I have three open bags of dog food. I’ve always left the bag sitting on the side of my desk so it’s easily accessible when I want to refill their bowls. Now I want to seal it in something to keep it fresh. I also want my cat to stay out of it. I have to measure her food each day, and if she gets hungry, she goes looking for theirs.

Now I have three open bags of dog food (four dogs on three different types of food). The cat loves the small bags, so I had to store them in my husband’s computer room with the door closed. I’m concerned they’ll spill if someone knocks into them.

I was browsing Amazon and Walmart shelves looking for something appropriate to store pet food, but the containers they have specifically for that purpose are on the expensive side (more than $20 for a container that’ll hold 20 pounds of food). My parents used to use a 30-gallon garbage can with a lid. I’m thinking I’ll buy some totes for storage because they should hold a 50-pound bag of food easily and they only cost $5.

What do you use?

I use a storage tubs
I feel these are more economical than buying bins advertised as dog food bin. But they do have the sacking ones that might be of a better nature for you.  These Walmart 2 combo Stacking Bins are what I was gonna buy instead of what I have pictured above. There are also these which I believe are smaller in nature smaller three stack bins

I love how your puppy is standing on top of the tote! Is he going after the people food above it or trying to tell you he’s hungry?

Those stacking bins are a good idea, especially the one that’s three tiers high.

Interesting recommendations @Huskylear; the two stack are 18 gallons each while the 3 stack are 16 gallons each. If I could use them, I'd go for the 3 stack.

But how much food is 1 gallon??

Al, I use a rubber maid type container....and I feed TOTW the kibble is slightly bigger than cat kibble as a reference and 1.5 gallons = about 5 pounds of kibble. At least for me anyways, so hopefully that helps.

I am not sure how big gallon wise my tubs are, I can check at home but there is more room than a 30 lbs bag. I would guess I have a 20-30 gallon tubs probably 20 gallon tub by guess.

As far as what Bourbon was trying to access, it was his food inside the bin. He did it growing up to demand dinner.

MiyasMomma wrote:

Al, I use a rubber maid type container....and I feed TOTW the kibble is slightly bigger than cat kibble as a reference and 1.5 gallons = about 5 pounds of kibble. At least for me anyways, so hopefully that helps.

Makes me wonder if I have a 16 gal bin. I will definitely check tonight.

And actually my comment was intended to be facetious but it did provoke some helpful responses, thanks!!

Here Al I thought you were doing "inquiring minds want to know"

Colleen, those pics are too cute...I used to have the blue tote and I think it was a 16 gallon, and a 20 pound bag of large kibble (before I knew any better I did feed Purina Puppy Chow Large Breed, and the kibble was huge) and there was room for probably 40 more pounds of food, it seemed humongous, haha. I have very little room, so I tend to buy 15 pound bags, and that will fill 3 1.5 gallon containers(the third container is not completely full....so that is why I said about 5 pounds = 1.5 gallons).

It sounds more and more like totes are the way to go for storing dog food!

whitehusky3 wrote:

It sounds more and more like totes are the way to go for storing dog food!

I use a can that once was a gift can for 4 flavors of popcorn. It holds about 3/4 of a 30 pound bag of Taste of the Wild. What remains is wrapped up in original bag, duct taped shut and put in the freezer.

I didn't know you could freeze dog food! The popcorn tin is a creative idea.

Jessie, I have read in various publications to freeze kibble, by freezing it maintains freshness, and the nutrients are maintained at it's peak. Sadly for me and I am sure others, I have no room to freeze 30 pounds of kibble, don't think I could freeze even 5 pounds.

whitehusky3 wrote:

I didn't know you could freeze dog food! The popcorn tin is a creative idea.

Supposedly, if you are not going to finish an open bag within a month, it should be tightly wrapped and frozen. Me? Its the only mouse proof and easily accessible storage I have (yup, 2 people living in 3700sf and no place to store dog food ) I've been meaning to pick up a galvanized metal trash can but just haven't got around to it.

The only problem with the plastic totes is if rats might be a problem. Fortunately, only mice here.

We only have voles in our house. I think I feed my cat too well because she doesn't know what to do with them once she catches them and often lets them go. I've never had a problem with them going after dog food (that I know of) but we find their droppings around certain food items, like the cat's food. I think my cat is secretly in league with the voles at this point.

I have an old recycling bin that the previous owners left that looks like one of these.



I can sit a whole 40 pound bag of food right down inside it and when I'm out I just throw the bag away and plop the next bag right in. If you put the food out of the bag and into the container whatever you end up getting, make sure you wash the container out between bags so the residue off the food that gets inside isn't left to become rancid after a time. The owners before me used the container I now use for their dog food too only they were just emptying the bag of food into the container and never cleaning it and what was in there was definitely bad. I bleached it out before I started using it and since I just sit the bag down inside I don't have to worry about rewashing it all the time.

Twister, I never thought about that. It makes sense the residue would go bad over time. My parents never cleaned out their garbage can between filling it, but we never noticed an odor or uncleanliness to it. Not that we ever looked in the first place.

I had a tote filled with lots of dog equipment, and I wish I could find it because it had some of my favorite gear in it. It used to be in the storage room upstairs, but it's disappeared in the last few years. No clue where it went, but it's probably been moved to the basement. If I could go through it, I bet I could use that container for my dog food since I don't use most of the dog equipment in it anymore (obviously, since I can't find it! Haha!).

The people that had my container was feeding some pretty bad food that has a lot more oils and flavoring in it than the higher grade food most of us feed on here, so if your parents weren't feeding something like Alpo you probably wouldn't ever notice it by smell alone.

Not Alpo, but probably just as bad. We lived in rural northern Wisconsin and didn't know about how bad cheap dog food can be, so my parents always bought inexpensive stuff, like Ol' Roy. That's why I lost my first two Huskies. It was due to contaminated dog food that was made and packaged in China. I never want to go through that heartache again, so I make sure the food I buy is high quality or made in America (preferably both).

This has been an interesting read! Some really great ideas I never thought of. I keep my food in a container that I bought specifically for dog food, I don't remember what I paid or how long ago it was but I believe I found it at Costco, it has a lid that screws on but I guess similar to an aspirin bottle or something, you need to depress a tab/lever to unscrew it. I'm thinking these storage bins are much more convenient and probably a lot cheaper too.

I use a 67-quart tall/narrow dog food storage bin I got on Amazon for less than $25-it's this one

I'm in an apartment with very limited pantry/closet space, so I needed something fairly slim so it can slide behind the couch back. This has been awesome. It's very secure and keeps everything fresh and I love that it can hold over 50 lbs.

I also love that (so far) Anya hasn't been able to figure out how to pen it

Jessie I check my tub is 17 gallon size actually it says 73 quart 70 liters. (Just wanted to follow up as I said I would)!

I visited my parents this weekend, and after we went to see Gods of Egypt (good special effects, generic storyline), we walked around Walmart. I found a nice storage bin with a snapping lid that I liked, and my mom bought it for me as an early birthday present. I didn't ask her to, but she wouldn't let me separate my purchases from hers, so I got it for "free," I guess. Haha! It's large enough to hold a 50-lb. bag of dog food plus have room left over for the smaller bags of dog food and their treats. I'm happy with it!