Cheap Sources of Food Grade Plastic Containers

[ZEEBEE]

Hello again,

Tried searching the archives but couldn't find an answer.

I am buying supplies for this years honey harvest. I have seen what is available in bee catalogues. Have any of you in your travels found a cheaper supplier of these items? I am looking for 5 gallon containers, etc.

Are the two gallon spring water jugs in the market food grade?

Thanks a million.

[Curry]

Walmart sells juice (grapefruit, grape, etc) in a nice 1 gallon container that appears to be made of PET (same as 2 liter bottle material). It has a nice wide opening, and coincidentally takes on the appearance of a skep somewhat. It has a built-in carrying handle that's very convenient. I dropped one the other day full of dark grape juice and it didn't break, so they're tough. I'm planning on taking the labels off, running them through the dishwasher, and using them for honey. The price is right and you can't find a better 1 gallon container.

[odfrank]

I found good, used, blue five gallon buckets that had contained corn syrup, at an ice cream bar manufacturer. Or maybe it was popsicles.

[Karl]

I have a dairy in town nearby that makes their own 1 gallon plastic bottles. I buy them for my apple cider and honey. They also have 1/2 gallons. The price is somewhere around 23 or 25 cents including the caps. Brand new and totally clean. For me this is a bargin. I only use new bottles as I would be worried about getting used ones totally clean.

[Sungold]

ZeeBee,

I think the answer to your question is this; You need to find a local source. Everybody does it somewhat differently.
I was able to hook up an order of 5 gal pails with the place where I work. This way I got the pricing benefit of a larger order and didn't have to pay for shipping.
You might give M&M Container (Chatanooga, TN) a call and ask them who is their distributor in your area. The produce FDA approved containers (including 5 gal pails). I would suggest that you get the names of a few distributors as the price will vary considerable (that was my experience) from dist to dist. Hope this helps. cj

[mark williams]

zeebee: Check with your local wal-mart store.
The one here has a bakery,they have 2 1/2 & 5 gal,buckets that icing comes in,They did charge me $1.00 a pc's for them ,But here latly they have been giving them to me.
they clean up real well & are good one's,
Had 1 last year setting on the back of the truck full of sugar syrup,it fell to the ground & the lid stayed on,Hope this help's>>>>Mark

[ZEEBEE]

Wow, some really good ideas.
I think I'll check Wal-mart or the Bakery section at GIANT today. Really cool...

Keep'em coming...

[wishthecuttlefish]

Zeebee,
Please let me know if you find a local source. I'm not that far from you and I'm going to need some too, if not this year then next.

Feel free to email me if you prefer, at wishthecuttlefish@yahoo.com

Thanks,
Kai

[ZEEBEE]

Well I hit the motherlode today.
I went to the bakery section at the Giant supermarket today. I asked the girl if they had any 5 gallon buckets. I got three 5 gallon buckets with lids, and a 2.5 gallon bucket. She even put them in the dishwasher for me. I offerred her some money but she refused. I was doing her a favor by getting rid of them. She said the weekends are the best time to come because they make most of their cakes and use the most icing then.

Then it got better....You know Mike, I have about 50 of these buckets in my garage. Can you come take them off my hands? She's calling me tonight to arrange a pick up..

Not bad shootin..

Thanks to you all for the advice.

[sagittarius]

Restaurants, cafaterias, schools, throw these away every day.

I get 6 gallon food grade pickle buckets from my work cafateria. They look like 5 gallon buckets only a bit taller, and bright yellow.

[maple]

Don't you find that those pickle pails still carry the odour of the dill or vinegar from the pickles ????
I try to get pails from the donut shop that used to have icing or muffin mix or something sweet .....