Gamma seal lids are my kids favorite prep. After all, what kid wouldn’t love a product that alludes to keeping out gamma rays? I’m not sure why these lids have such a interesting name – they don’t keep out gamma rays! Perhaps it’s because gamma is the third letter in the Greek alphabet and essentially you need three parts (the ring, the lid and bucket) to seal up your food for long term storage, or maybe it’s just a name someone thought would sound good for marketing purposes. In any case, I wanted to show you exactly why they are one of my favorite food storage tools.
One of the best things about Gamma Seal lids is that they allow you to easily get into your food buckets. This is extremely helpful when it comes to food rotation. It’s a lot of work to keep getting into your buckets lined with sealed Mylar bags. Then once you get into them you have to make a decision as to what to do with the bucket that is no longer full. Transferring the contents to a bucket with a Gamma Seal lid makes everything easier and food storage accounting runs much smoother!
They actually come in seven colors but I thought the Olympic rings formation looked really cool. What can I say? Sometimes I get carried away with the camera. These days my boys run the opposite direction when they see me with a camera, so I have to have some creative outlet.
The Gamma Seal lids come with pretty straight forward directions.
They even come with suggestions for use.
Here you can see the three pieces I alluded to earlier. These lids fit a standard 3.5 to 7.0 gallon bucket and measures 12 inches in diameter.
Since I may or may not be storing food directly in my buckets with Gamma Seals (probably mostly without mylar bags) I sprung for new food grade plastic buckets. For buckets that I will be lining with a Mylar bag I like to use Firehouse pickle buckets.
You will need a mallet to attach the seal, or ring, that makes the Gamma Seal lid airtight and leak proof.
Place the lid on the bucket.
Use your weight to push down on the seal. This will keep it in place while you use the mallet to secure it onto the bucket.
It takes a few good hits (a little harder than you might think to hit plastic) to pop the seal into place.
Place the screw-top onto the ring.
And there you have it. A bucket with an easily removable lid.
Repeat as necessary.
One of the great features about this lid is that you can color code your food storage.
They also stack well. With these lids there are no more broken (or in my case ripped off) fingernails or bruising from your fingers being pinched.
