Long Term Storage so easy...even a caveman could do it...

The easiest... but more expensive way to do long term storage is to buy it from a company that sells it already packaged. The church also offers food in #10 cans for a decent price.

For those that want or need to do it themselves...there are ways to do it for little cost...without having to drive out the cannery...not taking a whole lot of time....and with so much ease...even a caveman could do it!

Here is one such way...

1. Go to or call a mom and pop donut shop or bakery and ask what they do with their buckets. Many of them give them away...or sell them. I purchase mine for $1 each. I bring them home and rinse them out and they are ready to go! I also take the lids with good gaskets (the rubber part under the lid)...and hopefully with a handle still intact (easier to carry when full). Other businesses...like sandwich shops...will have them too...the main thing is that they held food and not a chemical. They generally come in mixed sizes...and they all will work.

Others purchase buckets from emergency essentials...but be prepared to pay a lot of money for them (almost $7....plus shipping)! Still others buy their buckets from places like lowes or home depot. I don't think that they are food grade...and are not as high of a quality as the food grade...but as long as you use a mylar liner it should be OK.

2. Order small or large (20x30)mylar bags. This gives added protection to your food...above and beyond just putting it into a bucket. The small are if you want to store smaller portions...the large are if you want to fill a whole bucket.

3. Also order oxygen absorbers. Here is a video that talks about oxygen absobers.

4. Buy a long term storage item that you like to eat. Check out the churches list of some of those items. You can pick these up at Winco...Costco...Sams...the Cannery...etc...etc. Generally the larger portion you buy...the more the savings will be. (no duh!)

5. Watch these videos demonstrate what to do...

This one I liked because he talks about a method of heat sealing with a curling iron...which is nice if you don't have the official equipment. He demonstrates how to seal a mylar bag with a "clamshell" heat sealer. I would not recommend storing "wheat feed"...like he is...because you can run into all kinds of problems with insects...debris...and more pesticides to ingest. He also uses the bucket only as a holder to put the mylar bag into and then puts the bags into larger containers. (which isn't a bad idea...it's just not what most of you are going to do)

This video demonstrates using a clothes iron to seal a bag! He leaves the mylar bag in the bucket. Some people even throw in oxygen absorbers into the bucket.

So...let's compare what we just did with an emergency essentials product...

So if we found the following items for the following prices...

Bucket - $1

Oxygen absorbers x3 - I'll just say they are 15c each...so 45c total

White wheat from Cannery - They come in 25lb bags...the price broken down to be equal to a 45lb would be $13.32 for 45lbs. Add in tax to bring it to $15.

Add $2.55...which is your half of the gas to get to the cannery because you carpooled with a friend that you invited!

We use our clothes iron to seal which is free. Let's say that the large mylar bag is $3.00 after tax and shipping

So our grand total for a homemade bucket of white wheat is somewhere around $22!

The same thing from emergency essentials is $47.95 + $6.00 for shipping = rounded up a nickel...is $54.00!!!

That is a $32.00 savings with just ONE BUCKET by doing it yourself and being thrifty!! That would really add up as you continue to put up more food. You would be able to put up more than twice as much food on the same budget than someone who just purchased predone buckets!!

That sort of mathematics and storage process is easy for any caveman to understand and agree with! Ugghh!!