Commonly Asked Question

Commonly asked question:
QUESTION:
You say that you use tupperware tubs to store your long term stuff (beans, rice, wheat, pasta etc) I love this idea. Do you dump the contents straight into the tub or do you store the bags in the tubs? It seems that it would save a lot of space in the tub to just dump out the beans (for example) into the tubs, but is that okay? What about sugar and oats? I see that you have them in the bags in your drums, but what about 5 gallon bukets or tupperware tubs with good lids?
~Kristin

ANSWER:
That is a great question! sorry if it was not clear on the blog postings. If you have a food safe 5 gallon tub (which the ones sold at Maceys, Harmons this week, and Walmart are), then you can dump the items straight into the bucket and not have to store it in it's original container. However, if you are storing your food in a Rubbermaid tote (like the ones on my blog) then you will need to keep the items in their ORIGINAL wrapping or buy a food safe grade plastic liner that you can put in the bottom of the tub. IF you have the food safe liner (you can buy them online) inside the tote then you can dump the items straight into the tub. In my storage I just keep the items in their original packaging because it is easier to rotate through and know which items are older and which ones are newer (I put the date on the box of any long-term storage items: rice, oats, pasta, etc.). The plastic garbage cans work really well for those items that you will have a large amount of (wheat, flour, sugar, oats, etc.). For a family of 4 you will need 400lbs. of wheat, 80lbs. of oats, etc. You would need a lot of storage tubs to store these amounts of food. It is easier (and more cost effective) to put these items in a large garbage can (in their original container).