Storing salt

[randyt]

Wasnt sure where to post this.
I have read some folks intend to salt cure meats and suchlike during hard times.
In my mind to do any volume, that will take a lot of salt. Salt is fairly cheap currently. Our feed store has food grade salt for 11 dollars a 50 pound bag.

What is the best way to store large volumes of salt?

 

[d_marsh]

I have some salt stored in mylar bags inside food grade buckets. Like most things, you want to keep moisture away.

 

[Mountain trapper]

I know of people buying the 50 pound salt blocks from the feed store. Just keep them in a dry location. They store better in low humidity.

 

[dademoss]

A sometimes overlooked salt source is the hardware store, for water softener salt. Under 8 bucks for 40 lbs here.

https://www.mortonsalt.com/home-product/morton-pure-and_natural-crystals/

I also have a stock of Iodized.

 

[LadyLocust]

Wasnt sure where to post this.
I have read some folks intend to salt cure meats and suchlike during hard times.
In my mind to do any volume, that will take a lot of salt. Salt is fairly cheap currently. Our feed store has food grade salt for 11 dollars a 50 pound bag.

What is the best way to store large volumes of salt?

Uline has food grade barrels both plastic and steel. Or there are buckets (that’s what I have mine in). Not sure what kind of volume you are thinking. I too did as D and got mine for cheap at the hardware store. I do use it for making icecream so get about a bag a year and rotate through it like my foods etc.

 

[Sourdough]

If you have any friends in the Taxidermy Business, hit them up for salt. We would get thousands of pounds of salt (NO Iodine) months before each hunting-guiding season.

 

[Patchouli]

I don't have large quantities of salt but what I do have has been okay so far. My mom always put a few grains of white rice in the salt shaker to help with moisture/humidity, seems to work.

Uline has food grade barrels both plastic and steel. Or there are buckets (that’s what I have mine in). Not sure what kind of volume you are thinking. I too did as D and got mine for cheap at the hardware store. I do use it for making icecream so get about a bag a year and rotate through it like my foods etc.

Thanks for the handy tip, @LadyLocust

 

[Weedygarden]

I store salt in canning jars using plastic lids. The metal lids would be corroded by the salt. I bought some plastic lids for canning jars just for this purpose. I also have 5 gallon buckets of containers of salt. Just like sugar, I do not use an oxygen absorber in salt. I would think it would just turn salt into a hard clump like it does sugar.

We can get 25 pound bags of salt from Costco and Sam's club for around $5. I do think I got a 25 pound bag for less than $4 a few years ago. I looked for it at Costco recently. I don't remember the exact price, but it was not expensive, still around $5. I just looked online to see if you could order it, but it is not listed there.

I try to have a few different kinds of salt. I keep some pickling salt, sea salt, no salt, lo-salt, and regular iodized salt. We definitely use the pickling salt when we make pickles. The no salt and lo salt are good for making beverages for dehydration. No salt is sodium free. I found tubes of these in the reduced bin at the store a few years ago. I'm assuming that like salt, they have an endless shelf life.

 

[joel]

I have less than one hundred pounds of salt in plastic containers.

 

[Caribou]

I store my salt in plastic buckets like many here. I wouldn’t store salt in metal containers as the salt would rust steel and aluminum would corrode even faster.

 

[Morgan101]

I have two questions. First, isn't salt inert? It is a mineral, right? So does it matter how you store it? If it absorbs moisture and hardens you just break it up, and pound it down back into granules. Am I being too simplistic? Is food grade salt different? I can see where keeping it away from moisture is a good idea, but it won't go bad, right?

Second, how much salt do you need to cure food (I guess meat)? Is there a ratio, X mount of salt will cure Y amount of meat? You always hear the talking heads say you can preserve meat with salt, but never any guidelines on how to do it, or how much you would need.

We have salt with our long term food supply, but limited quantities of iodized table salt. This would be for eating or cooking, not for food preservation.

 

[Weedygarden]

I have two questions. First, isn't salt inert? It is a mineral, right? So does it matter how you store it? If it absorbs moisture and hardens you just break it up, and pound it down back into granules. Am I being too simplistic? Is food grade salt different? I can see where keeping it away from moisture is a good idea, but it won't go bad, right?

Second, how much salt do you need to cure food (I guess meat)? Is there a ratio, X mount of salt will cure Y amount of meat? You always hear the talking heads say you can preserve meat with salt, but never any guidelines on how to do it, or how much you would need.

We have salt with our long term food supply, but limited quantities of iodized table salt. This would be for eating or cooking, not for food preservation.

I do think that salt is inert. It does absorb moisture. You can break it up, but I prefer not to have to because what else is in the moisture? Some of the moisture could be from the air and that would be fine. Others might be due to flooding or some other contamination.

I spoke to a man that I met once in a now closed Survivalist store. He told me that salt is very important, essential. Remember when salt was currency, centuries ago? With how inexpensive it is, for how cheap we can get 25 pounds, I think it is a really good investment. I don't know of anything else that we can store that is as inexpensive. It could be an excellent barter item.

While I have no idea how much salt is needed for curing meat, I know that there are other foods that use salt in the curing process, such as pickles and kraut.

 

[ClemKadiddlehopper]

To make a brine for 10 lbs of meat, you need 1/3-1cup of salt and will need at least that for a dry cure as well.

For the same amount of meat you will need up to 2 cups of sugar, usually brown. Others may use different amounts but it gives one an idea of how much is needed.

25 lbs of salt isn't going to cut it if you are planning on salt curing in the future. Imagine a small barrel of salt pork and how much salt it would take to layer with the meat to fill that barrel. You need to be thinking multiple 100s of lbs or a re supply capability in a back to the 1800s scenario.

 

[joel]

No, salt is reactive.
…
No, salt is not inert:
Sodium is reactive
The element sodium is very reactive and can react explosively with water. Sodium is the sixth most abundant element on Earth, but it's never found free in nature.
Salt is made of ions
Salt is an ionic compound made of electrically charged atoms called ions. When salt dissolves in water, the sodium cations (Na+) separate from the chloride anions (Cl–).
Inert salts are used in chemistry
Inert salts are used to adjust the ionic strength of a solution. They are used in equilibrium or kinetic studies to reduce changes in the ionic strength of a solution.
Salt affects the body
Eating salt increases sodium levels, which can affect the immune system. Some suggest that these immune effects may contribute to high blood pressure, heart disease, and stroke.
Salt doesn't conduct electricity in its solid state
In the solid state, the ions in salt are trapped in a lattice by electrostatic forces, so they can't move around freely.

 

[joel]

Sodium chloride (NaCl), commonly known as table salt, is not chemically inert. While it is quite stable and does not react readily under normal conditions, it can participate in chemical reactions under certain circumstances.

Key Points:

Formation: NaCl is formed from the reaction of sodium (Na) and chlorine (Cl), where sodium donates an electron to chlorine, resulting in the formation of ionic bonds.
Solubility: NaCl is soluble in water, and when dissolved, it dissociates into sodium ions (Na⁺) and chloride ions (Cl⁻), which can participate in various chemical reactions.
Reactivity: Under specific conditions, such as high temperatures or in the presence of strong acids or bases, NaCl can react with other substances. For example, it can undergo electrolysis to produce chlorine gas and sodium hydroxide.
Biological Role: In biological systems, NaCl is essential for various physiological functions, including nerve transmission and fluid balance, indicating that it is actively involved in biochemical processes.
In summary, while NaCl is stable and does not react easily, it is not chemically inert and can participate in reactions under the right conditions.
https://www.quora.com/Is-NaCl-chemically-inert

WOW! I knew table salt would react to metal, but not all this.
School was a long time ago.

 

[Weedygarden]

Sodium chloride (NaCl), commonly known as table salt, is not chemically inert. While it is quite stable and does not react readily under normal conditions, it can participate in chemical reactions under certain circumstances.

Thank you. I should have looked up the meaning before I posted. It is not inert. I have stored salt in jars with metal lids, years ago. Salt is so corrosive when it comes to metal.

INERT=chemically inactive! Oops!

 

[joel]

SALT is a big group, but I never used Inert salts, that are used in chemistry.
So person who have, would remember there is an Inert salt.
One of the big deal about not using chemical fertilizers is that the salts will build up in the soil.

 

[Aerindel]

New 50 gallon plastic garbage cans. You can get 500 lbs of regular granulated into each.