Originally published at Notes from the bunker…. You can comment here or there.

Recognize this? Its the ubiquitous 5-gallon bucket. (Although to be fair, alot of 6-gallon buckets look darn near identical to this thing.) They can be had new for somewhere between $3-5~ at any hardware store. The lids are a major pain in the ass to remove but they weren’t really designed for repeated openings. A product that I use and can honestly recommend is the Gamma Seal lid. These lids consist of a threaded ring that snaps onto the rim of the bucket, and a gasketed threaded lid that screws into the threaded ring. In short, it turns the bucket into an easily resealable large container…ideal for foodstuffs or anything else you want to protect from damage. The buckets themselves are usually pretty durable since theyre designed for shipping about 40# of paint around in the back of trucks and trailers. I suppose they might get brittle in extreme cold but I havent had it happen yet. Theyre sort of like lightweight, really big amo cans in terms of their usefulness of storage.
Anyway, back to the matter at hand. If you happen to have some of these buckets available to you, do yourself a favor and pick up some of the Gamma Seal lids. They can usually be had for around $8 a throw. Sportsmans Guide sells them for six bucks and change, and Im sure somewhere on the interweb theres a place selling ‘em for less if you order enough. I ordered a dozen from Sportsmans Guide a few years ago but they only offer them in whote and black. (And in retrospect I probably should have used the black ones for ease of viewing in these pictures…but, hey, Im not a photographer.) The lids come in several colors so you can color-code your buckets for rapid identification. A smart individual might code them white for food, black for ammo, red for medical stuff, green for…whatever green means to you, etc, etc. Of course, theres nothing to keep you from slapping a durable label (or better yet, a packing list) to the exterior of the bucket since the last thing you need is to be frantically digging through these things when you’re desperate for some piece of equipment.

The adapter ring attaches to the bucket using natures miracle adhesive – brute force. The ring is supposed to ’snap’ into place on the bucket but a rubber mallet or a length of 2×4 makes things alot faster. (Also alot louder. Make sure to set the bucket on a solid surface [like a concrete floor] before whomping on the adapter ring.) Both the adapter ring and the screw on lid have gaskets but if youre a suspender-and-a-belt kind of guy you may want to run a bead of silicone sealant around the lip of the bucket before hammering the adapter ring on. Once the adpater ring is on the opening to the bucket will, naturally, be slightly smaller than the actual mouth of the bucket but not enough to make any practical difference. The tradeoff for the ease of use in opening/closing the lid is worth it, in my opinion.

Now, if youre storing grains or other foodstuffs you could just use the buckets by thensleves for non-long-term storage. I keep a bucket of rice in my kitchen for daily use. Unscrew the lid, scoop out a cup of rice, close lid…that sort of thing. I’ve been using out of that same bucket for about two years now and theres no problems of any kind. No moisture, no contamination, no insects, no dirt, no nothing. However, why not err on the side of caution, hm? If youre going to store anything in bulk in one of these buckets do yourself a favor and entomb it in a nice mylar bag first. Its those nice, thoughtful touches that make the difference. Especially if you ever have to transport your precious edibles in horrid weather conditions in the middle of the night. Last thing you want to worry about as your barrelling down the road in thunderous rainstorm is whether the 25# of wheat in the back of the truck is getting ruined. Of course, if youre putting away food thats already in its own durable packaging (canned food, or pouched foods for example) you can just go ahead and and stack/cram/pack ‘em in there.

To get slightly sidetracked for a minute, I’m not selling these things, nor am I directing you to any place that does sell them. Not because Im above that…after all, from time to time I might try to sell you something…but because I simply am not selling this particular item. I would never advocate or try to convince you to buy a product that I was not willing to use myself, and since I use the Gamma Seals for my own storage needs I thought some of you who don’t have any experience with them might find a little post about them useful. As I said, I’ve been using them for several years now and have been pleased with them. In addition to the obvious things like food, theyre also good for storing first-aid kits or vehicle emergency kits. If you can stuff ‘em in there, theyre great for protecting sleeping bags or blankets in your vehicle.

So, as they say on television “I use and endorse this product”.