I have been buying the 20 or 25 pound sacks of Blue Bird flour. But my son’s cat scratches the bags and eventually tears them. I currently have the sack in an old pop corn tin. However, when the sack is too full I cannot put on the lid. I am looking for ideas for something larger to use, without having to dump the flour into the tin.
A friend of mine used to buy flour in bulk and keept it in a large petfood container. It has the addrd bonus of being airtight and easy to scoop out of.
Pet food containers are a classic option for home brewers storing grain. The other one is 5 gallon plastic utility buckets (I’m assuming there are equivalent sizes in other countries), and you can buy lids for them that make them airtight with a gasket (brand name gammaseal, is believe).
OP if you are looking to reuse something, one option I’ve used in the past are frosting buckets from grocery store bakeries. The cheap cakes you can buy usually dont use house-made frosting; they purchase big buckets and discard them when empty. You can ask at the counter for a few, and they are usually happy to give them to you rather than throwing them away. They are essentially the same thing as the big utility painter’s buckets, but you know they are foodsafe, and they are a bit smaller (maybe 10 liters?).
Great suggestion about the frosting bucket! one of the guys from the bakery/deli at the supermarket in town comes into my shop. I will have to ask him about that.
I swear by these for flour. My mom has some from 30 years ago that are still in use.
Id recommend the 8 quart for all purpose or bread flour; it’ll hold a 12 pound bag (someday ill learn non-murican units for this purpose)
Those are the nice, clear ones, too. The polypropylene ones are opaque and a good bit cheaper, but seem to function more or less the same. I’m not sure on the pros and cons of polypropylene vs polycarbonate in this application, though. The downside of this kind of container is that they aren’t airtight, so if you are storing something like whole wheat that can go rancid, you need to make sure you are still using it quickly enough.
Unless you have something you can repurpose, a dog/cat food storage bin…? They make multiple sizes, usually have a good seal to help it stay fresh, some are spring-loaded for opening with one hand, and they are designed to be pet-resistant.
Ultimately I would like to find something that I would use and comes with the container.
I do have some of the plastic containers with the spring loaded lid. The largest of which does not hold a 5 pound bag of flour. But before the popcorn tin, that is what we used.
