Storing Charcoal in a 5 Gallon Bucket

Here is an easy way to store charcoal for cooking as part of your emergency preparation. Charcoal is great for cooking using dutch ovens or using and old-fashioned charcoal grill. A great way to store it would be in a 5 gallon bucket.
 


Storing Charcoal in a 5 Gallon Bucket

You should be able to fit a 20 lb bag of charcoal briquettes into a 5 gallon bucket. It will be tight and you’ll have to shake it down a bit.


With this much charcoal, you should be able to cook one meal a day for a week with a grill. If you cook your meal in a dutch oven you could extend it to one meal a day for two weeks. If you use something to maximize your heat efficiency like the Volcano II Collapsible Stove you could cook 1 meal a day for about a month.

So how long will the briquettes stay good in storage? To help answer that question I went to the Kingsford (a popular manufacturer of charcoal briquettes) website. I found this on their FAQ page under “Other Questions”

• “The shelf life is indefinite so long as the product is stored in a cool, dry place. If the briquets become damp, they will not light efficiently. If a Kingsford Match Light charcoal bag is left open or becomes torn, the solvent will evaporate. This will also prevent the briquets from lighting properly. To extend shelf life, we recommend that you re-close the bag properly after each use.”

So it sounds like you can store them for as long as you want as long as you keep them dry. If you threw a few silica gel packs in your five gallon bucket with the charcoal briquettes that should help remove any moisture from the air and help keep your charcoal good for a long, long time.

You also might want to keep a couple of bottles of charcoal lighter fluid on hand as well to help light the briquettes. I’m not sure how long they will last, and as they are flammable, they could be a bit dangerous to store. Anybody have any thoughts on the best way to store the lighter fluid?