# Long term food storage



## mikhailfrankovich (Jun 28, 2017)

So I am about ready to start food prep and storage. 

I plan on having 6-10 Food grade 5 gallon buckets. In each bucket I plan on having an 8kg (oops, that's the Canadian in me! Aprx 17lbs) of white rice, stored in a mylar bag with an appropriately sized oxygen absorbent. 

Is it possible for me to store other foods in these same buckets? I have been told that beans and rolled oats are good to store as well. So would it be okay for me to seal a 1 gallon mylar bag of beans in the same bucket as the rice?

What kind of beans do you recommend? Will any type of dry bean store fine, so long as mylar bags and oxygen absorbents are used? I was looking at Pinto, Black Beans and some other varities. 

How long can dried pasta be stored for, if a mylar bag and oxygen absorbers are being used? 

Finally, for sugar and salt, could I just store that in a mason jar?


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## Maine-Marine (Mar 7, 2014)

Dont store pasta.. Get a pasta maker, flour, and a chicken


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## watchin (Apr 24, 2014)

Why not pasta out of curiosity?

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## Back Pack Hack (Sep 15, 2016)

Maine-Marine is suggesting to store the fixin's needed to make your own pasta instead of storing store-bought.


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## Illini Warrior (Jan 24, 2015)

why only 17lbs of rice in a 5 gallon bucket? .... average for most dried goods is 30lbs .... you want as little open "head space" in the buckets as possible - otherwise you need to adjust your 02 absorber usage accordingly - leave at least an 1 1/2 to 2 inches for the folded down mylar bag and the bucket lid ....

here's a capacity chart for the various foods and the various container sizes ....

https://www.usaemergencysupply.com/...ood-storage/how-much-food-fits-in-a-container

here's some overall packing info from the same source ....

https://www.usaemergencysupply.com/food-storage/food-type

you can make a "variety" bucket of smaller (1/2 & 1 gallon) mylar bagged foods within one bucket - but each bag is separately prepared with its own 02 absorber (300cc or 500cc) - pack them super tite (again open air space is your enemy) - before sealing the bucket you need to treat those air voids with additional 02 absorbers - probably a 500cc or combo 500 & 300cc ...

pasta - great dry food to pack away long term - minimum 20 years if packed correctly .... 32lbs on average of spaghetti strands when packed tite - another 2lbs of loose pasta, like macaroni noodles, poured on top to fill bucket headspace .... you do need to protect the mylar bagging from puncture holes thru the spaghetti strands - spread a trimmed up (no glue and as little ink as possible) Tyvek envelope across the bottom for puncture protection ....

salt and sugar - no prep except for pest & environment protection necessary - don't go meager storage on either - super cheap NOW and will be priceless in a serious SHTF - pour 40lbs into a food grade bucket (no mylar necessary) and just forget about it until needed ....


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