List of the Best Food Storage Supplies for Us
If you’d like to become prepared for the unexpected, you may want to begin canning and storing different foods to create a stockpile. As a prepared family, having a food supply for emergencies is beneficial. Some foods to include in your emergency food supplies inventory are canned meats, vegetables, fruits, and spreads, with items you can add to your freezer and keep fresh for months or years.
I have geared much of my food storage towards freeze-dried foods. There is a wide variety of foods available and they are great for long-term food storage as you put your emergency preparedness plans together. Some people consider freeze-dried foods as their best approach to survival food since you don’t need to rehydrate most of them for meal preparation. I have dozens of #10 cans from Thrive Life that make up my emergency food kits as a long-term storage solution.
Before prepping, you must invest in the best food storage supplies. The right supplies will preserve the freshness of your food for extended periods, making it worth all the effort you’ll put into maintaining it. One of my favorite kitchen gadgets: Best Funnel Ever
Best Food Storage Supplies
Quart and Pint Mason Canning Jars
Quart and pint mason canning jars are preppers’ very crucial food storage supplies. If you’ve ever used a traditional mason jar for anything, you know that they are perfect for preserving our food.
You can use smaller canning jars for jams and other spreads. However, you’ll need quart or pint-size containers when canning chunks of fruit, vegetables, and even prepared meats.
So, what better way to ensure your food is adequately stored than to use large mason jars? You can find these jars in different sizes, including one gallon and 64 ounces (please don’t can/process food in these jars, It’s not safe to do so).
While you can find these large canning jars in many stores, Amazon has a broad selection. You’ll find precisely what you need to store your favorite foods easily. They are great for oatmeal, rice, pasta, whole wheat, quinoa, other grains, etc. Walmart has started stocking more supplies as well.
When buying these larger canning jars, ensure they come with airtight lids. You’ll need to seal the jars using these airtight lids to keep the preserved food fresh for as long as possible. If, by chance, you see cases of Ball or Kerr canning mason jars, please pick up a few cases. Trust me, you’ll want to buy the right brands.
Leak-Proof Containers in Different Sizes
Besides getting large canning jars that offer plenty of space for the food you’re storing, you’ll also need leak-proof containers in different sizes. One of the worst things to do is to keep food in something that leaks.
You’ll feel like your hard work and effort were for nothing if the ingredients you’ve prepared and added to a container start leaking out after a few weeks or months. If you want to make sure you’re not wasting your time and money, invest in high-quality leak-proof containers that come in different sizes.
While searching for the right leak-proof containers, choose BPA-free options to keep toxic chemicals out of the food you’re storing. It’s also important to select long-lasting containers and lids.
As you start looking at some of the different leak-proof options available on other websites, you can read reviews to get an idea of what people like and dislike about these products. Use that information to make wise buying decisions.
You can use WaterBricks for water or for food storage. WaterBricks Not only can WaterBricks hold water, but they are great for food as well.
5-Gallon Buckets
When you need to store your dry food, 5-gallon buckets come in handy. These buckets are large and heavy when filled with different foods, but they offer plenty of extra storage space for the ingredients that you need to store. I use Gamma Lids on my buckets. I know people use Mylar bags with Oxygen absorbers, but I don’t. It’s a personal preference.
Some of the foods you can add to 5-gallon buckets for your pantry include:
- Dry Pasta. You can stock up on pasta while it’s on sale or while you have coupons for it. You can get different pasta, such as elbow macaroni, rotini, or spaghetti. Instead of keeping the pasta in the box, open the boxes, pour the pasta into a 5-gallon bucket, and seal it shut until you need it.
- Rice. Having a stockpile of rice will come in handy in emergencies or during natural disasters. You can buy rice in bulk to get the best deal possible and then pour the bags of rice into these containers to keep it fresh for extended periods.
- Rolled Oats. You can do a lot with rolled oats, such as preparing fresh oatmeal, porridge, oat cookies, or overnight oats with milk and fresh fruits. If you buy the oats in bulk while they’re available at discounted prices, you can save money and make sure you have plenty of oats available when you need them.
- Flour. Stocking up on flour is a good idea because it’s a key ingredient in many recipes. You can use it as a base to create waffles, pancakes, fried chicken, and even homemade gravy. Because it’s such a beneficial ingredient, stock up on it! Please remove it from the bag and pour it into a 5-gallon bucket to keep it fresher for 12-18 months. Some people put their bags in the freezer. I can’t fit a 25-pound bag of flour in my freezer, so I put it directly into a 5-gallon bucket with a red Gamma Lid. Yes, I color-coded everything. Please only store the amount of flour you will use in 12-18 months since it tends to go rancid over more extended periods. Fresh is best and you can’t consider flour as being shelf-stable for very long.
Buckets Are Great for Your Dry Foods
You can store plenty of different dry foods in these large containers to extend their shelf life, and these are just a few that you might want to store for as long as you can.
The perfect way to store such large containers in the basement is to place them on shelving units or on wood planks so they are off the floor (critical they are at least 2 inches off the ground). You can line the wall to keep them out of the way. Below, you will see 2-gallon buckets and the larger 5-gallon buckets in the middle.
If you are new to my blog, I color code all of my food storage buckets using my Gamma Lids. White Gamma Lids are for sugar and Red is for flour and wheat. Yellow Gamma Lids are for pasta, Orange Gamma lids are for beans. Green Gamma Lids are for detergent, and DIY washing machines.
I can see at a glance where each bucket is, that’s how I roll. Gamma Lids. Here in Utah, some Walmarts sell the lids, but they sometimes have been warped, so I put them back on the shelves and look elsewhere for what I need. Please look through the lids to be sure you are getting grade A ones. Is it just me?
5-Gallon Buckets with Gamma Lids
2 Gallon Buckets With Gamma Lids
Zipper-Sealed Food Storage Freezer Bags
Use zipper-sealed food storage freezer bags and gallon bags for anything that you plan on storing in your freezer. You might have a deep freezer to have extra space for storing meats when buying them in bulk to save money. Instead of leaving meats in their original packaging to take up more space in the freezer, remove them from the packaging and put them in freezer bags.
You can remove the extra air from the bags before sealing them shut. When sealed properly, you can keep food fresher longer in the freezer. Don’t skimp on the quality when buying zipper-sealed food storage freezer bags for meats, slow cooker meals, and other ingredients.
FoodSaver bags are great as well, they will keep your food a bit longer. My favorite size is the FoodSaver Commercial Grade Quart Size. For a while, they were hard to get but seem to be more accessible now. The other size I use often is the FoodSaver Pint Size Bags
List of the Best Food Storage Supplies for Us
In case you missed this post, Food Storage: What I Stock and Why
Final Word
If you’d like to start saving money and have a stockpile for emergencies, you’ll need to invest in the best food storage supplies. If you use the right supplies, you can conveniently store all kinds of foods, including rice, flour, meats, vegetables, fruits, and more.
It’s best to have various food storage containers to use, including large buckets for dry ingredients, freezer bags for items going in the freezer, and large canning jars that hold more. You can find all these supplies online and in some department stores, such as Target and Wal-Mart. Once you’ve bought the supplies, you can start storing foods so you’re ready to go when the items to be stored are available at the price point you want! May God Bless this world, Linda.
Terrific tips as always Linda!
We do have quite a few dry items stored in large glass canning jars with oxygen absorbers.
I could certainly use more 5 gallon buckets with gamma lids though!
Plenty of canning jars in the house, but no stores around here have had lids this year, it’s crazy! Guess I should search online for those. The store keepers I’ve spoken too say they keep ordering lids, but none arrive in their shipments.
Hi Amy, thank you for your kind words. I am actually going to go to few stores today to see how the supplies are here for canning lids. We have Ace Hardware here, they do not ship, check Walmart.com to see if you can order some to be shipped to you. Forget it they are overpriced. This is crazy! So the stores are ordering them but they are not shipping them. This is awful. Fingers crossed. Linda
Re. lids–check out Tattler 2-piece lids. They are re-usable indefinitely, and there’s nothing on the website (https://reusablecanninglids[dot]com) saying there are delays or shortages. They come in both regular and wide-mouth.
I have had a few more (than with the one-time metal lids) fail with pressure caning, but I see there’s a how-to on tightening there on the website–I may have been doing it too tight! I also had one batch all fail at once–but it was the fault of some cheap made-in-Red-China Walmart jars my husband brought home–the rims were rounded instead of flattish, which I’m sure was the reason, the rubber couldn’t grab the edge. The jars were returned! No problem with real Ball or Kerr jars.
AMY: My best suggestion is to check on Lehman’s website. They have a 20% off coupon for canning supplies that is good right now, but I did not pay attention to the expiration date. I have also been known to buy lids in bulk from other stores online, similar to Lehman’s. Having 360 lids on hand is wonderful and will last you for YEARS!! Another suggestion is to check on eBay, as there are often sellers who will sell multiple boxes for a “Lot” price…though some really just try to scalp you for the highest dollar. I have had great luck with one or two that are decent sellers, though. Another location to look is in. Dollar Tree Stores, as they generally keep Golden Harvest lids and jars in stock in the Spring and Early Summer. If you buy something there on a weekday, then you can come back with the coupon on your receipt to get $5 off of $25 on Satudary. That is when I come back to purchase Golden Harvest canning jars and lids at an extra discount. I have been pleased with the quality of those Golden Harvest products and have had zero problems!
O.K. Here is where I got 6 boxes of Ball Regular Mouth Lids: ebay.com/itm/126352293514 They still have 3 sets of 6 boxes of lids available, though the price has risen slightly since I bought my six-pack in March. Still not scalping you, though!
AND here is a link to the canning jar lids from Lehman’s. I think they are not too bad a price and the reviews say they are wonderful lids, too! lehmans.com/product/canning-jar-lids-wide-mouth-usa-made/
Wow! O.K.!!! I just found out that Azure Standard buying “club” sells the same Superb Canning Lids that Lehman’s does, and the shipping would be cheaper, too. azurestandard.com/shop/product/household-family/kitchen/canning-supplies/dome-lids/wide/canning-lids-mason-wide-mouth/30688?package=NF1808 If you wish to get involved with Azure Standard ordering, please put my “Share Code” in as the person who told you about this company: JoyceStotts01 . We have been members with Azure Standard for over 2 1/2 years, and order from them every, single month because their products are superior, cleaner foods and other products, many or most of which are organic or non-go. I am waiting until we get a profit sharing check in August, and then I plan to buy the Big Berkey water filter, for which I will get $87.00 in credits towards future purchases!!! (Yes, we already own a Berkey, but it is only the travel size.). Can’t wait!! WHAT A DEAL! So great to know they carry the Superb Canning Jar Lids, too. I just put a pack of 60 wide mouth lids on my next order!!
Oh, boy…sorry about so many follow-on “replies”!!! I forgot to say that you can buy 5 gallon and 2 gallon buckets from Azure as well as the gamma lids. Have seem many Azure buying club members do just that! They also have recently been selling some really heavy-duty canning jars, as well. You can buy them with lids or without, depending upon your needs.
On another note, I just picked up our order yesterday, and was happily surprised with the fantastic quality of their organic dried blueberries! YUM!! Their Azure canned veggies are also organic and much better quality than the local grocery store’s veggies, too, even the Organic ones! We just ate some of the Wegman’s organic canned green beans last night and everyone at the table commented about how they were NOT as good as the organic canned green beans from Azure! Azure’s cans were also more full! O.K. I PROMISE not to keep commenting upon my former comments now!!
Hi Jess, we love comments, they help everyone! I do have to remove the beginning of the links because in a few years those links may not work and I have to go back and fix them. I left enough that people can look for the website. Linda
HI Jess, I have heard of fake canning lids being sold on eBay, so buyer beware, just emails from followers. Linda
The lids I bought from eBay were genuine Ball Lids, still in the box! Yes, I do not recommend buying bulk lids from eBay, because they will likely come from China and contain lead!!
Hi Jess, good to know, thank you, Linda
Hi Jess, Lehmans is such a great company, I love buying stuff from their website. LInda
WooHoo! I have all of these! Plus some half gallon mason jars. I also have a few gallon jars that pickles came in. I have pint and gallon zipper bags well. I do have some tight sealed plastic containers that I keep the flour, sugar, and cornmeal in that I use daily. Oh, and some hold cereal. We don’t eat cereal daily. I do love being able to see what I have.
Linda, you are the greatest!
Hi Deborah, it feels great being able to see what we have at a glance. Oh my gosh, I have not seen any gallon jars for years! I have several half-gallon jars. Life is so good when we are prepared! Happy Saturday! Linda
Linda, Walmart carried the gallon jars last time I looked. (A couple of years ago.) Check with them. Or any place that sells jars..
Hi Deborah, I will do that, thank you! Linda
Love mason jars for canning and dry good storage. Since I live alone, I use pints for my canning – water bath only since I no longer have a pressure canner. I prefer vacuum sealing any frozen items even though it is a bit on the expensive side but I know my frozen goods last much much longer! I also vacuum seal things like flour, cornmeal and oats – after watching a YouTube video on how to do this.
One other thing I do that might not be so practical for families or even couples – I try to puchase things in glass whenever possible and recycle the glass jars & lids for storage. Again, since I’m single, smaller quantities sometimes fit nicely in the smaller glass jars and don’t deplete my mason jar supply.
Hi Leanne, I’m all about small jars as well. Frozen food does in fact stay fresher longer in FodSaver bags. Life is good, Linda
I’m literally hauling quart canning jars to Tennessee to our friends. I can’t find extra quality lids though.
Stock up folks
Hi Matt, I tried to find some canning lids today, I only saw the brand PUR, I passed on them. I will wait until I see the good ones. I heard Cal Ranch has some, not sure if you have a store near you. We can get hundreds of Ball jars with lids and rings but no lids wide or regular. Please stock up my friends, Linda
That’s the issue I’ve found here too. No lids to be had! Apparently the stores keep ordering them but the lids don’t arrive in their shipments.
Amy hopefully someone will post or reply if/when they come back in
Amy and Linda I know nothing about these lids but
https://www.lehmans.com/product/bulk-canning-dome-lids
HI Matt, thanks for sharing. Has anyone used these lids? They are reusable, please tell us. Linda
Hi Linda, nice post as uusual! Remind people to check on their stored foods frequently because rats and even squirrels and maybe other critters can chew through plasti, mylar and even 5 gallon pails! Been there, done that, not fun! Stay safe!
Hi Jan, oh my gosh, they chew through 5-gallon buckets??? Yeah, they would chew through Mylar and thin pails, those little critters!! Stay safe, Linda
We keep all of our food stuff in the house. No critters in here, yet. Not in almost 30 years.
Hi Deborah, we do not have critters in our house, they seem to like to brunch on sections of my garden, darn those mice! Life is always full of surprises. Linda
Ditto on the rodent checks… I’ve had to resort to storing most of my jars with the metal rims put back on loosely, after I’ve checked the seal and wiped the jars down–that way the critters can’t (or at least are less likely to) chew the lids free. I can use older, rusty or dented rims for that protective purpose, too, even though I wouldn’t do the actual processing with those..
This is interesting . I have a question . I haven’t started putting anything in buckets or bags but I want to start! I heard some people use oxygen absorbers. Do we need to include those in the gamma lid buckets? Do those lids eliminate this step ?
Thank you
Hi Beckey, no the Gamma lids are great for buckets but you would not use oxygen absorbers in them because there is no way to remove the air. You could use them in Mylar bags then put the bags in buckets with Gamma Lids. Great question, Linda
I do put bay leaves in my buckets when I first pour my flour into them. Safety. I have vacuumed sealed them in mason jars for storage. I use a coffee filter between the lid and vacuum sealer to catch any dust.
Hi Deborah, great tips on the bat leaves and the coffee filters! Thank you, Linda
Jars–there are a couple brands (pasta sauce, I think) that actually do come in Mason jars, with the name molded in. May not be quite the full pint or quart, but useful nevertheless.
I also save certain jars that are straight-sided and fairly wide-mouthed (and if I’m picky–with easily removed labels!) Obviously not for canning use, but as long as they have a matching lid that’s air-tight, those are very useful for storage of dehydrated food, pickling, etc. It avoids tying up your good canning jars!
Hi Rhonda, I agree, those jars can be used to store other food or even sewing items. A good jar is a good jar!! Linda
When the jar shortage hit last year we had good luck finding them at the thrift/2nd hand stores. They
still have them just not as many or as often. Most of them will tell you what they have if you call the
store.I don’t understand the lid shortage in the retail stores.Lehman’s online has lids sometimes.
There is a person on another well known website that posted a long article on why it is ok to reuse
lids.I don’t agree and can’t bring my self to do it .To risky for me. Any thoughts on that issue?
HI Chuck, be really careful following what I call REBEL CANNERS, they mock those of us who follow USDA guidelines. I would never reuse canning lids unless you are talking about Tattler canning lids. I did not like those but they sent some to me to try. I guess I’m an old dog and want to use only Kerr and Ball lids. I cannot recommend Tattler canning lids. You were smart to ask, we must be careful when canning. It’s all about safety. Linda
I worked too hard and sacrificed something to pay for that food.
No way am I trusting used lids.
NOW, lids used for storing things sealed in jars–that is okay. But I haven’t done that yet either.
Hi JayJay, you are so right you CANNOT reuse lids to water bath or pressure can food. I reuse new lids that have never been “canned” with my FoodSaver, as long as they do not have any dents from removing them. Linda
Linda, canning jars are hard to come by around here. The last time I ordered some wide mouth jars from our local Walmart they took two months to arrive.
Regarding storing flour: I’ve found flour will last for years with no bugs or apparent loss of flavor if placed in a good quality mylar bag. Throw in a few 300cc oxygen absorbers and heat seal the bag. It’s easy. I use stackable bags from Mylar Bags Direct or Food Vac Bags. I put 5 pounds in each bag and mark the bag with the number of cups of flour in it and the date. Then I put the bag in a 5-gallong bucket. Your use of Gamma Lids is excellent. But even without using those fine lids, Jane and I have used white flour that was three years old and it worked fine for cakes and breads.
Regarding vacuum sealing bags: I avoid using ziplock bags in the freezer unless storage will be very short ther. Over the years I’ve had so many problems with Food Saver bags losing their seal that I’ve switched to the bag providers listed above. Much better products and often less expensive as well. I’m posting links below.
https://www.mylarbagsdirect.com/
https://foodvacbags.com
Sorbent systems also makes good vacuum sealing bags, but you must double check your order to be certain the bags you are ordering are for vacuum sealing, as I learned the hard way.
sorbentsystems (.com)
HI Ray, I have stocked up on so many bags over the years I may or may not look like a hoarder! LOL! I want to check out those brands for sure! Do you have A Cal Ranch or Ace Hardware or IFA where you live? Our IFA here in St.George is useless to me. I don’t think that many people garden in the city I guess. Linda
Linda, we do have a Cal Ranch, and that is where I got my last store bought canning jars–but all they had were regular mouth and I greatly prefer the wide mouth. Still beggars can’t be choosers.
Hi Ray, darn, these lids are getting harder and harder to find. I only like wide mouth, I have plenty of regular too. Linda
Always good to revisit past posts, Linda.
I now have some 2- and 3.5 -gallon buckets with gamma lids as well as 1/2 gallon mason jars for storage. Of course, I also have a few of the other mason jar sizes. Only problem with the mason jars is that they don’t stand up in my storage area!! I like the smaller buckets though for ease of handling as I get older. My daughter has both 5 gallon and smaller buckets with gamma lids.
I recall that just after the canning lids became available, my daughter bought a massive quantity!! I want to remind you that I had to talk a lot and hard about being prepared but she thought I was nuts!! Now, you should see her basement storeroom!!! She is now a canner, gardener, processing meat birds for the freezer and just in general, getting and staying prepared as a protection against inflation as well as the “what ifs”!!
Hi Leanne, oh this is so awesome! And plus you live closer to her now! What a blessing. You are such a good example to she and her family! Linda
I have a question about storing things like rice and beans in the buckets with gamma lids. I bought a bucket and gamma lid and want to store some dry beans and/or rice in it. If I buy a pound of beans at the grocery store, do I just put the bag in the bucket? Or should i add the beans to a mylar bag with an oxygen absorber first? It is just 2 of us now and we won’t use a lot of food.
On the topic of re-using canning lids, I re-use mine for non-canning purposes, for example storing chocolate chips or spices in the jars. My 3 year old granddaughter dumped a new large box of cocoa powder on the kitchen floor. She also found an open bag of chocolate chips and took them outside to feed the birds. Vacuum sealing the canning lid in place will keep her out of things. Another thing I used to do was to add a little fresh or frozen fruit to a quart jar and fill it with water, then vacuum seal the lid on and I think more of the flavor infused into the water. I’d fix 2 jars of infused water at night and take it to work with me the next day. I just wouldn’t re-use them for canning.
Hi Topaz, you can’t go wrong with rice and beans. I buy my beans in bulk and dump the opened bag into the buckets and use the Gamma Lids. I do not use oxygen absorbers, it’s a personal thing. My rice, and I fussy where I buy my rice (I have never had bugs in my rice). If I buy it in bulk bags I dump the opened bag right into the bucket and use a Gamma Seal. I also have buckets of rice in their original bags inside buckets with Gamma Lids. The story about your 3 years old granddaughter is so cute, the chocolate chips and my goodness the cocoa. LOL! Great story! I love it! Your infused drinks sound like a great idea! Yummy! Linda