# Best storage containers?



## d_saum (Jan 17, 2012)

Hey all!

I was just wondering, with all your prepping experience, what are the best/strongest/cheapest containers to use for food storage, say.. in a closet or something. I was considering those gray plastic tubs, but I think if I packed them with canned goods and whatnot, they may be too heavy. I'd like something that's strong, good handles, and easily thrown into a car if I had to bugout. Thoughts? Thanks in advance!


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## tac803 (Nov 21, 2010)

5 gallon buckets are a good choice for many things. You can pack a lot into them, they have handles, and they stack pretty well.


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## pixieduster (Mar 28, 2012)

I also like the 5 gal buckets. Have been getting the food grade ones from Lowes but buy the rubber ringed lids separate from an online company. Makes an air tight seal. Figure if I need to, I could use them for everything from washing clothes and dishes to gathering garden produce.


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## Emerald (Jun 14, 2010)

3 1/2 gallon to 5 gallon food safe buckets. so far the rodents have not been able to get into them. 
The big grey(blue/red/orange etc) rubbermaid type tubs are not even mouse proof.. Trust me on this.. while they may be okay for non food stuffs(but then I've had mice nest in my good linen closet in my good guest towels and that is a mess) they are not rodent proof. If you really need to protect things go with the smaller galvanized metal trash bins. but line them as galvanized is not food safe.


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## d_saum (Jan 17, 2012)

uggg.... (slaps own forehead)... Ya know, that makes perfect sense, but for some reason in my head I only saw those buckets as being good for liquids, and rice/beans/grain/etc... I never thought about putting cans in them. Soooo obvious. Thanks all!


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## tac803 (Nov 21, 2010)

Emerald said:


> 3 1/2 gallon to 5 gallon food safe buckets. so far the rodents have not been able to get into them.
> The big grey(blue/red/orange etc) rubbermaid type tubs are not even mouse proof.. Trust me on this.. while they may be okay for non food stuffs(but then I've had mice nest in my good linen closet in my good guest towels and that is a mess) they are not rodent proof. If you really need to protect things go with the smaller galvanized metal trash bins. but line them as galvanized is not food safe.


I have a cat you can borrow long term, if you want


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## LincTex (Apr 1, 2011)

I have cans just sitting on a shelf... with a piece of thin plywood covering them to keep mouse poo off of them. Works well. I use the buckets for loose stuff, like beans and rice.


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## cajunmeadows (Oct 21, 2011)

5 gal buckets work well. Lids seal pretty good also. I have picked up a couple of plastic drums with lids that have a rubber seal and a metal bracket type ring that seals lid to bucket. Good for storage in a shed. bulk items not just food.


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## bahramthered (Mar 10, 2012)

I have three plastic "jugs" I love. They look almost like the kitty litter container of my newly adopted cat. They're square, they stack perfectly in a corner. They have very nicely formed interlocking lids bottoms. I think they're 3.5 gallon but am not sure. 

Course this is worthless information since I don't know where they came from (gift) or where to get more. But somebody is designing a great buckets. Air tight and thick. I wish a mouse luck if he's trying to survive off my preps. I guess I'm down to using those kitty litter buckets as they get empty.

BTW my furball is a ridiculously inept hunter. Unless her scent scares off rodents I doubt her ability to keep them at bay.


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## Emerald (Jun 14, 2010)

tac803 said:


> I have a cat you can borrow long term, if you want


I have two and both are great hunter killers.. but in the spare bedroom where I keep quite a few of my preps we keep the door shut as we don't want to have to cool/heat that room.
So I have been opening the door for the furkids a few times a week.
But I have a 104 year old house and no matter how many holes we find and block we still get those little monsters. 
We even had to put a strip of aluminum flashing around the base of the chimney outside.. came home one day to see a mouse climbing the chimney and we tried to throw things at it to knock it down and it went right into the house under the eves. :gaah: We have flashing there too now.


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## bahramthered (Mar 10, 2012)

Emerald said:


> I have two and both are great hunter killers.. but in the spare bedroom where I keep quite a few of my preps we keep the door shut as we don't want to have to cool/heat that room.
> So I have been opening the door for the furkids a few times a week.
> But I have a 104 year old house and no matter how many holes we find and block we still get those little monsters.
> We even had to put a strip of aluminum flashing around the base of the chimney outside.. came home one day to see a mouse climbing the chimney and we tried to throw things at it to knock it down and it went right into the house under the eves. :gaah: We have flashing there too now.


Wow that inspires and depresses me. Inspiring act, and how the heck to keep them out?

And I might let my kitty into the closed room a little more. She's inept not worthless...


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## Emerald (Jun 14, 2010)

bahramthered said:


> Wow that inspires and depresses me. Inspiring act, and how the heck to keep them out?
> 
> And I might let my kitty into the closed room a little more. She's inept not worthless...


Once she finds one and plays with it she may just get it. My big problem is tho.. the younger cat still thinks they are for playing with. she sometimes loses them and then we find them... after they die from, I guess internal injuries, and they start to smell.. just had that problem.. I had a few huge flies in the house. went into the back room and caught just the faintest whiff of dead.. under the big dresser was a nice maggoty little pile of dead mouse.. ick..
Oh and Frizty's favorite thing to do.. catch them and drop them on me while sleeping.. last winter she dropped not one, but two live baby mice on me.. woke me right up!!


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## bahramthered (Mar 10, 2012)

Emerald said:


> Once she finds one and plays with it she may just get it. My big problem is tho.. the younger cat still thinks they are for playing with. she sometimes loses them and then we find them... after they die from, I guess internal injuries, and they start to smell.. just had that problem.. I had a few huge flies in the house. went into the back room and caught just the faintest whiff of dead.. under the big dresser was a nice maggoty little pile of dead mouse.. ick..
> Oh and Frizty's favorite thing to do.. catch them and drop them on me while sleeping.. last winter she dropped not one, but two live baby mice on me.. woke me right up!!


I adopted her from a friend who wasn't allowed to keep her due to a move. I am told she was vicious inside/outside monster for first three years of her life. There's a great story about the time she brought back a freshly caught dinner home and accidentally released it. Turns out it wasn't dead. She lost interest leaving it to her humans.

Since then she's spent many years declawed and inside as the price of life saving surgery. Stupid car.

Most recently she was caught with a mouse hiding under a radiator. She apparently couldn't finish the job. I feel for her, I wouldn't be much use without fingers either.

Now she's mine and a nice little purr box. About the extent of her talents with her now dubious mousing skills. Still like her despite a few weird fetishes.


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## LincTex (Apr 1, 2011)

Emerald said:


> Oh and Frizty's favorite thing to do.. catch them and drop them on me while sleeping.. last winter she dropped not one, but two live baby mice on me.. woke me right up!!


I am glad I wasn't drinking coffee while I read this!!


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## ComputerGuy (Dec 10, 2010)

LOL. Woke uo early in the morning to do my duty and stepped on something furry. Shrugged it off thinking it was one of the grand-kids stuffed animal. Woke up in the morning and it was a bunny rabbit the cat left for me. Bllod on the foot, bed!!


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## weedygarden (Apr 27, 2011)

*storage containers*

Five gallon buckets are a great storage container. Many people put a mylar liner in also, but I have been into f.s. since before mylar bags and have been okay.

Gamma seals are a type of lid that is in two parts. There is an outer ring with a rubber gasket that can be put onto the bucket. There is an inner lid that screws on and off, making accessing the goods in the buckets so much easier. These lids are very sturdy and create a good seal. They run around $8 each. I have ordered them from a few places online. I have found them in black in the last year at Home Depot (can I say that here?). They come in a few colors (black, blue, orange, red, green, white, yellow, maybe more) so you can color code your bucket (black--black beans, green--lentils, white--rice)

I like the idea of the gamma seal lids and continue to collect them one or two as I can afford them. They could seal a bucket for a bug out with clothing, first aid, toilet paper, or a variety of items.

I did purchase one type of bucket that was rated for food that I could not get the gamma seal lid on.


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## d_saum (Jan 17, 2012)

LincTex said:


> I have cans just sitting on a shelf... with a piece of thin plywood covering them to keep mouse poo off of them. Works well. I use the buckets for loose stuff, like beans and rice.


Thanks.. but if you go back and read the OP, I was asking specifically for some container that I could throw in a car for bug out purposes. Five gallon buckets would seem to fit that bill nicely all the way around.


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## BillM (Dec 29, 2010)

*I just*



Emerald said:


> Once she finds one and plays with it she may just get it. My big problem is tho.. the younger cat still thinks they are for playing with. she sometimes loses them and then we find them... after they die from, I guess internal injuries, and they start to smell.. just had that problem.. I had a few huge flies in the house. went into the back room and caught just the faintest whiff of dead.. under the big dresser was a nice maggoty little pile of dead mouse.. ick..
> Oh and Frizty's favorite thing to do.. catch them and drop them on me while sleeping.. last winter she dropped not one, but two live baby mice on me.. woke me right up!!


I just keep bait stations out for the mice and rats and we don't have any.


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## Emerald (Jun 14, 2010)

d_saum said:


> Thanks.. but if you go back and read the OP, I was asking specifically for some container that I could throw in a car for bug out purposes. Five gallon buckets would seem to fit that bill nicely all the way around.


I get all my buckets at the local bakery. they are a bit smaller than the 5 gallon but with my handicap(bad bad nerve damage from car accident 12 years ago) the smaller buckets are easier for me to move by myself. and the stuff I buy in bulk in the 25lb bags seem to fit right in there perfectly. 
and the smaller size would be good for a bucket you keep in the car all the time.


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## Emerald (Jun 14, 2010)

BillM said:


> I just keep bait stations out for the mice and rats and we don't have any.


I almost lost my oldest gal cuz if you poison mice they get caught and eaten by my furkids and can kill them. Quite a few pets die from secondary poisoning every year. That is what my vet said. 
Personally I never use poison anymore. I have the snap traps and they work well. Plus if it gets to be too many I have a big bucket that the mice can not get out of and there are directions online to make a trap for them with a plate and peanut butter and a stick/rod. it reloads each time a mouse falls in.


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## BillM (Dec 29, 2010)

*Well Then*



Emerald said:


> I almost lost my oldest gal cuz if you poison mice they get caught and eaten by my furkids and can kill them. Quite a few pets die from secondary poisoning every year. That is what my vet said.
> Personally I never use poison anymore. I have the snap traps and they work well. Plus if it gets to be too many I have a big bucket that the mice can not get out of and there are directions online to make a trap for them with a plate and peanut butter and a stick/rod. it reloads each time a mouse falls in.


If you are afraid of bait stations, just put about 4" of water in a five gallon bucket and sprinkle enough corn meal on top of the water to cover the surface. Place a board on the top of the bucket so the mice can dive in.

You will catch and drown every mouse in the house in 24 hours !


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## d_saum (Jan 17, 2012)

Emerald said:


> I get all my buckets at the local bakery. they are a bit smaller than the 5 gallon but with my handicap(bad bad nerve damage from car accident 12 years ago) the smaller buckets are easier for me to move by myself. and the stuff I buy in bulk in the 25lb bags seem to fit right in there perfectly.
> and the smaller size would be good for a bucket you keep in the car all the time.


Good to know! I need to hit up my bakery and ask them! Thanks so much for the input! :2thumb:


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## goodsurvivordepot (May 30, 2012)

BillM said:


> If you are afraid of bait stations, just put about 4" of water in a five gallon bucket and sprinkle enough corn meal on top of the water to cover the surface. Place a board on the top of the bucket so the mice can dive in.
> 
> You will catch and drown every mouse in the house in 24 hours !


I like that, great idea. I'll have to try that out. Thanks!


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## BillM (Dec 29, 2010)

*Sure thing.*



goodsurvivordepot said:


> I like that, great idea. I'll have to try that out. Thanks!


You can always use it for a survival soup starter !


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## JayJay (Nov 23, 2010)

Emerald said:


> I get all my buckets at the local bakery. they are a bit smaller than the 5 gallon but with my handicap(bad bad nerve damage from car accident 12 years ago) the smaller buckets are easier for me to move by myself. and the stuff I buy in bulk in the 25lb bags seem to fit right in there perfectly.
> and the smaller size would be good for a bucket you keep in the car all the time.


I like the smaller buckets for rice, sugar, and salt..I can lift them--but not in a 5 gallon bucket....too heavy for me.
And for those getting free buckets, good for you...I got a few and then...not..
So, I was getting them at a deli, two delis in fact, for a $1 each, and last year, I guess I wasn't the only storer of food...and now, each time I call, they have none.
I could go to both places and get 7-10 of all sizes.
I miss that.


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## Emerald (Jun 14, 2010)

JayJay said:


> I like the smaller buckets for rice, sugar, and salt..I can lift them--but not in a 5 gallon bucket....too heavy for me.
> And for those getting free buckets, good for you...I got a few and then...not..
> So, I was getting them at a deli, two delis in fact, for a $1 each, and last year, I guess I wasn't the only storer of food...and now, each time I call, they have none.
> I could go to both places and get 7-10 of all sizes.
> I miss that.


I get them for .99 cents each.. with the gasketed lids and they run them thru the hobart so they are nice and clean.. I just do not buy the peanut butter ones.. not that I'm allergic but the smell seems to really stick with the bucket.
I usually get the ones that say whipped topping or butter cream.


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