Besides rice, pasta and beans what do you store in the buckets. I want to make a bunch of varity buckets so my family and I don't get bored of the food if SHTF. Thanks.

salt, pepper, dried onions, dried peppers, fruit, etc. One bucket of .22 ammo too.

If you mean in Mylar in buckets,

dry milk
Oatmeal
uncracked Corn
chocolate mix
drink mix (koolaid and etc...)
dry breakfast cereal
dehydrated meat, fruits, and vegetables


You might also look up egg storage  Not as long term, but definitely a stretcher if you've got access to eggs part time (as in, you gots chickens who lay more in summer than winter and want eggs all year round)

Separated MRE components

Sorry. Yes in mylar then in buckets.

How bout pre-made recipes to pack up?

Gallons, 5 of them.

Lentils have more calories and protein per gram than most beans and are easier to cook. They're really delicious too.

Yeah but would you also vacuum-seal the soap and add O2 absorbers, as you would with grains or beans?

Also, I agree with you about the lentils, but Wife has forbidden them from my diet for olfactory reasons.

If I was packing soap bars, I'd at least use desiccants. I don't know if I'd vacuum seal them but I have a few bars I bought just in case two years or so ago and they're still going strong with minimal care and preparation. If I was going to pack them and forget, I'd probably vacuum seal. Throw in a couple desiccant baggies in the bucket for good measure.

Along with the food...
Tea bags, small jar instant coffee, small jar powdered creamer, honey, sugar, small box matches, some tea-light candles
Packets of condiments - catsup, mustard, soy sauce, duck sauce, bbq sauce

Hard Candies, Suckers, Sugar Cubes, Dehydrated Milk, Coffee, Tea, maybe some cereals, fun stuff that could make a bad time feel a little better, Don't worry about stuff that will store for 20 years, so what if you have to rotate it every 2-3.

I have pretty much what everbody else has stated. Just add water Idahoan potato flakes is another one we store. They sell the really big bags of these at Costco for around $6 in my area.

Bar soap comes pre-packaged in sealed wrappers so it'll be soft and lathery when you open it.  Also so it'll disappear faster, causing you to buy more soap.  Take the soap out of the packages, stack it on a shelf in the linen closet to dry for a month or so (and also make your linens smell good) then just chuck it in a bucket.  If you're in a really damp climate, some desiccant certainly won't hurt, though soap is not exactly prone to mold.

Powdered/flaked laundry soap is immortal in dry climes, but in really damp areas it can clump up (which isn't really a big deal except for the heat buildup), so, again, desiccant isn't a bad idea.  Vacuum sealing is probably belt and suspenders finicky.

On this note, plastic buckets with seals is probably a good way to store emergency/backup clothing/bedding to keep it away from the elements.  Those plastic vacuumable bags are good too, though not able to stand up to the bashing a good bucket will.

I am currently storing 300lb of various beans. Most of them are in the factory 20lb. bags, two bags to the bucket along with four or five one lb. cans of ham fills the bucket nicely. One twenty five lb. bag of sugar also fill a 5 gallon bucket nicely. A 20lb. bag of rice is a bucket full. I started out filling one bucket with seven days of food. This consisted of a mixture of canned food like canned chicken and green beans as well as things like Stovetop stuffing. Three five lb. bags of Sam's club Member's Mark hard candy will also fit nicely. I tried storing 22lr. ammo in them and found them to heavy to move without a dolly. The wire hadle litterly came off in my hand. I have found ammo cans to be better for ammo, imagine that. YMMV

Nobody said wheat??  

Wheat