Food Grade Buckets Question

[Hoot Owl Lane Bees]

A friend can get me all the food grade buckets I want for FREE. :-D The catch is they had pickles in them. :? Can I rinse them with Clorox so I can use them for HONEY?
Thank You
Jim

[Moots]

How about this!

[bailey]

I wouldn't. I have a gallon glass pickle jar that has been empty and washed for 3 years.
Can still smell pickles when I take the top off.
Bailey

[Moots]

I wouldn't. I have a gallon glass pickle jar that has been empty and washed for 3 years.
Can still smell pickles when I take the top off.
Bailey

This was my original thought...A food grade 5 gallon bucket is $3.97 at Lowes...How many do you need?  Is it really worth chancing it?

[deknow]

I may be wrong, but I have a hard time believing that Lowes has food grade buckets.

We live in Leominster (home  of Plastican) and asked a former exec about the food grade vs non food grade.  The difference (in their case) is how the bucket is handled after it is molded...the same plastic, the same mold...but are the workers wearing gloves?  Are the buckets stacked/stored in such a way as to not pick up contamination?

So, I'm sure the plastic is the same plastic as the "food grade" buckets...but I doubt our health inspectors (city or state) would accept them as food grade.

deknow

[Intheswamp]

But deknow, that would mean all the dishes and cookware at places like walmart, Sears, etc., could not be considered "food safe", too...right?  I believe it has a lot to do with plastic purity and what type of mold release compound is used and...everything to do with how they're manufactured rather than "after the fact".

Lowe's has white plastic buckets that come with a "FOOD GRADE!" sticker attached to them, so there must be something that allows them to wear that badge.  They also have white buckets that do not have the sticker.  The problem I'm having is coming up with good lids for the buckets...all that I've found at Lowe's has been the little short-lipped blue lids but they don't seem to seal very well.

Ed

[Moots]

I may be wrong, but I have a hard time believing that Lowes has food grade buckets.

We live in Leominster (home  of Plastican) and asked a former exec about the food grade vs non food grade.  The difference (in their case) is how the bucket is handled after it is molded...the same plastic, the same mold...but are the workers wearing gloves?  Are the buckets stacked/stored in such a way as to not pick up contamination?

So, I'm sure the plastic is the same plastic as the "food grade" buckets...but I doubt our health inspectors (city or state) would accept them as food grade.

deknow

Unless I'm missing something....Yeah!  I'd say you're wrong.   :)

Encore Plastics 5-Gallon Food Grade Bucket

As I said, they're $3.97....Their 5 Gallon Buckets not labeled as food grade are $2.78.  Link

[oliver]

All plastic products are stamped, designating there use. I think usda website has these listed. Triangle with a #1 inset pete below,, triangle, #2 inset hdpe below, are designated for food use, there are others. The material they are constructed from, how much heat and  abuse it will stand  determines this..

[Intheswamp]

I'm not too sure about that.  I believe the stamp on the bottom is basically a recycling mark telling recyclers which group of plastics that it can be recycled in.  The triangle does point to different plastics, though, as you stated with some plastics being better than others.  A bucket marked "2" I don't believe is necessarily "food grade" because of that marking.  If it's not expressly marked "food grade" then it isn't....though the bucket may very well be safe to use.  Your choice.  ;)

Ed

[danno]

I get all my buckets with lids from local bakeries.   They get things like frosting and jelly filling in them. 

[rbinhood]

A bucket is a bucket.....the important thing is it should be clean and sanitized before being used to store anything.  It doesn't matter what material the bucket is made from.

[Moots]

A bucket is a bucket.....the important thing is it should be clean and sanitized before being used to store anything.  It doesn't matter what material the bucket is made from.

I don't think that's true!

Some may find this link helpful: How to Identify Food Grade Buckets

[Kathyp]

don't know about Lowes, but HD has food grade buckets.  that's where i got my last.  they are tagged food grade. 

[Joe D]

Yes, Lowes and several others have them.  Walmart has them cheaper, same bucket except doesn't have Lowes on the side, it's just plain white.  I hate to help wall world, another story, but if you sell or put up your honey in jars their Main Stay brand are about the cheapest I've found.  They are also smooth, easier for labels.




Joe

[Intheswamp]

FRED's has the "Harvest" line of jars and they have three smooth sides.  I'm not sure about cost comparison with Wallyworld's jars, though.

Ed

[Kathyp]

had not thought to look at wal-mart.  don't have one to close.  i like them a lot so i don't mind doing business with them   :-D

[beeman2009]

Could use them for feeders if you open feed. Good for storage of old comb until you melt it. Also use for watering trees and other plants in summer. Lots of other uses for free buckets. Make good swarm catchers as well. :-D

[Hoot Owl Lane Bees]

Thank You for the info.  :th_thumbsupup:I will start checking some of the areas suggested (bakeries and such).
Jim

[Bush_84]

Sorry if this diverges a bit from the op, but it does relate to pickles.  Is it ok to he old pickle jars for feeding?  I can understand not storing honey in a bucket smelling of pickles, but an old pickle jar should be ok right?

[danno]

I get all my buckets with lids from local bakeries.   They get things like frosting and jelly filling in them. 

maybe I should have added there FREE

[Intheswamp]

Nah, I think everybody figured you got them for free, danno.

I got a free bucket from the deli in Wallyworld several months ago.  Since then all that I've gotten have been snotty responses when I've asked. :?  I didn't like Wallyworld to start with and these rather unfriendly responses that I've gotten are just reinforce that feeling (to each his/her own, eh Kathy? ;) ).

Anyhow, we don't have any bakeries around here to score buckets from so I guess we'll be buying what we need from Lowes.

Ed

[Kathyp]

(to each his/her own, eh Kathy? Wink )

 :-D  i don't shop there.  i like them because they are incredibly generous in their giving during disasters, not to mention organized so that they can get the stores and gas stations open.
if they ever put one near me and i shop there, i might change my opinion a bit..........

[Intheswamp]

If it makes any difference I like Wallyworld a *lot* more than I do Goodyear Tire.  :-D

If someone wants to do a search on food grade buckets you might want to venture into the wine/mead making realm of things and see what you find.  Being food grade and a low oxygen permeability are important aspects to wine and mead makers.

Ed

[fishman]

I have used old pickle jars to feed sugar syrup with. I soaked them in hot soapy water for a couple hours, then put in direct sun for a couple days. Seem to do just fine, the girls went right to their snack!! HAHAHA  Still using some as well.   

[bailey]

Here is my thoughts. 
I would rather  clean a Walmart bucket and know my honey is safe and spend the 4 bucks.
I would hate to put over $100 worth of honey into a bucket cause it was free and have it taste like pickles.
Just my little thoughts.
Bailey

[Intheswamp]

That's more or less my mentality, too, Bailey.  The one free bucket I got from Wallyworld smelled good...like cake frosting....but, it kept on smelling like that after washing and airing and...etc.,.  I've got dirty beetle traps soaking in it right now. 

But you know something, with the right marketing you could probably triple that $100 in some places......PICKLED HONEY!!!!!    Eh, well...maybe not....  :-P

Ed

[bailey]

I'm a great salesman but not that good by any means!
Bailey

[PLAN-B]

Not any expert on containers of any sort, but appreciate the literature with those post moots... I would also like to reiterate what Mrs. Kathyp said: Walmart is very generous when disasters happen as i learned first hand after hurricane Katrina... They opened an entire warehouse outside of Shreveport, Louisiana and gave anyone who needed it tons of food (can goods, frozen food, etc...)They allowed you to come back as needed and even handed out 25 dollar gas cards twice a week for a couple of weeks... I am a man and would much rather take care of my family then leech off of others but it helped when i had nothing....Nothing bad to say about them.

[Moots]

Not any expert on containers of any sort, but appreciate the literature with those post moots... I would also like to reiterate what Mrs. Kathyp said: Walmart is very generous when disasters happen as i learned first hand after hurricane Katrina... They opened an entire warehouse outside of Shreveport, Louisiana and gave anyone who needed it tons of food (can goods, frozen food, etc...)They allowed you to come back as needed and even handed out 25 dollar gas cards twice a week for a couple of weeks... I am a man and would much rather take care of my family then leech off of others but it helped when i had nothing....Nothing bad to say about them.

Plan-B,
I'm with you....I never really got the hate on the successful corporation thing!  Like any of us, they're certainly not perfect, but you're correct, they do a world of good will work.  I have a counsin that is a pharmacist for Wal-mart on the Mississippi Gulf Coast, after Katrina they were back up and running extemely quickly and  filled perscriptions for weeks, if not months, at no charge to anyone.  What amazes me is he told me that when they started charging again that they had some people get furious about it....UNBELIEVABLE!   :?

I've also worked some local charity fundraisers where they've donated large quantities of supplies at no charge. 

[Kathyp]

i was down there right after katrina.  our emergency trucks are diesel.  there wasn't any.  +, down where i was, no stores were open.  no electricity for most.  walmart asked for volunteer truck drivers and workers to go down and get one store and one gas station opened.  as soon as the power company got electricity to them, they opened. 
the didn't have much, but they had the basics.  they fueled our trucks at a huge discount.  they were a little oasis in mass chaos   :-D

frosting buckets:  try washing them in vinegar.  frosting is high fat/grease/oil and it is hard to remove.  the vinegar cuts that stuff.  i have also found it helpful in removing pickle and tomato sauce smell from lids.  i know that sounds counter-intuitive, but it seems to work.  so does leaving the lids in the dishwasher for several cycles....most of the time.

[Joe D]

Ed, not sure but I think the wally world jars are $1 case or so cheaper.  Have been trying to talk local wal mart to order some with single piece lids.  Told them that if they would and got the price right it could mean several hundred case orders.  I don't know where but local beek goes to Tenn to get his jars.  I think he gets about 700 cases per year, says he saves $1 per case including the trip.  Kathy we have 4 walt marts and a sam club within 25 miles. 



Joe

[KD4MOJ]

I bought some yellow food grade buckets from a container company to keep my honey in... that way I wouldn't use some of my white ones by mistake. Not much more that the ones from WallyMart or Lowes.

...DOUG
KD4MOJ

[gefdef]

I had a good source of 15 litre buckets that were used for mayonnaise.  I wondered how my source go so many buckets.  She worked at a company that did catering for major airlines.  15 litre are a good size.  Holds 20 kg with space to spare.   

Geoff