Storing cat food

[Mary K]

How about those giant pickle jars that are glass? You could empty the bag of food into them directly; no leeching, no plastic, and you can see when you are running out. Move a few shelves out of your refrigerator and put them on the bottom.

[Geff]

That's a really good idea. Wish I would have thought of it before spending $22 on metal! 

[Cindy Nevarez]

Sorry Geff,
I've been trying to quickly go thru the last 4 pages of posts that I missed since last night.

The thing about freezing dry matter that I've learned, is that you can't let any moisture get into the bags before you freeze and during. Also, you can't allow it to get freezer burn.
 
That said, I would leave your new bags intact, unopened; then wrap those in a freezer type of bag...Glad, or Ziplock, or one of those major bag companies makes giant ones now. If you can't find a super big one, or don't want to spend MORE money on this, then just use a couple of new trash bags; squeeze all the air out, and securely close them with twist ties, rubber bands, or just tie a good knot on the end. If your trash bags are very thin...use 2. Then put an I.D. label on it with the date.

Ok, when you want to thaw, take out the bag you want to use 1 - 3 days before you want to open it. The bigger the bag....the longer the thawing time. Leave it on the counter somewhere all that time...you just want to get it back to room temp. like the day you bought it.

Ok, after you open it, use a big glass jar or something glass like Mary suggested. Fill up the jar for your week's supply, put a scoop in there, and keep that on your counter. Then close up the opened bag real well and keep in your FRIG...not the freezer, but the frig.

That way your huge supply of food will keep for months and months..regardless of what the CN guy told you (they say that so you'll keep buying more food more often).

I do this with a lot of dry matter foods; for humans and pets. It works very well.

BTW, if you carefully rinse out and dry that metal container you bought, you should be able to return it.

[Davis]

The pickle jars are a great idea Mary.  I had mentioned the glass canning or mayo jars, but they often are not as big.  I wonder if we can just buy brand new huge glass jars without having to buy all those pickles.  They must be available somewhere. 

As for the plastic and bacteria, I guess if you reuse it, that would be a problem, but the Ziplocs I use get thrown out.  Not good for the landfilles though.  I'm thinking that maybe since I'm lining them with wax paper now, I can wash them out, put fresh lining in, and reuse them at least once.

[Cindy Nevarez]

BTW Davis,

If you rinse out your bags well, and shake out the excess water, you can ut them in with the grocer bags that you collect to take  back to the gracer for  reycling.

I put pretty much all clean or rinsed plastic wrapping in there with that.

[Mary K]

Yeah to Cindy for recycling the bags!  Davis, I have never been to a yard or garage sale yet that didn't have a few of those empty pickle jars. That is where I get mine, usually for about a quarter ! Of course you have to clean them carefully before use!

[alek0]

It should be possible to find large glass air tight jars. Here they are found in any of the shops with home and kitchen supplies.

[Cindy Nevarez]

Hey Geff,

Did you see that I answered your question on this thread from this morning regarding freezing food?

[Geff]

Hi Cindy -  Yes, thank you! 

[mk1]

I am a new cat owner. My kitty is Mason and he'll be two years old sometime this June. I got him in July 2006. This may be a dumb question but how can you tell if dry kibble has gone bad?

I have been feeding him Felidae Dry for a year or so. Also, how much licking/grooming is a sign of an allergy. On another thread one owner reported that his or her cat developed an allergy from this food.

Mason seems to groom himself quite often but he also plays alot, sleeps well and just observes the dog and me...hehe...and seems to be a well adjusted mischevious kitty. His coat appears to look good to me but I am not a long time cat mom.

[Cindy Nevarez]

It will stink!

Not like 'food smell,' but rancid smell. If it doesn't smell 'good' to you...it's gone bad.

[Geff]

I am a new cat owner. My kitty is Mason and he'll be two years old sometime this June. I got him in July 2006. This may be a dumb question but how can you tell if dry kibble has gone bad?

I have been feeding him Felidae Dry for a year or so. Also, how much licking/grooming is a sign of an allergy. On another thread one owner reported that his or her cat developed an allergy from this food.

Mason seems to groom himself quite often but he also plays alot, sleeps well and just observes the dog and me...hehe...and seems to be a well adjusted mischevious kitty. His coat appears to look good to me but I am not a long time cat mom.

I'm likely the person who reported excessive grooming. We're not talking moderately excessive; his problem was pretty much non stop 24/7 grooming on Felidae. A healthy cat will lick pretty frequently; but Silly's was non stop. And again, it went away almost immeadiately after changing food. There is no question that my cat has food allergies. The only question in my cat's case is just what is it he's allergic to? We've long suspected Seafood, but it COULD also be some of the fruits & herbs in some of the premium foods. 

No need to worry if you just have a good clean kitty!

[mk1]

Thanks for the information. I think Mason is fine. E

[garypen]

Some cats are OCD, as well. They respond to OCD drugs to stop the excessive licking.

As for large glass containers, many kitchen and houseware stores sell glass and ceramic pasta, flour, rice, etc containers with airtight lids.