Diatomaceous earths

[jloneill17]

I was looking to get some food stored and this gentleman I met is selling these in 5 gallon buckes, with mylar, oxygen absorbers, and Diatomaceous earths for $50.00 a bucket.
Product Approximate weight of 5 gln
RICE 35lb
OATS 19lb
BEANS 35lb
Wheat 35lb

Three questions, Are these prices good, decent, or bad? Could I save a lot more by doing it myself? Is the Diatomaceous earth really needed or not? is it bad to eat? does anyone use this stuff? ok, that's more that 3 questions, but any advice would really help. I'm getting some extra money from our wedding next month, and though my wife thinks i'm a little crazy, i wanted to store some food. Would I save alot by buying my own buckets, rice, O2 absorbers, and mylar?

[Lowdown3]

Don't need the DE. Everyone worth their "salt" that packs knows that. NONE of the professional packing houses use it.

Rice is 50 lbs. for $16. at Sam's, buckets can be found free. A couple dollars for mylar and oxygen absorbers.

Remember this is coming from a guy (me) that has sold food storage since 1989. Yet I'm telling you how to save money and pack it yourself- and have made numerous videos showing you how to do it and hundreds of threads and posts on the net explaining how.

You need to store food, no doubt there. But you can do it cheaper yourself and honestly, I would seriously doubt the creds of anyone packing with DE....

Just like the "y2kbuckets" type idjits that popped up in 1999 that were packing still wet field corn into GARBAGE BAGS inside buckets and trying to sell them at Preparedness Expos, their WILL be tons of Johnny Come Lately's showing up in the next couple years to make money off the 2012 scare. Do your research and avoid the hayseeds...

[jloneill17]

Thanks so much Lowdown. I will just do it myself then. I appreciate it.

[Lowdown3]

No problem. I'm always about saving a couple bucks where you can. That's more you can put into other preps then ;)

Good luck, if you run into any snags, post them and we'll help you get them taken care of.

https://www.bucketpacking.com

is the direct link to the first part of the video series we did in case you haven't seen them. It will show you what you need to get started.

[Matt In Oklahoma]

LD3 I have sent your video to more folks than I can count as of now. I wanna say thanks. I wish I had known how to years ago but thats what I get for dropping out of the community for many years. It wasnt without reason but I would have been alot better off if I had seen them videos years ago.

[610Alpha]

It is used as a pesticide, the fine particulates gets into insects and tears them up.

Let me make myself clear, I wasn't suggesting that someone use it for food packing. Use it as a pesticide on your garden. Get one of those hand crank blowers and spray the bottom of your plants leaves with the DE. Did not mean to cause any confusion.

[protus]

It is used as a pesticide, the fine particulates gets into insects and tears them up.

it kills living bugs, not eggs.
soooooooo.....unless your packing infested rice.wheat etc..why use it?

none of the major "prep" food packers use it....so why should the solo packer for their LTS...

[610Alpha]

See my revised post.

[protus]

See my revised post.

no problem, i was trolling for a debate. I have an issue with DE fan boys and LTS. I has its use's for places like gardens etc. but not in my bucket of clean rice LOL :p

[Patriot Prepper]

I consider DE to be a toxic substance and would not want it near my food and would not want to ingest it.

I used it a few times on the carpet when my dog got infested with fleas and it seemed to work.

Not needed for food storage.

[610Alpha]

** Debate ALERT **

Sorry to disappoint you Protus.

As far as DE being toxic I will debate:

Diatomaceous earth (pronounced /ˌdaɪ.ətəˌmeɪʃəs ˈɜrθ/) also known as diatomite or kieselgur, is a naturally occurring, soft, siliceous sedimentary rock that is easily crumbled into a fine white to off-white powder. It has a particle size ranging from less than 1 micron to more than 1 millimeter, but typically 10 to 200 microns.[1] This powder has an abrasive feel, similar to pumice powder, and is very light, due to its high porosity. The typical chemical composition of oven dried diatomaceous earth is 80 to 90% silica, with 2 to 4% alumina (attributed mostly to clay minerals) and 0.5 to 2% iron oxide.[1]


Diatomaceous earth consists of fossilized remains of diatoms, a type of hard-shelled algae. It is used as a filtration aid, as a mild abrasive, as a mechanical insecticide, as an absorbent for liquids, as cat litter, as an activator in blood clotting studies, and as a stabilizing component of dynamite. As it is also heat-resistant, it can be used as a thermal insulator.

Got that from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diatomaceous_earth

Protus you will enjoy the section on the wiki page titled "Use in agriculture". Then of course there is the section in which I was suggesting it be used "Pest control".

Here is the MSDS sheet that JTbaker (Chemical Company) provides when you purchase it from them. http://www.jtbaker.com/msds/englishhtml/d1288.htm I used to work in the Life Sciences Dept as a Student Worker when I was in college and had to file these whenever we got chemicals in from companies like JTbaker.

Let the debate begin....don't you know if its on the internet it must be true! Ha ha ha. Now who will be the first one to spin off in a tangent about DE...

Oh btw there is also "Food Grade DE", just for you LD3 & Protus! Sometimes I just can't help myself. A poke at the whole Food Grade bucket debate...hey if we can't laugh at ourselves a little bit every now and then, what's the point?

[jloneill17]

LOWDOWN- I tried to send you a pm, but it says my pm is diabled. How do I fix that?

[610Alpha]

Those privileges are not enabled by the administrator. That <is the message I received when I clicked on the "Send Private Message" link> when I tried to send a PM. They must not want us to do that here on this site.

[jloneill17]

Those privileges are not enabled by the administrator. That is what I was told when I tried to send a PM. They must not want us to do that here on this site.

Ahh.. thanks man.

[protus]

e.L
yip read it. know the difference between non food grade and food grade DE.
The major issue to us as humans in both forms is the inhalation hazard. The results or health use's for DE to us ( humans) via ingestion is debatable at best ( even the wiki you referr to says that ) even for livestock/pets.
As to its basic purpose of a "pest" control agent i will agree/not debate with that, and known it for its use as such. BUT again when in conjunction with LTS, imho, it is up to the end user to decide what he/she wants to do.
I personally do not feel it is needed ( since we should all be packing our grains before they have bugs) for LTS food items.
Then again the debate will start becuase of the so many other ways people over think such a simple task of dumping grain into a mylar bag,dropping an O2 in and sealing and walking away.