Food Archives | Page 7 of 8 | Five Gallon Ideas

Worm Farm

Posted on November 28, 2012 by trevor

Originally I didn’t want to publish this here because it uses larger 18-gallon bins, but under my new definition of bucket it’s allowed in.

I built my worm farm last winter and stocked it with red worms from our backyard compost bin. It was a successful project, and a great experience, so I’ll probably build another one in my new place soon.

I fed it a very rich food scraps diet for a month or two, then neglected it for four months. When I harvested it, the worms were still alive and happy and the compost they lived in was the richest, sweetest smelling compost I ever laid my nostrils on (and I’ve handled a lot of compost.)

The three-bin worm farm I built is much easier to maintain than a one-bin systems. You can see the full tutorial on DIYwormbin.com

Bread Box

Posted on November 20, 2012 by trevor

Category: 5 Gallon Bucket Uses

When I lived in the Pacific Northwest, I could leave bread on the counter for days and it would stay fresh. Since moving to the frozen wastelands of northern Alberta, I’ve had to take steps to preserve my homemade loaves if I don’t want to wake up to dried-out bricks for breakfast. Continue reading →

Rainwater Collection

Posted on October 20, 2012 by trevor

Category: 5 Gallon Bucket Uses

The pacific northwest monsoon season is arriving in my neighborhood. I use the term “neighborhood” loosely, as I’m spending a few weeks living on a sailboat.

Life on the water finds even more uses for buckets than life on shore. On rainy days, just a few catch enough water to meet all my drinking and cooking needs. The water is delicious and clear, unlike our municipal source which has a faint yellow sediment tint this time of year.

The only filter I need is an old t-shirt tied over-top one of the buckets. Its main function is to filter out sand, which is ubiquitous on the boat. In my system, the two open buckets are poured manually into the filter bucket when I need water.

The rains here are aggressive enough that I don’t need a panel to collect enough water, but if I used a clean tarp to increase my collection surface I would have enough water to start a water bottling company! What would you pay for a bottle of fresh, pure, five gallon bucket water?

Fruit Bowl

Posted on September 1, 2012 by trevor

Category: 5 Gallon Bucket Uses

The plastic bucket look may not be the aesthetic you want for in your kitchen – but if you’ve got as many buckets lying around as I do, it shouldn’t look out of place at all.

I use these pails for any fruits or vegetables that can be stored at room temperature – such as apples, potatoes, onions, garlic, peaches and bananas. I actually use similar buckets with lids in the fridge as makeshift tupperware for produce needing refrigeration.

Like in the CSA box, a bit of water at the bottom can extend the life of such fruits as apples, oranges and lemons.

I’ve commited a bit of five gallon bucket treason by using such small buckets, but this is just more proof that there’s no limit of uses for plastic pails!

CSA box

Posted on July 14, 2012 by trevor

Category: 5 Gallon Bucket Uses

I sell my buckets at cost to a number of farmers in the area, who mainly use them as harvest pails or feed storage. One farmer sends them back to me full of food as part of my CSA subscription.

CSA means “community supported agriculture,” whereby food eaters pay food producers for an entire growing season’s worth of food up front, allowing the farmer to pay for seed and equipment (not to mention rent!) without having to go to a bank for a loan. It also helps offload some of the financial risk from the farmer onto the food eater. This means your farmer will still be farming next year, even if their crop is damaged by pests or drought.

Many CSAs are delivered in rubbermaid totes, which can cost three or four times as much, and do not have a convenient carrying handle!

Sometimes my CSA box comes with a couple inches of water in the bottom, which keeps the leafy greens fresh and alive!