"Crossloading" Food Storage Buckets

Most serious preppers have at least some food storage in 5-gallon plastic buckets. Typically, foods like whole wheat, rice, oats and sugar are sealed in mylar bags with oxygen absorbers, and then stored in lidded pails. And it's most economical (and easiest) to do it one food item per bucket. So one pail contains a large mylar bag filled with sugar, another pail contains a large mylar bag filled with oats, and so on.

However, I learned about "crossloading" by watching the video below by SafeArmsReview. And damn... it makes total sense!

The basic concept behind "crossloading" buckets is this: Instead of putting just one type of food in a bucket, fill each pail with various foods. So a single bucket might contain rice AND beans AND oats AND salt AND sugar AND flour, etc. (with each food being sealed in individual mylar bags with oxygen absorbers). Obviously, this is a more labor intensive and expensive method of food storage. But it makes sense for three reasons (offered in better detail in the video):

• If a neighbor or friend knocks on your door after the fecal matter hits the spinning blades, and you want to offer them assistance, you can give them a variety of food without having to open a bunch of different 5-gallon buckets (since opening them could decrease the lifespan of the foods inside).

• If you need to bug out quickly and can only grab a couple of buckets, you can be assured that you're taking a variety of food with you.

• If vermin or pests get into a bucket, you won't lose a huge supply of one food item... like half your supply of flour. Instead, you'll only be losing a small supply of a variety of foods.

Anyway, SafeArmsReview offers a better explanation that starts around minute 3 of this video. Check it out!