Check the bakery at the local walamrt

 

Local Wal-mart is 30 miles away and in a town where the drivers obviously got their licenses out of Crackerjack boxes, there is no way they could have passed a test showing minimal skills and knowledge of the rules of the road. I only go there when I have to. And usually come back shaken, not stirred.

Besides, they'll probably start charging for their buckets too, soon. Probably the minute before I get there to try to get some.

 

Hmmm.
Good thing I've got several dozen put back.
Got 'em all from Sam's Club.

 

The brand new buckets (white) at Wally World are just $2.97. And they are, indeed, food grade.

 

Do they say "food grade" on them? Because if they don't, you don't know for sure they're food grade.

They may say HDPE or #2 recycling symbol, which is the kind of plastic food-grade buckets are made from, but I have read that the difference between food-grade and non-food-grade buckets made of such plastic is the lubricant they use to release the bucket from the mold.

I've seen those buckets locally and they do not say food grade on them here. My guess is that if they were, Wal-Mart would not miss the chance to advertise them as such.

 

Wow. I don't blame them I guess. With the world ending and all... times are tough.

 

Capitalism at its finest! I love it!

-Nate

 

most places around me have sold them for a wile , usually for a buck ... the days of anything for free are getting rare

 

I live and work in a pretty rural area, there are small stores with lunch counters/deli's in most of the small communites I service. They buy their dill pickel slices in 5 gal buckets, most of them are looking for somewhere/someone to unload them. Yes they smell like pickels but they are food grade and they are free for the asking, they also have lids with a rubber gasket so they seal tight.

I bring them home, fill them with warm water and add 1/2 cup bleach. After a day or two I empty and dry them, when I use them to store things I add 1/2 cup baking soda to the bottom of the bucket as well.

 

Nobody gets something for nothing ,unless someone, somewhere, sometime is getting nothing for something! TP

 

I bought ten brand new food grade buckets with rubber sealed locking lids at Lowe's for about $50 yesterday. I didn't have to go all over town looking and settle for used buckets.

Some things are worth spending a few extra bucks on.

 

Must be a local thing--last time I heard that Lowes had such buckets I went there and inquired, and all they had was the cheapo Wal-Mart type buckets, the lids had no gaskets.

Maybe I should try again.

 

what department did you find the buckets in at lowes?
storage dept?
i haven't seen them at my lowes....you dont mean the silver ones, correct?
thanks

 

I procured 5 of them for free last week at Wal-Mart and Albertson's bakeries. HOT water is the key to cleaning icing buckets, It melts anything that can't be licked off!

 

>Do they say "food grade" on them? Because if they don't, you don't know for sure they're food grade.


If said white Wal-mart 5 gallon bucks are made by Encore Plastic of Ohio they are in fact food grade. I called Encore and asked.

McLOVIN

 

I started a thread about a year ago on it. If you go to Encore's website, all of their white buckets ARE food grade.

I've also asked my local Wal-mart and Sam's for buckets and I was told, oh, we reuse them and they don't give them out.

 

Last fall I bought a bunch of orange pickle buckets from Firehouse Subs for $2 each. That money went to a charity chosen by the local fire department. Seemed like a good deal to me.

The pickle smell sticks around for a while, though.

 

Our grocery store asks $5 a piece for them used. :-(. They know people want them and so they won't give them away.

 

Last week, I went on a small mission to check a few places out around town.

Walmart would only give me one. The guy in the bakery said check back weekly and he would do what he could.

Subway said all of their stuff now comes in cardboard boxes, and they have no buckets.

Food City would have given me some, but they were out.

Interestingly enough, the employees at WM and Food City both said tons of folks were asking for these buckets.

 

 

I managed to get one from my local BBQ place tonight.

 

Home Depot has white food grade buckets (Encore brand) for -$3 and Gamma Seal lids for -$7 in their paint department. They only have the gamma lids in black though. None of the grocery stores or restaurants around here ever have free buckets and i got tired of running around town to try to score free ones.

 

I was just in town and got a dozen with lids, for free from the bakery at wally world. Most of them were even washed out already.:thumb:

 

You can also try Burger King. I used to work there (about 10 years ago) and the pickles came in 5 gallon green pickle buckets w/ gasket lid (not sure if the lid was reusable). My BK was somewhat busy and I think we'd go through 3 buckets a week. They were put out in the recycles. Man, if I only knew what a gold mine they'd be - I could have had over 100 of them!

 

I've gotten a LOT at my local grocery store. I just go up to the bakery and ask the girls for them, they usually have 2or 3 for me all cleaned and with lids. Have offered them a few bucks many times.....they always refuse any payment.

 

I went to the Encore site to see what they said about their containers; in the FAQ section (first question in fact) was this:

Q. Can food be packaged in your containers?

A. Yes, the resin used in most of our containers has the FDA approval for storing and packaging of food products. However, this only applies to products made from virgin material and not from regrind material also known as Econo-Blend. It is also recommended that you purchase your food grade containers direct from Encore or a reputable distributor. We also suggest that you never use “used containers” for storing food products unless they were previously used for a food product.


Here's the page from their website showing the buckets: http://www.e-encore.com/industrialpails.html

At the bottom of that page they show a couple of buckets with the "Eco-Blend" mix which is not food-safe, but the others on the page would, apparently, be so.


Two more things: Gamma Seals *will* fit the 70-mil Encore buckets (I know--I just tried it), but you WILL NOT be getting it back off again. I had to use a rubber mallet to get it on, and the lip of the Gamma Seal is exactly flush with the ridge on the bucket. I suppose if I pried like hell with a screwdriver I might possibly get it off, but that bucket is now permanently gamma-sealed.

Second, the 70-mil buckets are not quite as large in volume as the 5-gallon (90-mil) buckets I bought from U-Line, buckets that are made by Letica out of Minneapolis. That is, I can barely get 100# of wheat or rice in three of the Letica buckets and have room to fold over the mylar bag; I cannot get that much in the 70-mil buckets. This shouldn't dissaude anyone from buying the cheaper 70-mil buckets, just that you won't get quite as much in them (maybe a quart or so less).


It's been a good day. I learned something today. And I wish my local places carried the Encore gasketed lids, instead of the snap-on lids.

 

"Hmm. If we could find out what that lubricant is and whether it's practical to clean it off, maybe?"

Not if it's poison. 1, It was already stated that it's porous. 2, I don't know how buckets are made, but assuming by the other poster's "Lubricant used to slide it out of mold" that it's poured in wet, absorbing some of the lube/lube drying into it.

All in all, I wouldn't trust it.

 

I get my buckets from Costco, samsclub, smiths and albertsons. All the walmarts in my city told me to sod off. They recycle them.

 

've also asked my local Wal-mart and Sam's for buckets and I was told, oh, we reuse them and they don't give them out.

This must be a local decision or one that doesn't have a policy nationwide. I go to my Sam's club and asked. They told me they are *supposed* to recycle them and supposedly get a deposit for each bucket they give back, but if I ask nice and not too often they will give me 5-6 buckets that used to hold frosting.

However admittedly outside of Sam's club I have not had a whole lot of luck finding free food grade buckets so I end up buying some as well.