What type of container do you store your...

[Brownidcat]

bulk items like flour,rice,sugar etc... I want to start buying these food items in bulk. I was wondering what name brand containers everyone uses so I can make a wise purchase and keep my food save for longtime storage. My little fancy counter top containers have always been decorative useless items. TIA

[beausmom]

I have found that the Lock N Lock containers are the best!!!
I purchased two of the bulk storage containers for flour and sugar.
Granted they will only hold about 10 pounds of each at a time, but they seal tightly, completey water proof and bug proof.. They have little wheels on them so that rolling them out of the pantry is easy.

Give them a try. I think you will love the initial investment it cost to buy them.

[Lmnde]

After having had some very unpleasant experiences with mice at our last place, I now only use large glass jars [I haven't measured them but they are the huge pickle size - my guess they hold about 1.5 gallons or more of liquid or so] and then use a metal lid. With a bay leave or two in it, it will also keep buggies out or kill them if they are already in the product when you buy it [been there and done that too].

I've traded for mine with a friend who works in foodservice in a hospital - so free for me. I'd never go back to plastic no matter what the brand is!

[Grandma Lewis]

I bought a huge bag of flour, probably 25 lbs. I put the flour in gallon size freezer ziplocs and then froze them for about a week. The freezing kills anything that's living in them. Afterwards, I put the ziplocs in white buckets that I got from Lowes. These are 3 gallon buckets with lids, just like the 5 gallon paint buckets. Since I don't know for sure if the the buckets are food grade, I left the flour in the ziplocs so the non-food grade shouldn't be an issue.

Plastic ice cream buckets would also be suitable.

[Jasmin71]

hmm cool , I have to go check out Home depot..on those buckets!!
I was wondering the same thing, I use to have those large Glass containers but now you cant hardly find them :(

[Domestic Gal]

I use food grade 5 gallon buckets. I get them from work. They had dill pickles in them. So i know that they are food grade.
If you ask around or at your store deli they might have some to get rid of.

[wavelizard]

hmm cool , I have to go check out Home depot..on those buckets!!
I was wondering the same thing, I use to have those large Glass containers but now you cant hardly find them :(

Target or Wal-Mart usually have various sizes of glass cracker jars with metal lids made by Anchor Hocking; I prefer glass because it's easy to clean and there's no odor retention, not to mention possible leaching/off-gassing, so bit by bit, I've change my storage over to glass. Ikea also has a good selection of inexpensive glass storage items.

I usually also freeze my flours, grains, beans, cereals and so on and usually leave them in the fridge or freezer until I use them, partially because I'm in So. Fla (bugland USA....I hets those dang weebils), but mostly because I have the cold storage space and am lazzzzyyy. It is generally recommended to follow a protocol similar to this one:

Cold treatment will also kill all stages of the insects present. In a freezer lower the
temperature of the food item to 0 degrees F. or lower and keep it there for 4 to 7 days. As
with the heat treatment, there are some foods that freeze well and which will be adversely
altered by this treatment. Neither the heat or cold treatment will remove silk, cocoons, pupal
cases, insect bodies, fecal material or off odors, flavors, or colors.

(this is from the Utah State University Dept. Of Biology Entemology Extension)

but you can just do a search and find information from other sources.

I like the idea of the big ol' buckets, but would most likely leave the items in their original sealed bags.

[couponlover85]

If you can afford it I would get some tupperware. They are airtight and keep things fresh for a long time. You can put the tupperware in the freezer and even if the containers end up cracking you can get it replaced for free with their lifetime guarantee. It's definately worth the money in the long run.

[Lmnde]

Tupperware is some really good quality stuff - I bought my first items some 25+ years ago and they are still going strong [out of fashion but holding up just nice]. BUT they are not mice/rodent proof - if you have an issue with them.

I am hanging on to my glass ware - I lost several 100s of dollars when we had the mice problem [big mice problem to the point that we actually had wild snakes coming into the house for them!]. I so do not ever want to even get close to something like this - and glass with metal lids will keep my goodies safe. Plus I can see at first glance what is in it, and don't need to label things or open containers to see what might be in there...

[coupondink]

Tupperware is some really good quality stuff - I bought my first items some 25+ years ago and they are still going strong [out of fashion but holding up just nice]. BUT they are not mice/rodent proof - if you have an issue with them.

I am hanging on to my glass ware - I lost several 100s of dollars when we had the mice problem [big mice problem to the point that we actually had wild snakes coming into the house for them!]. I so do not ever want to even get close to something like this - and glass with metal lids will keep my goodies safe. Plus I can see at first glance what is in it, and don't need to label things or open containers to see what might be in there...

holy cats Batman! I had no idea mice could get into Tupperware! Yikes! I had a rat problem 2 years ago (that God that ordeal is over) and found I was ok if everything went into plastic containers.