Plastic For LTS

Plastic gets a deservedly bad rap on occasions. A number of cheap plastics leach bad things into food or other items stored in them. Cheap plastics will also turn brittle relatively quickly, sometimes even in less than a year. Yet other plastics don’t readily biodegrade and/or contributed to microplastics in the environment. Modern biodegradable plastics are proof that the road to hades is paved with good intentions with the wiring harnesses of our vehicles, military equipment, first responder vehicles and equipment, and much more being extremely tasty to a variety of critters. Not to mention that it can biodegrade while still in use…

However, there are some plastics that are good for Long Term Storage (LTS) of food and other items. These are made with plastics designed not to degrade, not to leach anything, and remain useful for a number of years. These plastics are your friend in an emergency.

The most common one you will be need are food-grade plastic buckets. You can get them square or round, and in a variety of sizes. You even have options on the lid, and while there are pros and cons to each, I mostly go with a screw-on airtight lid (gamma seal may be a brand name) as it gives the most flexibility for the future. The biggest problem in my book is getting the rings on the bucket, which is helped by using a 2-lb weighted mallet. Do not give into temptation and use a sledge hammer. No matter how tempting it is.

While I’m still experimenting a bit, I tend to use 2.5 gallon buckets to hold multiple small bags of spices and such, or to hold non-bulky items. The size gives you a lot of flexibility on storage, and also make it easy to do multiple smaller packages of items so you can distribute them around for redundancy. Also, if they are not heavy, you can stack them on each other. For LTS, I tend to put heavy at 10 lbs or less of weight, preferably less. This reduces load and sheer stress on the containers.

I use 5 gallon buckets for bulk storage or for very bulky items. I’ve found that they are the perfect size for 25 lb bags of beans and other food items. They are also a good size for storing large amounts of toilet paper, feminine products, and other non-life-saving-but-you-really-want-to-have items.

I like the screw tops because they make getting stuff in and out easier. More to the point, you really should rotate or use some of your stocks over time to ensure a fresh supply. The airtight screw tops help preserve once you open the bags within and start using the beans, flour, or whatever is inside. Again, right now it’s just me so buying bulk gets me the best deal and the screw top helps me stretch out the shelf life.

Quick Note: DO NOT STACK 5 GALLON BUCKETS! They are bulky, they are heavy, and the load and sheer stresses placed on the bottom buckets can cause them to fail within just a couple of years. Loudly and messily. I know this because my landlord helpfully stacked some buckets I had in the garage, which had water in them. He then put yet more stuff on top of that. One of the bottom buckets let go, and a fun time was had by all. No, landlord still doesn’t know why I had them or what I do have, unless he is reading here now.

For LTS, what I am currently doing is three levels of containment. Maybe I spent too much time around NASA and others where three levels of redundancy was considered a good start. But, emergencies are not nice and they often can damage more than our calm. Hence, three layers. Bucket, mylar bucket liner, and special mylar bag designed for LTS of food. Above, the buckets with liners in them.

Now you see a bucket with the special 5 gallon food bag placed inside the mylar bucket liner.

Now, we get to something that can make some people scream. In the bottom, you see four oxygen absorbing packets. There are a number of writings on the right size for every circumstance, the best way to employ them, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera as the late Mr. Brynner used to declaim. Seriously, they are well worth reading and you can use the knowledge.

Me, well, the rule-of-thumb I go by is that you need at least a 300cc packet per gallon of space. I use that as my minimum and go from there. For example, I think the photo above may show 500cc packets as they came with some bags I ordered. I put four or five in the bottom of the 5 gallon bag, add my storage item, then drop four or five on the top before trying to get as much air out before engaging the zip seal on the bag. I then drop four or five more into the bucket liner before sealing it. I then drop four or five more into the bucket before screwing the lid shut. Since they often come in sealed packages of ten, if I find myself with one or two left out of the packet, I will drop them in rather than waste them.

Yes, it’s overkill but I don’t care. The packets are cheap, while my life and the lives of those I help in an emergency are not. If there is a leak in the main bag, there are two other levels to prevent problems. If the bucket springs a leak, there are two other levels to prevent problems. If you end up with larger packets and more packets than the optimum, well, in my book that’s okay. I consider the 300cc per gallon as a minimum and if the bags come with something larger, I cheerfully use them.

The only thing I don’t use the packets with are salt. With salt, I may use a silica gel packet for moisture control if it is humid the day I store it, but not an O2 packet. Also, don’t try to use silica packs and O2 packs together, as the silica needs O2 to work. Salt is generally good on it’s own.

I’m going to get into sealing the bags next week, as I am both trying something new here soon (I hope) and because it is important. You can get by without the bags and sealing, just using a bucket, but you really do want to use the bags and seal. No, you do not want to trust the zip seal, which I see as just one more layer in preventing air from getting into your food.

Before I wrap up for the day, one quick thought on non-food-grade buckets. In fact, the buckets you can get at the paint store (often much cheaper than can get them at the big box stores). They really aren’t that good for long-term storage but they do have uses so it is a good idea to keep a few around.

For example, if you know something is about to happen, you can fill them with water for use later. If you want to ensure potability, drop in one of those 5 gallon mylar bucket liners and you are good to go. Otherwise, you have the means to flush a commode or bathe at need.

Another good use for them is as an emergency toilet. Dean Ing has good instructions on this in his book Pulling Through. Short version: line bucket with three garbage bags; use cardboard to make a seat if you like; use for solid waste. Again, if a long-term disaster strikes I highly recommend using one of these to collect urine for purification/recycling. Back to topic: when half full, secure bag, secure the next bag to ensure no leaking, take to storage area, add new bags, and you are good to go. My memory/mind is mush these days, but seem to remember that at some point someone was actually making toilet seats for such buckets for camping or emergency use.

Finally, there are some plastic cases that are designed for security and long-term storage. Pelican is probably the best-known brand name, but it has competitors and Bill posted about one he’s tried in the comments to a previous post. Such cases are very good for things, particularly things we might want to protect for or in an emergency. The case you see in that first picture was my travel humidor. While I am giving away most of my smoking gear, did keep a few things just because.

Also, do check mil surplus for such cases. Somewhere I have a very good rifle case that was surplus, and such cases and others can be used for a variety of contents. While food and water are crucial in any emergency, long term emergencies or disasters require a lot more for you and yours to survive in some measure of comfort.

So, have as many options as you can for storage. The more you store and the more you can disperse items around to keep any one disaster from claiming all, the better. The more you can re-use your storage in preparation or in the disaster/emergency, the better. Just as glass can be re-used or even re-purposed, so to can your plastic (and metal) storage containers. Factor that into your planning and budget, as I don’t like single-use items. Most items should be able to pull double or triple duty in an emergency, or even more.

More on sealing soon. I may get into some nice-to-haves and other items for consideration tomorrow. And some cheap or free sources for food-grade buckets. We will see.

Getting hit by lightning is not fun! If you would like to help me in my recovery efforts, which include moving once we have medical issues cleared up, feel free to hit the fundraiser at A New Life on GiveSendGo, use the options in the Tip Jar in the upper right, or drop me a line to discuss other methods. It is thanks to your gifts and prayers that I am still going. Thank you.