Bulk dry food and root cellar storage containers?

[amyamanda]

What do you use to store large quantities of whole grains, beans, and other bulk dried foods? (I'm thinking 25-50#, particularly whole wheat berries and brown rice but also dried beans, lentils, popcorn, etc).

How about root cellaring - I'm hoping to have stuff from our garden to store this year, particularly carrots/potatoes/onions/garlic/apples. What kinds of containers do you store those things in? We don't have a dirt-bottom cellar and I'm not sure exactly where the best place is to put those things. We have an attached garage (next to the kitchen, but it does sometimes get below freezing out there) and also one coldish walk-in closet that might work.

I have hardly anything to spend on containers and I need to do this as cheap as possible. But I'm also (probably overly) concerned about rodents and bugs, and making sure my containers are as vermin-proof as necessary. I have some decent-sized baskets (half-bushel to bushel size) but it seems like maybe the mice would get to food (potatoes, onions, apples, etc) stored open like that...wouldn't they?

Obviously I'm trying to save money with the bulk purchases and garden storage, which is why I posted in this forum. Can anyone walk me through this or offer suggestions based on your experience? I'd really appreciate it. Thanks.

[boheime]

What about getting those big buckets from restaurants? Most will give them to you for free, although some may charge a couple of dollars. You could use these to store grains in.

[amyamanda]

Forgive me for sounding clueless, but....how do you go about getting those? Do you just call restaurants and ask - and what do you ask for?

[HRC121799]

Restaurant supply stores will also have the 5 gallon buckets, with lids. You want food grade. Once the item to be stored is inside, like with grains, flour etc. you can stick it in a freezer for 4 days, and then a few weeks later stick it in again (freezing kills live bugs, not eggs, stick it in weeks later after eggs have hatched, ewww I know!) Or another option is to put a piece of dry ice in the bottom of the bucket, then add the grain, rice, whatever, and *loosely* place the lid on, not all the way or it will bulge. This will kill whatever might be in there and make it good for long term storage. There's also a way to use I believe it's nitrogen, but since I'm not messing with something that dangerous I just skim that section whenever I read books on food storage/pantry planning!

I've been reading a lot about this lately, there are also a lot of websites that have info. too. I plan on going with the 5 gallon buckets. I'm getting mine free from my Dad (he works at a food manufacturer) whenever he remembers to grab me some, but if I wasn't, I'd go to a restaurant supply store. I also heard about people getting them from Krispy Kreme for free,lol.