It seems I'm not the only one finding bugs in Riceland rice from Sam's
 

I went snooping around the internets and found the frugal squirrels website. Now from what I gather these guys are close to a cult, but they got their stuff in one bag when it comes to S & P and that's all that matters to me.

It looks like some other folks have been finding creepy crawlies in their rice from Sam's...not to mention the price jump from something like $12.88 for 50lbs to over $17 for 50lbs in the past 4 or 5 months. I am going to buy at least 200lbs on my next visit and throw it in the freezer for at least a week before trying to store it in buckets.

They have great how to vids over there at frugals & apparently you can buy everything you need for longterm storage, like mylar bags, oxygen absorbers, etc.

Wendy Mae here has a quick how to vid on storing food for the long term in buckets using mylar, oxygen absorbers, bay leaves and a foodsaver sealer. Vid link is at the bottom of the page.

http://www.buildanark.net/videos/buckets.html

*here's the frugal link...think you have to register...don't drink the kool-aid!
http://www.frugalsquirrels.com/vb/index.php

**and the best link I can find for Wendy Mae's store front Simpler Living.
http://www.shopsimplerliving.com/

Re: It seems I'm not the only one finding bugs in Riceland rice from Sam's
 

Wendy Mae is my kind of lady,

http://www.buildanark.net/images/letters_04.jpg


Martha Stewart has nothing on her. :s9:

Re: It seems I'm not the only one finding bugs in Riceland rice from Sam's
 

diamateous earth helps kill bugs for rice storage and grain storage if freezing is not an option. You need a food grade product.

http://www.springerlink.com/content/dj4c4evm3unaarkr/

https://www.earthworkshealth.com/products.php

Re: It seems I'm not the only one finding bugs in Riceland rice from Sam's
 

QWAK,Avalon,:wink: I have a friend who had problems with FLEAS from her cats, I told her that "diamateous earth" is what is in the flea powder they sell in pet stores to kill fleas so she got a 5 Lb. bag and sprinkeled it on all the carpeted floors in the house!:D That was 6 Mo. ago and she is still vaccuming up the diamateous earth!:hahaha::haha:

Diamateous earth is in all sorts of stuff from tooth paist to scowering powder to car polish --- I buy it in 25 Lb boxes for the filter in my home made HOT TUB, filters to 2 microns and keeps the water CRYSTAL CLEAR!:s9:

BTW:I make "DUCK SOUP" 350 gallons at a time and tell people it is a GREAT way to lose WEIGHT they can have ALL the "DUCK SOUP" they want and NOT gain an OUNCE but lose a lot of POUNDS TOO!:wink::s9:

the DUCK

Re: It seems I'm not the only one finding bugs in Riceland rice from Sam's
 

Duck, I was thinking about trying it during flea season. We have evil,super fleas in this area. It seems safe except there was a warning about not breathing in the Diamateous earth dust.

How do you use it to filter water? I was trying to come up with a homemade water filter system for large quantities of pond and spring water.

Re: It seems I'm not the only one finding bugs in Riceland rice from Sam's
 

What the heck is diamateous earth?

Re: It seems I'm not the only one finding bugs in Riceland rice from Sam's
 

Little dead critters.

Re: It seems I'm not the only one finding bugs in Riceland rice from Sam's
 

Here is some good info
http://wolfcreekranch1.tripod.com/defaq.html

Re: It seems I'm not the only one finding bugs in Riceland rice from Sam's
 

QWAK,Avalon,It is a SWIMING POOL FILTER!:D

www.shopspp.com

That is one source but you may be able to SCROUNGE one up for free or very cheep as lots of people with pools can't afford to use them any more!:wink:

There are cartrage and sand filters but DE filters are the best.

I also got an OZONE generator that kills bacteria so I don't have to use clorean.:wink:

I tried lining it (the hot tub) with SILVER ROUNDS but the iron in the water discolored them so I took them out --- but it was COOL for a wile solking in my DUCK POND lined with .999 SILVER!:s9:

the DUCK

Re: It seems I'm not the only one finding bugs in Riceland rice from Sam's
 

Oh Man, if She was wearing a holster and sidearm during all of that, I'd have to go get a tissue! Heck with Ginger and MaryAnn!

Re: It seems I'm not the only one finding bugs in Riceland rice from Sam's
 

[QUOTE=Avalon;1038772]Duck, I was thinking about trying it during flea season. We have evil,super fleas in this area. It seems safe except there was a warning about not breathing in the Diamateous earth dust.

QWAK,Avalon,I think SHE way, way, WAY over did IT!:s9: She used the WHOLE 5 LBs.!!!:hahaha::haha: Then she did not have a very good VACCUME either!:s9:

I am always AMASED that people with Master digrees can be SOoooooo lost when it come to COMMON sence!:confused_ma: Too much SPECILISATION I guess?:questionm:dontknow:

the DUCK

Re: It seems I'm not the only one finding bugs in Riceland rice from Sam's
 

With a little more reading...in a pinch, you can seal the mylar bags with an iron. The bay leaves aren't that necessary. Ziploc bags can be used inside the mylar bags to prevent the rice from poking holes when vacuum packed, but it may go brittle after several years. Getting rid of the oxygen not only takes care of the bugs, but slows down the deterioration rate of your food.

I guess next I'm in the market for a good vacuum sealer.

Re: It seems I'm not the only one finding bugs in Riceland rice from Sam's
 

Where is the best place to get the buckets, mylar bags, absorbers? This is a nice little system that could work for alot of things. Thanks for the links.

Re: It seems I'm not the only one finding bugs in Riceland rice from Sam's
 

I think most of the survival oriented sites can hook you up. Not sure which one has the best prices or customer satisfaction. I'm going to try to order some stuff in the next few weeks...probably try to pick up some food grade buckets from Lowe's or Home Depot. They have a 2 inside a triangle marked HDPE (usually white) if they are food safe I think. It will keep whatever you store in them from smelling like plastic.

http://goldismoney.info/forums/showthread.php?t=242182

Re: It seems I'm not the only one finding bugs in Riceland rice from Sam's
 

What type of climate do you live in? I've never seen a bug in any brand of rice before in my life. I wonder if its a southern thing?

Re: It seems I'm not the only one finding bugs in Riceland rice from Sam's
 

I live in Northern Cal. I bought a 25lb bag of Cal rice from Costco about 6 years ago. Its one with a ziplock seal at top. I opened it back then, and used it from time to time. I had it on a bottom shelf, behind other things, and forgot about it. Just started using it again, and there ain't bug one in that bag! The bag has a '05 date on it. The rice is fine too. I'm sure the climate has alot to do with oit. It's pretty dry up here, 2500ft elev.

Re: It seems I'm not the only one finding bugs in Riceland rice from Sam's
 

Duck, you mentioned vacuum. I had some concerns over that. I did my buckets a few weeks ago. I used the frugal Squirrel absorbers. I used 6 absorbers per bucket. 500cc??? ..I think. I never got a tight vacuum. I checked them a week later and they were drawn in but not a tight vacuum like you get with the foodsaver.

I read on Walton's that it was OK if you never got a vacuum because nitrogen exchanged for the oxygen.. Still I'm nervous about it.... any ideas?

I still have many buckets to do. I had more food then I thought. I blew through the buckets and oxygen absorbers and have to get more to finish.

Re: It seems I'm not the only one finding bugs in Riceland rice from Sam's
 

This is my opinion of course but after doing a little research on food storage I personally felt it best to stay away from vacuum sealing. The reason being, that eventually you may have a slight compromise in your mylar bag allowing oxygen to filter in. In this case, I would prefer to replace the inside atmosphere of the mylar bag with nitrogen or carbon dioxide and creating a positive pressure environment.

Here is an easy carbon dioxide method:

1) Place a moisture absorber at the bottom of the mylar bag.
2) Fill the mylar bag with the desired grain/food (place mylar bag in container before filling if you plan to protect it in a food pail)
3) Leave some room at the top of the bag, place an O2 absorber and small junk of dry ice at the top of the food in the mylar bag.
4) Use an iron and seal 90% of the mylar bag.
5) Let dry ice slowly evaporate, since CO2 is heavier than oxygen it should displace all of the O2 in the mylar bag. It is important not to disturb the bag during this process.
6) Once there is just a spec of the dry ice left, seal the reaming portion of the mylar bag with the iron. This should give you just a little positive pressure once the dry ice is fully evaporated. BE SURE NOT TO DO THIS STEP TOO SOON! Obviously you could risk compromising your mylar bag with too much positive pressure :D

Since dry ice is easy to come by I felt this method works best.

Naturally, I would place some DE inside the mylar bags for the additional protection.

Dave

Re: It seems I'm not the only one finding bugs in Riceland rice from Sam's
 

QWAK,Avalon,Actualy you are way ahead of ME on the food prep.

I bought a VAC unit and extra bags about a year ago but haven't even use IT yet!

Bought 20 lb. of rice at Walmart and a fiew pounds of dried split peas but all I did so far was put the store bags in biger ZIP lock bags.

Got a lot of caned stuff and freezer is always full.

Mostly I work on making the cabin addition and other prep things -- only so many hours in a day and I try not to get TOO manic about what is coming. I have been PREPARING a LONG long time so it is a lot less INTENCE for me than people who more recently AWOKE to find out THINGS are a lot diferent than they HAD believed.:wink:

I could easly go a fiew mo. with what I keep on hand normaly.

Much of the preps I stock up on now are THINGS I think others will need eventualy. Got a realy cool folding hospital bed on the way should be here Thursday!

http://www.sportsmansguide.com/net/cb/cb.aspx?a=422320

I could out fit an emergency ER or just about! I got a bunch of old O2 bottles too that need filling.:wink:

It is NEVER over so I just keep going and try NOT to be TOO crazy about it!:confused_ma::haha:

the DUCK

Re: It seems I'm not the only one finding bugs in Riceland rice from Sam's
 

Hey Dave,
How much dry ice for a 6 gal bucket? Have you have run accross any guidelines? I have always wondered about this.

I was always told the chunk of dry ice should be put in first, at the bottom of the bucket. It will then push the air out. I very much agree that if you use this methode you shouldn't vacuum seal

sb

Re: It seems I'm not the only one finding bugs in Riceland rice from Sam's
 

Hell, as far as I'm concerned, she could even leave her hat on! :D

Re: It seems I'm not the only one finding bugs in Riceland rice from Sam's
 

sb,

Assuming you have displaced most of the air in a 6 gallon bucket lined with a mylar bag full of food you should be able to get away with 1 to 2 ounces of dry ice. 1 lbs of dry ice will create about 8.3 cubic feet of CO2 gas. A 6 gallon bucket has a volume of about 0.8 cubic feet.

Just remember 8.3 cubic feet of gas per pound of dry ice and you can calculate dry ice required to fill what ever container size you plan to fill.

Dry ice is probably also the cheapest method since it sells for about a $1 per pound which would do 8 to 10 buckets. I don't believe you can buy less than 5 lbs at a time so I would do as much as you can at one time.

Dave

Re: It seems I'm not the only one finding bugs in Riceland rice from Sam's
 

OK, makes sense. I wonder what the volume of air is in a 6 gal bucket filled with rice or wheat. Should be considerably less right? Maybe even by a factor of 1000. So in reality it would take way less, although there is nothing wrong with overkill. Not having scales that will measure 1 ounce would a chunk the size of a quarter suffice? Anybody out there know?

sb

Re: It seems I'm not the only one finding bugs in Riceland rice from Sam's
 

I don't know if this is the best deal, but I shopped around about a year ago for 5 ga food grade buckets and settled on a trusted supplier called www.uline.com. I think they ended up costing between 5-6 each with shipping.

They get there fast and they are as reliable as you can hope for. They also have other things you might like.

It looks to me like the current price is $5.09 with a lid. They do not mention food grade on their descriptions, but if memory serves correct, they only sell food grade. I would call them first just to be certain.

http://www.uline.com/Browse_Listing_...=Plastic+Pails

+ shipping of course.

I did try for 2 weeks to better this deal and came up short myself.

This company has very good service and fast shipping. They mostly service the shipping industry.

Re: It seems I'm not the only one finding bugs in Riceland rice from Sam's
 

One thing to keep in mind, if you are lining your pails with mylar bags it shouldn't matter much if it is food grade or not since the job of the pail is pretty much reduced to protecting the integrity of the mylar. But if you don't plan to use mylar then absolutely, it needs to be food grade.

Dave

Re: It seems I'm not the only one finding bugs in Riceland rice from Sam's
 

Being that the volume of a 6 gallon pail is about 0.8 cubic feet, I would guess that a safe bet is that the food would displace about 0.5 to 0.6 cubic feet of the air leaving about 0.2-0.3 cubic feet. Technically, that would be able a 0.5 ounces of dry ice but that wouldn't leave much room for error or positive pressure.

If I were to guess approximate size chunk, I would say half golf ball in size? If you want to test this, take a 13 gallon kitchen trash bag (or whatever you have that would suffice for this test), slip the dry ice in and quickly knot it off; place it in your buck and wait for it to totally evaporate. If it fills to half the volume of your bucket I would say you are in good shape anything less or more you probably want to adjust your chunk size accordingly.

By the way, the reason why you put the dry ice on the top is so you know when it is mostly evaporated. It would be hard to determine that if it is buried under your food. When it is nearly evaporated is when you seal off the rest of the mylar allow it to create a little positive pressure.

Dave

Re: It seems I'm not the only one finding bugs in Riceland rice from Sam's
 

The dry ice won't freeze-burn and destroy the food that it comes in contact with?

Why not just use nitrogen? You can buy a new small 20 to 30 cubic foot Nitrogen tank fo about $100, or buy one for a cylinder exchange program for about that much with a full charge. A refill (cylinder exchange) is pretty cheap.

Re: It seems I'm not the only one finding bugs in Riceland rice from Sam's
 

It might do a little damage. Maybe a Tblsp at most.

Many of my Mormon friends, over the years, have told me they used to use CO2 but then they went to Nitogen, and now the Oxygen absorbers. Convenience I think. When they used CO2 and N they were doing hundreds of #10 cans (don't remember any talk of buckets) at canning parties.

As for CO2 on the top or bottem I was told they would put a qurter sized chunk at the bottom of the can, immediately fill it with, say, wheat, and put a lid on top of it leaving it undesturbed for 30 minutes. At that time they would run it through the canner. This would ensure that the CO2 was completely evaporated and had expelled the Oxygen. Since CO2 is heavier little if any O2 would find it's way into the can before it got sealed.

sb

Re: It seems I'm not the only one finding bugs in Riceland rice from Sam's
 

A possible source for food grade buckets are supermarket bakeries....various items come in these buckets and oftentimes they simply throw them away.

We have collected several this way,another source is any restaurant as mayo,pickles,etc often comes in five gallon buckets.

If you are lucky you might even get the lids although these seem to get thrown out before the buckets.

As to the OP,we just bought a 50 pound bag of this brand and hopefully it is fine,haven't opened it yet.

One final thing,gamma seal lids are pretty cheap from Sportsmans guide,especially if you have a discount coupon.

Re: It seems I'm not the only one finding bugs in Riceland rice from Sam's
 

QWAK,Just an IDEA off the top of my head but could be fun and solve a fiew problems. :wink:

Get all your DUCKS :wink: in order,dry grain,buckets and bags and people to HELP and be tought HOW --- SPLURG and order some STEAKS from "Omaha Steaks" -- when they arive have a BBQ party and use the DRY ICE that the steaks are shiped with to help with your PROJECT!:thinkey:

BTW: The foam shiping containers are reusable in SOoooooooo many ways and rather tough concidering they ARE FOAM! IF you do use them out side exposed to the sun and wearher they will deteriorate so a coat of PAINT is a good idea too.:wink:

Personaly I like to dump the DRY ICE in the HOT TUB,turn on the BLACK LIGHTS and put on some music, then with a strange FOG creeping over the bed rock floor ---- GET IN,kick back,smoke my pipe and PONDER!:D

I know "I'm an ODD DUCK" --- but I also know the WORLD is CRAZY so It's OK to be ME!:s9::hahaha::haha:

the DUCK

Re: It seems I'm not the only one finding bugs in Riceland rice from Sam's
 

:clap2:
Duck that reminds me of my younger days when I was Hippy and used to buy my clothes by how good they looked under black light
:signs8: :D
Ah the good old days.!

Re: It seems I'm not the only one finding bugs in Riceland rice from Sam's
 

QWAK,Avalon, I was an "UNDERCOVER HIPPY" in the ARMY -- I fought THEM from the INSIDE!:hahaha::haha:

I had a REALY COOL long fringed VEST I made at the ON POST leather craft shop, redish brown with 18" fring all around -- it was TOTALY UNARMY!!:D

I let the lady I bought this place with KEEP it!

I realy miss --- the VEST!:haha::haha::haha:

The lady --- not so MUCH!:wink::s9: HE HE HE

the DUCK

Re: It seems I'm not the only one finding bugs in Riceland rice from Sam's
 

You are one strange Duck, but I really like you ideas! :D

Excellent idea though. Nothing like a little community effort to get the job done fast enough so you have left over dry ice to do the last bit of your above suggestion :D

Dave

Re: It seems I'm not the only one finding bugs in Riceland rice from Sam's
 

I am not oppose to using nitrogen, it is the same principle as the CO2.

As for the concern of cold-burning some food, I don't think it is significant enough to be a concern. If you were truly concerned about this, why not put the dry ice in a small dixie paper cup (have plenty for the kids) before placing it in the bucket? It would keep it out of direct contact of the food.

Nitrogen/CO2, whatever you do; my purpose was to encourage positive pressure storage using in inert gas versus vacuum sealing.

Dave