Not everybody needs one, but if you do, you want to get the best 5 gallon gas can for your needs. That link takes you to another article on this site, where I talk about how to choose a gas can… I wrote it when we needed one.  It goes into metal vs. plastic gas cans, safety and usage tips, comments on some of the best, and more.

Here, in this article, I’m doing something different. The list below brings in the data on the five current best sellers in hazardous storage cans. It updates automatically every day. Some of the items may not actually be gas cans, as this category at Amazon.com also includes oily waste cans. But most of them are 5 gal gas cans.

Here they are:

Since these are the best selling in their category, there are going to be quite a few gas can reviews on the pages. I really get into reading this kind of thing when I’m choosing a product, be it a gas can or anything else. In reading through these reviews (and also through the questions and answers), I picked up quite a few tips… things like how best to fill a gas can at the station, how to use the funnel on the can you choose to put gas in your vehicle, why the newer plastic cans are better for storage than the older ones, and so forth.

Do You Need to Store Gasoline?

I tell the story on that other page mentioned at the start of this article that we needed to get a gas can when the remote little town where we lived didn’t have gas for sale for some months while the below-ground tanks at the station were repaired. Now we live in a larger town and there are plenty of gas stations .

But there is a new factor. We’ve realized that if the power were to go out for a while, we couldn’t rely on those stations. How likely is the power to go out? Ever since I read newsman Ted Koppel’s book Lights Out (link to my review and summary of the book on this site), I’ve thought that it is pretty unlikely BUT likely enough to be a factor in decisions.

So we continue to store gas in the Eagle UI-50-FS Red Galvanized Steel Type I Gasoline Safety Can with Funnel, 5 gallon we got at that time. We consider this a basic level of emergency preparedness. We store the can in a spot which has a dirt floor and cement walls. I asked my husband if he had any more gas stored and he said there is a little mixed with chain saw oil in a smaller plastic gas can.

The other thing we do regarding having enough gasoline is that we keep our vehicles quite full: they are at least half full at all times, and usually fuller. It’s kind of a nuisance to top them off so often, but it gives us a versatility if we had to leave in a hurry, for example. For many people, doing this could be all they need to do.

So it’s up to each household to balance the pros and the cons of storing gas. And if you do store some, choose from among the best gas cans and be safe!