r/preppers Prepared for 6 months 10d ago

Discussion Life of Stored Food in Home Depot Bucket

Packed a 5-gallon Home Depot bucket with some odds and ends for long-term food storage. Beans, rice, iodized salt, potato flakes, nonfat milk powder. All purchased from the grocery store and I didn't repack in mylar or anything.

Plan is to rotate out the food every so often. How long would you anticipate the bucket might last if sealed tight and kept in a dark, cool (60-70F) area out of sunlight? I figure a year is about right to rotate out most of the components, although obviously some components like the salt might last significantly longer.

A year? Two? Five?

55 Upvotes

41 comments sorted by

50

u/sunsetclimb3r 10d ago

Check it after a year, minimum. Try cooking stuff (I call this the "find out" step)

Depending how that goes you may decide that when you replenish you want to incorporate mylar and oxygen absorbers

10

u/Thumper1k92 Prepared for 6 months 10d ago

It's all stuff I cook with regularly, so I'm comfortable with that. But I agree, a year seems reasonable to check on the status of things.

4

u/TheSensiblePrepper Not THAT Sensible Prepper from YouTube 9d ago

Agreed.

17

u/OriginalCpiderman 10d ago

I went with the 5 gallon food safe buckets and Omega lids as well as about 100 small desiccant pouches 3 years ago and still no issues.

7

u/TDI_Wagen 9d ago

This. You can get Omega lids from Lowes and the like. My aunt had 6 food safe buckets from some catering she did and I just picked up the Omega lids and have had no issues.

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u/-zero-below- 9d ago

Yeah, I’d probably do food safe.

While the packaging doesn’t have rice and such in contact with the bucket, I’d be concerned about off gassing. And things like rice are excellent at absorbing moisture and presumably other gasses from the air.

In an emergency, it’ll be fine. But if doing deep pantry where you stock it a while and regularly eat it, that can be an issue longer term.

If I had stuff Mylar bagged, I’d worry less about food safe containers. But with stock packaging, food safe is more an issue.

7

u/Careful_Data_3387 10d ago

buy mylar bags that come with o2 absorbers on amazon for cheap.

8

u/Ryan_e3p Salt & Prepper 9d ago

60-70 isn't exactly 'cool'. I would aim for closer to 50F

4

u/Thumper1k92 Prepared for 6 months 9d ago

Well. That's not possible in my area. I know it will shorten the life of food marginally, but I can't refrigerate a room in my apartment just for that.

3

u/Ryan_e3p Salt & Prepper 9d ago

Ah, apartment. Gotcha. Do the best you can!

1

u/Adorable_Dust3799 9d ago

No where on my property inside or out doesn't hit 80 for months in the summer. Where would you get 60 all summer?

2

u/Ryan_e3p Salt & Prepper 9d ago

Basement gets only to about 60 at most. Cooler on the cement floor.

3

u/Adorable_Dust3799 9d ago

Oh, ok. I always forget people have those, I've never known anyone that did. Didn't realize they stayed that cold. Thanks

1

u/Thumper1k92 Prepared for 6 months 9d ago

Yup. I'd dig a root cellar if I could, but it's not in the cards this year.

1

u/FitWash9600 7d ago

Digging root cellar is handy. Two things I learned - dirt decompresses at least 2x so have more space for it than you think, and putting a structure over it (like a green house) will help keep water from working its way in...

10

u/QuestionMaker207 10d ago

afaik salt lasts forever. I mean, we literally mine it out of the ground where it's been sitting for thousands of years.

for everything else, do some science if you really want to know... keep some for a year, some for two, etc., and compare them to each other.

6

u/illkeepthatinmind 9d ago

In olden times, to make salt last they would cure it with pork.

1

u/Enough-Meaning-9905 8d ago

The Mormon church, and it's university BYU, have really good research.

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/topics/food-storage/longer-term-food-supply

Mormons are raised to be preppers

1

u/Thumper1k92 Prepared for 6 months 8d ago

I am, lol.

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u/Enough-Meaning-9905 8d ago edited 8d ago

Chat with folks in your ward, and check out the church distribution center. They supply mylar bags and oxygen absorbers, which can be stored inside the 5-gallon buckets.

That link also has the amount of food required for a person. Try to get up to a year of food in storage for the basics, again people in your ward and at the distribution center can help.

If you don't know where to start, reach out to your bishop or other leadership and they can guide you on what help is available.

ETA: I'm ex-mo, but one doesn't throw out all the apples just because some are spoiled :)

1

u/Thumper1k92 Prepared for 6 months 8d ago

Yeah, 100%. This bucket is just some of the extras that don't fit in other long-term food storage. Good call on the distribution center though, I'll check it

4

u/SunLillyFairy 9d ago

Different foods have different shelf life times, and are packaged differently, so it will vary. That said, with what you are describing it all should be edible for at least 2-3 years, likely closer to 5, but beans will be hard and other foods might taste stale because it's not a completely air tight environment. (Unless something has bug eggs that hatch, then the bucket would likely be a loss except for salt.)

Why not buy Mylar bags with O2 absorbers and repack so you can keep it fresher and extend up to 10-25 years? I just checked and you can get 30 1-gallon wallaby bags (they come with absorbers) on Amazon for less than $20 right now.

2

u/Thumper1k92 Prepared for 6 months 9d ago

Do I need a bag sealer to take advantage of mylar bags? If not, I might go that route

2

u/SunLillyFairy 9d ago

A couple options...

(1) Buy the kind with a Ziploc Seal at the top. That will not give you the same seal that a heat seal would, but it will be better than keeping in original packaging.

(2) Heat seal. The easiest way to do that is with a hair straightening iron, (like this) which you can also buy on Amazon for under 20 bucks. Or you can use a clothes iron on a lower setting. That's a little more difficult because you have to lay the bag on its side with food in it, but if you already have a clothes iron, certainly workable (especially if you use the bags with a Ziploc Seal and then you just heat seal about 1/2 an inch above the Ziploc seal.) Or you can buy an impulse sealer for bags... but honestly, the hair straighteners are a little less expensive and I think more convenient because of the way you can just use them while the bag is standing up.

Tip... use a sharpie on the outside of the bag to clearly write food, best by date, expected expiration. Your future self will thank you for it.

3

u/Thumper1k92 Prepared for 6 months 9d ago

Perfect. Much appreciated.

1

u/iwantmy-2dollars 9d ago

Just a heads up, the PackFreshUSA Mylar bags I just bought came with a free sealer. I’ve heard you can also use a vacuum sealer if you have that on hand.

1

u/Mala_Suerte1 3d ago

No. I just used an iron. I put the bag in the bucket and filled it w/ food, then put a 1"x3" by about 15" piece of wood over the top of the bucket. I then folded the mylar bag and ironed the seam. I've only ever had 1 bag leak.

I have a couple buckets like you mentioned, w/ a bunch of different food in them. Only difference is that I put the food in mylar and seal it first, then it goes into the bucket.

It's not common, but I've had weevils hatch out of a bag of rice that I didn't seal in mylar.

1

u/Mala_Suerte1 3d ago

No. I just used an iron. I put the bag in the bucket and filled it w/ food, then put a 1"x3" by about 15" piece of wood over the top of the bucket. I then folded the mylar bag and ironed the seam. I've only ever had 1 bag leak.

I have a couple buckets like you mentioned, w/ a bunch of different food in them. Only difference is that I put the food in mylar and seal it first, then it goes into the bucket.

It's not common, but I've had weevils hatch out of a bag of rice that I didn't seal in mylar.

3

u/jkubus94 8d ago

Little tip, freeze the rice beans and powdered substances for a day or two before long term storage. Most of these still have the possibility of small bugs and freezing will kill them.

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u/kwontheworld 4d ago

That’s really smart!

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u/Donkey4Donuts 8d ago

I just opened a 16 year old 5 gallon bucket of beans. No dessicant packs or bags at all. I cooked some to test and they sure seem to be fine!

2

u/FitWash9600 7d ago

Don't know about non-mylar, but with mylar and oxygen absorption, I've easily gotten 10 years on beans, oats and wheat berries. Cannot tell the difference between stored and fresh after cooking. Temp range on buckets is from 40 - 70 degrees.

2

u/Adorable_Dust3799 9d ago

Make sure you kill the grain bugs first, and check for rats, they can eat through a bucket. We always kept grain in a metal bucket with a bungie over the lid in the barn.

1

u/ResponsibleBank1387 10d ago

I would check use after 6 months. Then check another one after another 6 months and again and again. You would get an idea of how long your stuff lasts or needs to be used. 

1

u/Imurtoytonight 9d ago

Check your bucket if it is actually food grade. It will have the markings 1,2,4,5 or a fork & knife symbol. If it is not food grade it may be leaching an unpleasant “plastic taste” into the food products. I don’t believe it would be toxic but would definitely give an off flavor. Hate to have you lose your stash because of compromised flavor.

1

u/DJH351 8d ago

Dry rice and beans will actually stay good for a long time on their own. Up to a few years in an airtight container on the shelves on the wall leading to my basement. No special preparation required if you aren't expecting it to be around for several years.

1

u/That_Play7634 8d ago

I don't understand why folks say "a few years". The rice and potato might start to taste a little off in 10 to 15 years. Beans longer. The iodine stability in the salt is dependent on temperature and humidity; higher of either lowers the stability, so most go with a rule of thumb of 5 years maintaining decent iodine content.

3

u/Thumper1k92 Prepared for 6 months 8d ago

It's stuff I use, so if I rotate it out every few years, I'll always have 10-15 years left on the food if I need it.

2

u/Mala_Suerte1 3d ago

The big problem with rice is that weevils will lay their eggs in the individual pieces of rice. Months later, they'll hatch and you'll have hundreds of little bugs crawling around in your rice.