Anyone use them as outdoor stashes?
Ive been considering painting a couple with a wicked mesquite desert camo and putting some out and checking on them periodical. to try and found out how long they are viable in that situation. Throw in a tarp, a poncho liner, knife, some paracord and maybe acouple of pairs of sox and see what happens.
Some time back I "found" some buckets that a well meaning family member had stacked WAY too high (9 buckets high). The bottom bucket of the stack had basically disintegrated, the next 2 buckets in the stack had the lids busted in (and these were good lids, not the garbage lids that Lowes and Walmart sells). Anywhoo, I took the buckets with the broken lids out and decided to put them into the chicken feed rotation. So I carried some of them over and stacked them near the chicken shed.
Now the buckets were already 8-9 years old by the time they went out near the chicken shed. Some time last year, I had a need for buckets and here is one lone remaining bucket with a cracked lid over by the chicken shed. I pulled the lid off, the rice inside was mylared. As I dumped the still sealed mylar bag out on to the ground, a quart or so of green slime water came out of the bucket with it. This bucket had been outside at least a year or two, freezing in the winter, 110 in the summer.
As I dumped out the mylar bag, I said "I just wonder...." I pulled my knife and cut the mylar open. The rice inside was perfectly dry and still good! No BS. My family ate that rice. It showed no oxidation or signs of degradation.
So long story short, pack correctly like in that video I linked above, and you can do what you want to do. I wouldn't store outside IF YOU HAVE OTHER OPTIONS, but if you don't and the choice is store outside or not have food... I'd be storing outside!
Lowdown3