Packing food- buckets versus dry packed jars

[Lowdown3]

A lot of folks talk about using glass canning jars for DRY PACKING food- i.e, grains, beans, dry milk, etc.

I've made a little break down here on the pros and cons of each-

Cost-

Case of 12 quarts jars $9. or more. Might hold 30 or so lbs. of dry goods.

5 gallon bucket $3. mylar $1.50 WILL hold at least 35 lbs. of dry goods.


Protection-

Jars- no LIGHT BARRIER unless frivolous amounts of labor are put into wrapping them, etc.

5 gallon bucket- substantial light barrier.


Durability-


Jars- drop one and see for yourself

5 gallon bucket- drop a QUALITY one from a 6 foot ladder and nothing happens unless it lands just right.

Transport-

Jars- loading up for a bug out with easily broken cars in a flimsy CARDBOARD case that requires TWO HANDS to carry, will leave you with a plethora of broken jars at the end of your bug out trip. Even for the "I don't plan to bug out" types- a strong STORM, a nuclear blast wave, hurricane or earthquake could ruin a pile of your storage food.

5 gallon bucket- can be carried out one at a time with a free hand still available to access a weapon, carry a CHILD, open doors, etc. Can be bounced around in the back of a truck no problem with no damage. Can be left out in the rain and elements for an extended period of time with no detriment to the mylar lined contents- I've done this.

Ease of use-

Jars- everyone likes to tout jars cause they are easy. "Well see I'll only need a little bit of rice and I don't want to open a BIG OLE bucket of rice cause I heard from someone that packed 3 buckets that once you opened a bucket, it all went "POOOOOFFF"

Buckets- despite the "it's such a big deal to open a bucket and mylar" it's really not UNLESS it's something very hydro scopic like Milk powder. This is why dried milk should be purchased in #10 cans. Your whole grains, legumes, pastas, etc. will be perfectly fine for a LONG PERIOD OF TIME in a bucket that's been "opened." Use common sense- use a lid lifter, take the lid off, make a SMALL SLIT in the mylar just big enough to get a measuring cup inside of it, get what you need out, then roll the mylar back on to itself and close the lid tightly. Now if you don't close the lid good, their is a good chance you'll get bugs in there, hence why I said "use common sense."

At any given time in our home, we have 3-6 buckets in this state. Some things we don't use much sit "opened" for a year or more without a problem. This has been my experience in storing food since 1986-87 and using food storage daily for over a decade.

It's best to leave the glass canning jars for their intended purpose- packing home grown veggies, fruits and meats IMO. Unless you have "inherited" hundreds of them for free the cost is prohibitive.

Lowdown3

[rockriver]

it may be better to start another thread, but what about number 10 cans.
i've seen 2 types. the outside of one was ?copper colored.. appeared to be a coating over the metal.
and then just plain metal...
any pros or cons anyone can discuss?

[Lowdown3]

Where possible, you want the gold colored cans. Silver colored cans rust REALLY fast in high humidity storage. A friend brought me some about a year and a half ago, they are already rusting pretty good. However gold colored- "double enameled" cans from the early 90's stored in the same environment show virtually none despite the massive difference in age.

If all you can find is silver colored cans (they are much cheaper) than by all mean use silver colored cans. Most of the major food packers use or used to use, double enameled cans. We had a couple pallets left over in late 99 when we closed our cannery in Florida. They stored well for years till we used them all up a while back.

[gkmiami]

Case of 12 quarts jars $9. or more. Might hold 30 or so lbs. of dry goods.

5 gallon bucket $3. mylar $1.50 WILL hold at least 35 lbs. of dry goods.

More like only 21 lbs in a case of quart jars. (12 qts = 3 gal; therefore 3/5 ths of 35 lbs = 21 lbs)
Never understood why people thought this was a good idea for all the reasons you've stated.
Use the canning jars for what they were designed for.

gk

[monkeybird]

I discovered the peril of storing in mason jars when I dropped and broke several of them on the garage's concrete floor. Other than storing dehydrated food for a month or so to make sure it's fully dehydrated, I no longer use them for anything long term. I bought some gallon sized paint cans but haven't used them. Never thought about the cans rusting.

[kappydell]

I store a couple pound bags of assorted beans in a 5 gal mylar, then surround it with rice. That way you are not opening multiple huge pails of one kind of food, but one pail with an assortment.

[onebigelf]

I prefer to pack (pressure can) the jars with finished meals to serve OVER the rice. That is, in fact, the working title of the cookbook I'm working on. "Over Rice".

John