Before I'd purchase bulk foods I needed to know how many meals/servings can be prepared from the purchase and how much storage space it will take up. This is called planning. Knowing the amounts in advance will prevent you from purchasing and stocking out of balance or to much of one item and not enough of another. The following information also helps planning for items like spices, cooking oil, yeast and other ingredients needed to turn your bulk storage into everyday meals.
What’s the point in having 50 pounds of flour which is enough to bake 60 loaves of bread and only enough yeast to make 6 loaves of bread? The same applies to all stored foods, like pasta and how much sauce to match the number of meals from the pasta you’ve stored!
The list below shows how many pounds of basic bulk dry food are in a Gallon, (one gallon is my favorite food storage size) and 5 Gallon Buckets. The following information below will help you convert those pounds into gallons and then into cups and then into the number of meals/servings that can be prepared from your stored dry bulk food.
The meal size I use for my basic planning is 2 Cups of Prepared Food per person, per meal. I find that 2 cups is a good amount of food for a meal. Test it for yourself and see. If it’s not enough for you change the 2 cup amount to 3 cups or 1½ cups or whatever suits you. Just be sure to adjust the meals per Gallon or per Pound on the following chart to have an accurate count of meals that are available in your food storage plan. Note the key words here “Prepared Food”. Let’s take rice for example; One cup of raw rice turns into about 3 cups cooked or prepared. So to make 2 cups of prepared rice you only need 2/3 cup of raw rice for one 2 cup meal. This is typical of all dry bulk stored food, one cup of dry food equals 2 cups when prepared. This is what you need to understand when stocking for a planned amount of meals from your long-term stored foods; how many meals can be prepared from your bulk food storage or how long can you live on your storage?
Some of the common dry bulk foods I store:
Rice
7.4 Pounds dry per Gallon
37.0 Pounds dry per Five Gallon Bucket
16 Cups dry per Gallon
80 Cups dry per 5 Gallons
Prepared Food Yield:
24 2 Cup meals per Gallon
120 2 Cup meals per 5 Gallon Bucket
Single Serving Size Ratio:
1/3 Cup of dry to make 1 Cup of prepared
2/3 Cup of dry to make 2 Cups of prepared
Beans, Great Northern
6.7 Pounds per Gallon
33.5 Pounds per Five Gallon Bucket
16 Cups dry per Gallon
80 Cups dry per 5 Gallons
Prepared Food Yield:
32 2 Cup meals per Gallon
160 2 Cup meals per 5 Gallon Bucket
Single Serving Size Ratio:
1/2 Cup of dry to make 1 Cup of prepared
1 Cup of dry to make 2 Cups of prepared
Beans, Pinto
6.4 Pounds per Gallon
32.0 Pounds per Five Gallon Bucket
16 Cups dry per Gallon
80 Cups dry per 5 Gallons
Prepared Food Yield:
32 2 Cup meals per Gallon
160 2 Cup meals per 5 Gallon Bucket
Single Serving Size Ratio:
1/2 Cup of dry to make 1 Cup of prepared
1 Cup of dry to make 2 Cups of prepared
Beans, Red Kidney
6.4 Pounds per Gallon
32.0 Pounds per Five Gallon Bucket
16 Cups dry per Gallon
80 Cups dry per 5 Gallons
Prepared Food Yield:
32 2 Cup meals per Gallon
160 2 Cup meals per 5 Gallon Bucket
Single Serving Size Ratio:
1/2 Cup of dry to make 1 Cup of prepared
1 Cup of dry to make 2 Cups of prepared
Lentils
6.8 Pounds per Gallon
34.0 Pounds per Five Gallon Bucket
16 Cups dry per Gallon
80 Cups dry per 5 Gallons
Prepared Food Yield:
24 2 Cup meals per Gallon
120 2 Cup meals per 5 Gallon Bucket
Single Serving Size Ratio:
1/3 Cup of dry to make 1 Cup of prepared
2/3 Cup of dry to make 2 Cups of prepared
Grits
6.0 Pounds per Gallon
30.0 Pounds per Five Gallon Bucket
16 Cups dry per Gallon
80 Cups dry per 5 Gallons
Prepared Food Yield:
32 2 Cup meals per Gallon
160 2 Cup meals per 5 Gallon Bucket
Single Serving Size Ratio:
1/4 Cup of dry to make 1 Cup of prepared
1/2 Cup of dry to make 2 Cups of prepared
Rolled Oats (Oatmeal)
3.3 Pounds per Gallon
16.5 Pounds per Five Gallon Bucket
16 Cups dry per Gallon
80 Cups dry per 5 Gallons
Prepared Food Yield:
16 2 Cup meals per Gallon
80 2 Cup meals per 5 Gallon Bucket
Single Serving Size Ratio:
1/2 Cup of dry to make 1 Cup of prepared
1 Cup of dry to make 2 Cups of prepared
Barley, Pearled
7.0 Pounds per Gallon
35.0 Pounds per Five Gallon Bucket
16 Cups dry per Gallon
80 Cups dry per 5 Gallons
Prepared Food Yield:
16 2 Cup meals per Gallon
80 2 Cup meals per 5 Gallon Bucket
Single Serving Size Ratio:
1/2 Cup of dry to make 1 Cup of prepared
1 Cup of dry to make 2 Cups of prepared
Pasta, Elbow
5.0 Pounds per Gallon
25.0 Pounds per Five Gallon Bucket
16 Cups dry per Gallon
80 Cups dry per 5 Gallons
Prepared Food Yield:
16 2 Cup meals per Gallon
80 2 Cup meals per 5 Gallon Bucket
Single Serving Size Ratio:
1/2 Cup of dry to make 1 Cup of prepared
1 Cup of dry to make 2 Cups of prepared
Pasta, Rotini
3.0 Pounds per Gallon
15.0 Pounds per Five Gallon Bucket
16 Cups dry per Gallon
80 Cups dry per 5 Gallons
Prepared Food Yield:
11 2 Cup meals per Gallon
55 2 Cup meals per 5 Gallon Bucket
Single Serving Size Ratio:
3/4 Cup of dry to make 1 Cup of prepared
1½ Cups of dry to make 2 Cups of prepared
Pasta, Penne
3.6 Pounds per Gallon
18.0 Pounds per Five Gallon Bucket
16 Cups dry per Gallon
80 Cups dry per 5 Gallons
Prepared Food Yield:
13 2 Cup meals per Gallon
65 2 Cup meals per 5 Gallon Bucket
Single Serving Size Ratio:
2/3 Cup of dry to make 1 Cup of prepared
1¼ Cups of dry to make 2 Cups of prepared
Pasta, Orzo
7.0 Pounds per Gallon
35.0 Pounds per Five Gallon Bucket
16 Cups dry per Gallon
80 Cups dry per 5 Gallons
Prepared Food Yield:
21 2 Cup meals per Gallon
105 2 Cup meals per 5 Gallon Bucket
Single Serving Size Ratio:
1/3 Cup of dry to make 1 Cup of prepared
3/4 Cup of dry to make 2 Cups of prepared
Pasta, Spaghetti
I recommend you use a spaghetti gauge for accurate portion control.
6 Pounds per Gallon
30 Pounds per Five Gallon Bucket
16 Cups dry per Gallon
80 Cups dry per 5 Gallons
Prepared Food Yield:
16 2 Cup meals per Gallon
80 2 Cup meals per 5 Gallon Bucket
7/8 inch bundle makes 1 Cup of prepared
1 3/16 inch bundle makes 2 Cups of prepared
Single Serving Size Ratio:
3.0 ounces per 1 Cup (7/8 inch bundle)
6.0 ounces per 2 Cups (1 3/16 inch bundle)
Potatoes, Instant Mashed
2.6 Pounds per Gallon
13.0 Pounds per Five Gallon Bucket
16 Cups dry per Gallon
80 Cups dry per 5 Gallons
Prepared Food Yield:
12 2 Cup meals per Gallon
60 2 Cup meals per 5 Gallon Bucket
Single Serving Size Ratio:
2/3 Cup of dry to make 1 Cup of prepared
1 1/3 Cups of dry to make 2 Cups of prepared
Milk, Instant Non-Fat Dry
3.4 Pounds per Gallon
17.0 Pounds per Five Gallon Bucket
16 Cups dry per Gallon
80 Cups dry per 5 Gallons
Prepared Food Yield:
64 Cups per Gallon
320 Cups per 5 Gallon Bucket
Single Serving Size Ratio:
1/4 Cup of dry to make 1 Cup of prepared
Flour, All Purpose White
5.2 Pounds per Gallon
26.0 Pounds per Five Gallon Bucket
16 Cups dry per Gallon
80 Cups dry per 5 Gallons
3.6 Cups per pound
18 cups per 5 pound bag
Prepared Food Yield:
6 Loaves of bread per Gallon.
30 Loaves of bread per Five Gallon Bucket
6 Loaves of bread per 5 pounds
60 Loaves of bread per 50 lb. sack
Cornmeal
6.4 Pounds per Gallon
32.0 Pounds per Five Gallon Bucket
16 Cups dry per Gallon
80 Cups dry per 5 Gallons
Prepared Food Yield:
8 9 inch pans of Cornbread per Gallon
(Also needs 1 cup milled flour per pan)
40 9 inch pans of Cornbread per 5 Gallon Bucket
(Also needs 1 cup milled flour per pan)
Wheat, Hard White or Hard Red
7.0 Pounds kernels per Gallon
35.0 Pounds per Five Gallon Bucket
16 Cups dry per Gallon
80 Cups dry per 5 Gallons
Prepared Food Yield:
8 Loaves of bread per Gallon.
40 Loaves of bread per Five Gallon Bucket
57 Loaves of bread per 50 lb. sack
Sugar
7.6 Pounds per Gallon
38.0 Pounds per Five Gallon Bucket
Salt
10.9 Pounds per Gallon
54.5 Pounds per Five Gallon Bucket
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