Costco Storage Food Deal -$799

Nah. Plastic food grade pails are pretty safe against vermin. True, they can be chewed through, but even most restaurants don't have a problem unless they have a heavy infestation.
Part of our job in food storage is to make sure that the food only gets inside the container without any residue on or around to attract the critters. AND also to perform exterminating duties as needed.

Funny story:
Once upon a time, I worked in a heavily infested building in NYC. They put blue poison bait blocks around the office to kill the critters. Critters just turned them into blue turds!

 

He stated he was putting these bags in his basement. Restaurants have a fairly quick turn over of food. It ain't gonna sit there in the same can for years and years. Garages and Basements often have mice and rats you are not aware of. Depends on cleanliness and frequency of occupancy by cats, dogs and humans. If your long term food storage plastic containers sit in a garage or basement seldom used, and often dark for 3 to 5 years and longer, you may well find the bottom ones in the back have been breeched by those gnawing rodents. I have seen it happen. ...... but, y'all can do whatever ya want .... just saying.... better safe than sorry.

 

Thanks for the warning tacmotusn - I am aware of that risk but our basement is a finished one and gets moderate use. I am pretty certain there are no rats or mice in there now.

Metal cans are a possibility though - but for now I will be using food grade buckets.

The freeze-dried and dehydrated stuff will be used to supplement those basics for the things that are hard to do myself - cheese and butter are two examples.

 

I cheat and use BHT preservative to extend the shelf life of my veggie oil. I've also got a number of 3-4 liter plastic bottles of olive oil, which I rotate through on a regular basis. I don't add any preservative to that stuff. Just the 5-6 gal (35#) cubetainer of veggie oil. Just pour out a little of the oil into a pan, warm over low heat on your cooktop, add the BHT (0.02% by weight "suggested" level, though mine might be a wee bit higher), stir for 1-2 minutes to dissolve, pour back into your 5 gal container of oil.

It still tastes fine after 1 year.

 

That's great advice.
Thanks for that.
Right now I'm ok with fats and carbs. Have to amp up the protein a bit, but when I get back to fats, I'll keep that in mind.

 

spices are a little harder but there are air tight metal tins that you can put them in. mostly you can find them at hobby stores. Herbs however can be readily grown in a greenhouse pretty much year around. also if you buy your spices whole you are in better shape they will not go bad, Whole cloves, corriander seed, whole nutmeg and you can get a couple small coffee grinders and grind it as you need it.