Storing food in a bucket, specifically food-grade plastic buckets, is one of the quickest ways to build a mountain of dry staple food for emergencies and to save money. I’ve accumulated hundreds of pounds of beans, rice, and wheat in buckets, and I expect to get at least thirty years of shelf life.
Shelf-life of food in a bucket
Food typically stored in buckets, such as white rice, dry beans, and wheat, will last 2 to 5 years but expect up to a thirty-year shelf life if Mylar bags and oxygen absorbers are also used.
Let’s look at foods typically stored in buckets and how long they last in just a bucket vs. in a bucket lined with Mylar and treated with oxygen absorbers.
Cost To Feed One Person For A Year
What Types of Food Can I Store In a Bucket?
5-gallon buckets are among the top storage containers for the DIY prepper, and I consider them the best storage container for cheap bulk food storage. Most foods in my long-term pantry are stored this way because it is easy to repackage hundreds of pounds of food inexpensively. Let’s look at the food commonly stored in buckets for long-term storage.
#1 White Rice
White rice stores well in a bucket; it’s cheap and considered a superstar survival food.
Expect rice to last two to five years stored in a lidded bucket without treatment.
Rice may be edible beyond five years, but the storage environment may affect the overall quality, including taste, texture, and nutritional value.
To learn more about storing rice in buckets, read the Ready Squirrel article “How to store rice in 5-gallon buckets.”
How Much Survival Food Do I Need?
Chart #1 Rice To Store In Buckets
| Rice Type | Shelf-life in Years Bucket With A Lid | Shelf-life In Years Mylar Bag, Bucket, Lid and Oxygen Treatment |
| Long-grain White Rice (polished rice) | 2 to 5 | 30+ |
| Jasmine Rice | 2 to 5 | 30+ |
| Basmati Rice | 2 to 5 | 30+ |
| Arborio Rice | 2 to 5 | 30+ |
| Converted Rice | 2 to 5 | 30+ |
#2 Soft Grains
Most soft grains store well in buckets but expect less shelf life than you’ll get from hard grains like wheat and rice.
Rolled oats are an exception to the rule. They will store for up to 30 years if you use Mylar, and they are outstanding food for the prepper pantry.
Chart #2 Soft Grains Stored In Buckets
| Soft Grain Type | Shelf-life in Years Bucket With A Lid | Shelf-life In Years Mylar Bag, Bucket, Lid and Oxygen Treatment |
| Quinoa | 2 to 3 | 20+ |
| Hulled Oats | 2 to 3 | 20+ |
| Pearled Oats | 2 to 3 | 20+ |
| Rolled Oats | 2 to 3 | 30+ |
| Rye | 2 to 3 | 20+ |
| Barley | 2 to 3 | 20+ |
#3 Wheat and Hard Grains
Wheat and other hard grains like dent corn were made for storing in buckets because they keep for decades. Hard grains are at the top of my list for budget-friendly food storage of all the foods you can store in a long-term pantry.
The list of hard grains below is not all-inclusive, but it will get you started.
You might notice that certain grains are not included in the list. Remember that grains high in oil content like brown rice have a pretty short shelf-life of 6 months or less. For the average person, they aren’t worth storing in buckets.
Chart #3 Wheat & Hard Grains to Store in Buckets
| Grain Type | Shelf-life in Years Bucket With A Lid | Shelf-life In Years Mylar Bag, Bucket, Lid and Oxygen Treatment |
| Hard White Wheat | 2 to 5 | 30 |
| Hard Red Wheat | 2 to 5 | 30 |
| Soft White Wheat | 2 to 5 | 30 |
| Soft Red Wheat | 2 to 5 | 30 |
| All-purpose White Flour | 2 to 5 | 10 |
| Triticale (Hybrid of rye and wheat) | 2 to 5 | 30 |
| Ancient Wheat (Einkorn, Emmer, Spelt) | 2 to 5 | 30 |
| Buckwheat | 2 to 5 | 30 |
| Grain Corn (Field or Dent Corn) | 2 to 5 | 30 |
| Millet | 2 to 5 | 30 |
| Kamut | 2 to 5 | 30 |
| Dry Pasta | 2 to 5 | 30 |
#4 Beans
Beans love being stored in buckets, which are an outstanding addition to any long-term food pantry. Most beans will keep for up to thirty years if appropriately packaged, and if poured into a bucket with a lid, they will last two to five years.
Beans store well, and they but will harden over time. Consider storing dry beans with buckets, Mylar, and oxygen absorbers for the most extended shelf-life. Following is a list of beans you can keep in buckets.
Storage Tip: Hard beans can be softened by adding baking soda to cooking water or milled into flour and used as a thickening agent or added to soups or stews.
How Long Does Food Last In Food-grade Buckets?
#4 List of Beans To Store In Buckets
Bean Type | Shelf-life in Years Bucket With A Lid | Shelf-life In Years Mylar Bag, Bucket, Lid and Oxygen Treatment |
| Adzuki | 2 to 5 | 30 |
| Kidney | 2 to 5 | 30 |
| Pinto | 2 to 5 | 30 |
| Mung Bean | 2 to 5 | 30 |
| Soybean Dehydrated | 2 to 3 | 10 to 15 |
| Split Pea | 2 to 5 | 30 |
| Black Turtle Bean | 2 to 5 | 30 |
| Black-eyed pea | 2 to 5 | 30 |
| Black Bean | 2 to 5 | 30 |
| Navy Bean | 2 to 5 | 30 |
| Lentils | 2 to 5 | 30 |
| Lima Bean | 2 to 5 | 30 |
| Pink Bean | 2 to 5 | 30 |
| Garbanzo | 2 to 5 | 30 |
| Cranberry Beans | 2 to 5 | 30 |
| Pigeon Peas | 2 to 5 | 30 |
| Cannellini | 2 to 5 | 30 |
#5 Condiments
Store salt and sugar in a bucket with a lid, and you are good to go. Both of these foods will last longer than you or I. Salt and sugar may get hard, soak up the flavors around them, so try to keep your bucket sealed to avoid breaking up a five-gallon rock of sugar or salt.
Chart #5 Condiments to Store In Buckets
| Bean Type | Shelf-life In Just a Bucket With A Lid | Shelf-life In Years Mylar Bag, Bucket, Lid and Oxygen Treatment |
| White Granulated Sugar | Indefinite | Not Recommended |
| Salt | Indefinite | Not Recommended |
| Pure Honey | Indefinite | Not Recommended |
“What Foods Can I Store In a 5-gallon bucket?”
Is a 5-gallon bucket food-safe?
A 5-gallon bucket is food safe if marked as food safe. Avoid storing foods in a food-grade bucket used to store cleaners, solvents, or anything you wouldn’t want in your food.
“What’s the difference between food and non-food-grade buckets?”
Can I store food in a regular 5-gallon bucket?
You can store food in a regular 5-gallon bucket if the food doesn’t contact the plastic. Regular plastic buckets may contain recycled plastics used to hold pesticides and solvents, chemicals you don’t want transferring to your food.
Food-grade buckets shouldn’t be used to store your food if something “not” food-grade was previously stored in them.
I suggest using food-grade plastic buckets because they don’t cost any more than the standard Home-depot bucket made from non-grade plastic.
If you decide to store food in a regular bucket, line the buckets with a food-grade material like Mylar bags to keep food from making contact with the foodstuff.
Why should I use Mylar bag with buckets?
Line buckets with Mylar bags and treat them with oxygen absorbers if your goal is to stockpile food for long-term emergencies or prepping.
Food stored in Mylar bags five mils or thicker and treated with the correct amount of oxygen absorption protect food from oxygen and light, keeping food for decades longer than if stored in buckets alone. Packaging foods in Mylar with oxygen absorbers also kills bugs, eggs, and pupae, present in most grains, within two weeks.
Remember that the plastic in a bucket wall and lid is not a true oxygen barrier, so oxygen will transfer in and out of the bucket so bugs may not be irradiated, and food will go bad quicker.
Learn how to store dry staple foods in buckets. Check out the Ready Squirrel article, “Mylar bags for food storage: Beginner’s Guide. “
