my experience with getting food grade containers.

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Well today I decided to start my search for food grade containers. Since I was at Brawms (a hamburger and icecream shop here in Texas) I asked the lady ringing up the sale if she had any of those buckets (they get pickles in them) and she said she just gave them away but she would add my name to the list. So then I went to HEB (grocery store) bakery and they said "well we usually have some but someone just picked up the last few we had" then continued my search at wal-mart and low and behold they had about 10 of them just sitting there I quickly asked for them and they were given to me at no charge. The donut shops charge a dollar a piece for them which I was happy to pay. Then at Kroger (grocery store) I was able to pick up 2 more. Now, I don't know who is picking all these up in such a small town but they seem to be hard to come by. The lady at Kroger said that she would give me the 2 she had but a man that works at the local post office has asked her for 25 of them. This is very surprising to me because I live in such a small town and I really didn't think anyone else was preparing at all. Well, I know this does not contribute much to the board. I just thought maybe more people are quietly preparing and we just don't know it. Also does anyone know about de-ionized earth instead of oxygen absorbers. Like how to use it or where to get it. Thank you in advance for the info.

-- shellie (shellie01@hotmail.com), March 29, 1999

Answers

shellie,

Sounds good that others are preparing within your small town. That means less panic and troubles for you ahead.

-- Bee (thankful@awareness.zzz), March 29, 1999.


I think you are referring to ground diatomacious earth, aka fossil shell flour, aka amorphous silica. Check natural/health food stores or as we did, a local grain elevator. The formula for mixing w/grains varies depending on whose book you reference. We used 1 1/3 cup/5 gallon bucket of grain.

Souce for storage containers: Check out ice cream manufacturers. They get sweeteners by the 55 gallon food grade drum. Also mucho many 5 gallon buckets of flavorings which stinks up the bucket, but you have to use a food grade liner anyway, so who cares.

-- Daryl Bittner (rushmore@dailypost.com), March 29, 1999.


I think you mean "diatomaceous earth," rather than de-ionized. Try a search on it; I'm sure you'll find it for sale all over. You mix it in with your grain and it clogs up the bugs so they can't infest. Harmless to eat, though. Instructions should come with. Always wear a mask - like most fine dust, this can cause resperatory problems.

Prepared.

-- Prepared (hammering@food.bugs), March 29, 1999.


I think the guy from the post office wanting 25 of them was the most enlightening part of the post, ha ha

-- Nikoli Krushev (doomsday@y2000.com), March 29, 1999.

Shellie Diatomaceous Earth from: www.wholewheat.com 1-800-813-9641 5 lbs / $16.95

-- Sylvia (in Miss'ippi) (bluebirdms@aol.com), March 29, 1999.


DEarth is made from the spiney skeletons of microscopic, prehistoric critters. It is an abrasive which gets into the seams of the exoskeletons of adult, hard shelled, bugs. It causes them to juice to death. Being an abrasive, the precautions for humans are mainly for the eyes. You should wear air tight eye protection when pouring this stuff. Eating the stuff or even breathing it is not necessarily hazardous, unless it is the kind made for pool filters, but I will not be doing any more than necessary. Wash anything that you have stored with DE before preparing for dinner. It really doesn't do any *good* to eat it. Above all, do not use pool filter DE for debugging plants or food. Food grade DE is found at most plant nurserys.

Me.

-- Floyd Baker (fbaker@wzrd.com), March 29, 1999.


Diatomaceous Earth...ok...that is probaly what my husband was trying to tell me. Thank you so much everyone...I knew you guys would know what he was talking about. Although he (my husband) was trying to tell me you could purchase this from pet stores in the aqarium section. Yea, the guy from the post office wanting 25 of them really opened my eyes...this whole thing seems much more real to me now. You know one of those things that you know is real but it seems so far away like a distant nightmare. Just glad to know that, in this small of a town, I am no longer the only one who gets it. Thanks again for the clarification.

-- shellie (shellie01@hotmail.com), March 29, 1999.

I still have one question is you don't mind. Do I still need the oxygen absorbers if I use this stuff. I understand it kills bugs but do i need anything else along with this? Thanx

-- shellie (shellie01@hotmail.com), March 29, 1999.

what I mean is that I thought freezing for 72 hours and then leaving out a week or so then re-freezing would kill all the bugs. Is this stuff really nessessary.

-- shellie (shellie01@hotmail.com), March 29, 1999.

shellie......

i've been using dry ice (CO2) to not only keep the bugs from damaging my grains, but also to purge the oxygen

there's an interesting study done by Dr. Albert E. Purcell, Research Associate, Department of Food Science and Nutrition, Brigham Young University at : http://waltonfeed.com/ self/upack/bugs2.html

this study seems to indicate that CO2 is much more effecient than DE at reducing bug problems

there's a section of the Walton site that explains how to use dry ice at: http://waltonfeed.com/self/upack/ default.htm

hope this helps

andrea

ps......i've been using dry ice in conjunction with 2 liter pop bottles to put up my wheat and rice and beans, etc......just use a couple of marble sized chuncks put in the bottem of the bottle before adding the grain.....then allow the bottles to sit for about 10 minutes with the cap sitting on top loosely.....then tighten down the cap

-- andrea (mebsmebs@hotmail.com), March 30, 1999.



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