Use 5 gal or 1 gal mylar bags??

[miked2345]

Hello all..

I just found this forum yesterday and I've been
doing alot of reading - Lots of great info!

I'm just starting out in long term food storage,
I just bought seven 5 gal used food grade pails
with lids. Next stop, get the stuff to put in them!

Couple of questions...

1. Is it better to use one 5 gal. mylar bag in
the pail, or several 1 gal. bags in each pail?
My thought is this - with a 5 gal bag, once
I open it, would it go stale before my family
of 3 used it up? With 1 gal. bags, I could
imagine using up a bag before it goes stale.
Then again, I have no idea what the shelf life
is for a opened 5 gal. bag of rice, beans, etc.
Any thoughts on this from the pros?

2. After storing all this rice, beans, flour, oats,
etc... Are there any good websites that have
recipes on how to make half way decent meals
out of it? I know I'll have certain other items
to go with it, like sugar, salt, baking soda,
powdered milk, etc, But I imagine some things
like sauces and oils might not be available.

3. When people are preparing food for long
term storage like this, under what senario are
they planning to use it? No electricity, no
refridgeration, cooking on camp stoves?
Myself, I'm trying to prepare for a SHTF moment,
like the dollar collapsing and people rioting in
the streets. Who knows if the power grid will
stay on or what...

Thanks for any thoughts you all have on this.

[Bearman202]

The question you have to answer is how much of the stuff that you're storing do you use on a regular basis? I live alone, and am prepping alone, so the one gallon would work for me. Obviously, I will need a lot more of them. If you watch the videos here, you will notice that Lowdown leaves a lot of room at the top of the bag when he seals it. That's so he can reseal it later by cutting just below the original seal, taking what he's going to need for a while, then resealing the bag.

Another consideration is how you're going to prepare the stuff you've stored. The most common rule I've seen about that sort of thing is the rule of threes. i.e. have three different ways to do it. Have a camp stove, a solar oven, and a barbeque grill. Have three different ways to start a fire. Fire starter, matches, Bic lighter. You get the idea. As you store the stuff, don't forget to store the stuff you need with it to make it edible. Granted, you can soak wheat berries overnight and eat them as a cereal in the morning, but you're probably going to want something to go with them. The most basic rule is that two is one, and one is none. Always have a back-up plan for your back-up plan.

Hope that helps. If you have other questions, just ask.

[Bearman202]

Another quick reply, to answer number 3. I don't prepare for a specific event other than, "Am I going to be at home when it happens, or somewhere else?" Most of the events that can happen that will require you to dip into storage are basically the same. There has been an interruption of basic services, for whatever reason. If I'm at home when it happens, if it's sudden, then I'm covered pretty well. If I'm not at home, then I have to have whatever on hand to either get home, or to get to my back-up. If it's a true bugout/can't get home situation, then I'm probably screwed. There is a nuke plant within 25 miles of here. If it does a Fukishima, and I have to go somewhere else, most of what I have stored will be feeding the aliens when they land on the planet 8,000 years from now, if they aren't affected by the radiation that's still around.

[Matt In Oklahoma]

1. Is it better to use one 5 gal. mylar bag in
the pail, or several 1 gal. bags in each pail?I have a combination of both. I don't think there is a wrong answer it will depend on your needs
My thought is this - with a 5 gal bag, once
I open it, would it go stale before my family
of 3 used it up? Rice, beans etc wont go stale
Then again, I have no idea what the shelf life
is for a opened 5 gal. bag of rice, beans, etc.
Any thoughts on this from the pros?I'm not sure but the rice can stay there until used and it wont go bad, just keep the bucket lid sealed on it. One thing I do is buy good lids with gaskets. It gives me peace of mind. I have seen some folks without them but I worry about bugs, ants, moisture etc getting in after it is opened. Some folks like the gamma lids, I dont have any experience with them. I have one lid that unscrews off and it's ok but not that good.

3. When people are preparing food for long
term storage like this, under what senario are
they planning to use it? Anything from weather related events, helping friends after fires, tornandos etc to the end of it all.
No electricity, no refridgeration, cooking on camp stoves? No refridgeration most likely even in short term weather stuff, I have several cooking methods from camp stoves, fire pit, grills both propane and charcoal, propane ktichen stove

You are off to a good start in your thinking, IMO if you are worried about it i would go small bags, you can always open more if needed. Small bags can also be used in trades but large bags are much easier to deal with. I would watch the videoshttp://www.youtube.com/user/delta69alpha for sure

[errorborne]

1- An advantage of filling a five gallon bucket with five seperate bags is the acess to five different food stuffs in a single bucket. Wheat, rice, beans, sugar and powdered milk for instance. There are likely to be small emergencies that needn't require opening every single bucket you sealed.

2- The Mormon church tells it's members to have a year supply of food. I can't vouch for their recipes or the ease to make them, but the fact that they go to a lot of effort to organize and store everything, leads me to beleive that their recipe book may be useful. Here is a link...

http://store.lds.org/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Product3_10705_10551_21003_-1__195673

3- Lastly I have preparations so that if the normal access to food distribution is unavailable I iwll still be able to feed my family.

[Cimarron]

Some items I have won't fill a 5 Gal. bag so I will use the smaller ones.

[lcas-271]

I like the idea of storing 5 1gal bags in 5gal buckets also. One of the reason is that we don't eat rice and beans everyday, so the 1gal bags will allow us to open smaller quantities without as much of a risk of large amounts of spoilage.

I hadn't thought of the barter aspect but it does seem like a good idea. A 1gal bag of rice in a SHTF incident would hold a good amount of value that many would be willing to trade for.

LCAS-271

[610Alpha]

5 gal bags for things that don't spoil per se, like Salt or Pepper.

5 - 1 gal bags in a 5 gal bucket are great for making care packages to give as charity, when you get to that point and even if you don't. Makes it easy for all the reasons already pointed out.

Read Patriots and How To Survive TEOTWAWKI, both by James Rawles.

Get a grain mill so that you can grind up the corn, wheat, and oats etc. Learn how to cook from those. go to library and get books that have old time recipes and photo copy them.