Where to Acquire 5 Gallon (and other sizes) Buckets for Free or Cheap?

[Canine]

The 5 gallon bucket is a great tool. Buying one is easy as they are available at all sorts of stores, but for the more frugal of us or the more environmentally conscious of us, finding used ones is the way to go. But where are good places to find them? Please let us know the size (5 gallon, 3 1/2 gallon, 6 gallon, or 7 gallon, etc.). I'm talking ONLY about buckets that have the EXACT same diameter bottom and top ONLY- standard size only. The only difference will be height. Being able to nest the buckets is an extremely important feature for many of us if not most of us. Having the top the same diameter is also very important so all lids including gamma lids are interchangeable.

Please do not include other types of buckets or this post will be inundated to the point of being far less helpful than what it could have been. Thank you in advance!

Let us know if the bucket is food grade or not. Some of us may want to store water, rice, or other stuff in it. My understanding is that food grade ones are also a bit stronger (?).

Laundry washing facilities and commercial laundry plants have tons of 5 gallon buckets. These buckets have concentrated soaps and bleach that are caustic, but when diluted are just fine. Just like home laundry soap. Since the products are universally highly water soluble, they rinse out extremely well and very easily without being a hazard to the environment. These are not food grade buckets.

Restaurants also have tons of buckets. They are pretty much 5 gallon as far as I can tell. You can get square ones, too, so specify that you want round ones if that is what you want. Many of these have pickles and other foodstuffs in them, so they are often food grade. One place here sells them for $3, but I would sneak in the Dumpster and grab a couple if I needed some.

Any other ideas? Would like to get a 6 and a 7 gallon bucket to try for my composting toilet. (I love that thing!)

 

[WriterMs]

I have heard from some folks into prepping that places with bakeries (Walmart Supercenters, for example) will normally give you free ones if you ask. They get things like the industrial icing in 5-gal buckets. This, however, can make them harder to get truly clean, because of the oil/grease.

You also want to make sure that any bucket you get has not been used for things like mopping after its original use (if you plan to store food).

 

[eapvan]

Getting a free bucket is one thing, but a food-grade bucket with a lid is like finding a Unicorn imo. It would be much easier to just try to save a few bucks, and then buy one from Lowe's or somewhere. I think the food-grade 5 gal. buckets with a lid are like 7 bucks or so. Maybe less.

For a composting toilet, I'd look in every dumpster at construction sites. I'd be happy with a free 5 gal. one, but a 6 or 7 might be nice. Doesn't really matter one way or another. I'll be dumping the waste every few days regardless.

 

[Optimistic Paranoid]

I was able to bring a dozen or more free ones home from work.  They were originally full of ice melt - not rock salt, the concrete safe stuff, Calcium Chloride pellets, I think.

Regards
John

 

[TMG51]

Any construction / remodel site that is doing drywall is going to be discarding a lot of empty 5 gallon joint compound pails.

They'll have residue in them and probably headed to a dumpster. But joint compound, even when dry and appearing like cement, will dissolve in water easily.

That's the only source I know of free 5 gallon buckets. They won't be food grade, but they may even have lids....... with them or also in the dumpster.

 

[bcbullet]

If you attend Farmer's Markets, there will probably be someone selling salad dressings...ask for the 5 gallon mayonnaise buckets that they use for the base of many dressings. They usually sell them but have far more than they can sell.

 

[BC Guy]

Schools - janitors will receive some of their supplies (floor soap/floor wax/ germicidal) in 5 gallon buckets. Definitely not food grade.

 

[highdesertranger]

dang I just typed out a long response and lost it.  so here I go again.  not all buckets are equal.  on the bottom you will find a number like 050, 060, 090, etc.  this is the mil thickness of the buckets.  050 are real thin almost disposable.  060 are slightly thicker this is the thickness of homer buckets,  one step up from disposable.  the 090 are more durable by far,  these buckets can last years.

a good source of buckets are painters.  theses are 090 buckets,  you want the ones with water based latex paints.  you can just rinse these out.  if there is dry paint on the side fill with water and let sit for a hour or so.  the latex doesn't like to stick to plastic.

restaurants and commercial kitchens,  are another good source.  these buckets are usually food grade.  donut shops have the 2.5 gal size.

construction sites,  you can find 6-7 gal buckets but these usually contain toxic/hazardous substances.  around here drywall mud in bulk comes in cardboard boxes with a baggie liner.  the home improvement stores sell mud in 1 gal buckets.

funny story,  when I was in Alaska I was short on buckets,  I bought some pickle buckets.  I swear it took 5 years to get the pickle smell out.

I carry about 20 buckets with me.  look at this pic.

I count 15 buckets in this pic.  yeah I carry lots of buckets.  highdesertranger

 

[highdesertranger]

actually once I blow the pic up there are 17 buckets in the pic. highdesertranger

 

[LeeRevell]

Any shop servicing and repairing diesel tractors and farming/construction equipment will be throwing away five gallon hydraulic oil buckets.  Can be cleaned out to use for things like a porta-potty, or storing mechanical items/tools. 
Check your local trash dump also - ours often has these buckets and paint cans with good paint - for your construction projects - all free!

 

[ZoNiE]

Firehouse subs sells their pickle buckets for $2 with the lid and the money goes to charity.

 

[offroad]

I was in the market for a couple buckets, food grade. Lowes has them for less than $5 and all clean. think the lids are $1.50 Does anyone have a link to a list of what to make sure you carry in your pooper bucket? Obviously toilet paper, and baby wipes, and trash bags, and pee bottle, and magazine and pen light. Anything else?

 

[akrvbob]

Any grocery store with a bakery and deli will have them. Sometimes they sell them cheap and sometimes they are free. Get there early in the morning, that's when the bakers will be getting done and the deli will be starting to cook.
Bob

 

[Canine]

I was in the market for a couple buckets, food grade.  Lowes has them for less than $5 and all clean.

I read on Lowes' website that it says on the bucket that it is not for food storage. Unsure if you meant they were food grade, but wanted to be sure.

The price is amazing! $2.98!!! I'm not sure where I got it in my head that they were over $10 a bucket, but I need to look again at what I have near here. $3 is totally worth it and you know what was in there- nothing!

 

[Canine]

funny story,  when I was in Alaska I was short on buckets,  I bought some pickle buckets.  I swear it took 5 years to get the pickle smell out.

Did the assayers comment that your gold smelled like pickles?

 

[eapvan]

I read on Lowes' website that it says on the bucket that it is not for food storage. Unsure if you meant they were food grade, but wanted to be sure.

The price is amazing! $2.98!!! I'm not sure where I got it in my head that they were over $10 a bucket, but I need to look again at what I have near here. $3 is totally worth it and you know what was in there- nothing!

If you're looking at the blue ones, they're not food grade. The white ones are, and from what I just saw on the website, they're 4.48 right now. Still, that's a whole lot cheaper than Tupperware.

 

[LeeRevell]

The Lowes blue buckets (and Homer Depot's orange buckets) are usable for food storage if you use a mylar liner bag.  Of course that is added expense, but it is the standard for the Prepper Community.

 

[highdesertranger]

the cheap box store buckets are not food grade. they are also very cheap 050, you can almost see though them. if you point them at the sun and look though them you can see the orb. as far as those pickle buckets, everybody wanted to know if I had some hot dogs to go with my concentrates. highdesertranger