Best Food Storage Supplies
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, it’s beneficial to have a supply of food for emergencies. Some of these foods include canned meats, vegetables, fruits, and spreads, along with items you can add to your freezer and keep fresh for months or years. Before you start prepping, you’ll need to 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 preserving your foods.
Quart and pint mason canning jars are some of the most important types of food storage supplies for preppers. 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 things like jams and other spreads. You’ll need quarts or pint-size containers when you’re canning chunks of fruit, vegetables, and even prepared meats.
So, what better way to make sure your food gets 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).
While you can find these large canning jars in many stores, Amazon has a broad selection of them. You’ll find precisely what you need to store your favorite foods with ease. These are great for oatmeal, rice, pasta, quinoa, etc.
When buying these larger canning jars, make sure 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 boxes. Trust me, you’ll want to buy the right brands.
Regular-Mouth Quart Mason Jars
Regular-Mouth 1/2 Pint Mason Jars
Regular-Mouth Mini 4-ounce Mason Jars
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 they are great for food as well.
When you need to store your dry food, the 5-gallon buckets come in handy. These buckets are large and heavy when filled with different foods. However, 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, I don’t. It’s a personal preference.
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 the containers 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.
In case you are new to my blog, I color code all of my food storage buckets, or I should say, my Gamma Lids. White Gamma Lids are for sugar, 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?
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 bags before sealing them shut. When sealed properly, you can keep food fresher and 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 or a while, they were hard to get. The other size I use often is the FoodSaver Pint Size Bags
In case you missed this post, Food Storage: What I Stock and Why
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.
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
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
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I’m Linda Loosli. I’m the owner and editor of Food Storage Moms. I’m so happy you’ve found us. Our goal at Food Storage Moms is to help “one family at a time.”
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