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Bucket storage video; Originally posted by Methos
Topic Started: May 27 2009, 08:56 PM (181 Views)
CindyLou62

here is a link to a video for storage in buckets i found on another site. this is the exact method i used long ago with no problems. I used an iron and piece of 2x6 to seal. I agree with all he says here. There are three parts to this video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vW7_cTn6YpE&feature=related


I had the day off today and since its been nearly 10 years, I decide to check on and repair my storage pails I packed in august of 1998. Just wanted to post a few notes for your information. This is my observations from first hand experience with actual decade old materials here.

I store my stuff in pails outside in a portable building. Not an ideal place i know. A house with a concrete foundation would be best. Probably could store them 4 high "if" the lids are decent.

...and speaking of lids; all the pails were fine. They were just normal "house beautiful" paint pails I got at walfart. The lids are the weak link. The lids which i got when i bought the pails also say no. 2 in the triangle as if they are the same material...wrong. The brand says "leak-tite" made in Leominster, MA. Yankee garbage! Don't buy these. I do remember when I bought them that the lids were of a different "texture" than the pails; obviously not made in the same place. They were smoother and shinier on the surface than the pail. Turns out they became brittle over the years.

I have 9 pails of rice and wheat. ALL standard lids had large cracks, and two were caved in slightly by the pail sitting on it. All of the contents of these pails would have been catastrophic losses if it were not for them being packed in mylar bags and sealed like the fellow above did in the video. (thanks be to the mylar gods) I had 4 of these pails with "gamma seal" style lids on them. No problem whatsoever with them....MUCH stronger than standard lids and they visually appear to be the same type material as the pails. More like delrin type material than plastic. I replaced the busted ones with gamma seal spin on lids.

With about an inch of headspace I can get around 35lbs of wheat or rice in a std 5 gallon pail. Other than the lids, dust, and cobwebs the interior of event the cracked ones was clean and undisturbed. I suppose that even a determined rat could chew through the pail if it knew what was inside, I didn't have any of that problem that I could see. If it were not for the bags about 150 lbs of grains would have been worm food. Can't imagine the cursing that would have been unleashed if it was TEOTWAWKI and I really needed it right now.

Lessons learned and other tidbits:

1. Mylar saves lives. Always use plastic lined mylar bags sealed with O2 packets inside storage pails.

2. Gamma Seal spin on lids are the BOMB, they are far superior to standard lids. Plus it lets you reuse the pail again using the same lid. Plus gives easy access to go in and out of the pail as needed.

3. Powdered eggs are for McDonalds. They last no time as a storage food; unless I suppose you had them in a freezer. Get chickens. All the eggs you can eat, and when you get tired of eggs you can eat the hen too. Cool.

4. I drank some 10 year old powdered milk this morning. Tasted fine. Milk is not supposed to last that long, but mine has. I mix it half and half with regular milk to use it down. I packed a little too much in the beginning.

5. The first thing I ran out of after stocking up heavily before y2k was sugar - due to drinking tea. Since I stopped making tea I hardly use any sugar. Next was rice. Should have stored way more rice than wheat.
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