another place for buckets

[jamala]

Went to eat at Firehouse subs last night for a fund raiser and they had a sign that said "buckets $2" We got 5 pickle buckets with lids for $2 each and the $2 goes to help support fire depts. Not as good as free but still cheap with lids for food grade buckets. We used to get free ones at Dickeys BBQ but now their stuff comes in plastic bags instead of buckets.

[Cyngbaeld]

Soak them in HOT water with baking soda then rinse and put them where they can air out. When you think they've aired enough put the lid on and a week later check them BEFORE putting food in. I find pickle buckets have lots of uses, but storing food in them is not one of them.

[shannsmom]

I never could get the pickle smell out of my Firehouse buckets so set them aside to use as "toilet buckets" if needed. Some stores sell seats to put on them...they even match the bucket

[Sanza]

The 2 gallon ice cream pails are great for food storage and they stack nicely.
I needed a container of some sort to scoop up some wheat because I didn't have a shovel on my truck (stupid me cause it's still winter here) and a local convenience store owner said " they're free and out back - just pull up and take as many as you need anytime" Whoo hooo I told her I'll give her some eggs in exchange, because I feel one good deed deserves one back.

Wouldn't charcoal or newspaper absorb the pickle smell?

[Cyngbaeld]

Charcoal might help some, but pickle smell is pretty bad once it is in the food. I'd rather go to the hardware and get new buckets for food storage.

[ErinP]

I get three gallon buckets in our grocery store's deli. Free.
And they usually had doughnut filling or macaroni salad or something equally non-pickle smelling in them.

[oregon woodsmok]

5 gallon pickle buckets are just fine as planters. There are lots of things that will grow in a five gallon bucket. I'll pay $2 for a bucket, especially if the money goes to a good cause.

But, yes, it is difficult to get that pickle smell out of the bucket.

Yesterday, I used a 5 gallon bucket to move shavings to the compost bin. Pickle bucket works for that.

Today, I've got a 5 gallon bucket full of grass seed sitting by the front door, waiting to go out and get broadcast. Pickle bucket works for that.

I've got 20 bench graft apple trees arriving this spring. They'll need planters for the first year. Pickle bucket works for that.

I've got pepper plants inside over-wintering. Pickle bucket works for that.

I've got 40 fig and pomegranate cuttings rooting. They will go into 5 gallon buckets after they root.

I move bark and sand in 5 gallon buckets to make my planting mix.

I bought 45 five gallon food grade buckets last year to put my fig trees in. I've got exactly 6 sitting with nothing in them. I'm going to have to buy more buckets for my fig trees.

[jamala]

I mostly use pickle buckets to pick beans/peas/squash/tomatoes any of my garden veggies in and fruit from my trees--they work great for that I haven't tried to get the pickle smell out to store anything in them yet as I have lots of the BBQ buckets that I store food in(don't mind my rice smelling a little like BBQ). But thanks for the tips on how to get the smell out if I need to. My friend did store dehydrated veggies in a pickle bucket and they didn't take on the pickle smell but they were double bagged sealed with a food saver, so that may have helped.

[farmergirl]

I store dried beans in the pickle buckets after I wash and air them in the sunshine for a few days. It also helps to fold up a cup or so of baking soda in a paper towel which I place under the bags of dried beans.