List of the Best Food Storage Supplies for Us

If you’d like to become prepared for the unexpected, you may want to begin canning and storing different foods to create a stockpile. As a prepared family, having a food supply for emergencies is beneficial. Some foods include canned meats, vegetables, fruits, and spreads, with items you can add to your freezer and keep fresh for months or years.

Before prepping, you must invest in the best food storage supplies. The right supplies will preserve the freshness of your food for extended periods, making it worth all the effort you’ll put into maintaining it. One of my favorite kitchen gadgets: Best Funnel Ever

Best Food Storage Supplies

Quart and Pint Mason Canning Jars

Quart and pint mason canning jars are preppers’ most crucial food storage supplies. If you’ve ever used a traditional mason jar for anything, you know that they are perfect for preserving our food.

You can use smaller canning jars for jams and other spreads. However, you’ll need quart- or pint-size containers when canning chunks of fruit, vegetables, and even prepared meats.

So, what better way to ensure your food is adequately stored than to use large mason jars? You can find these jars in different sizes, including one gallon and 64 ounces (please don’t can/process food in these jars. It’s not safe to do so).

While you can find these large canning jars in many stores, Amazon has a broad selection. You’ll find precisely what you need to store your favorite foods easily. They are great for oatmeal, rice, pasta, quinoa, etc. Walmart has started stocking more supplies as well.

When buying these larger canning jars, ensure they come with airtight lids. You’ll need to seal the jars using these airtight lids to keep the preserved food fresh for as long as possible. If, by chance, you see cases of Ball or Kerr canning mason jars, please pick up a few boxes. Trust me, you’ll want to buy the right brands.

Leak-Proof Containers in Different Sizes

Besides getting large canning jars that offer plenty of space for the food you’re storing, you’ll also need leak-proof containers in different sizes. One of the worst things to do is to keep food in something that leaks.

You’ll feel like your hard work and effort were for nothing if the ingredients you’ve prepared and added to a container start leaking out after a few weeks or months. If you want to make sure you’re not wasting your time and money, invest in high-quality leak-proof containers that come in different sizes.

While searching for the right leak-proof containers, choose BPA-free options to keep toxic chemicals out of the food you’re storing. It’s also important to select long-lasting containers and lids.

As you start looking at some of the different leak-proof options available on other websites, you can read reviews to get an idea of what people like and dislike about these products. Use that information to make wise buying decisions.

You can use WaterBricks for water or for food storage. WaterBricks Not only can WaterBricks hold water they are great for food as well.

5-Gallon Buckets

When you need to store your dry food, 5-gallon buckets come in handy. These buckets are large and heavy when filled with different foods, but they offer plenty of extra storage space for the ingredients that you need to store. I use Gamma Lids on my buckets. I know people use Mylar bags with Oxygen absorbers, but I don’t. It’s a personal preference.

Some of the foods you can add to 5-gallon buckets include:

• Dry Pasta. You can stock up on pasta while it’s on sale or while you have coupons for it. You can get different pasta, such as elbow macaroni, rotini, or spaghetti. Instead of keeping the pasta in the box, open the boxes, pour the pasta into a 5-gallon bucket, and seal it shut until you need it.
• Rice. Having a stockpile of rice will come in handy in emergencies. You can buy rice in bulk to get the best deal possible and then pour the bags of rice into these containers to keep it fresh for extended periods.
• Rolled Oats. You can do a lot with rolled oats, such as preparing fresh oatmeal, porridge, oat cookies, or overnight oats with milk and fresh fruits. If you buy the oats in bulk while they’re available at discounted prices, you can save money and make sure you have plenty of oats available when you need them.
• Flour. Stocking up on flour is a good idea because it’s a key ingredient in many recipes. You can use it as a base to create waffles, pancakes, fried chicken, and even homemade gravy. Because it’s such a beneficial ingredient, stock up on it! Please remove it from the bag and pour it into a 5-gallon bucket to keep it fresher for 12-18 months. Some people put their bags in the freezer. I can’t fit a 25-pound bag of flour in my freezer, so I put it directly into a 5-gallon bucket with a red Gamma Lid. Yes, I color-coded everything. Please only store the amount of flour you will use in 12-18 months since it tends to go rancid over more extended periods. Fresh is best.

You can store plenty of different dry foods in these large containers to extend their shelf life, and these are just a few that you might want to store for as long as you can.

The perfect way to store such large containers in the basement is to place them on shelving units or on wood planks so they are off the floor (critical they are at least 2 inches off the ground). You can line the wall to keep them out of the way. Below, you will see 2-gallon buckets and the larger 5-gallon buckets in the middle.

If you are new to my blog, I color code all of my food storage buckets or at least my Gamma Lids. White Gamma Lids are for sugar and Red is for flour and wheat. Yellow Gamma Lids are for pasta, Orange Gamma lids are for beans. Green Gamma Lids are for detergent, and DIY washing machines.

I can see at a glance where each bucket is, that’s how I roll. Gamma Lids. Here in Utah, some Walmarts sell the lids, but they sometimes have been warped, so I put them back on the shelves and look elsewhere for what I need. Please look through the lids to be sure you are getting grade A ones. Is it just me?

5-Gallon Buckets with Gamma Lids

2-Gallon Buckets With Gamma Lids

Zipper-Sealed Food Storage Freezer Bags

Use zipper-sealed food storage freezer bags and gallon bags for anything that you plan on storing in your freezer. You might have a deep freezer to have extra space for storing meats when buying them in bulk to save money. Instead of leaving meats in their original packaging to take up more space in the freezer, remove them from the packaging and put them in freezer bags. 

You can remove the extra air from bags before sealing them shut. When sealed properly, you can keep food fresher and longer in the freezer. Don’t skimp on the quality when buying zipper-sealed food storage freezer bags for meats, slow cooker meals, and other ingredients.

FoodSaver bags are great as well, they will keep your food a bit longer. My favorite size is the FoodSaver Commercial Grade Quart Size. For or a while, they were hard to get. The other size I use often is the FoodSaver Pint Size Bags

List of the Best Food Storage Supplies for Us

In case you missed this post, Food Storage: What I Stock and Why

Final Word

If you’d like to start saving money and have a stockpile for emergencies, you’ll need to invest in the best food storage supplies. If you use the right supplies, you can conveniently store all kinds of foods, including rice, flour, meats, vegetables, fruits, and more.

It’s best to have various food storage containers to use, including large buckets for dry ingredients, freezer bags for items going in the freezer, and large canning jars that hold more. You can find all these supplies online and in some department stores, such as Target and Wal-Mart. Once you’ve bought the supplies, you can start storing foods so you’re ready to go when the items to be stored are available at the price point you want! May God Bless this world, Linda.

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