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Friday, April 1, 2011

How to Get Free Food Grade Buckets for Long Term Storage

Original Article

A while back I posted about my my bulk food storage plans that included food grade buckets (See Items Needed for Storing Survival Food http://wp.me/p1dmhM-9m) as well as my Health Supplies Bucket http://apartmentprepper.com/?p=1120.
The food grade bucket is an essential item in an apartment prepper’s storage plan because they don’t occupy a lot of space and are stackable.  You can store a lot of items in one bucket, plus they are portable, in case you ever need to throw a bunch of them in your vehicle to bug out.
Even better news, you can actually get them for free.  If you know someone who works in a restaurant or supermarket bakery or deli department, ask about 5 gallon food grade buckets and they are likely to tell you they throw them out all the time.  Restaurants and bakeries purchase a lot of items that are stored in these buckets:  mayonnaise, ketchup, icing, pickles etc.  A friend gave me a bucket that used to contain mayonnaise.  It was perfectly clean because the mayo was pre-wrapped in plastic within the bucket.  The only buckets that have a strong odor are those that contained pickles.  No matter how much you wash and sanitize them, the pickle smell stays on.  Some places decline to give them out due to legal restrictions, or fear of someone misusing them, but a lot of places don’t mind giving them out so it doesn’t hurt to ask.
If you don’t know anyone in the food business, the easiest way to get some buckets is to order them online:  Emergency Essentials carries them-click the link on the side bar.


1 comment:

  1. A good way to get the "pickle" smell out of your buckets is to first wash them well. Use about a 1/2 cup of baking soda and fill your bucket with hot water. Set the bucket out in the sun and let it set for at least a full day. A couple of days is better. Rinse and wash the bucket out again and the bucket should be good to go.

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