The Zim Family Cocker Spaniel Forum

Hi there, looking to store food for my pups. Working on becoming a prepper and part of that is making sure my pups have food for a year. Don't want to just leave bags of food out in the garage, looking at airtight food storage containers such as a Vittle Vault http://www.petco.com/product/9799/Gamma ... ables-9799 Anybody have something they love and feel keeps the food fresh?
Thanks much!!! cause ya know, pups got to eat too!

Prepping is having food/supplies on hand to care for yourself anywhere from 1 wk, 3 mos or even a year. I think I might contact food mfg companies and see what they suggest if anything.

The best thing to keep on hand for emergencies is canned dog food. Lasts about a year. As soon as you open a bag, get a new one as backup, but I wouldn't have more than that on hand as it will go rancid.

Curious how you know when a bag of food is rancid? Does it have an odor?
I live 2 hours to the nearest town where I buy my dog food. I generally "go to town" every 6-8 weeks. I buy dog food 2 months in advance, so I will never run out and have to feed the forbidden foods the grocery store carries.

I feed dry food and buy the largest bag. I keep a week's worth in a ceramic cookie jar on my counter but the remainder gets put in large ziploc bags and put in the freezer. I have a plastic sealing storage bin but am still worried about bugs getting into it and the high humidity here.

I found 2 rolling bins at a local farm & home store for 5.00 each. a great deal since they are as large as and shaped like a large kitchen trash can and have a rubber seal and a snap lock lid. I put bird seed in one and a large bag of dog food in the other I have looked for them since, I need one to put my Squirrel corn in but have never seen them there again.... sure wish for that price I would have bought a couple more.

Technically it's not a food storage container, but how about one of those "space bags", where you suck all the air out of it using your vacuum cleaner?

I have a Vittle Vault and it works great. Easy to use too.

How about doing your dog a favor and make your own with real ingredients and freezing it.It's a dog and as such deserves the right to have proper food not some fast food junk every meal.

Here's the response that I received from Fromm, good information:

Our recipes are preserved with all natural preservatives including Vitamin E. The "shelf" life is 18 months from the day it is made. The "Best Before" or "BBF" date is found on the back of the bag normally near the top or the bottom.

We do not make any suggestions for storage other than in a cool and dry place inside your home. Storing any other way, would be at your own choice.

It seems that the best thing with our recipes, would to keep three on hand and keep rotating for freshness as you go. Sorry that I don't have better suggestions at this time. Without the chemical preservatives, it is difficult to "store" any other way.

Please let me know if you have any further questions or concerns, I will do my best to help.

Here's the response from Blue Buffalo, again good, similar information:

Thank you for contacting us. We guarantee all our dry food through the Best By date that is printed on the back of the bag. Until the food is ready to be used, we recommend keeping the product in its original packaging in a cool, dry area. Once the bag has been opened, we recommend keeping the product in an airtight container or tightly rolling the top of the bag down and securing it. Some pet owners choose to do both and place the tightly rolled bag in an airtight container.

The preppers have some good on-line resources. Sounds like pretty good info from Fromm and Blue Buffalo. You'll need to rotate food fairly frequently so there is at least a year until the expiration date. If your garage is like mine, it gets really hot in the summer, so it isn't the best place to store food. An indoor closet is better, if you have one. I would stick with dry goods, canned food or freeze-dried ("best by" dates are a must) - unless you've got an alternate energy source, you may not be able to use your freezer if there's a disaster. When buying water and food for my earthquake kits, I'm surprised as to how many foods have a fairly short shelf life. I also freeze foods like pancake mix and rice for a few days to kill off anything that might hatch when it is stored a while.

Esther, I'm finding that too about the short shelf life! I think I'm going to work on building my stash for my dogs over the next 6 months, buying a bag every 3 months or so. Have decided that I am going to store it under a bed, haven't figured out what kind of plastic container to put it in, but there are plenty of under bed storage containers out there so I should be able to find one that is fairly air tight.
I just bought water filtration today. . . . and so the prep continues.

Here's what I do, based on what I've read in a few places, including in the Whole Dog Journal.

I buy the 13.5kg bags of food for my guys. They last roughly a month . . . I've never really paid attention. I store most of the food in a large Rubbermaid bin, IN the original bag of dog food. Dog food bags are made to preserve freshness, plus then I have the lot number of the food and the Best Before date. I have smaller containers (they last just shy of 2 weeks) that I keep dog food in, and I use those daily. I replenish those from my larger bags, which are kept in our cold storage room in the basement.

ah, a basement, I would love to have a basement. . . . .sigh, too much water here in FL! count yourself lucky! but you are right, always a good thing to keep the lot info and use by information on a larger bag that you have opened!

You have some good information but I still wouldn't use anything over a year even with an 18-month shelf life. Please remember when buying any containers for food storage to make sure they are food storage appropriate. There are containers that are not made for food use because the chemicals they are made of can cause issues with food. If you aren't sure contact the manufacturer before putting food in them.

You are right Vickie! finding FDA approved containers is important! as you said, what the container is made of is significant so it doesn't affect the contents.