My two cats also eat the Chicken Soup and thrive on it. It has good ingredients but is not outrageously expensive like some other premium foods. Awhile back I bought a large plastic screw-top container that holds dry pet food, so when I bring a bag home I just empty the whole bag into the container. That way it remains fresh and it is easy to pour into the dishes. I'm not sure where I bought the container but you can look at pet supply sites to find similar ones, both large and small.

Put a little mesh (panty hose) baggie of dry bay leaves to keep the beetles out. We make these up for all of our flour and dried cereals/foods. Never have had a pantry pest since.

That is an interesting suggestion! Where do you get the bay leaves, are these the ones used for cooking and sold in a spices isle?

An airtight container keeps it from going rancid.

I'm not sure what you mean when you say the bag seals really well. Would it be possible for ants or other bugs to get inside? Could you put a week's worth in a plastic Glad container or something similar to pour into their dish? That way you wouldn't have to open the big bag so often and risk messing up the seal.

We got a 'Vittles Vault' at the pet food store a few years ago, and use it to store the cats' dry food. It seemed a little expensive at the time, but has saved us way more by keeping critters out and freshness in. It is made of hard, sturdy plastic with a wide screwtop lid that is easy to open and shut.

We get the large "Tone Bay Leaves" in the spice isle at Sam's Club.

Thanks! I have these bay leaves at home for cooking at all times. Did not know about the pests

I've found over the years that leaving my cats' dry food in the bag that it comes in makes it go bad a lot quicker. There are many good pet food storage containers on the market that you can buy. They are fairly inexpensive and the investment will last you a very long time.

A couple of the best ones are:

Vittles Vault Stackable - These are great for storage, especially if you have two or more pets. They are airtight, stackable, easily accessible and can hold 40 lbs. of food each.

IRIS Airtight Pet Food Storage Container - A great product because it stores easily, meets FDA standards, and the food level is easily visible.

Hope this helps!

Ken

Here is a link that might be useful: My Pet Food Storage

I store my pet kibble in plastic pails with tight fitting lids. My pet food dealer recommended storing it in the bags, because in his experience, few folks wash out storage containers before refilling them, and that is not good. I always wash mine before refilling, and I find the pails are much less likely to tip over and spill.

One other potential problem with in-the-bag storage... If you live somewhere with rodent activity, kibble is extremely attractive mouse food. My neighbours suffered for way too long after mice got into a bag of dog kibble stored in their basement. The little critters colonized much of their basement, between walls and dropped ceilings. They were very persistent and difficult to evict.

I put half in a large cereal storage container that I can pour into the dishes daily (they only eat dry food once a day, the rest of their feeding is homemade wet food). The rest of the bag is stored in a 1 gallon Ball canning jar and sealed with my FoodSaver jar sealer.

I use the canning jars because they are easier to clean but I think gallon FoodSaver bags would work nicely.