Packing 5 gallon buckets

Claire - February 5, 2024

Does anyone have any tips on how to be able to get more Mylar bags in a 5-gallon bucket? I’ve freeze dried some food and put them in Mylar bags (5-7 mils thick per side). I haven’t been able to get that many individual bags into each bucket. I didn’t know if there are any tips out there! I didn’t want to end up with tons and tons of buckets. 

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Hi Claire. I haven’t tried packing mylar bags into buckets before. If you’re finding that they don’t pack well into buckets, my best guess would be that the shapes of your packed bags don’t match the shape of the bucket well. It might help to put each bag into the bucket before vacuum sealing, while it is still maleable, then seal it into a shape that you know will fit. Alternatively, maybe a more flexible container like a zip lock big bag would be easier to work with than a bucket.

If you’re still having trouble with this, try posting a picture of what you’re experiencing so we have a clear idea of where you’re getting stuck.

 

Hi Claire- Your mylar bags will stack much easier in heavy duty plastic totes than in buckets. The rectangular shape fits nicely. In addition, you can stack more totes on top of each other for space saving than you can buckets. The mylar itself prevents any possible contamination from the plastic tote and the tote keeps pests from chewing your bags!  I also started with mylar bags in buckets but quickly reorganized once I realized I could only get about 5-7 bags in a bucket no matter how I squished them. I now use my buckets and gamma lids to store my daily use flour, sugar, oats, rice, etc. since they are easy open. You can also purchase mylar bags in a large 5-gallon size that are designed to fit inside a bucket. You put the bag in the bucket, fill it with rice or whatever, then seal it and put your lid on. In this instance, you do not loose any storage space and still have the benefit of the mylar. 

 

Claire – I started with 5 gallon pails myself but evolved to 19 gallon plastic totes.  The 19 gallon size isn’t too heavy when full, packs easily in a car and easily fits through doorways.  

Two servings are packed in a mylar bag with an oxygen absorber.  Then 21 mylar bags are packed in a 5 gallon flat bottomed mylar bag with an oxygen absorber.  Two big bags per bin provides 84 meals.  If you package a combination of breakfast, lunch and dinner bags, each bin will provide 4 people with B/L/D for 1 week.

I went with the double mylar containment for the added protection against mice, etc.

Be sure to label each pouch, each big bag and each bin with contents.

Good luck.

Ken