Quote Originally Posted by Erni View Post
This May have been covered but not sure.
How do I store large bags of goods? Looking to store in the basement and worried about critters. Buckets? What type and where?

Also I heard that flower goes bad and oxidizes. How do you store it?


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Hi Erni!

Yes, depending on what type of flour you have, it can go bad within about 3 months (that's the average on the 'net) for whole wheat/whole grain flour. You can bypass that issue by putting it in the freezer. You'll want to freeze bags of flour for at least 3 days, to kill any weevil eggs that are in it. I've found that freezing it in 4-cup amounts in ziplocs means that I can stack them nice and flat, and when I need flour I don't need to pull out the whole container. All-purpose flour and bread flour will keep a bit longer- up to a year, they say. I'd still keep it in the freezer if you can.

Things like almond flour and coconut flour can live on the shelf safely enough, until you open the container. Then it stays in the fridge.
As far as keeping foods in large bags- it depends on what types of foods, and what types of critters you're worried about. If you have a chance of having mice or rodents in your basements, those buggers will chew through a plastic food-grade bucket at the worst possible time.
If you're worried about moths and insect-types, food-grade buckets will be helpful. You can get 5 gallon buckets that are food-grade at Home Depot or Lowes.

I don't care for using buckets, personally. I can't see what's in them, can't see if the food is okay, and in order to check, I have to open it up. That exposes the food inside to air, which undoes everything you've worked hard to achieve- unless you have the foodstuffs in smaller containers inside the bucket. What type of stuff are you storing?

It also depends on how you plan on treating your food storage. Thus far, I've found two distinct types of food storers: the type that stash food away for their emergency stash, and they don't touch it- it's for emergency only; and the type that cycle through their storage, replacing as they eat it. I prefer the second type, so I know what we have, know that it's not expired, and know that we store only what we can and will eat. I can our food, so I can see at a glance what we have through clear jars.

What type are you? Emergency-only, or cycle-through?