Bulk storage

[ninny]

This may be posted else where if so point me there please! I need to know how to store canned foods, home dehydrated foods,salt,sugar,rice,flour. Thanks!

 

[moolie]

Canned foods need to kept cool, dark, and dry to remain viable for as long as possible. Light will destroy nutrients in home-canned food, heat degrades quality and nutrients, and damp can rust lids of home-canned foods as well as tinned foods.

Home dehydrated foods require much the same, and are best kept in containers that are air-tight.

Salt just needs to be kept dry, sugar the same (neither go bad but can be ruined by damp).

White rice needs cool and dry like most dry goods but brown rice will go rancid fairly quickly unless you can keep it cool/refrigerated (but totally dry) or frozen (again, totally dry). If you want to store rice long-term, choose white rice and seal in in mylar bags inside sealed buckets with O2 absorbers.

For the following bit, YMMV and this is just my personal opinion/what my family believes and does: flour doesn't keep, no point in even buying pre-milled flour as most that is available is either dead (white flour) and "enriched" with vitamins and minerals that don't necessarily occur naturally in wheat, or rancid (whole wheat flour) which isn't usually actually "whole wheat" but is rather white flour with germ and bran added back along with the "enriching" nutrients. Best to buy actual wheat and other grains and grind your own flour on an as-needed basis.

 

[ORChick]

What Moolie says

Dark, cool, dry. Pest proof. I store just about everything in glass jars - no bugs or mice will get in there. Some of the bulk things go in plastic food grade buckets, and I have some things in rubbermaid totes. When I bring home grains or dried fruit (raisins etc) in particular (from the bulk bins) they go into the freezer for at least several days to kill any hitchhiking bugs. Also, take into consideration your local climate. For me, storing homedried food is as simple as putting it into a screw top jar. In an even drier climate a paper bag might be sufficient. If you live where it is particularly humid you might want to consider vacuum sealing your dried goods. One size does not fit all; you always need to think about your own particular situation.

 

[ninny]

Thank you everyone!! I am looking into food sealers. Are they worth the price though? Or should I just get oxygen absorbers?

 

[moolie]

We don't use oxygen absorbers for anything, we store food to use it rather than to keep it long-term. We live in a very dry/arid location, so don't need to worry too much about damp getting into our food. And I've only ever once experienced bugs in dry food (cornmeal) many years ago--I think they came with it from the bulk bin--so we do as ORChick suggests and freeze everything prior to storing it.

As for food sealers, do you mean like a Tilia Foodsaver? I have one, purchased second-hand for $30--it even came with two rolls of bags Mine is old, like 30 years old, but works great--I mostly use it for sealing jars but have also used the bags for various things. I've got Saskatoon berries in my freezer from late July/August that show no signs of freezer burn or frost build-up inside the bags--made a beautiful pie for Christmas dinner!

 

[ninny]

I would be storing the food in the basement that floods all the time so keeping it dry will be an issue.

 

[Hinotori]

I'd vacuum seal it then. Or put it in the 5 gallon buckets with lids. The gamma lids are well worth it. Easy to get in and out and seal it up.

Since we had a rat get in the house, EVERYTHING is in buckets now if it isn't a jar or can. I bring the item home and it finds a spot in a bucket immediately. The two gallon buckets fit on my metal shelves perfectly.

Kittens are into everything and seem to have scared off the rat. The GSD had tried getting it inside. I think the big one she got under the chicken coop close to the house a few weeks ago may have been our pest. She's been very good at reducing the population.

 

[Marianne]

For around $10, you can get a hand held vacuum sealer for canning jars (I got mine on Amazon). They work great! I have all kinds of dried things stored in jars w/ an O2 absorber. You can keep those in a jar, too.

I don't have a need for the foodsaver systems. I tightly wrap meat in freezer paper or use jars or a bucket.

 

[Wannabefree]

Marianne i need to look into getting one of those. Thanks for the reminder!

 

[moolie]

I would be storing the food in the basement that floods all the time so keeping it dry will be an issue.

Best to do the buckets then, and depending on your high water line, get the buckets up onto shelves above the water line. Gamma lids are supposed to be waterproof, so you might want to look into using those--they are also way easier to get off than standard bucket lids--but I'd still store the buckets up where they are least likely to get wet.

Don't store sealed canning jars full of food anywhere they will be impacted by any flooding either, keep them above your water line on shelves. Jars of food that become immersed in water can lose their seal and you really don't want to mess around with, "is it still sealed and safe to eat?" and the potential loss of a season's load of canning.

Also, if your basement floor is concrete it is recommended that you store any food and water containers off the concrete (use boards or pallets) to keep chemicals from the concrete from leaching into the plastic.