What do you guys have in your 5 gallon buckets…
Posted by HarpyCelaeno@reddit | preppers | View on Reddit | 86 comments
… besides rice and beans? And with the 3 layer desiccant method, how long do you expect this food to last?
bardwick@reddit
Salt.. If you don't have salt, get salt.
555_kindafine@reddit
What's the best way to buy and store salt
Historical_Course587@reddit
Lots of people have wild theories, but IMO just go to the grocery store and spend $20 on salt, then move on with your prepping life.
555_kindafine@reddit
I assume it would be used for meat preservation or is there other benefits?
Historical_Course587@reddit
IMHO salt for food preservation is tricky. It works, but you have serious sodium intake issues on the other side if you don't know how to measure your intake - I have no idea how someone does that with salt meat or pickled foods. Many prepping communities have nostalgia goggles for the times when life expectancy for adults was like 40 years, but for me I'd like to be able to track the minerals that could kill me if I eat too much of them.
It is a flavor enhancer. That will be a huge deal for people when their diets are limited to food on hand.
It's an important nutrient to aid the body in water retention and electrolyte processes. So you will definitely want access to it when the times get tough.
555_kindafine@reddit
Thank you and also thanks for not making me feel stupid
Mediocre_Ad_6020@reddit
It will also make all the rice and beans and stuff taste palateable
bardwick@reddit
Amazon. At 22 lbs, it's funny watching the look on the delivery drivers face...
Leave it in the sealed bucket, cool dry space. Salt has an eternal shelf life.
Seppostralian@reddit
Seconding this! Iodine deficiency is a real bitch!
DatWhiteeeee@reddit
Tools. Rice. Beans. More tools. Trash. Flour. Sugar. Tools.
Ifinallymadeanacc@reddit
All my current staples to the tune of 2 years supply. Baking needs, salt and other seasonings, rice, beans, lentils, oats. My current goal is to build a 1+year supply of backups to offset price increases and supply shortages.
I’ve purchased a vacuum sealer which will significantly lengthen the shelf life of our stored goods. While the buckets do give off doomsday vibes I treat it as an extension of my deep pantry that can be stashed inconspicuously while we’re living in a small apartment. I’ve also experienced weevils once in my life so I’m very much on board with freezing, and batch storing all dry goods to prevent it from happening again.
Many-Health-1673@reddit
I keep my food in mylar inside the 5 gallon bucket. I keep wheat berries, rice, lentils, beans, yeast, and coffee in one 5 gallon bucket.
xenobit_pendragon@reddit
Like, all in the same bucket?
Many-Health-1673@reddit
Yes, in the same bucket.
I usually put in 2lbs of each of the lentils, beans, rice and wheat berries into freezer bags, then put them inside a mylar bag. Put the coffee and the yeast inside the bucket but outside the mylar.
If someone in your circle needs some food, it is already sorted out and there is a wide variety. You can do quite a bit with those ingredients. Throw in some salt if you want as well.
To me it was better than handing someone 10lbs of rice or beans and nothing else.
Manakanda413@reddit
I think I'd need 2-3 5 gallon buckets of just coffee
Many-Health-1673@reddit
That would be great as well.
Connect-Type493@reddit
I think that's a pretty good approach except perhaps for the wheat berries . Pretty sure 9/10 people would have no idea what to do with them. Maybe better to replace with oatmeal, potato flakes etc
Many-Health-1673@reddit
Wheat berries can be used for purposes other than flour for breads. My plan is to tell people the uses of the wheat berries, and then they can either make bread with the flour, or use it for an alternative purpose such as pasta, in a wild salad, or a hot cereal/porridge, pancakes, or even plant it to grow more wheat, or use it to sprout wheat greens.
You can cook it with grains like quinoa and barley in broth for pilaf.
If you have an electric coffee grinder the wheat berries are easily turned into a flour. No mill needed. They really are a nice multipurpose grain.
Connect-Type493@reddit
Maybe include a recipe sheet!
Many-Health-1673@reddit
Not a bad idea!
iambecomesoil@reddit
They can plant them and that'll put off doing something with the wheat berries a couple of months. And then by harvest they can find people to give them away to.
eyepoker4ever@reddit
In mylar...
xenobit_pendragon@reddit
Well I didn’t think they were all mixed together.
It’s just that 5 gal isn’t that big. I wouldn’t expect to store that many things in any meaningful quantities in one bucket.
Many-Health-1673@reddit
Yeah, I totally get that.
You can make quite a few meals with 2 lbs of rice, beans, lentils, and wheat berries, though.
There are 677 calories in 1 cup of raw lentils. There are around 4 1/2 cups of lentils per 2 lbs.
One cup of raw white rice contains approximately 675–700 calories. There are around 5 cups of raw rice per 2lbs.
One cup of raw pinto beans contains roughly 670 calories. There are roughly 4 cups of pinto beans per 2 lbs.
Raw wheat berries contain approximately 600–650 calories per 1 cup. There are 5 - 6 cups of wheat berries per 2 lbs.
My goal was to make this easy for me to share, and not stick someone with 25lbs of rice or beans if they hate rice and beans.
I also didn't want to be the guy who seemed to have all of the food saved at his house, which might make me a target.
The 5 gallon bucket combination seemed like a good enough mix of I can help, but this is all I have.
Adorable_Dust3799@reddit
This summer looks like mostly earwigs
Eredani@reddit
Salt, oats, sugar, flour... more buckets.
Pretty-Ad5348@reddit
Ours, 348 of them, are full of dried beans, mostly pinto
MalaEnNova@reddit
Rice, flour, sugar, salt, and beans (all kinds of beans).
Historical_Course587@reddit
Rice, black beans, pinto beans, whole wheat flour, white flour, bean soup mix, polenta, white corn for hominy, lentils, split peas, popcorn, garbanzo beans.
IDK what a 3-layer method is, but I expect most of my food to last 2-3 years the way I store it. Some people get real uppity about the difference between deep pantry and survival food, but frankly that's a weird way to prep suboptimal food supplies for a hard-cliff that is incredibly unlikely to happen. Just push the deep pantry deeper until it lasts as long as you need it to based on your scenario assumptions. I have a 2-3 year supply of food, I rotate it on that kind of timeline, and that leaves plenty of time to wait and see how disaster plays out or to ramp up the food I grow.
ronniebell@reddit
I have home grown flour corn, quinoa, buckwheat, amaranth, white rice, sweet white rice, glutinous rice, rolled oats, oat groats, barley, beans, beans, beans, (wheat would like to kill me) salt, sugar, baking soda. I store all these in 2 pound, quart sized Mylar bags with an oxygen absorber (other than the salt, baking soda and sugar). Right next to said 5 gallon buckets, I have a Wonder Mill Deluxe Jr. hand grinder, because you can’t make buckwheat pancakes with whole buckwheat; nor can you make a good cornmeal or masa without a grinder. I keep the cal for the masa in a 2 gallon bucket on top of the corn bucket.
Kalan-Gamble_Jackson@reddit
Human feces
Cute-Consequence-184@reddit
Good old composting toilet
Cute-Consequence-184@reddit
Tomatoes, peppers, Jerusalem artichokes, potato onions, blueberry and blackberry plants to name a few
mountainsformiles@reddit
Oats, beans, wheat berries, sugar, flour, lentils, masa harina, rice, quinoa.
I'd like to get a whole bucket of Redmond's Real salt. I have several smaller packages of it and other brands of salt.
Seppostralian@reddit
Overall, the basics. Non-perishables. Dehydrated foodstuffs, beans, rice, coffee, water OFC, grits.
baardvark@reddit
Tomato plants
ratcuisine@reddit
Some absorbent non-paint-scratching mitts and rags, and a jug of car wash detergent.
I bought a bunch of 30-year cans of random food from the Mormon store, don't need to move them to buckets.
Ra_a_@reddit
No big buckets, no 5 gallon buckets.
We use retail packaging for a few years. Food does fine
“Provident Living home storage online order form” sells cans 6 to a box that stack and stow nicely
iambecomesoil@reddit
This is the Mormon church, can order online off their website.
Quiet-Arm-641@reddit
Semen. In case my purity of essence is compromised, I want to have a backup in case I need to repopulate the world.
GypsyInAHotMessDress@reddit
I don’t have plastic buckets. I prefer glass.
BarronMind@reddit
Sugar, salt, flour, corn meal, beans, rice, pasta, oats, potato flakes, lentils, split peas, and hard candy. Sealed in Mylar bags with O² absorbers in the ones that need it. That's just the 5-gallon buckets.
Our pantry includes canned, bottled, powdered, dehydrated, and freeze dried foods, plus gallon jugs of vegetable oil, vinegar, and corn syrup, and several pounds of coffee beans.
Present-Opinion1561@reddit
tell me more about the 5 gallons of hard candy...
BarronMind@reddit
Winco, bulk candy bins, nothing with any dairy or other ingredients that will go bad quickly, nothing strongly scented (cinnamon, mint, etc.) that would alter the flavor of other candy. Think butterscotch, lemon heads, root beer barrels, Jolly Ranchers, sour warheads, cherry drops, strawberry bon bons, everlasting gobstoppers. What I believe our British friends call "boiled sweets."
Expert-Isopod-8902@reddit
I got a shelf for the buckets today. It’s supposed to be for five gallon water bottles but it worked.
HarpyCelaeno@reddit (OP)
Love this idea.
Ok_Cartographer_6086@reddit
all I can add here is I opened a 5yo bucket all sealed in Mylar with desiccant to the point the expensive food grade buckets buckled a little and this one full of rice, beans, pasta etc was destroyed because I left things in plastic packaging they came in which degraded and left sticky plastic on everything.
Check your stock and rotate is the lesson here. Would have lasted forever if it wasn't for the packaging error.
HarpyCelaeno@reddit (OP)
Well that’s exactly the mistake I was about to make. Very much appreciate this comment.
UP-North617@reddit
Mosquito dunks
sovereignsekte@reddit
A portable shower kit inside and a toilet seat on top. I should really move the poo seat from the dedicated shower bucket at some point.
ShimmyShimmyYaw@reddit
Honey
Ero-Sennin-22@reddit
Water
AlphaDisconnect@reddit
Toilet paper. And baby wipes. And lots of grocery bags.
JRHLowdown3@reddit
"3 layer desiccant method"- care to explain?
SumOldGuy@reddit
This is what I was wondering. I don't use any desiccants but I also don't have much storage of loose grains or what have you
JRHLowdown3@reddit
Yeah I don't know what he's talking about, sounds like some new made up "reinvent the wheel" thing some jackass new guy spouted off on YT that's being parroted. Kinda like the "sew up little bags of salt to use as oxygen absorbers" or "put in sheetrock dust with your grains" or "put in lime" or "use mylar party balloons" or the handwarmers nonsense, or any number of ridiculous arse going around your elbow to find your A-hole new ideas folks have come with since 2006 trying to reinvent the wheel!!! LOL.
ohyeahwell@reddit
Oats, rice, flour, bean, sugar, salt, coffee
7o7A1@reddit
buckwheat, oats, desiccated coconut, lentils
eyepoker4ever@reddit
Rice, lentils, flour, sugar, instant mash potatoes, various flavored rice, chili, and soup mixes.
nobody4456@reddit
I keep flour and sugar for the deep pantry in 5 gallon buckets. Never had any issues with it in the time it takes to rotate through.
davidm2232@reddit
I wish I could go through it. I am on the same 5 lb bag of flour from before I moved into my house 6 years ago. I ended up throwing a half bag of sugar away just so I could start using fresh. I do go through bread flour reasonably quickly, maybe 5 lbs per year.
Mercybby@reddit
Water. I keep six of the food safe 5 gallon buckets stacked next to my set tub in my basement. I fill with a hose hooked to the set tub. Our city is currently replacing a lot of the pipes and it’s already came in handy three times just this year. Was so happy to be able to flush our toilets.
Refleks180@reddit
5 gallon buckets are so unsatisfying to stack. 20mm ammo cans are where it’s at!
PrepperBoi@reddit
I was just imagining how heavy a 5 gallon bucket of 9mm would be. It hurts to lift a 50cal ammo can of it much less a whole bucket.
PurpleCableNetworker@reddit
Hell yeah!!
PrepperBoi@reddit
Salt, sugar, rice.
AdditionalCheetah354@reddit
Molasses
Inner-Confidence99@reddit
Golden Eagle Syrup. Lasts forever. Made with honey, molasses and cane sugar
throwawaybsme@reddit
Any potatoes?
AdditionalCheetah354@reddit
No ….plans to brew some rum, not vodka
PurpleCableNetworker@reddit
Well…. I don’t do 5 gallon buckets. Too awkward. I use the plastic utility totes. I have a tiered food system. I have some dehydrated food (about 3 weeks worth), some HDR’s (humanitarian daily rations), about 1 week worth, some rice, some beans, some lard, and flour. I also have a pantry separately where I keep multiple cans of tuna, beans, veggies, etc.
Buttermilk-Waffles@reddit
I opted to go the mylar bags with oxygen absorbers route and store them in big totes from costco. But I have rice, a variety of dry beans, dehydrated slices of sweet potato, salt, pepper, sugar, flower, corn meal. I have three filled so far so if things get really bad my family will not go hungry.
Thinking about adding powdered eggs and cheese to the next one I start building.
davidm2232@reddit
Most of my 5 gallon buckets are full of used motor oil. I have one for a mouse trap. I think I impulse bought a 5 gallon first aid bucket off TikTok shop but I have no idea if there is even anything useful in it
SalamanderNo6403@reddit
Beans , Rice, Flour, Sugar , Salt, Oats ,
Cheap_Cap760@reddit
Powdered cheese
juancarlospaco@reddit
Microplastics.
PuzzleheadedRegion87@reddit
A macro plastic for your microplastics
PrisonerV@reddit
Ice melt. Smoker pellets. Extension cords.
Also rice but we eat from that all the time.
Seth0351USMC@reddit
Rice, sugar, salt, wheat berries, pancake mix, oats, and misc pasta.
bassmasterfix@reddit
Many different things
Pax1980@reddit
Great question! I have a few other staples in my 5-gallon buckets along with rice and beans. I like to include things like oats, powdered milk, and some freeze-dried fruits. They add variety and some nutrition that might be missing from just beans and rice.
As for shelf life, properly stored food can last a long time, especially with the 3-layer desiccant method you mentioned. I’ve heard of people getting 20 years or more out of well-sealed buckets. Just make sure you’re checking your seals and keeping them in a cool, dark place to maximize longevity!
Also, if you’re seeing what kinds of tech can aid with preparedness, I’ve seen some cool projects aimed at turning smartphones into portable survival tools, which can be handy in emergencies, especially if you lose internet access. It's all about maximizing what we have!
Icy-Medicine-495@reddit
Pasta, oatmeal, wheat kernels, powder milk, instant mash potatoes, legumes, and barley
Also sugar and salt but I don't use an oxygen absorber with these.
These should last at least 10 years and probably much longer if not stored in a hot building.
Many-Health-1673@reddit
I like the instant mashed potatoes idea
Life-Event6168@reddit
Wood pellets, ammo, fertilizers for the garden.
gramps666@reddit
Other 5 gallon buckets.
Ryan_e3p@reddit
5 gallon buckets all the way down