Food storage PROBLEM,dont make this mistake!
 

I posted this at another site but will share it here and welcome responses.

OK,2 years ago we did our first longer term storage in buckets.

Put our dehydrated food on double bagged ziplocks and into buckets.Opened some today and HORROR!

The apples,for example,look great,a littler drier than when stored but they taste of PICKLES! In fact the bags REEK of pickles.Apple chutney coming up because thats the ONLY hope for them.

The bone dry hard potato slices bags again reek of pickle smell,with just the slightest taste of pickles.

Soooo.....Pickle smell from pickle buckets will permeate your food in plastic bags.

Now,yesterday we were sealing up flour,oats,etc. and I used double thickness seal a meal vacuum bags,same type as the ziplock plastic,so I know that isnt going to fly.Shame too,because we used an 02 absorber in each bag,3 bags per bucket,and then 3 more absorbers in the bucket before sealing.

The current dilemma,should I put the 3 bags in mylar,add o2 absorber and back into the pickle buckets,or mylar them and just store in trash cans to protect from mice and physical damage?

Will mylar bags allow odors to permeate?What thickness,where to order?

Im thinking along these lines.....PAKVF4 in 20x30 inch.(20MFS30
20"x30")
http://sorbentsystems.com/mylar.html
http://sorbentsystems.com/specs/pakvf4.html

Seems to me buckets wouldnt even be needed if the bags themselves were protected.

Any thoughts?

Good thing I opened up the stores we have.

BTW,sugar in its original brown bags dont stink and the texture is as new.A lot of what we stored was in the buckets just as a physical barrier,not sure yet how it all made out,may have a goodly amt. of chicken food.

Oh well.

So dont make my mistake of plastic food bags in pickle barrels,your food has a real good chance of being ruined.Shame too,because the physical condition is still very nice.


I just keep reading about re-using pickle buckets all over the net,and from what I did I wouldnt do it again.Not unless I know for a fact that mylar will protect from odor infiltration.

Re: Food storage PROBLEM,dont make this mistake!
 

I am getting ICING buckets from local grocery stores.
The bakery section uses them up constantly. Free food grade, gasketed lid buckets.
Now I haven't been doing it for long and don't know if a slight sweetness would be imparted on stored food, but that doesn't seem like too bad a thing compared to pickling...

Re: Food storage PROBLEM,dont make this mistake!
 

Can't remember where I saw this but washing the buckets with baking soda is supposed to neutralize the pickle odor.

I have a bunch of 5-gallon laundry detergent buckets (food grade). I'm wondering how to prepare them too before loading them up.

Re: Food storage PROBLEM,dont make this mistake!
 

Maybe it can, but I don't see how pickle smell could get in your vacuum sealed bags as long as they hold vacuum. Ziplocks don't make the brick like no air seal that the others do. Maybe the scent is carried on something smaller than air that could permeate where air cannot. But, for example, ziplocks are not up to being boiled and the vacuum bags are, so they are not identical plastic.

You might vacuum seal a handful of something and try it in the pickle buckets. I realize it will take a long time to know, but you have the pickle tubs so you might still want to know even though you use some other method for now.

edit - I just got out some cookies in a ziplock sandwich bag and I could smell them before opening. Put a pickle in a ziplock and if you can smell it, then see if you can in a sealed vacuum bag.

Re: Food storage PROBLEM,dont make this mistake!
 

We soaked them in bleach water for a day,then washed with baking soda,it helped but the smell is still there.

I didnt mention these are seal a meal vacuum bags,just like ziplocks' plastic,not the heavier food saver style.

Im done with pickle buckets until someone has stored food in mylar in them and can state from experience that mylar will block odors.

Im thinking mylar 4.3 mil bags,then into bins or trash cans to physically protect them may be an option?

Currently (yesterday) we put 200 lbs of food in the seal a meal bags,3 bags per bucket.Each bag with an absorber and 3 absorbers in the bucket,then sealed.They are coming out of the buckets ASAP.

Pickle buckets stink,literally,IMO.

Re: Food storage PROBLEM,dont make this mistake!
 

A resturant that gave us some pickle buckets said DO NOT use buckets that have had anything but food in em.Maybe mylar would work with them,I dont know,hope someone has an experience they can relate to us.

Re: Food storage PROBLEM,dont make this mistake!
 

Nobody here will part with the bakery buckets for whatever reason.I can tell you that pickle flavor on anything but pickles is TERRIBLE!

Re: Food storage PROBLEM,dont make this mistake!
 

MS, I looked at how precious food would be in most of the scenarios we prepare for, and wondered why so many of us shortcut on bucket quality. I always go to Lowe's and buy quality buckets and lids and use mylar bags. The last thing I want is to open our food to find it wasted and then explain to my family it's because I wouldn't spend a few dollars.

I caught a lot of grief on another prep board for this, so I guess it's a call for each person to make for themselves. JMO

Re: Food storage PROBLEM,dont make this mistake!
 

good to know

Re: Food storage PROBLEM,dont make this mistake!
 

Well, one could store pickels in them I guess...?

Re: Food storage PROBLEM,dont make this mistake!
 

I think its because we think outside the box and are looking for the 'best' way to use/maximize our resources.I know Im not to happy to discover this problem after reading all the things I have about re-using pickle buckets and not finding problems with sealed bags absorbing odors.

I cant believe anyone would ream you for your advice,thats just not right especially when its certainly GOOD advice.
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HAHAHAHAHA! Good one Goldhedge! Just what I need,400 lbs of pickles. :D

Re: Food storage PROBLEM,dont make this mistake!
 

I vacuum seal and store in metal trash cans because something - rodent, possum, raccoon, chewed its way into one plastic bucket of ours. I don't think most people have as much wildlife getting in the house from time to time as we do, however.

The part of our yard not patrolled by the dog is close to being a wildlife sanctuary and visitors who seem happy in the bushes most of the year 'remodel' their way in to have young some years. And then look around for what might be good eats.

We didn't lose much food. I must have evicted the critter soon after it chewed that hole in the bucket, because only 2 bags, about 2 pounds each, had been breached.

But you are right that the food getting ruined is not worth the pickle buckets being free.

I was surprised to be able to smell those cookies through a sealed ziplock. It wasn't even hard.

Re: Food storage PROBLEM,dont make this mistake!
 

My understanding is ziplocks aren't worth much for long term...the seal isn't that good, and air/smell/moisture will penetrate. I find they don't even do THAT good in a freezer about keeping ice crystals out.

The buckets I find at Lowes don't have the gasket seal lids ( here ).....but the ones at Home Depot do.....plus the HD lid is a fairly soft, pliable lid too......easy to bang down and seal.

I've got a question on mylar bags. I sealed some tea bags in some smaller mylar bags ( 10x15" ) and put an O2 absorber in ( 500cc ).....shouldn't the bag draw up TIGHT with that O2 absorber in there ? They didn't, and it's making me wonder if the bag sealed properly.

The bags I used in the buckets, I threw 4 -- 500cc absorbers in the bag + 2 more in the bucket as extra insurance. ALL the bucket lids sucked in, and some of the bucket sides did as well.....this is what I was expecting with those small, loose bags.....but they didn't. I use a Foodsaver to draw a small vac on the small bags....then sealed with the heat strip in the Foodsaver + hit it with an electric clothes iron above the heat seal strip line.

Re: Food storage PROBLEM,dont make this mistake!
 

I always buy new buckets from USPS and get the gasketed (not gamma) lids.

Sorry to hear that, pickles stink!

Re: Food storage PROBLEM,dont make this mistake!
 

The US Post Office sells buckets?

Re: Food storage PROBLEM,dont make this mistake!
 

United States Plastics Corp.

http://www.usplastic.com/catalog/default.asp

Re: Food storage PROBLEM,dont make this mistake!
 

The stuff I just vacuumed sealed with an 02 absorber sealed into a brick! Did your other ones seal up great before you sealed the bucket? In any event your buckets have protected what you put in them.

I havent done mylar yet so I dont have any seal making experience with it.I did read the slightest wrinkle in the sealed area will breach the seal,unlike food saver bags that it doesnt matter.
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AMforPM-Are your stores in mylar,and how thick?Using 02 absorbers?Do the metal trash cans get moisture inside? Thanks for the replies! :D

Re: Food storage PROBLEM,dont make this mistake!
 

How necessary are buckets when you're using sealed Mylar bags. If they're practically airtight, I would think animals couldn't easily smell what's inside?

And if you're using mylar to protect the food, do the buckets really need to be food grade?