PREP Pet Food storage

I live in a camper, and have a school bus for storage. I want to store a few months of dog food for two dogs. Last summer I put a bag in a metal trash can outside and it molded. I just found a couple of dead mice on the steps of my bus and hesitate to keep it out there, but am not ruling that out (in the trash can). There is absolutely nowhere in my camper to store more than the current bag. Right now I have it on the back seat of my truck and feel it will keep in decent condition there, but I'd really rather be able to not haul it around with me all the time.

any suggestions?

TIA

Judy

wow that is a hard one! I have mine in my house, but we have 2 cats, so no mice get in. Have you ever thought about cutting the dogfood in half with rice? We do that almost everyday for our pups...we have 4. We put a little grease, of what ever I have cooked for dinner on the rice and dogfood with usually what ever scrapes there is left over. They are very healthy dogs and snub their noses up on just dry dog food now.

You could also food saver it in smaller portions, then put that in tubs, or do the mylar bag in buckets with o2's in it. I will be looking for others tips!

Leigh19717 said:

wow that is a hard one! I have mine in my house, but we have 2 cats, so no mice get in. Have you ever thought about cutting the dogfood in half with rice? We do that almost everyday for our pups...we have 4. We put a little grease, of what ever I have cooked for dinner on the rice and dogfood with usually what ever scrapes there is left over. They are very healthy dogs and snub their noses up on just dry dog food now.

You could also food saver it in smaller portions, then put that in tubs, or do the mylar bag in buckets with o2's in it. I will be looking for others tips!

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The rice addition is a good idea, although I almost never have any left over grease. I do have a lot of rice, but don't eat it much myself, so I'd have to cook it for them. If I have any meat I just brown it in a little olive oil and stirfry veggies and never have any of them left over. I've tried to make a gravy for their dog food, but thus far have been unsuccessful. Right now I only have small mylar bags, but could get some larger ones and store them in the bus in the metal trash can. Thanks for the ideas.

Judy

How about just store lots of human food and plan on sharing?

I don't know how well it would do outside, but we keep dog food in the large plastic buckets with gamma seal lids. I do understand that mice and rats can chew through plastic eventually, but it hasn't been an issue for us. It does stay dry and fresh (no I don't sample the dog food for freshness, we use the same thing for storing things for human consumption too) and bug-free.

What size are the dogs? You might be better off...as some have suggested...just stocking up on rice and pasta and find a cheap way to add protein. Or suppliment with people protein foods added to the rice or pasta.

Willow

MrsXtrmst said:

I don't know how well it would do outside, but we keep dog food in the large plastic buckets with gamma seal lids. I do understand that mice and rats can chew through plastic eventually, but it hasn't been an issue for us. It does stay dry and fresh (no I don't sample the dog food for freshness, we use the same thing for storing things for human consumption too) and bug-free.

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I don't know why I didn't think of this for my own cat. The gamma lids would be perfect. I worry about humidity here in Florida but there is no way I'm going to feed my long haired cat canned kitty food ... he'd be the size of a house and probably have his quality of life endangered by hair balls, not to mention his life shortened as well. Even as much as we do for him on a near daily basis he still hacked one up last night because this is the time of year he really sheds (weather is changing and he is shedding his winter coat).

The metal trash cans work, but you have to make sure that they have no holes in them, AND that you seal them with silicone tape at the top (on the outside of where the rim of the top hits the can once seated). When I get them from the store, I drop them in the can (most cans take at least two 40-50 pound bags), and drop in two silica gel/dessicant packs, and one O2 absorber pack. Then put the top on and seal it away. For doing any "dry people food", I do the same thing.

I also abuse by modded freezer to make sure that any bugs in the bag from the factory or store, are very dead. (Yes, -58 is as far as the poor thermometer will go, the freezer is a bit colder).

Loup

MrsXtrmst said:

I don't know how well it would do outside, but we keep dog food in the large plastic buckets with gamma seal lids. I do understand that mice and rats can chew through plastic eventually, but it hasn't been an issue for us. It does stay dry and fresh (no I don't sample the dog food for freshness, we use the same thing for storing things for human consumption too) and bug-free.

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LOL our youngest son use to taste test the dog food, he was especially fond of the canned Alpo. And no, he didn't make a steady diet of it, I think he just tasted it. Wonder if that's why he got so tall.

Judy

ok that made me laugh and remember what my youngest said last night. I made up a pot of pintos, added rice, some sliced up Spam and a crumbled bisquit that was left over and was eating it. She said she wanted to try the Spam again, so I said sure. Her eyes got as big as quarters and huge ummmmmm comes out and I says I love it! It tastes just like Minni's canned food used to. Long story short, my DH let her try it when Minni was a pup the size of your hand and couldn't eat dry dog food. Gotta love those DH's! LOL

Since Louisiana is basically a swamp, you'll need to keep all the humidity out of your storage containers. that is, after all, why it molded to begin with. Now, the dry kibble that I use is in plastic bags from the manufacturer, so I don't need to do anything special other than just keep the critters out of where I store it. Also bear in mind that after a few months, the food will start losing its nutritional value.

What brand are you feeding?

How about an old freezer or a bunch of well sealed buckets with a liberal dosing of DE on the top and bottom of the buckets (inside not outside). One of the uses of DE is to remove humidity. It also doesn't hurt that it kills bugs. Just make sure that you get food grade DE. (Diatomaceous Earth.)

I keep getting dog food and dog won't eat it..I think it goes rancid. I now make my dog food with rice,meat and veggies and freeze it and pull out one baggie a day.

Dennis Olson said:

Since Louisiana is basically a swamp, you'll need to keep all the humidity out of your storage containers. that is, after all, why it molded to begin with. Now, the dry kibble that I use is in plastic bags from the manufacturer, so I don't need to do anything special other than just keep the critters out of where I store it. Also bear in mind that after a few months, the food will start losing its nutritional value.

What brand are you feeding?

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Beneful. Yeah, moldy, but the can was outside and it was hot and humid. It seems to do okay in my truck. I only want to store a few months worth, two or three bags, three at the most, the Beneful bags are 31 lbs each.

Judy

Get a 55-gallon open-top plastic or steel drum (and its top and securing ring). throw the food bags in there with a good quantity of desiccant. Close lid. Problem solved.

what I am seeing here is the most we can store, store bought food is going to be a couple of months correct? More reason to start adding in rice, liquids and grease, with veggies and if there is meat.

Oh by the way, I store my bacon and sausage grease in the frig and get out a tablespoon at a time to put in the microwave if I am not cooking meat that night. My pups also like spagetti and white sauces. After I finish putting up dinner, I will throw the rice in with the juice in the frying pan and swirl it around to absorb the liquids. Then pop that in with the dry dog food. You can also do wet dogfood and keep the rest in the frig in a different container of course. Just pop out a tablespoon or more and mix that with dry food and rice. Water from canned chicken I will pour over the dry food and let it absorb it and then mix in rice. Mine aren't that picky lol.

If you store it in a cool dark place, it could last a year or more.

What are your dog's breed(s), and how many dogs? Have you ever thought of switching them to a higher-grade of food? Beneful is, well, "less than optimal". Also, I cook for my dogs all the time. For dinner they each get:

1C Taste of the Wild Pacific Salmon dry kibble
1C Steamed Minute Rice (flavored with beef boullion)
1 can of french-cut green beans (adds bulk to their food so they're not as hungry)
1/2C Rotisserie chicken
1/2C Hamburger (cooked)

Every nite at supper time.

We keep our 15# bag of dry catfood in the bag inside a lg Coleman cooler where the lid locks the top. We had tried everything and all the local lake varmits would break in, so far so good.

Dennis Olson said:

What are your dog's breed(s), and how many dogs? Have you ever thought of switching them to a higher-grade of food? Beneful is, well, "less than optimal". Also, I cook for my dogs all the time. For dinner they each get:

1C Taste of the Wild Pacific Salmon dry kibble
1C Steamed Minute Rice (flavored with beef boullion)
1 can of french-cut green beans (adds bulk to their food so they're not as hungry)
1/2C Rotisserie chicken
1/2C Hamburger (cooked)

Every nite at supper time.

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Dang, your pups food sounds really good, leave off the kibble and LOL eat some for dinner! Seriously, the Beneful is an up grade, I was feeding them Ol'Roy. My income is too small to spend more than I am and as for raw food, well, I hardly have meat myself

My 8 y/o Australian Healer is and adopted dog, Roxi, I've had her for about a year, she weighs about 50#s, and my other dog, Pete, is a foundling as in he found his way through the woods to my door last August, he was still a puppy. He seems full grown now and probably weighs 35#s or so. Two dogs in a camper is all there is possible room for and as I'm sure you know its crowded.

I've gotten some good tips here, I like the cooler idea. If I can ever come up with a cool dry place I'd like to keep a year's worth of food. I was able to do that before Katrina, but not since.

Thanks for all the good ideas.

Judy

I currently keep both my dog and my cat food in 5 gallon buckets with gamma seal lids. Keeps for months, no problem. Easier for this old lady to handle than those big barrels, especially when it gets close to the bottom of the barrel and I can't reach the bottom easily and can't lift it either and so end up pretty much standing on my head in the barrel to scoop! LOL

But I currently have a 75 pound rhodesian ridgeback and she goes through a lot of dog food so I am thinking of doing the barrel thing again like I did for y2k, just because of the way prices are going up, up up, up and how we may be getting closer to a supply chain disruption.

For y2k, I used 55 gallon food grade hard plastic barrels with screw top lids. They had olives in them before I got them. I washed them good, then aired them for a couple weeks. Then I simply used dessicant (in coffee filters) and just filled them up with dog food and a dessicant pouch every so often (about 2 or 3 to a 50 pound bag IIRC) and then screwed the lid on tight. I didn't even caulk the lids.

I stored them outsie on my deck for a year (100 degree plus in summer, low teens in the winter) and it all did just fine. No rodents tried to eat through it or anything and no bears came after it (which was my biggest concern). The food did not go rancid or get buggy and my girl ate it just fine without any ill effects. I do think it was a little stale towards the end, or maybe had the sent of greek olives, I don't know, but you could tell she was not impressed by the end. LOL But she ate it!

3 barrels lasted 9 months, but YMMV of course. Of course, I do like many others here and supplement the dry food with home cooked food (rice, vegies, occasional meat, some leftovers) so it goes farther and has better nutrition (and flavor!)

I would think that with dessicant to keep the moisture down you should be fine. Of course I do not live in a high humidity area either, but common sense says to store it however you store rice or grains in a high humidity area.

Cardinal said:

How about just store lots of human food and plan on sharing?

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Thats what we're doing with canned tuna for the cat.

Dry pet food or canned pet food.......






Our dogs eat real food that is good for them and actually has nutrition to it.
They do not eat veggies, fruits or grains.
Protein, edible bone and organs.
It all keeps really well in the freezer.

And we have VERY healthy dogs.

Commercial pet food=