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Long Term Preservation of Dry Goods In Plastic Buckets

Sat, 10/18/2008 ­ 00:00 — eric

In this article, we discuss long term (up to 30 year) storage of dry goods in food grade plastic buckets using dry ice

to remove oxygen from the buckets. This is more effective than vacuum sealing, easier, and cheaper. We also

present some links to options for preserving dry goods in other kinds of containers and some resources for

determining how much and what type of dry goods to store.

Why Long­Term Storage?

It may be necessary or prudent to consider long term storage of dry goods for many reasons: The obvious one is

preparation for any king of long term disaster, something which is required by the Mormon Church (which therefore

tends to produce many good and well­tested resources on this subject for the average home owner). Another is as

an insurance against short­term dry goods storage failure (from, e.g. insect damage, container failure, or accident)

or as part of a general food­budget plan for a farm, especially a subsistence farm.

In our case, our primary purpose is food budgeting: the long­term storage ensures that we can make up shortfalls in our food budget without having to worry about surplus

food spoiling if a shortfall does not occur within its shelf­life. On a subsistence farm we must preserve enough food of each type each year to make it through to the next

harvest and possible through one missed or failed harvest. Having long­term storage to ease out bumps in this path is critical, especially in our early stages. Our secondary

purposes include insurance against failure of short­term storage and disaster preparation is an added freebie.

Regardless of your reasons for storing dry goods long­term, you want to preserve them successfully, free of rot or insect damage, as cheaply and conveniently as possible.

This method, that of using plastic food­grade buckets (e.g. recycled icing containers), meets those criteria quite well. It has the added benefit that the containers may be

available for free and that the containers are resealable, meaning that they can be used for convenient short­term storage after the seal on the dry goods is cracked for the

first time. For storage in other kinds of containers such as for metal cans, a similar process can be followed using oxygen absorption packets.

We worked from a PDF available on the Provident Living website.

The process will take a good chunk of a day to store a significant amount of food, but some of the time is spent waiting and you can do other things. Make sure youplan the time to get the job done so you do not waste your dry ice.

The Containers

We use food grade plastic buckets with gasketed, air­tight lids. These may be obtained recycled, sometimes for free, by asking your local bakery or bakery department for

used plastic icing buckets. You will need to clean the buckets thoroughly, insect them for signs of wear or cracking, and ensure that the gaskets are intact so that the buckets

will be air­tight. You will need to do these same things every time you reuse these buckets. Be aware that plastic degrades much more quickly when exposed to ultraviolet

from sunlight. Do not use non­food grade plastic or buckets which have been used to store non­food items.

You may also purchase new buckets with air­tight lids.

The Dry Goods

For this method and 5­30 years storage, you want whole, dry goods with moisture under 10% and low fat content (some information in another PDF on the Provident Living

Site): whole grains, rolled oats, peas, beans, white rice. Too much moisture and low oxygen results in botulism poisoning. Too much fat may cause the food to go rancid.

Milled grains (e.g. flour, meal) should not be stored this way, but milled grains lose their nutritional content quickly and should not be stored long­term anyway. Store the

whole grain and grind it at need. Rolled oats are the only exception; they may be stored safely with this method. Brown rice has too much fat content and may go rancid.

We get approximately 10 pounds of dry goods in each 5 gallon bucket.

For figuring out how much you may need, the Food Guy’s Handy Calculator is a good resource.

The Materials

In addition to the dry goods and the buckets, you will need dry ice in the amount of one ounce per gallon of storage capacity. You will also need gloves, tongs, a kitchen scale,

a towel, and some shims to put under the buckets to provide air space underneath them when storing. Work in a ventilated area and preferably on non­humid days. Food­

safe silicon desiccant packets are optional for reducing moisture in the container.

Where in the world do you get dry ice? We bought it at our local gas station and Wal­Mart is sometimes an option. If you have trouble, look at the Dry Ice Directory. Yes, it

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Oats Poured Into Buckets: Oats are being pouredinto the buckets on top of the dry ice.

Dry Ice: A bag of dry ice.

Weighing the Dry Ice: Weigh the dry ice using a

kitchen scale.

Dry Ice In the Bucket: Place the dry ice in the bottomof the bucket.

really exists. Amazing isn’t it? It might interest you to know that one of the sources for production of dry ice is CO2

scrubbers on coal or other power plants, so this is recycling to an extent. The utility removes the pollutant from their

flue gas and sells the product to try to recoup their cost.

A package of dry ice will preserve a large amount of grain. Find out how big the packages are you may buy and, if

necessary, think about storing dry goods for more than one household at a time. We used a package for one day’s

worth of our own storage and then took it to a friend for her to use on hers.

The Process

The basic idea is that you will use dry ice in the bucket to displace oxygen in the dry goods. Carbon dioxide (CO2) is

heavier than normal air and expands markedly when it changes from solid to gas (“sublimates”). The heavy gas will

force normal air out of the bucket, thanking oxygen with it. This is more effective than vacuum sealing because it

removes nearly 100% of the oxygen where vacuum sealing removes only a fraction of mixed air, including the 21%

which is oxygen. Once the oxygen is out of the bucket, you will seal it tightly and store it. Do not open the container or use the contents until you are ready to permanently shift

it to non­long­term storage.

Weigh Out The Dry Ice

The first step is to use a kitchen scale to measure the appropriate amount of dry ice for your buckets. With the five

gallon buckets, you need 5 ounces of dry ice. Remember that kitchen scales are neither fantastically precise, (how

small an amount they measure) nor accurate (how close the measurement is to the real value), err on the high side.

The better the quality of the scale, the better you can measure and the less you can waste.

Use gloves and tongs to handle the dry ice as it can cost frostbite quickly and you will not notice before you havedone damage to your hands.

Once you measure the ice, work quickly. Place unused dry ice in a small cooler to keep it from going away before you

do the next bucket.

Placing The Dry Ice In The Container

Water may condense on the dry ice depending on the

humidity. Wipe water or frost crystals off of the surface of the

ice with a towel. Place the dry ice in the bottom of the empty,

clean, dry container.

Fill the Container

Now

add

your

dry

goods to the container. Fill to within an inch of the top. Add a desiccant packet if desired. Place the clean, dry lid on top of the container and press it down to seal half way

around the container. The unsealed portion will allow the normal air to escape as the dry ice sublimates and expands. Beware of dry goods in the gasket area, which may

interfere with a tight seal. Be careful not to spill product in the seal area while filling the bucket and check the seal before applying the lid (brushing any product out of the way

if necessary).

Wait for the dry ice to finish sublimating. You must wait until the dry ice is all gone. Check this by feeling the bottom of the bucket,; if it is very cold, wait some more. This

process may take several hours. Be patient. If you store a lot of goods at once some of the waiting time will be taken up by filing more buckets.

Seal the Buckets and Monitor

When you think the ice has done its job, seal the bucket the rest of the way. Put a good bit of force on the seal to make sure it is tight. If you have a problem, go back and read

my notes about dry goods in the seal area and clean if necessary.

Monitor the bucket for maybe thirty minutes after sealing the lid to make sure it is not building up pressure. If the lid bulges, the dry ice was not completely done before

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Partially Sealed Buckets: Partially sealedbuckets while we wait for the dry ice to sublimate.

sealing. Pry up the lid slightly to relieve the pressure and then tightly reseal. The first time we did this, we had pressure

build up in some buckets about twenty minutes after sealing the containers, indicating we had not waited long enough

before sealing. Patience is a good thing.

The lid may instead pull in some after time. This is normal. It means that some of the CO2 was absorbed into the food

(harmless).

Long­Term Storage

Move the buckets to their permanent storage area. Do not stack more than three containers tall and be careful of putting

too much weight of any kind on top or you may crack them. Check them every so often to make sure the buckets have not

cracked or been damaged. Put some shims of some sort under and between the buckets to allow some air circulation

(about ½ inch) to keep moisture from building up.

Store cool, dry, and dark, preferably 75 degrees or colder. Higher temperatures may reduce your storage life and you will

want to rotate your dry goods to keep them from spoiling. When you are ready to use your goods, pry open the bucket and

check the contents for any signs of spoilage or insect damage in case something went wrong. Since the buckets reseal,

you can continue to store the dry goods in them as you fill smaller containers form them, but I always mark the bucket so that I know it is open and no longer oxygen free.

Conclusion

That’s it! Since the containers are fairly durable and water tight, they will survive minor accidents. Check them carefully if, for instance, some flooding occurs and dry them off

to prevent mold or mildew on the outside (which may contaminate food when you open the container or may rot the gasket). Rotate your food whenever you can and replace

with fresh, but the containers will continue to store when you have significant surplus and cannot rotate it right away.

Sore what you use and learn to use what you store. If you are used to eating microwave TV dinners or fast food all the time and expect to suddenly live off fifty pounds of

whole wheat in an emergency, expect to have serious digestive and other problems, not to mention severe depression. Learn to cook with your dry goods while you are not in

an emergency and learn to make nutritious and interesting food. Get your body used to the diet you expect to have and improve your food storage to make sure you have or

con improvise what you need to do it right.

Resources and Bibliography

Plastic Buckets for longer­Term Food Storage ( http://providentliving.org/pfw/multimedia/files/pfw/pdf/96278_PlasticBuc... ), The church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day

Saints ( http://www.lds.org ), Provident Living ( http://providentliving.org ), Intellectual Reserve, Inc. 2007.

Oxygen Absorbers ( http://providentliving.org/pfw/multimedia/files/pfw/pdf/109616_OxygenAbs... ), The church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints ( http://www.lds.org ),

Provident Living ( http://providentliving.org ). Intellectual Reserve, Inc. March 2008.

Dry Products for Longer­Term Food Storage ( http://providentliving.org/pfw/multimedia/files/pfw/pdf/113951_DryProduc... ), The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day

Saints ( http://www.lds.org ), Provident Living ( http://providentliving.org ), Intellectual Reserve, Inc. June 2008.

Provident Living Home Food Storage Page ( http://providentliving.org/channel/0, 11677,1706­1,00.html ).

“All Is Gathered Safely In – Family Home Storage” ( http://providentliving.org/fhs/pdf/WE_Family ResourcesGuide_International__04008_000.pdf ), The church of Jesus

Christ of Latter Day Saints ( http://www.lds.org ), Provident Living ( http://providentliving.org ). Intellectual reserve, Inc. 2007.

A short pamphlet on the basics of home storage and preparation.

Oxygen Absorbers ( https://www.usaemergencysupply.com/informatin_center/food_storage/faq/ox... ), USA Emergency Supply, Inc. (

https://www.usaemergencysupply.com ), October 2008.

Another page about oxygen absorbers, an alternative method for other types of containers such as tin cans, by a company which sells them.

Food Guy’s Storage Calculator ( http://www.thefoodguys.com/foodcalc.html ), Powervision Emergency Food Storage, Inc. ( http://www.thefoodguys.com ), 2007.

A handy utility for calculating food needs by family size. Numbers taken from the LDS Church’s Home Production and Storage Manual.

Dry Ice Directory ( http://www.dryicedirectory.com ), Dry Ice info.com ( http://dryiceinfo.com ), 2008.

A worldwide directory of places to buy dry ice.

Family Home Storage Items in the LDS Distribution Service Online Catalog

Cookin’ with Home Storage, Peggy Layton. 1998. Self published. Manti, Utah. 1998.

An excellent book on what to store, what to do with it, and how to make sure you eat healthy and good food at the same time. If you buy just one book on food

storage, this is it. You can order copies of the book by visiting the website or by calling 435­835­0312.

Acknowledgments

Special thanks to Donna Spangler for retyping this after the electronic copy was lost.

Copyright2008, The Misty Manor, Mercers

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