# Home Depot Buckets



## neil-v1 (Jan 22, 2010)

Hi

Does anyone happen to know if the Home Depot orange 5 gallon buckets are food grade? I am wondering because I want to grab a couple of them for water sanitizing and food storage. I am hoping to find out before I run all the way up there. Thanks.


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## MichaelK (Aug 3, 2011)

Why would they be? The only buckets I trust for food are ones that food came out of. Check out the loading docks of caffeteria style restraraunts and ask for what they are piling up outside. I've gotten all my food-grade buckets completely free from outside a school caffeteria that feeds students.


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## Emerald (Jun 14, 2010)

I would never use any of the buckets from homedepot or lowes or Menards for foods.. not worth it.

Also check at local bakeries and big box store bakeries for frosting buckets.. sure some of them are smaller(most of mine are 3 1/2 to 4 gallon not 5) but they have gasketed lids and the smaller size is a bit easier for me to move around by myself. My local small grocery store has them for .99¢ and they are even washed in their big hobart machine and are squeaky clean. I use them for many things other than food storage-I can't buy a good bucket for that price so we have them for many things.. when I had a couple leak on me(had laundry soap in them) I cleaned them out and then used them as grow buckets.


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## partdeux (Aug 3, 2011)

white/opaque lowes buckets are reportidly food grade


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## Immolatus (Feb 20, 2011)

Those buckets are not meant for food. Ask your local restaurants, they should be happy to give you some.


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## CulexPipiens (Nov 17, 2010)

Home Depot buckets are cheap junk. I wouldn't trust them to hold dirt without breaking. 

As others have said, get buckets that clearly are food grade quality and check local places as you can probably get them cheap or free.


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## bunkerbob (Sep 29, 2009)

The clear opaque buckets from Lowes are food grade, 800 phone number on bucket for more info. I ues them with gamma seal lids.

By the way the Hme Demn buckets are great for moving soil, I use them over and over hoisted by the wire bail full of soil, moved literialy hundreds and hundreds of them for the 'pit'. Never had one split even after dropping some full.


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## Sam1957 (Mar 12, 2011)

No they are not. As I understand it from looking into it way back, food grade buckets are either white, clear or opaque. Colored buckets like home depot's are not. Look for Encore plastics manufactured pails. They make food grade buckets.


"It's never too late to have a happy childhood".


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## lotsoflead (Jul 25, 2010)

neil-v1 said:


> Hi
> 
> Does anyone happen to know if the Home Depot orange 5 gallon buckets are food grade? I am wondering because I want to grab a couple of them for water sanitizing and food storage. I am hoping to find out before I run all the way up there. Thanks.


 Do some searches on the web, Home Depot buckets are alright for food storage, you'll be using a mylar bag inside of it any way, also HD buckets have a gasket. If you listen to some people, you'll be spending hundreds of extra dollars for buckets and tops that can be used for more food. Just look for the 2 inside of the arrows chasing each other on the botton of the bucket. There are millions of HD buckets filled with food products.
here's just one search http://www.survivalistboards.com/showthread.php?t=46831


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## JayJay (Nov 23, 2010)

CulexPipiens said:


> Home Depot buckets are cheap junk. I wouldn't trust them to hold dirt without breaking.
> 
> As others have said, get buckets that clearly are food grade quality and check local places as you can probably get them cheap or free.


Are Lowe's cheap junk also?? Cause I got about 20 full of food.,...and deli buckets and drywall buckets.......
And I DID PERSONALLY call the manufacturer from Lowe's paint center.... after calling the manager.... and he forwarded us to the main office at Lowe's ..... and they forwarded us to the manufacturer and they verified they were food grade.

I did read the lids were not capable of holding more than one bucket on top--but I can't verify that.
My buckets are on a shelf from Sam's now, not stacked.


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## JayJay (Nov 23, 2010)

Lotsoflead says......If you listen to some people, you'll be spending hundreds of extra dollars for buckets and tops that can be used for more food.

Agreed!!!

Just look for the 2 inside of the arrows chasing each other on the botton of the bucket. There are millions of HD buckets filled with food products.

Partly agreed!!! I learned from the paint dept at Lowe's...the arrow means recycled material used for that bucket...but the 2 means the type of material used to make that bucket and is food grade...

For support:https://www.usaemergencysupply.com/..._food_storage/plastic_food_storagebuckets.htm

All the buckets I have ever seen have a #2. This number doesn't mean that it's food grade as many people suppose. But rather it tells what kind of plastic the bucket is made of. The #2 means it is made from HDPE plastic. Most of these buckets are food grade but there are times when they are not.

Note: I have Krud Kutter in a hdpe bucket---BUT would I put food in that??


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## JayJay (Nov 23, 2010)

And I did have water in a few buckets(rather than let them sit empty) until I bought 20 water drums...and I lugged them from one room to the other---yes, heavy!!!!-- and didn't have a problem with any handles breaking.


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## Emerald (Jun 14, 2010)

I'm not spending the kind of money they want for home depot or lowes or walmart or Menards.. I am going to stick with the free or .99¢ food grade frosting/filling buckets that have been already used for food.(that's what? 1/3 of the price or 1/4 of the price?)
and this is not a dig or anything but some of the food stuffs that people are storing are not the healthiest anyways(this argument about food and plastic has been on many of the different forums I'm on and it is always the same) so I can only assume that they are not going to care what kind of plastic they are going to use. :dunno:


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## weedygarden (Apr 27, 2011)

bunkerbob said:


> The clear opaque buckets from Lowes are food grade, 800 phone number on bucket for more info. I ues them with gamma seal lids.
> 
> By the way the Hme Demn buckets are great for moving soil, I use them over and over hoisted by the wire bail full of soil, moved literialy hundreds and hundreds of them for the 'pit'. Never had one split even after dropping some full.


There are buckets at both Lowes and Home Depot (or have been for the past few years) that state they are food grade. I have also used them with gamma seal lids. One bucket that states it is food grade does not fit the gamma seal lids and I think it is one I got from Home Depot.


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## JayJay (Nov 23, 2010)

weedygarden said:


> There are buckets at both Lowes and Home Depot (or have been for the past few years) that state they are food grade. I have also used them with gamma seal lids. One bucket that states it is food grade does not fit the gamma seal lids and I think it is one I got from Home Depot.


I do believe I read on another blog someone had a problem with those lids not fitting...If I come to that post ever---I'll give that explanation...thanks.

I do buy Lowe's and haven't dealt with Home Depot..same price; I just go closer to home..and that's Lowe's.


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## stayingthegame (Mar 22, 2011)

about how much do the Lowe's buckets run?


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## ZoomZoom (Dec 18, 2009)

About $2.75 + the lid. The nicer reusable lids (no tabs to break or deal with) are about $1.50.


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## CulexPipiens (Nov 17, 2010)

bunkerbob said:


> ... By the way the Hme Demn buckets are great for moving soil, I use them over and over hoisted by the wire bail full of soil, moved literialy hundreds and hundreds of them for the 'pit'. Never had one split even after dropping some full.


Happy to hear. We got a some for general purpose carrying of stuff and most broke within a week of purchase. Maybe we just got a bad batch but that was enough to keep me away from buying more.


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## ashley8072 (Apr 26, 2011)

I love the Home Depot buckets around the house cuz it sure makes it hard for hubby to run off with them. lol! I wouldn't put food in them unless it was bagged and sealed. We keep water stored in the bathroom JUST for flushing the toilet. 2 years ago an outage from a winter storm was bound. I went overboard and filled a Home Depot bucket, and then a Home Depot water cooler. A week later when the power went out I found that BOTH of them had a weird white film in them. Like maybe the plastic deposits, I'm not sure. I washed them out with soap and bleach.

Anyways, if I had to use them, I'd def double bag. :2thumb:


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## JayJay (Nov 23, 2010)

stayingthegame said:


> about how much do the Lowe's buckets run?


Here at Lowe's and HD in Ky., $3.54...that's the bucket with lid.:2thumb:

I have ??????, just say lots of food in their buckets.


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## JayJay (Nov 23, 2010)

ashley8072 said:


> I love the Home Depot buckets around the house cuz it sure makes it hard for hubby to run off with them. lol! I wouldn't put food in them unless it was bagged and sealed. We keep water stored in the bathroom JUST for flushing the toilet. 2 years ago an outage from a winter storm was bound. I went overboard and filled a Home Depot bucket, and then a Home Depot water cooler. A week later when the power went out I found that BOTH of them had a weird white film in them. Like maybe the plastic deposits, I'm not sure. I washed them out with soap and bleach.
> 
> Anyways, if I had to use them, I'd def double bag. :2thumb:


I had water in Lowe's buckets for months, and when I transferred that water to the 30 gallon drums, it was pure and clean.
Hmmmm.


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## ashley8072 (Apr 26, 2011)

JayJay said:


> I had water in Lowe's buckets for months, and when I transferred that water to the 30 gallon drums, it was pure and clean.
> Hmmmm.


I think mine was the result of maybe hard water deposits. We still used the water, but just didn't drink it. All this bucket talk and last night I went home and checked everything (food and water), no problems with anything. I also found that I did'nt have a mylar bag in 2 food buckets. No bugs even after 4months of being stored. I had run out of room and started putting food into buckets before realizing I needed mylar bags. But just to add, I seen that someone mentioned putting a bayleaf in the containers to ward of bugs, and that's an addition that I use all the time now for storing.


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## JayJay (Nov 23, 2010)

ashley8072 said:


> I think mine was the result of maybe hard water deposits. We still used the water, but just didn't drink it. All this bucket talk and last night I went home and checked everything (food and water), no problems with anything. I also found that I did'nt have a mylar bag in 2 food buckets. No bugs even after 4months of being stored. I had run out of room and started putting food into buckets before realizing I needed mylar bags. But just to add, I seen that someone mentioned putting a bayleaf in the containers to ward of bugs, and that's an addition that I use all the time now for storing.


I had buckets with nothing in for about 2 years...bought bay leaf, like you, and put in all buckets.


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## BillM (Dec 29, 2010)

*Is that*



JayJay said:


> I had buckets with nothing in for about 2 years...bought bay leaf, like you, and put in all buckets.


Is that where the term "Keeping them at bay " comes from ?


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