February 6, 2015 - 7:26am
Bulk Flour storage
I have an opportunity to pick up a 50# bag of Occident premium flour.
I am looking for a good way to store it. The local donut shop sells their used food grade 5 gallon pails and lids for a few bucks each.
I figure I can put it into two buckets. I can even freeze one of the buckets.
What do you think?
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then it won't last long...
However - keep it in its original paper sack, but put that inside a plastic bin if you have something big enough - just to give it a layer of isolation from whatever it's sitting on. Keep the sack rolled tight and you'll be fine.
I buy flour in 25Kg sacks every 3-4 weeks and that's what I do. However I have space to store them and turnover is relatively quick - but even so, it should last at least 6 months if kept dry and cool.
-Gordon
What kind of bin are you talking about? Something like a dog food storage bin?
I use Cambro square containers and it has kept very well - even for a small household. 2x 22qt containers are enough to store a 50lb bag. I've never had any issues with bugs or whatever. With this, my flour lasts well over a year without issue.
Amazon sells them, but I get a better price from Webstaurant - each container is $16, just be sure to buy the lid as this is sold separately.
I buy 50# sacks of flour as well, using them over about 3 months. I usually take 4 (one-gallon size) ziplock freezer bags and fill them from the sack. This is about half of the big bag, which I then cellotape closed as tight as possible. I store both the gallon bags and half-full bag in a closed dark and dry space (cabnet). Once I have used up all the zip lock bags I fill them up with the other 25# of flour. Works great for me.
There are some advantages to living on the Canadian prairies. From October til April I can store my flour in the garage in Cambro bins - well frozen :(
Your plan is fine. To make it even easier to deal with, when I buy that much flour, I transfer it into gallon size Ziploc freezer bags, then put these away in a plastic bin. Freezing is even better. Each gallon size bag will hold 4 to 5 lbs of flour, depending on how determined you are to fill it. This makes it easier to refill my countertop container (the big Lock 'n Lock bins, the really really big ones - 50c or something). I just grab a ziploc and dump it in.
It also makes it easier for me to tell how much I have left when I'm getting close to the end. Just count the bags - which, if you're anything like me, you actually weighed as you filled them so you know they have EXACTLY 5 lbs in each one, LOL!
I buy 25 pound bags of flour, and store them in giant Ziploc bags, inside 5-gallon buckets. The bags are food safe and air-tight, and the buckets support the weight. One bucket is the perfect size for this amount of flour. You can get the giant Ziploc bags on Amazon or sometimes at the big box stores.