This post is by Bernie Carr, apartmentprepper.com
This month’s project is to store some bulk items such as rice, flour, pinto beans, sugar etc.
I was originally hoping to participate with the local Latter Day Saints (LDS) Cannery that I had found out about after doing a search for mylar bags and bulk food storage. I called them and found out information and pricing. The facility is about an hour away, but it sounded good so I planned to go as the prices were very reasonable. You don’t have to part of their church to participate, but you do need to be “assigned” to partner with a church group to do bulk storage. Unfortunately, the week I was all set to go, I called ahead and found out they were having major construction and was not accepting any appointments in the near future. They also did not have an estimate for when the work would be completed so it was back to the drawing board for me.
My husband and I decided we will shop for the bulk items wherever we can find a good deal. We do not belong to a warehouse club; the membership fee is too steep for me for number of times we shop and items that we need, but that is for another post.
This past weekend we visited a couple of ethnic groceries and found good deals on many of the items on the list. We found out about these stores by chatting with people at work about where to find good deals on groceries. The Mediterranean store had excellent prices on rice and pasta. They also had great prices on spices, honey, vegetable and olive oil. These items were not on the “bulk grain” shopping list but they were too good to pass up. We also checked out a Hispanic market and they had good prices on flour, sugar, pinto beans and legumes.
Now all we need to do is repackage the foods into mylar bags and 5 gallon buckets. I will post about that adventure as soon as I get all the packaging materials together.
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About the author:
Bernie Carr is the founder of Apartment Prepper. She has written several books including the best-selling Prepper’s Pocket Guide, Jake and Miller’s Big Adventure, The Penny-Pinching Prepper and How to Prepare for Most Emergencies on a $50 a Month Budget. Her work appears in sites such as the Allstate Blog and Clark.com, as well as print magazines such as Backwoods Survival Guide and Prepper Survival Guide. She has been featured in national publications such as Fox Business and Popular Mechanics. Learn more about Bernie here.
Apartment Prepper, I’m glad I visited you this morning. I myself was considering taking up long-term food storage, and I knew you’d be into it. I quickly googled “Mylar bags” and found a solution to my needs.
Now, in addition to rice, flour, and sugar, what are the other “bulk grain” goods you’re going to store for the long-term?
Hi Armed and Prepping, thanks for stopping by! I still have to buy oats and corn meal, but not in the same amount as the main ones. Not quite a grain, but will be picking up a few extra salt canisters this weekend. Also wanted to have some white wheat but will need a wheat grinder for that and its not in the budget yet. We won’t have everything I’d like to have but it’s better than nothing. I’m glad you’re getting started too.
Question, living in an apartment, not unlike me, have you figured out where you are going to store your buckets of food yet?
I am glad you brought that up. Right now the buckets are sitting under the dining table. They are not very visible under the table cloth but we will have to move them once we have more. Still trying to decide where we would move them once they no longer fit under the table. We don’t have guests coming over unannounced very often so it’s not a rush yet.
Apartment Prepper, I like the new website and layout!
I have yet to get to this stage of long-term food storage. Can you please recommend a good website or retailer chain from where I can buy buckets and mylar bags?
Hi Armed and Prepping, I am glad you like the new website! I found out AFTER I already purchased the buckets that some restaurants give them away for free. So IF you know anyone in the restaurant business, check with them first, you will just have to wash and sanitize before using. But if you have to purchase, I got mine from Emergency Essentials, but I got the mylar bags from Amazon. If you are interested, click on the new tab called “Amazon Store”, I set up the mylar bags and oxygen absorbers under Food Storage. Disclosure-I joined Amazon as an affiliate. Amazon affiliates get a tiny % if someone buys from their affiliate link. I want to keep the site and all content free as always, but I am finding it cost some overhead to maintain a site and keep testing new stuff.