# Safecastle.com



## UncleJoe (Jan 11, 2009)

Safecastle is having a sale with 25% off select products. I only looked at one - sugar. Here is what I discovered.

White sugar - 6 #10 cans at 5.7lbs each for a total of 34.2lbs. On sale for $75.65 with free shipping.

My local grocery store - available in 5, 10, or 25lb bags. $00.61 per lb. 
34.2lbs = $20.86. Pick-up only. 

$54.79 for the convenience of home delivery in #10 cans? 

Don't be fooled by the word "SALE." As always, do your own research.


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## JoKing (Mar 11, 2012)

UncleJoe said:


> Safecastle is having a sale with 25% off select products. I only looked at one - sugar. Here is what I discovered.
> 
> White sugar - 6 #10 cans at 5.7lbs each for a total of 34.2lbs. On sale for $75.65 with free shipping.
> 
> ...


The price difference is not for convenience. The grocery store's is cheaper because it isn't made from unicorn jism, duh. Seriously, that seems like the price you have to pay for..er..free shipping.


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## Woody (Nov 11, 2008)

Then again one of those cans could be a backup. I have sugar and salt packed into 5 gallon pails. I also bought some in #10 cans as a backup – just in case. Who really knows how well my home sealing job was; a can is a can, sealed until opened or crushed.

Just the way my mind works, once I have one I need to have a backup to it! My Dad called it being a belt & suspenders man.


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## gypsysue (Mar 27, 2010)

Being among the financially-challenged segment of society (which grows less 'lonely' as new people join it every day, sadly!) I have to shop carefully for the lowest price I can find.

Then I do my best to seal it up for storing, which is primarily in plastic buckets because I can get them for free. 

We got a few cases of #10 cans of powdered milk, powdered butter, and a couple of other things from some neighbors a few years back. They'd inherited it from her Father's storage after he died, but she and her husbands are Vegans. We got all the dairy products.

Where I'm headed with this is... we stored it in the barn, and later in the winter a heavy snowload made part of the roof collapse. We cleaned the snow out of the barn the best we could, before it melted, but the cardboard box of 6 cans that was on the bottom of the stack was damp underneath. We didn't realize that. The bottoms of the cans rusted badly.

Even with #10 cans you can have storage failure. Be careful how & where you store them, and check them regularly.


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## JoKing (Mar 11, 2012)

On the line of research, Dominos sells sugar in 4 pound plastic coffee can type containers for $.72/lb(New England). Is this container feasible for long term storage?


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## gypsysue (Mar 27, 2010)

It seems like it would be a good container to store it in. It's got the sealed paper or foil top under the lid, most likely, which adds to it's protection. I guess you'd just want to keep it from direct sun exposure, which could eventually break down the plastic. And keep it from being crushed by other things, too.

I've never seen sugar packed like that. Cool!


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## JoKing (Mar 11, 2012)

gypsysue said:


> It seems like it would be a good container to store it in. It's got the sealed paper or foil top under the lid, most likely, which adds to it's protection. I guess you'd just want to keep it from direct sun exposure, which could eventually break down the plastic. And keep it from being crushed by other things, too.
> 
> I've never seen sugar packed like that. Cool!


Thanks. My concern is the seal, which I think is plastic, and not vacuum packed. but I'll have to check. I was going to get a couple for "stow and go" reasons, but don't want to collect them if moisture could eventually get in(sneaky humidity).


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## Possumfam (Apr 19, 2011)

JoKing said:


> On the line of research, Dominos sells sugar in 4 pound plastic coffee can type containers for $.72/lb(New England). Is this container feasible for long term storage?


Funny - the first thing that came to my mind was BPA leaching into the sugar from the plastic container. :dunno:


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## JoKing (Mar 11, 2012)

OHHHH...I would hope not, but thanks for the tip. Can it leech into dry goods?


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## LilRedHen (Aug 28, 2011)

gypsysue said:


> Being among the financially-challenged segment of society (which grows less 'lonely' as new people join it every day, sadly!) I have to shop carefully for the lowest price I can find.


I try to keep to a strict budget, but my local Save-A-Lot had Domino sugar for 50 cents per pound a few weeks ago and I bought 50 lbs. My food money envelope was empty before month end, but I was OK with that. I just wish I could have bought more. It seems the harder I try to gather extra for storage, the more the groceries cost

I read the posts, especially the ones concerning food, every day and it keeps me going. Thank you one and all!:2thumb:


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## neldarez (Apr 10, 2011)

JoKing said:


> Thanks. My concern is the seal, which I think is plastic, and not vacuum packed. but I'll have to check. I was going to get a couple for "stow and go" reasons, but don't want to collect them if moisture could eventually get in(sneaky humidity).


I buy coffee in 3 lb. cans and I always put it into a 2 gal. zip lock and put in the cellar....I figure the plastic bag will help keep the can in good shape. I also do this with nestle quick..........:dunno:


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## JoKing (Mar 11, 2012)

neldarez said:


> I buy coffee in 3 lb. cans and I always put it into a 2 gal. zip lock and put in the cellar....I figure the plastic bag will help keep the can in good shape. I also do this with nestle quick..........:dunno:


That's good. I guess my brain was going the lazy route lol.


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## JoKing (Mar 11, 2012)

UncleJoe said:


> As always, do your own research.


bump. Didn't mean to hijack your thread.


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## UncleJoe (Jan 11, 2009)

Wasn't really meant as a conversation starter. Just a heads up that things may not always appear to be what is being claimed.


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## CulexPipiens (Nov 17, 2010)

JoKing said:


> On the line of research, Dominos sells sugar in 4 pound plastic coffee can type containers for $.72/lb(New England). Is this container feasible for long term storage?
> 
> View attachment 2060


We got the same sugar/packaging at just about all stores in the area. I have a few of these and as long as they are unopened I don't see why they wouldn't last quite awhile. Maybe not 30 years, but more than enough for most purposes.


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## HozayBuck (Jan 27, 2010)

*I recently did up 9 5 gal buckets with beans and sugar and rice, I placed a small chunk of dry ice in the bucket and put a paper towel over it ( don't ask why...lol) after pouring in the bags of product I set the lid on loosely until morning then sealed them .. It's really not that expensive to buy rice and beans in 50 lb bags at Sams , the sugar I can't remember if it was 25 or 50 lb..still all in all it was pretty cheap..

Going to Sams tomorrow and will check it out ... need to do some buckets with bagged goods like pepper and other spices..

2 Pound of beans and rice, slow cook with 2 squirrels ..season to taste.... feed a lot of people.. *


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## UncleJoe (Jan 11, 2009)

Possumfam said:


> Funny - the first thing that came to my mind was BPA leaching into the sugar from the plastic container. :dunno:


This is something I've been wanting to address for a couple months and keep forgetting about when I get here. 

We were doing some spring cleaning... over the winter. I found a quart bag of apple rings I had dehydrated in '09. Yeah, I put dates on most of my homemade stuff. I must have been snacking on them while working in the cellar and they fell behind the shelf. I opened the bag and popped a couple in my mouth and quickly realized the apples had taken on a very odd and unpleasant taste which I am, right or wrong, attributing to leaching from the bag. I threw the contents out to the chickens who gave them a couple pecks and walked away.
Did the taste come from the bag or just age. :dunno: But I won't be using zip-lock bags for longer term storage anymore.


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## Lake Windsong (Nov 27, 2009)

Ziploc type bags allow odors to pass through and will affect the taste of food. Never a good idea to pack soap and food in these type bags in the same compartment of a bob.


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## ComputerGuy (Dec 10, 2010)

I just go the LDS cannery in Tucker Georgia and get the cans for $6 each. Each #10 can holds 6 lbs of suger so for 36.00, I get a case of 6 cans


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## oldvet (Jun 29, 2010)

HozayBuck said:


> *I recently did up 9 5 gal buckets with beans and sugar and rice, I placed a small chunk of dry ice in the bucket and put a paper towel over it ( don't ask why...lol) after pouring in the bags of product I set the lid on loosely until morning then sealed them .. It's really not that expensive to buy rice and beans in 50 lb bags at Sams , the sugar I can't remember if it was 25 or 50 lb..still all in all it was pretty cheap..
> 
> Going to Sams tomorrow and will check it out ... need to do some buckets with bagged goods like pepper and other spices..
> 
> 2 Pound of beans and rice, slow cook with 2 squirrels ..season to taste.... feed a lot of people.. *


HB, what does the dry ice do? yeah I know I'm probably a dummy for asking, but I realy don't have a clue.


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## The_Blob (Dec 24, 2008)

oldvet said:


> HB, what does the dry ice do? yeah I know I'm probably a dummy for asking, but I realy don't have a clue.


Even though oxygen absorbers are easier, I prefer using dry ice to store my foods because it is so much cheaper and as a fumigant it actively kills bugs as well. All one needs is a bucket with a lid that will make an airtight seal and a little dry ice. Dry ice is a solid and looks much like regular ice - except that it has a blue tint and it's -110 degrees F. below zero (-78.5C)!  You have to use a lot of caution when handling this product as it will burn your skin if it makes contact.

Dry ice is frozen carbon dioxide. Carbon dioxide is a harmless enough gas as long as it doesn't dissipate all the oxygen in the air you are breathing. Unless you are doing this in an airtight closet, there shouldn't be anything to worry about. But be aware that under unusual circumstances carbon dioxide can kill you. We breath in air containing oxygen and breath out air containing carbon dioxide. There's carbon dioxide in our houses all the time simply because we are breathing. I've heard people say you have to do this outside or the fumes will get you. That's the reason I'm making such a big deal out of this. Just use common sense.

Carbon dioxide, in it's frozen form, is highly compressed compared to it's gaseous state. A pound of it contains enough carbon dioxide gas to make 8.3 cubic feet of carbon dioxide gas. A six gallon bucket contains 1.46 cubic feet of space. Fill the bucket full of beans or wheat and you have about 0.48 cubic feet of air left in the container surrounding your food. So, if you use twice as much dry ice as you actually need to displace the air in the bucket, you will need about .06 lbs, or right at one ounce of dry ice. Heck, be generous and put in two ounces of dry ice if you like. The smallest amount of dry ice I can purchase is 5 lbs. which costs me $5.00. At even 2 ounces per bucket, that's enough dry ice to take care of preserving 40 buckets of food, more than I have ever done at one time. At two ounces per bucket, this is enough dry ice to push the air out of a six gallon bucket four times. You want a little bit of overkill or redundancy here as it's always better to overdo this than under-do it and end up with oxygen left in the container. Realize also that this is a purging operation. Even really good purges generally only get out 90% of the air. As air is about 21% oxygen, this would still leave 2% oxygen in your container. You aren't going to get it all out, just most of it.

When you get your dry ice you need to bring your own container to put it in. There is one thing you really need to watch for if you are going to be using dry ice to preserve your foods. You must prevent water vapor from freezing on the outside of the dry ice. This moisture would later melt off the dry ice in the bottom of your bucket and increase the water content of your dried foods. As you don't often have a lot of room to play with as far as water content is concerned, it is important to ensure you don't add any moisture to your product with your dry ice. The dry ice you buy from the store should be water free, and that's the way you want to keep it. Dry ice is always giving off carbon dioxide gas, so it's relatively easy to keep the water moisture from it. Just be sure you don't put it into a container that breaths, like a paper bag or cardboard box. I use a Tupperware container which has it's own lid. This container is just right because it's lid is tight enough to keep water vapor from the ambient air out, but loose enough to permit the carbon dioxide gas to escape as it transitions. By the time you get it home, there will be a thick layer of frost on the outside of the container - exactly where you want it, on the outside - not the inside. The inside will be moisture free because of the pressure generated from the continually escaping carbon dioxide gas.

You can use dry ice with powders, such as flour, powdered milk, eggs, cheese and things like this. But you need to be a little careful because if you pack it too tightly the expanding carbon dioxide gas will push whatever it is you are packing, up and out the top of the container. I always put the dry ice on the bottom of the container before I add the product. You could put the dry ice on the top of the food when powders are being stored, but this would do nothing to get the oxygen out that is mixed in with the powder. At home I use dry ice to preserve all my grains and legumes. As long as it is a food which air can freely circulate around, dry ice works great. Dry ice will work fine with all the pastas as well.

On an interesting side note, you may achieve a vacuum from using dry ice. I suspect the carbon dioxide left in the atmosphere of the bucket is dissolving into the very small percentage of water in the food. It can also slip in between starch molecules and lipids, effectively dissolving into them. This will have the effect of reducing the pressure and volume of carbon dioxide in the exclusion volume of the bucket, until an equilibrium is reached between the pressure of the carbon dioxide in the bucket and the concentration of carbon dioxide in the food stored in the bucket. This would account for a slight denting of the buckets. Be aware that this is *not* a chemical reaction and won't adversely affect the food (or you) in any way.

I hope this was helpful 

as all ya'all know, oxygen and water are the *enemy* to food preservation


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## oldvet (Jun 29, 2010)

Yeppers Blob, that was very helpful indeed. Thank you Sir. I knew dry ice vaporized instead of melting, but I didn't know it could be used to vaccume seal, that's way Cool and thanks again.


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## SimpleJoys (Apr 28, 2012)

Sugar doesn't go bad. I stored some bags in my basement and the last one got hard as a rock from the humidity. I googled what to do: you run a cheese grater over it and you'd never know it had once been a big hard 5-pound lump. It's one thing there's just no need to spend lots of money on.

Note: sugar beets also look pretty easy to grow as a long-term solution. I'm going to try in this summer.


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## gypsysue (Mar 27, 2010)

Sugar only needs to be kept dry, in order for it to keep. But protecting it against rodents and insects is a good idea! 

Blob, I had never thought about dry ice! What a great idea. Thanks for all the good information!


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