When you stockpile, you should make sure that you are protecting your food. If you can afford food grade 5 gallon BPA free buckets and gamma lids, I would get some. I also use mylar bags with oxygen absorbers. I show you these at Amazon just so that you know what I am talking about. You may be able to buy them cheaper elsewhere.
I keep flour, sugar, rice and dry black beans in mine. First, I freeze the flour to take care of any bug eggs that may be in it when you buy it. I freeze it at least 24 hours. Then I food saver the bags of flour and sugar(don’t freeze this) and put them in one of my buckets. I may try to find a cheaper bucket at Lowes which isn’t food grade to transfer them into so that I can use this food grade one for another item. They are protected by food savering them but the bucket is to keep any mice out. I have never had a mouse but I spend good money on my food so I want to make sure it is protected in case a mouse does get into my basement. You could also put the bags in a rubbermaid container to protect them.
The rice and black beans are in large mylar bags with oxygen absorbers in the 5 gallon buckets.
If you can’t afford buckets, you can get smaller buckets from your market’s bakery. They get them in with frosting in them. I have asked for them and they have given them to me for free. But these don’t hold as much food. I use a small one to hold my ramen. Just have to put the cover on and put it on the shelf.
I have a few more ways I protect my food but that is a post for another day.
Do you make sure to protect your food while stockpiling? What do you do? Please share so that we can all benefit from your advice.
12 replies on “How I Protect My Food”
This is a great blog post. I definitely protect what food I store. And I freeze my flour for at least 24 hours after I purchase it. I also use an old dishwasher that we no longer use for washing dishes, but instead store our beans, pasta, and rice in it, as it is air tight and keeps the bugs out of our food.
Hi Belinda,
Thanks. I love how you are using your old dishwasher.
I put items of food in Ball Jars or in the freezer. Mice have been known to chew through plastic buckets.
I also put food in Mason jars. I think a mouse would have trouble getting through these buckets. Hopefully, I won't have any.
Thank you for this blog post. I am trying to protect my stockpile and this is great information for me, especially how to correctly store my flour, sugar, pasta, beans, etc. I love all of the information you have provided regarding purchasing and storing food. Again, thank you.
YVW!
Great post AD! I do my best to protect the food in my pantry. I ordered the 2 gallon buckets as they will fit better in my pantry space and to be honest the weight is easier for me to move around when needed. I try not to store anything in my pantry in plastic (my pantry is in my garage and house…the garage gets so hot in the summer). I move dried beans into glass jars (mason jars and old pasta sauce jars) and try to store them in the pantry in my house. We have a second refrigerator in the garage, and I use that to store items as well. We are a family of 4 with two teenaged boys so I batch cook to keep up with their appetites. When you freeze your flour, do you leave it on the counter to come back to room temperature before storing it? I used to store it in the freezer, but now my freezer is full of meat.
Hi Olga,
Yes, I do let the flour come to room temperature after I freeze it. I don't want any moisture in it when I food saver it. Yeah on the freezer full of meat! Thanks for sharing.
I only keep canned goods in our basement. I freeze my flour overnight BUT I keep them either in the freezer or my fridge. This way, for me, I am certain they will remain untouched. Everything else is stored in my pantry, right off the kitchen. That includes rice, pasta, dry beans and ramen noodle. We don't have a mice problem BUT one time we did! They ate through a barrier I had across the bottom of my basement door (off the panty) and found my pantry real fast. I was in shock! They only lasted here for a few hours as hubby got rid of them. Aweful!
The flour and grits that I keep in the bottom of my fridge are all cased inside zip lock bags tight! Ditto for my sugar, which I store in our pantry. Once the packages are open, they go inside a zip lock bag, closed tightly. I also do this for any opened boxes of pancake mix, bisquick mix, rice, farro, or any other grain. Once the bag of anything is opened, I protect it. Somehow. I do have a few plastic seal-tight containers.
I've started getting my coffee in huge 2-3 pound plastic containers. I threw away the frst two empty ones but after reading your post, I think I am going ito hold on to them for future storage needs. You gave me a good idea! For free!!!
Thanks!
Hi Cindi,
Yes, mice are awful! Thank for sharing how you do things. That is good information for people without basements too.
You are welcome. I use empty cat litter buckets(compliments of my son and DIL) too to hold things in packages.
Hi AD, this is Chris. Thank you so much for this post. It was really helpful to me. I do keep my stockpile in the house, but some of the ideas shared in the article and comments give me ideas of how to protect my stockpile that I hadn't thought of. I did buy extra beans and rice this week since you and some of the other bloggers I follow have been writing about food shortages. I wasn't able to get great northern beans, but I got other kinds that we use. I will keep checking. Rice wasn't a problem.
Hi Chris,
YVW!