One of the problems of survivalism is that once you feel you’ve reached ‘prepvana’ (that nirvana-like level of enlightenment preparedness where you no longer feel the need to to continue with that particular prep item) you lose sight of potential improvements. Let me give you an example. Lets say that when you were preparing for Y2k you laid in a stock of top-of-the-line MagLites and SureFire flashlights. You tucked them away and patted yourself on the back. You have plenty, so now you’re done. And you move onto other projects that need your attention, the whole time thinking you’ve settled the flashlight issue. And, twenty years later, your Y2k flashlights, with their Xenon bulbs and battery-draining designs, are stone clubs compared to todays crop of LED flashlights that sip power from batteries by comparison. But…you wouldn’t have known about the potential benefits and upgrades because you had no reason to track flashlight developments….you’d settled the flashlight issue years ago.
Thats one of the risks of thinking youre ‘set’ on a particular prep and never revisiting it.
I’m sorta guilty of this. I was up at Winco when they first opened and, to my surprise, I noticed that not only did they sell 5-gallon buckets and GammaSeal lids in their food storage section, but they also sold 3-gallon buckets and matching GammaSeal lids. (Clarification: not actual GammaSeal brand but they appear to be identical and are made at what appears to be the same plant in the US.) I had no idea that such things existed for the smaller buckets.
The advantage? Well, it’s a heck of a lot easier for me to keep a smaller 3-gallon bucket of rice on my shelf ready to use than it is a 5-gallon bucket.
For comparison:
So the five-gallon buckets get stored away with the other stuff and I now simply refill the 3-gallon buckets as needed and keep them in the kitchen where they’re a very handy thing.
And speaking of Winco, before the economy started it’s inflationary shenanigans, the bucket stash looked like this:
Not so much last weekend:
Fortunately, as I’ve mentioned, Home Depot not only selld food grade buckets, but the buckets are actually marked “Food Grade Container” So you know you’re getting the right ones.
Since you, we, all tend to get old with time that strength thing diminishes. Hoisting pails, Jerry cans, ammo crates, tool boxes etc with worn out shoulders and backs is an injury waiting to happen, and being injured or bogged down by gorilla sized gear in sporky times is not productive. Those in the half century age brackets and further on have to be safety and injury conscious in all of their activities and planning. Just saying.
Im in that half century mark and I deadlift 400#,squat 275#, and don’t see that changing anytime soon. having said that though, I try to keep everything that may need to be moved down to around 50$ for the less gorilla-y types.
When I was in my fifties, I was bulletproof too. From my experience at 67, I can assure you that your abilities will fall off, And when they do, it will be faster and sooner than you expect.
Yes, you can still work out daily, and I do. But, the return on the time you spend working out will get smaller and smaller. So rather than ignore the inevitable, you may want to take ageing into your plans.
I have to admit that I’m as guilty of this as you are. BTW… If you want the buckets a little smaller than 3 gallons with lids, they are out there. For example, up here north of disorder Canadian Tire carries 2-gallon food-grade buckets and lids. If Canadian Tire has them, you can bet other stores do too.
Square buckets! Muy Bueno… Much better use of available storage space.
I suppose I should wander on down to Missoula one of these days
Tractor Supply is also a good source for buckets and gamma seal lids. Locally my Firehouse Subs sells used dill pickle buckets for $2-3 each which goes to support EMS and ftrefighters. They are 5 or 6 gallon buckets that take the gamma seal lids- great if you dont mind the vinegar/pickle smell (It doesn’t come out easily).
I use the different colored seals or buckets to organize preps, which works very well.
CZ,
You might want to use keep those old Maglites and Surefires in case this country is hit with an EMP attack. I have heard (and it makes sense to me) that LED devices will be toast.
I have bought many 5-gallong food grade buckets from Lowe’s. With lids, they are around $8.00. Early last year, when the pandemic was just beginning to shift into high gear, these buckets were noticeably difficult to find there.
I haven’t checked on the Lowe’s pricing/availability lately. I have abandoned Lowe’s because of its Critical Race Traning bullshit for employees. Regardless, I have found that the 4-gallon buckets with lids that I can get for $1.50 to $2.00 from two local donut shops work just fine. (Of course, I have read about this for years, but I never did anything about it.) It seems that 4-gallon buckets are the industry standard at these shops. I have heard that many businesses will give these buckets away for free.
The bakery buckets suit me just fine. For example, they are exactly the right size for many 25 lb. bags of food, whereas the 5-gallon buckets leave about 4 inches of space between the contents and the lids that require filling with additional food, or otherwise leave wasted space.
Feel lucky. The smaller lids tend to be really hard to find around here. Even online there have been scarce for several years, and if you do see them they are quite pricey.
I am jealous.
That you have Winco.
That’s a good reminder to review preps occasionally.
Another area that has changed is water filters – they have improved significantly in the last decade.
You might want to check and make sure those three-gallon buckets actually seal properly before you trust them too much. I know the ones (two-gallon?) from Lowes don’t seal the way they should and the five-gallon ones do.
Survivorman,
I work for Lowes and while I’m not a big fan of the corporation as a whole I’ve not seen much CRT nonsense here, though I note that when they were donating money to small businesses they reserved it for veteran-, women-, and non-white-owned businesses. What I have seen is that they have quite successfully turned military veterans into another special interest group for them to pander to.
I go to local grocery deli sections and ask if the have leftover 3-5 gallon pickle/icing buckets they want to recycle. If they have any they are glad to give them to me free though Wal-Mart charges $1.