Gamma Lids
Storing some of your long term food storage in buckets is a great alternatvie to canning. You can purchase the dry items in bulk, saving money! Using a gamma lid is a great way to keep your food safe from bugs,rodents, and moisture.
A gamma lid is a lid that will fit most 12″ diameter buckets, and will trasform your bucket into a wonderful storage container. The lid is special because it has two polymer gaskets, giving the bucket an air tight seal. You can also stack buckets easily. Another great feature is that the lids come in a variety of colors and so you can color co-ordinate some of your food storage. A lot of people also use these lids to store their pet’s food. Campers enjoy these lids because you can keep items nice and dry.
Cost of gamma lids:
You can purchase gamma lids online anywhere from $4.58 to $12.95. A lot of internet sites offer discounts on the more you purchase. The $4.58 price is if you purchase 12 or more. Remember to factor in the cost of shipping! A couple months ago, Macey’s put on an “Emergency Prepardness Sale.” They sold gamma lids for $5.99. If you are interested in these lids, I suggest buying a couple for a discounted rate - that way you have room to build your food storage. Remember, now you can buy food storage items in bulk rather than in cans, which makes it more cost effective!
Is $7.95 a good price for one gamma lid? I don’t know too much about them and I don’t really need 12 of them right now to get them for $4.58 a piece.
The lowest I have seen them sold individually is $5.99 - when on sale. $7.95 is a fair price for one gamma lid. Make sure you check out any Emergency Prepardness stores around, that way you don’t have to pay for shipping on just one item.
Is the double gasket seal enough to protect the food inside for long term storage? For example: if I put sugar in a bucket with a gamma lid on it, will it be good for 10 years? Or are these more for short term storage?
The gasket seal is more for short term storage. If you want to use it for long term storage, read my post on buckets, and click on the link that tells you how to store items long term in buckets.
I read your post about buckets and storing food. I also looked at the link to provident living and they say to use dry ice to store food in the buckets. Could I use bay leaves instead, or is the dry ice better to use?
Funny/icky gamma seal story: goof thing the gamma seal is air and water tight; my 2-yo daughter was standing on one and had a potty-training accident. ick! But after cleaning her up, I washed the outside of the bucket with a clorox wipe, unscrewed the lid, and washed that with soapy water and clorox wipe, and all was good. NOTHING got into the bucket.
I have gamma seals for every type of bucket I have: sugar, each type of grain, each type of bean, etc. I have 2-3 buckets of each, so I only need one seal per type. This is about 20 different types of stuff being stored (hey - I do not want to get bored of black beans and rice, okay?) Unfortunately, gamma seals only come in 6 colors. soooo…….
I have mixed them up. All my beans/legumes have a blue ring, and the screw one/off lid part is different - black for black beans, white for white, yellow for lentils, red for kidney, orange of pinto, etc. All of my flours have black bases, my whole grains have red or yellow bases and my rices have orange bases. That way I can see at a glance which bucket I want to open instead of twisting the bucket this way and that trying to read the label on the side.
I keep my “open” (gamma) buckets in one room of the house with the rest of my food storage items (used often “pantry” items) and the sealed buckets in another room where it is cooler (and more storage space!).
You didn’t mention the COOLEST part about these lids-the tops “unscrew” easily, to allow you to get to the food without having to take off the entire lid! You put the sealing base ring on the bucket rim, then screw on the top. This is perfect for foods that you are getting into a lot, because they are so easy to open and reclose
I have one bucket with a gamma seal lid for each type of food that is stored in buckets, the others have the regular lids to seal them for long-term storage.