Pantries and Preparedness with Glenda. Storage buckets etc.

This week we are continuing on with help from Glenda.  She said to me how pleased she is that we have a good pantry and also several income streams rather than just one.  
When we started building up the pantry I mainly focused on storms and power outages as they were my main worries.  Now here I am surrounded by a series of good reasons to be prepared...  the cyclone and seeing what happens in the aftermath, rising food prices as a consequence, Andy's job loss and now they tell us we might be in for a mouse plague!  
I couldn't make this stuff up!  And I won't even get into what is happening in the world right now...  (which seems to be escalating even since I started to write this)
I will just get back to my goal and that is to get ahead as we can, learn as much as I can, and encourage you to take every opportunity to have a well prepared household.  And to make hay while the sun shines! 

Now over to Glenda and to where we left off last week.  We are looking at pantry storage.  (The photos are all Glenda's pantry and storage that she and her husband took for us!)

The large food safe buckets with air tight lids (whether tight seal or gamma) can be purchased in various sizes from businesses that sell them brand new or bakeries that sell them used. If purchasing new, the bucket and lid are usually sold separately and they can be costly. The new one's, though, are BPA free and the buyer can choose either the regular tight seal lid or the gamma lid to go on it. We have a mixture of both. If using the tight seal lid, remember to purchase a Bucket Lid Wrench to open it. The gamma lids are great for people with arthritis or if someone is going to be getting in and out of the bucket frequently. Once purchased, the buckets last a lifetime, whether they are used bakery buckets or the new BPA free buckets.

    When we first started buying in bulk to save money, about 35 years ago, we went to the bakery section of the grocery stores and they gave them away at that time. They were used for frosting, so we took them home, washed them up thoroughly and dried them really good. We would let them sit out to continue air drying for a couple of hours just to make sure there was no moisture left. The lids were the hardest to completely get dry. It's important to make sure the lids have the rubber rings on them and that they are removable for washing. We ultimately replaced all of those buckets with the BPA free buckets, but no one should feel that is necessary to do. The buckets allow for large poundage storage. 

    A five gallon bucket holds about 37 lbs. of wheat berries.  The same size bucket holds 37 lbs of popcorn. We use the organic popcorn, instead of purchasing cornmeal. The popcorn will store for 30 years in the bucket and when we want to make corn muffins or cornbread, I can just grind what I want; it's delicious. It is, also, much less expensive to buy the popcorn in the bulk and grind it than to buy cornbread muffin mix or cornmeal. Freshness is an issue with store bought ground grains that have sat on the shelf. 

   The Sam's Club, near us, sells 50 lbs of Premium popcorn for $23.98. That amount of popcorn will last a very, very long time, unless a family eats a lot of cornbread, corn muffins, and popcorn as a snack. When storing items, it is always wise to consider their versatility. Whole Popcorn can be used for a snack; ground for breads and muffins; and it stores very long term safely. For us, that makes it a wise investment in storage. I don't have to worry about running out of that grain and I have a variety of ways to fix it. Plus, by buying it in the bulk, now, it saves me money, time, worry, and effort in the future. Any purchase now is a hedge against future inflation.

We will leave it there and wait until part three and part four... 
Thank you so much Glenda.

I can say that in Australia you can certainly get free food grade buckets and large containers pretty easily.  Ask at any bakery,  restaurant,  cafe....  if you know someone with any kind of food business you are set.  Vicky covers her buckets with vinyl or you can use contact if you like as well.  You are getting a lot of food storage containers for free this way. 
It is also very possible to get free glass jars especially if you know instant coffee drinkers who will save them for you.  I have always saved jars and the old style ones with screw top lids that I just love I have mostly found in op shops.  I have been to plastic ware type sales parties where you could buy a small car cheaper than outfitting your pantry with plastic containers,  pfft!  I would rather fit out my pantry for free or very little and spend the money on stocking it.  But storing things properly is vital so that they last and are not raided by pests etc. 

We are going well and finding ways to use our time wisely, getting lots of things done that need doing. Now my clothes line is up!  
I want to encourage you to be like a little ant and work on your preparedness.  Also to be watchful and prudent!  
Have a good week! xxx