the container into the sealed packages and contaminate the fruit? Thanks.
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If you want to use non food grade the chemical releasants for the plastic are heavy in bpa and other nasties. To use non food grade as food storage and not keep packaging. Wipe out bucket. Use mylar liner. Put items into mylar and seal. Don’t buy the cheap super thin mylar as using dried fruit and veggies are sharp and hard and can rip the mylar if it is too thin.
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A food best budget food processor here grade container is <b>one that will not transfer non-food chemicals into the food, and contains no chemicals which would be hazardous to human health</b>. Plastics designed for single use should be used only once..The easiest way to check is to <b>look for the Resin Identification Code—i.e., recycling number</b>—which identifies the type of plastic material. The code consists of a triangle of arrows surrounding a number between 1 and 7. Generally, numbers 1 through 7 indicate food grade plastic
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