How to get the smell out of pickle buckets?

[barfife]

Good news....Found a good source of 5 gal food grade buckets for $2 each
Bad news.....They were used for pickles.

So far I have let them set with water and chlorox in them for 48 hrs in 95 degree sunshine but it hasn't cut the pickle smell any at all.

Two questionss:

Any thoughts on my odor issue?

Will the pickle smell permiate my mylar bags? The thought of pickle bread doesn't sound appetizing.

[Sunshine]

As suggested by someone (can't remember now) on this forum: Soak the buckets with water and pool shock in the sun all day then rinse. We did this last weekend and it worked great, although mine was a sweet smell not a pickle smell. We will be using this method on pickle buckets this weekend.

[Matt In Oklahoma]

As suggested by someone (can't remember now) on this forum: Soak the buckets with water and pool shock in the sun all day then rinse. We did this last weekend and it worked great, although mine was a sweet smell not a pickle smell. We will be using this method on pickle buckets this weekend.

I gotta send this to my wife, i was finally right bout something! LOL

[rvans]

First remove all the pickles............

[Urban Survivalist]

I posted the following in the Basics last month.

Low cost, Tax deductible food grade buckets
The other day I found a really cool place to eat. It was called Firehouse Subs. As me and family ate our really good sandwiches I noticed a sign on the wall saying buy a bucket and save a life. As I read further I found out that Firehouse Subs sells their 5 gal. pickle buckets with the lid for $2.00 and the proceeds go to the Public Safety Charity Fund so your purchase is tax deductible. The Buckets are food grade and the lids have full rubber seals. The buckets are red and have a really cool Firehouse logo on them. I ended up buying 5 buckets with lids for $10.00 no tax. The buckets have a strong pickle smell but I left them in the Arizona sun for a week and a half and the smell is gone. Now I have 5 food grade buckets with lids for long term food storage for a small fee and gave to charity. Firehouse subs has 425 locations according to their website so there may be one by you. I thought this was a good find and could help everyone out so I wanted to share the info. I hope it helps.

And Matt in Oklahoma suggested the pool shock and it worked well. my next buckets took only 2 days to be ready to package food.

[barfife]

These came from Firehouse Subs by the way. Got the idea from your post last month.

[monkeybird]

I too had the pickle smell problem. I did the baking soda, the bleach, the sun thing. I stored the bucket in my garage for a week with the lid on and guess what, when opened it smelled like pickles. So, when you think the smell is gone, store it and wait a week or so, then recheck before using.

Frankly I'm must be lazy cause the time and energy it took to try and get the pickle smell out was simply not worth getting the bucket free. I buy my buckets.

[Patriotic Sheepdog]

These came from Firehouse Subs by the way.

I use the same buckets. What I usually do is bucket ten at a time as that is how many O2 absorbers come in a plastic bag. Once I use the ten buckets I will go buy at least ten more. I then just wash with dishwashing soap, dry and let then sit inside for a while with the lids off. When I need to use them the smell is minimal to none. Even if they smell some, I use mylar. Don't know how much smell will go through mylar, but....pickled rice might be the next trend, LOL

[nickmimi]

In the past, my wife and I have cleaned the buckets with soap and water. Rinsed. Washed with bleach and water solution. Rinsed, dried. Followed by baking soda for 2 days. Seemed to work in the past.

[Lowdown3]

I use the same buckets. What I usually do is bucket ten at a time as that is how many O2 absorbers come in a plastic bag. Once I use the ten buckets I will go buy at least ten more. I then just wash with dishwashing soap, dry and let then sit inside for a while with the lids off. When I need to use them the smell is minimal to none. Even if they smell some, I use mylar. Don't know how much smell will go through mylar, but....pickled rice might be the next trend, LOL

You mean rice isn't supposed to smell like pickles or donut icing? I don't believe it! Cause every bit of rice we've eaten over the last 12+ years has smelled like that. Looking forward to getting more into the later 90's part of the rotation which equals mylar.

[Patriotic Sheepdog]

You mean rice isn't supposed to smell like pickles or donut icing? I don't believe it! Cause every bit of rice we've eaten over the last 12+ years has smelled like that. Looking forward to getting more into the later 90's part of the rotation which equals mylar.

Do you get extra calories with that smell?