What fits in a barrel
The usual mistake is planning by volume — picturing the space and filling it in your head. In practice most barrels reach their weight limit with room still showing, because tinned food and liquid are heavy and almost everything people send is one or the other.
The common sizes
| Barrel | Roughly | In practice |
|---|---|---|
| Small / 30 gallon | About 115 liters | A single person's supplies, or one category of goods |
| Standard / 55 gallon | About 208 liters | The one most families use; a mixed household load |
| Jumbo | Larger again | Bulk, or a household split across fewer barrels |
Sizes vary slightly between suppliers. If the exact internal dimensions matter to you, ask your shipper for the ones they actually use rather than working from a general figure.
Why weight runs out first
Tinned goods, rice, oil and drinks are dense. Pack mainly those and you will be at the weight limit staring at empty space. Pack diapers, paper goods and clothing and the barrel is full long before it is heavy. Real loads are a mix of the two, which is why people who have done this a few times put the heavy things in first and use the light bulky ones to fill the gaps.
Packing that survives the journey
- Fill the gaps. Whatever can move on the first day will keep moving for the whole voyage.
- Bag anything that might leak, and keep it well away from anything it would ruin.
- Keep an itemized list. Customs wants one, and it settles arguments at the other end.
- Nothing fragile against the wall of the barrel.
Easier when the weight adds up in front of you
Packing to a weight limit by eye is guesswork, and you find out whether you guessed right at the port. Filling a barrel from a catalog shows the weight climbing as you go — and the itemized list customs asks for writes itself, instead of being done by hand the night before.
Fill a barrel and watch the weight
ShippoHippo runs this site. The sizes and weight limits above are the same whoever ends up packing your barrel.