I mentioned this quite some time ago but it was at the bottom of another thread, so I'll mention it again.

People keep talking about 55gal containers at their local stores, bulk food available there too, et al. I live near Fort Worth and I have gone to Tom Thumb, Albertson's, Winn-Dixie, Sam's Club, and more, and I sure wish I found half the stuff there that others keep talking about. 55gal drums? Haven't seen 'em -- sure need some. Bulk food? Sam's had 50lb bags of rice and pinto beans and a few other things, but not too much, and more pricey than I could buy it in smaller quantities in normal stores for, although they did have enough candy in nicely priced bulk to last until the end of time.

When people talk about a product they found, it would be REALLY helpful if they would post the basic info about it too -- such as, "Brand XYZ, product named QRS, 55 gal plastic drum with recloseable lid."

That way, I can go to the manager of a store locally and say, "Here's the brand/maker, here's the product, find this in your massive catalogs and order it for me please." I've done that before -- but you gotta have brand/mfr and product name to do it.

If we're going to take the space to talk about what we find, it'd sure be nice to include enough info to do others some good.

Thanks.

PJ in TX

-- PJ Gaenir (fire@firedocs.com), March 25, 1999

Answers

Folks looking for 55 gal drums are usually looking to get them cheap. Recommended places I've heard mentioned include soft drink bottling plants. Also, look for recycling places.

If you are looking for 5 gallon buckets, Home Depot usually stocks them for around $3.95 plus about a buck for a lid, if you want to buy them. If you want them free, try asking a local bakery if they have some to give away or sell cheap - they get frosting in them.

Info on sources for bulk food can be found on the food discussion group forum at the Gary North site (www.garynorth.com)

-- Dan Hunt (dhunt@hostscorp.com), March 25, 1999.

5-gall buckets--see also restaurants/stores using a lot of feta cheese, sandwich and doughnut shops; large glass containers at Italian restaurants and pizza places. 55-gall drums--try also any food processing facility. Bottling plants also have 5-gall containers. For new, also bucket lids, see US Plastic Corp, wwww.usplastic.com.

-- Old Git (anon@spamproblems.com), March 25, 1999.

I picked up several buckets from the local Dairy Queen. they were glad to get rid of them.

How much is everyone paying for 55 gallon plastic barrels? IS 8.00 too much. They have lids.

-- Linda A. (adahi@muhlon.com), March 25, 1999.

PJ, I also live near FT.Worth and have had trouble finding these. So if you do find these for a good price would you please post it here. Or e-mail me, I'll do the same. Thanx!!!

-- shellie (shellie01@hotmail.com), March 25, 1999.

Believe it or not, I got 55 gal - lid and ring type food grade (from a local pickle factory) plastic barrels from my 'Y2K compliant' water district for $8.00 each. They even had instructions available as to how to put a spiget in and materials list for same. Of course these were for "catching rainwater from your roof to water your plants with"...uh huh.

-- Valkyrie (anon@please.net), March 25, 1999.

Last year I grabbed up a bunch of the 5 gal. buckets (free) at the bakery section of a local store, assuming they would become scare by March of this year. Surprise -- only yesterday I scored another one. Is this a gague of how people are not preparing?

The thought that all my neighbors are completely unprepared scares me far more than the thought that my own preparations aren't quite finished yet.

-- free (buckets@for.everyone), March 26, 1999.

In the last two weeks I've purchased 20 new 5-gal buckets in Harmon's, a local supermarket; $2.99 each, lids included. The end-of-the-aisle display had several hundred nested buckets in a stack. (I've never seen buckets for sale there before)

A GI friend at work told me that a new supermarket in North Ogden, Acres, had blue 55-gal plastic drums for sale at $29.95 each. He was rather surprised...

-- Max Dixon (Ogden, Utah USA) (Max.Dixon@gte.net), March 26, 1999.