Amounts of Various Foods That Buckets Will Hold and How To Store Them

In reality, especially in a situation where society has collapsed for whatever reason, it is the women doing the cooking.  If you're in a larger group, more reality is that it's the older women doing the cooking.   And in reality, reality bites.  Those buckets get heavier as women get older and it gets harder to wrangle them.  

The grains and beans that emergency preparedness stores sell often come in six-gallon buckets.  And that sounds really great.  You get a lot of food, usually around forty-five pounds of wheat or beans in those buckets.  And then you think about hauling around one of those buckets.  It doesn't sound like fun.

Home Depot and Lowe's sell five-gallon buckets.  (Last I checked, they weren't food-grade.  But if you are lining your buckets with Mylar bags, then it's ok.)  When filled, they're still too heavy for me.  

We started off our married life with getting larger buckets from the hotel my husband worked at.  Then we got them from doughnut shops and grocery store bakeries.  And over the years, we've noticed that the buckets just keep getting smaller.  It's not necessarily a bad thing.  I just can't handle the larger buckets very well anymore, at least not when they're filled with food, other than oats.  So the five-and six-gallon buckets that used to hold wheat and beans are now used for oats and lightweight medical supplies.  

I much prefer getting the four-gallon buckets from the local doughnut shop.  It's a much more reasonable size for my physical capabilities which seem to be diminishing with the years. (And I'm not that old!  Yet.)  And because they're free, they match my financial capabilities as well.  If you're younger and larger, the larger buckets will work just fine for you.  They did for me for many years.  But if you've got a smaller frame or you're older, smaller buckets may be the way to go.  Use what works with your family and your storage plans.  

Keep in mind that some items are just better stored in cans or mylar bags, especially more expensive foods that spoil quickly with exposure to air or moisture, or things you really don't use very often.  For our family, that would include milk, powdered eggs, dehydrated and dried foods, and freeze-dried anything.

We use the buckets for our long-term storage foods like wheat, rice, flour, sugar, beans, and pasta.  The general rule of thumb is that each bucket will hold about twenty-five pounds of food. Of course, this varies slightly, but for quick mental calculations about how much food will fit, and how many buckets you will need, as well as figuring out how much space they will take, it works.  Each is also exactly twelve inches wide.  Most are HDPE (#2) buckets, but some are PP (#5), also a safe choice.  All are with gasketed lids. 

When filling buckets, tap them to settle contents down and fit more in.  It's essential to get them packed compactly and get as much air space out as possible for the oxygen absorbers to work properly.  So while it is definitely more convenient to just put twenty-five pounds of food in a bucket, regardless of whether the bucket is filled, it is better to fill the bucket completely and then add the oxygen absorbers so that all the oxygen can be removed.

For optimal long term storage, use Mylar bags inside your buckets.  Fill the Mylar bags with food, add the appropriate number of oxygen absorbers, and seal.  However, if you are really good about rotating your food, the Mylar bags are not necessary.  If your wheat, rice, oats, and beans are going to be used within five years, the Mylar isn't needed. 

The chart below provides estimates only for the amount of food that will fit in each bucket or can.  Your results will vary based on how much you are able to tap your buckets or cans and settle the contents.

Food	4 gallon bucket		5 gallon bucket		6 gallon bucket
	Pounds of food	Oxygen absorber capacity	Pounds of food	Oxygen absorber capacity	Pounds of food	Oxygen absorber capacity
Corn	28	1200	37	1500	45	2000 cc
Flour	26	1200	33	1500	40	2000
Popcorn	27	1200	33	1500	39	2000
Rice	26	1200	33	1500	40	2000
Wheat	28	1200	36	1500	44	2000
Quick oats	15	3000	18	4000	21	5000
Rolled oats	16	3000	20	4000	24	5000
Macaroni	17	2400	21	3000	25	4000
Penne pasta	10	2400	15	3000	20	4000
Spaghetti	23	2400	29	3000	35	4000
Black beans	28	2400	37	3000	45	4000
Kidney beans	28	2400	37	3000	45	4000
Lima beans	26	2400	33	3000	40	4000
Pinto beans	26	2400	33	3000	40	4000
Small white	28	2400	37	3000	45	4000
White beans	26	2400	33	3000	40	4000
Lentils	28	2400	37	3000	45	4000
Split peas	28	2400	37	3000	45	4000
Potato flakes	10	3000	12.5	4000	15	5000
Sugar	28	None	35	none	42	none
Brown sugar	23	None	29	none	35	none

 
Also note that if you live at an altitude above 4,000 feet, you need about twenty percent less oxygen absorber capacity.

STORING BUCKETS OF FOOD

Once you have more than a few buckets of food, you start wondering about where to put them all.  If you’ve got a large family and you’re storing food to last more than a couple of months, you’ve got a real conundrum on your hands.  

Keep in mind that your buckets will not last forever.  Sunlight (hopefully you are not storing your food in the sun, as that’s a really bad idea) and age will deteriorate plastic, as will putting excessive weight on the buckets.  

Under most conditions, buckets should only be stacked three to four high, with the heaviest buckets being on the bottom.  I do stack mine higher, but the higher ones contain only the lightest of items—medical supplies like gauze and masks, and fiber from my girls’ sheep and rabbits—all of which weight only a pound or two at most.  Yes, they could be stored in other ways, but the buckets are rodent-, moth-, and water-proof.  Actually, I guess I should say rodent-resistant.  We’ve never had any rodents chew through our buckets, or even make an attempt, but I have read of others having a problem.  

Because plastic is not completely impermeable, the buckets should not be stored directly on concrete.  If necessary, put some 2x4 boards underneath to raise them above the concrete. 

Links to related posts:  
Oxygen Absorbers  
HDPE and LDPE   
Long-Term Food STORAGE  

Bucket Wrenches 

 
For further reading:
https://preparednessadvice.com/food_storage/how-much-food-will-fit-in-a-5-gallon-bucket/

http://foodstoragemadeeasy.net/2011/03/10/10-cans-and-5-gallon-buckets-how-much-can-they-hold/

https://s3.amazonaws.com/yohsresourcelibrary/how+much+will+it+hold.pdf

https://www.usaemergencysupply.com/information-center/packing-your-own-food-storage/how-much-food-fits-in-a-container

https://www.usaemergencysupply.com/information-center/packing-your-own-food-storage/using-food-storage-buckets-and-containers

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  10.30.21