Normally around $73
Rhino's galvanised toolbox is made from durable galvanised steel with heavy duty handles and features a hasp and staple locking system, offering secure storage for your valuable tools.
Durable galvanised steel
Heavy duty staple and hasp locking system
Heavy duty handles
Diamond pattern
Made in Australia
Replied below
just keep looking in the gumtree freebie section something suitable will pop up
https://www.gumtree.com.au/s-ads?ad=offering&price-type=free
Buy something food safe instead. We have regulations to ensure people don't get sick from storing food in things not designed for it. Otherwise, put some food safe items inside it rather than storing food loose.
Any ideas or links?
Just trying to see if anyone else has gone down this road and found some answers because during winter the chance of rats trying to find food and shelter in our place increases dramatically.
So gotta find some options for our food storage options or just survive on potato chips haha lol.
Trying to anticipate my housemates who are less conscious of food storage safety so doing this job/project solo myself.
Pretty sure the plastic tubs from Big W that cost $14 for a 70L tub are food safe. We have rodents too and keep our perishables sealed in such tubs.
@Meconium: Those are my last resort.
Only reason I am avoiding using that is that
1) They are fairly fragile and the people who use the kitchen may rough house the tubs a bit (unavoidable.. silly I know but this is something I have to sometimes take into consideration)
2) I have seen rats chew into a lot of things and am pretty sure they can easily make mince meat out of the plastic tubs if they don't crack first by being stacked with objects that cannot support their weight on top of them (again read house mates are not the smartest people in the world and I am stuck with them this is my fate)
3) I don't see them lasting long with lots of heavy fruits and vegetables especially solid stuff like potatoes being shoved in them and packed to the fullest.. these plastic tubs are usually not meant to be used like storage containers in that they cannot withstand much weight where as something solid like a metal box and withstand a beating.. I have thought of a solid wooden chest but honestly rats can chew through almost anything besides thick glass or metal afaik.. dry wall is easy pickings and even solid wood won't last long
but yeah last resort might get a cheap plastic tub or two to use in the meantime as that is better than leaving them exposed to easy targets.. especially with winter coming gotta prepare
@AlienC: You make it sound like the zombie apocalypse! With such careless housemates and poor food storage, I’m surprised you don’t get sick all the time. I guess the risk of contamination from zinc is a lower risk than rodent faecal contamination, or from leaving food exposed in a warm environment. If you keep your kitchen area clean though, and don’t leave crumbs out for mice and rats to eat, they’ll be less attracted to other food in your kitchen… hope it works out for you anyway!
@Meconium: It can be as bad as it sounds but that is maybe only 30% of the time the rest of the time everything seems good.
But when you have had rats eat some of the food left out before you kind of try to anticipate that for next time even if the chance of rats is low which where I live is not.. they come every winter and they have come this summer but thankfully it was only mice.
Thanks so fresh food is ok in galvanized steel boxes as long as they are not acidic. Gotcha.
The Food and Drug Association (FDA) has approved the use of galvanized steel for food preparation and conveyance for all applications with the exception of foods that have a high acid content, such as tomatoes, oranges, limes, and other fruits. The acid content in these foods will attack the zinc coating and cause accelerated corrosion. Many food products are stored on galvanized racks or in coolers with galvanized shelving.
Damn my house mates store a lot of oranges, limes and other acidic fruits very occasionally.. so I might not be able to go this route unless I partition it for just potatoes, capsicum and other non acidic foods.
Would this be a good idea healthwise as an option to store fruits and vegetables and maybe even bread in for protection at night against rats and insects?
Or would the galvanised steel and otherwise be a bad idea to store food and fruit into?
Housemates currently store all the soft fresh food outside the fridge when it is full so we have had some pests come in and try eat them in the past few days so it is up to me to find a good solution for the proper and safe storage of our food.
It is that or I buy some really cheap or used/second hand chest fridge and store the food in that ( on or off does not matter )
Anyways if I do turn them on then I will try my hand at this DIY environmentally friendly and energy saving project.
https://mtbest.net/chest_fridge.html
Thoughts? Ideas? Hotel? Trivago.