I've known for quite a while that the proper way in which to run a food storage program is to have a pantry in which food gets stored and dinner most nights is created using the old items in the pantry. DW and myself are simply not going to live that way. Dinner tonight was purchased less then 1 and 1/2 hours before being consumed, last night about two hours before, and we ate out the night before, and it's pretty much a similar story all the time. Occasionally, I do manage to cook from stored food. I have a garden and some edible landscaping, seems I can grow berries and legumes. I've got some prepared foods stored. So all is not hopeless or depending on grains in buckets. However, there is simply no way for me to store enough food so that it would last us a matter of months. I'd like to get enough stored for a year, but right now we are at about 7-8 months.

Anyone have any advice or suggestions on storing buckets of grains and beans.

How long can/should they be kept?

What's the maximum portion of ones stores one should have in this form?

Any recommendations for things to be stored in buckets?

There are some great resources on the web, I'd start with looking at a lot of plans that the Mormon Church has. They have been doing this a long time.

For grains and beans, it seems that most choose either #10 cans or 5 gallon buckets with mylar inserts/bags. The cans are more durable and rodent proof. The canners are very expensive, as in more than $1,000 expensive. The buckets and mylar are cheap and easy. What you have to look out for is to keep the humidity down below a certain amount, I think it's around 10%. That prevents spoilage, as well as being too dry for any eggs to hatch and eat your food. There is a certain type of botulism that can live in the higher humidity as well, so it pays to be careful. Some use bags of dessicant, some use a layer of salt on the bottom, at least an inch. Either should keep the humidity down. I like the salt, because it's one of the things that I stock up on.

If you store grains, then make sure you get a hand powered mill. Some of the things to store are grains, legumes, rice, salt, sugar, honey, and spices. I'm sure there are many more, those are just off the top of my head.

Cody Lundin's book "To Hell and Back" is a really good read on this topic.

If this link doesn't work, search for "Long term food storage part 1" at www.youtube.com

They go through dry grain storage with 5 Gallon Buckets, Mylar Bags, Heat Sealers, Oxygen Absorbers and Storage Times (whole grains 20 to 30 years they claim).

Really, you can find a lot of good information on food storage on YouTube. Use Search Terms like Food Storage, Dehydrated Foods, Shelf Life, LDS Food Storage, etc.

Hey, live a little. Between eating fresh foods and eating out of a pail, there's a lot of diet and nutrition and enjoyment to be found. Personally I had some wild king salmon, garnet yams and pea vines for dinner tonight, that's hard to churn from a pail. And tomorrow it will be fresh cooked lobster (a local special, as the fish/meat market chooses to 'harvest' unsold inventory), russset potatoes and whatever fresh veggies can be found at the local farmer's market. The key is to buy what's fresh. If you eat out of a pail every day, you'll develop a bunker mentality. I do keep a pail of red wheat to hand mill down to make some delicious fresh bread every now and then, but I wouldn't think of eating from the pail every night.

If you haven't done this already; I can suggest a way to make "quick" meals from your stored grains (wheat).
Grind a few cups of wheat, and make up a batch of Waffles or Belgian Waffles, and slap 'em in the freezer.

Then you can toast up a few any time for a quick breakfast/meal.

Granted, it takes just a little time and effort to make up the batch of waffles. But, after that's done, they're really quick and handy from the freezer.
That (or something similar) can be a great way to use your stored grains.

You don't have to worry so much about long-term storage, if you're regularly using (and then replacing) your supplies.

Perhaps part of your problem is that you're not thinking about how you'd prepare your meals if you lost power. The easiest way, really (really) is have a propane BBQ with a stove burner on it for a pot or pan. Then have three 5 gallon propane tanks, one in use and two as back up. You can last a very long time rationing that set up.

It's all about incremental food storage. I generally stock at least 3 of everything in my pantry. Some items like tomato sauce and beans, 5 or 6. When we use it I restock with the weekly shopping.

Each week I pick up something necessary but different. A bag of flour, or sugar, bag of rice, case of ramen, some dried beans, extra cans of fruit, freeze dried meal,batteries etc. Maybe $5-8 total. It's more expensive in the long run but I buy smaller packages cause I am not going to use 20 pounds of rice quickly and don't want to store opened packages. I have ziplock bags bought at the dollar store to hold open packages.

The dry goods go into the cheapest 5 gallon buckets I can get from the hardware store.

Of course by the end of the year I have way more food than I need for my house so every December I go through my stored food and if anything is near expiration or I think we really won't use it, I donate it to a holiday food drive.

Back to the matter. Store some canned fruit, buy a case of ramen, get a large tin of nuts, buy some tuna. Start from there.

I'm all for the incremental storage, and most of my trips to Costco include the purchase of something to add to the cache. That won't stop soon. I like adding their bags of dried fruit. I'd like to add some meat, but that's not for this thread.

My buckets are prepacked, with mylar bags and some dessicant inside. I will move them to a less humid spot. From what I've read the white rice and wheat should last indefinitely.

I have a hand-operated grain mill, but would like to add another. One to use, one to be a backup. If I am really preparing, I'd have a third way to grind the grains. I plan of making one of my planting beds a "three sisters" garden next year. A mill would be useful if that succeeds.

The ole line comes to mind, "Two is one, one is none."

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