image by derekGarvey

Last week’s Action Step was a recommendation to find a good source of wheat and stock up.  A reader made the comment that buying wheat from feed stores was a bad idea because of pesticides.  I wanted to check that out for myself, so first, I made a few calls to local feed stores.  Surprisingly, only two carried “feed wheat”, and neither could say for sure that it was pesticide-free.  One store went so far as to check with their supplier to see if I could get “organic” wheat, but t wasn’t available.

My next step was to talk with an actual wheat farmer in Idaho.  I’ve purchased a couple hundred pounds of wheat directly from him and wanted to hear what he had to say about the use of pesticides and the storage of feed wheat.  Turns out, he was quite talkative!

Not surprisingly, he said that farmers will only use pesticides when it’s absolutely necessary.  It’s an additional cost that cuts into their profit margin.   He told me about an incident a few years ago when grasshoppers invaded his farm, consuming 20 square feet of wheat every day for weeks.  His only choice was to use a pesticide, which he limited to only the perimeter of his fields, hoping to kill any new grasshoppers intent on eating the ripening wheat.  Ultimately, the insects consumed 40% of his crop.

He mentioned that some neighboring farmers chose to spray their entire fields with pesticides.

image by Roger Smith

I asked about the use of fungicides, and again, this is an expense farmers want to avoid but often can’t.  Apparently, there was a problem with wheat leaf frost last year that required many farmers to spray fungicide over their fields.  However, typically a fungicide is sprayed early in the season, before the head of the wheat has had a chance to ripen.  Once the wheat is ripe, any traces of the chemical is undetectable.

According to this farmer, the cost of cleaning wheat properly is very expensive.  The equipment he owns cost more than $75,000.  Not only is the equipment expensive, but the cleaning process takes a lot of time.  Again, farmers have to be mindful of the costs involved with producing their wheat, so unless the wheat has to be thoroughly cleaned, it won’t be.  Feed wheat, that is, wheat sold as animal feed, isn’t cleaned nearly as well as wheat intended for human consumption.

Actually, cleaning feed wheat can be counter-productive because there are things like chaff that are actually good for animals.  Some cleaning is necessary, of course, because dirt, insects, and insect parts must be removed before the wheat is shipped and sold.  Cleaning the wheat at any level, however, doesn’t remove herbicides or pesticides.

image by Scott Butner

The question still remained, is it smart to buy feed wheat for food storage?  This farmer stated, “People who do that are nuts!”  Here’s his explanation.

Not only is feed wheat not cleaned nearly as well as wheat for human consumption, it is also likely to be a combination of wheats from many different farms.  It’s possible that a grain silo might contain a hundred or more different varieties of wheat.  When it comes to actually using the wheat for food, there’s no way to guarantee what the make-up will be or how much protein or gluten the “blended wheat” contains.  This is his pet peeve.  He said that at least half of the companies who sell wheat in buckets and bags sell “blended wheat” and to look for that phrase on their labels.

So?  What is a prepper to do when it comes to buying feed wheat?  One suggestion from this farmer is to talk with the feed store owners and find out as much as possible about where their wheat comes from, how it’s treated and how it’s cleaned.  There will probably be no guarantee that it’s pesticide-free unless it’s from a certified organic farm.  Azure Standard is one such source, and you’ll find others online with a simple Google search for “organic wheat”.  You won’t be paying $15 for 50 pounds, however.

As with anything else we do, be guided by common sense and reliable information.

© 2012, thesurvivalmom. All rights reserved.

image by tarap

There’s a reason why survival minded people buy wheat and not flour.  Wheat has a shelf life of decades, while flour is only good for a year or so.  Even if you’ve never ground wheat to make your own flour, it’s a smart idea to stock up on several pounds.  You can read about alternative ways to use wheat here.

For this Action Step, track down sources of wheat and try to find the best price possible in your area.  Here are some tips.

1. Check Craigslist for wheat sources.
2. Compare prices, types of wheat, sizes of containers, and shipping among the various sponsors here on my blog.  Local is nice because you won’t have to pay shipping charges, but online may be your only source.
3. If possible, combine your online order with others in order to share the shipping charges.  A cheap shipping charge, by the way, doesn’t necessarily make the purchase a better deal.  Make sure you’re comparing apples with apples, er….wheat with wheat!
4. Contact a local LDS ward and ask about wheat sources in your area.
   

   photo by FleurP

5. “Natural” grocery stores, such as Sunflower Market, Sprout’s, and Henry’s, carry wheat.  It may be called “wheat berries”, but it’s the same stuff.
6. Bob’s Red Mill is another online source, but I’ve found them to be very expensive.
7. Chat with local growers at farmers markets and see if they can recommend a good, local source of wheat.
8. If you’ve never even seen real wheat, start by purchasing a pound or two.  Borrow a grain mill from someone or just cook them up to make an awesome hot breakfast cereal.
9. Check out einkorn, an ancient wheat variety.
10. Use this wheat worksheet to plan your wheat purchases.
11. Make sure you store your wheat as best you can to protect it from the enemies of food storage.
12. Livestock feed stores sell wheat.  I haven’t purchased any from this source, but many preppers have.

I really like this video about wheat by the Survivalist Doc. It’s over ten minutes long, so grab something to sip on and click ‘play’!

© 2012, thesurvivalmom. All rights reserved.

I think it wasn’t until I’d purchased my eighth bucket of wheat that it suddenly dawned on me that I had no way to grind it.  Buying the wheat was the easy part!  Figuring out what to do next, well, that took a little more thought.  I knew I wanted a manual mill but wasn’t sure which brand to buy.  I knew what I was looking for, though: a sturdy mill and one that produces the maximum amount of flour with the minimum amount of work!  I found the perfect combination with The Wondermill Junior.

Grinding wheat is hard work, both on the person as well as the mill.  I’d used a lesser quality mill before and always worried it would fall apart from all the jiggling.  The Wondermill Junior, in comparison, is built like a tank.  Even when my son had worked up a sweat grinding a cup or two of wheat and said, “My arms are going to fall off, Mom”, that solid piece of machinery just sat there and snickered.  It’s double clamp system secures it to any table or counter-top; it’s not going anywhere.

The mill is small enough to be portable, and its extra long arm allows for a comfortable cranking motion.  Everyone in my family gave it a try, and all of us were able to produce finely ground flour within a few minutes.  The Wondermill Junior Deluxe comes with both steel and stone burr heads to provide versatility and customized results.

In a past Instant Survival Tip, I warned against using a grain mill with anything other than wheat unless the manufacturer specifically states otherwise.  Here is where the Wondermill Junior really shines.  It can grind herbs, rice, corn, coffee, spices, beans, and more.  In fact, it can be used to make nut butters.  The versatility of this mill will help make the most of foods typically found in food storage pantries.

I have the Deluxe model and recommend it over the Basic model because it includes the Double Clamp Table Mount.  That feature, alone, is worth quite a few extra dollars.  Additionally, you receive the Stainless Steel Burrs as an option to the stone burrs, a Flour Guide that helps direct the ground food into a container, and a cleaning brush.

The Wondermill Junior is in the low $200 price range, placing it quite a bit above budget hand mills, but this is a purchase for the long haul. One you’ll be glad to have on hand in a crisis. I highly recommend it as the hand grain mill of choice.

© 2011 – 2012, thesurvivalmom. All rights reserved.

image by adactio

January launches a new feature at TheSurvivalMom blog: Skill of the Month.  Each month I’ll post a new skill that should be in the repertoire of every SurvivalMom.  Newbies can learn the basics and report their experiences (both good and bad!) and experienced moms can lend their advice and support.  Guys, you’re welcome to come along for the ride!  We can all learn from each other.

If a perfume company could bottle the smell of freshly baked bread, I swear it would be a hit.  What man on earth could possibly resist that smell, but it’s a smell found in too few kitchens these days.

Bread-baking isn’t exactly a lost art, but when moms are rushing from Point A to Point B and beyond every day, picking up a loaf of Roman Meal is the simplest option, to say the least.  However, for those of us who have decided to stock up on wheat, we’ve gotta learn what to do with all that wheat and making homemade bread is at the top of the list!

An everyday, practical skill

This month our Skill of the Month is bread baking.  Yep, baking a loaf of bread from scratch.  Now, to some of you this is so old-hat that you’re already bored.  What we need from you, though, are easy, no-fail recipes, tips on making the perfect loaf, etc.  We really need voices of experience!  And, I’m challenging you to add a new bread recipe or skill to your repertoire.  Have you made your own sourdough starter?  Have you tried mixing different types of wheat?  How about experimenting with baking bread in a solar cooker or over a campfire?  Try something new this month, and tell us about it!

Here's an assignment for our advanced students... image by zakwitnij

If you’re new to bread baking, you can start with recipes that call for all-purpose or bread flour.  We won’t make you grind your own wheat, but if you’re ready to take the plunge, buy a pound or two of hard-white wheat, scour eBay or Craigslist for a “starter” wheat mill, and then get going!  You can try out my basic recipe found in this article.

Everyone is welcome to share recipes, websites, YouTube videos and any other resources you discover along the way.  If our grandmothers and great-grandmothers could master the art of baking bread, then so can we!

If you have a bread maker, you can use that handy appliance to mix your dough using the ‘dough’ setting.  Once the dough is ready, remove it from the bread maker, knead, form your loaf, and let it rise for thirty minutes before baking.  If this is your usual routine, then ditch the bread maker and mix the whole darn thing with your two hands!

Why this skill?

image by net_efekt

In terms of practical survival, bread is great as a meal stretcher, and once you find a recipe you really like, the ingredients are easily memorized.  The ingredients for bread are easily found in any grocery store, except the actual wheat, and are all very economical.

I believe that wheat will never be cheaper than it is right now.  My favorite source of wheat, Honeyville Farms, has been out of hard white wheat for about three weeks now and prices have been steadily rising.  If you’re not sure where to buy wheat, try contacting a nearby Mormon/LDS church and ask them for help.  They might know of local growers or farmers who deliver to your area.  Some of my blog sponsors, such as Emergency Essentials and Ready Made Resources, sell wheat.  Shop around, compare prices and shipping charges, but this is a good time to jump into purchasing wheat, starting with Hard White Wheat.

Tip:  If you’re purchasing wheat in five gallon buckets, you can plan on getting around 35-40 loaves of bread per bucket.

For resources right here at TheSurvivalMom, check out these articles.

• Wheat for Dummies
• Prepping on Pennies #1: Get to Know Wheat
• Chrystalyn’s Adventures With the Sun Oven

The clock is ticking… Our Skill of the Month has officially been launched!

© 2011, thesurvivalmom. All rights reserved.

image by HealthHomeHappy.com

Lately, I’ve received several questions about grinding foods other than wheat in a grain mill.  Someone on a gluten-free diet might grind rice to make her own rice flour.  A wheat mill could double as a coffee grinder, thus saving money.  Right?  Well, that all depends.

Some foods, such as coffee beans, contain oils which will clog the workings of your mill.  Unless you know for certain that the manufacturer of your mill okays its use with corn, rice, or other foods, don’t do it!  Before grinding anything other than wheat, be sure to check your mill’s product information.  If you no longer have that information on hand, check the manufacturer’s website or do a Google search for your mill by name and model number.

© 2010 – 2011, thesurvivalmom. All rights reserved.

image by Micah Sittig

My kids aren’t too picky about what they eat for breakfast.  Just this morning my 9 year-old son was eating a package of saimin soup, dry.  Yeah, it’s not my cup of tea, either.  Daughter ate a bowl of Cheerios, with plenty of sugar added, and will be content with that for at least ten-fifteen minutes or so.  Usually, breakfast is the easiest meal for stocking up, but I’d like to suggest, for food storage, you consider meals that are hearty, filling, and nutritious.  Cheerios and dry saimin won’t cut it.

My favorite breakfast for storage is either oatmeal or granola.  Both can be “adjusted to taste” by adding nuts, dried fruit, honey, and many other possible additions. Even if your kids aren’t big fans of oatmeal and granola, surely there’s a customized version that will make them happy.

Figuring out how much to store is easy.  Calculate how much each family member eats in a typical breakfast, keep track of the various add-ins and come up with a total per breakfast.  When you multiply those amounts by thirty, you’ll know just how much to stock up on for a full months-worth of breakfasts.  Here’s the tally for the four of us in our family — enough to last a month.

Oatmeal:  60 cups (1/2 c. per person, per day)

Brown sugar:  8 cups (1 T. per person, per day)

Raisins:  8 cups (1 T. per person, per day)

Walnuts:  2 cups  (1 T. for 30 days – I’m the only one who likes walnuts.)

Sometimes I pour a bit of milk over our oatmeal, and for variety, replace raisins with the same amount of chopped, dried apricots or apples.  Here are a few more tips for utilizing oats in your breakfast meals and storage.

1. When oatmeal becomes tiresome, and it will, fortunately you can use many of the same ingredients to make homemade granola.
2. Another break from oatmeal is a different hot cereal with similar toppings.
3. Use an online conversion tool to figure ingredient totals.
4. Be sure to have a breakfast option that doesn’t require cooking for those power-outage mornings.
5. Use oats and a few baking ingredients to make a loaf of nutritious breakfast bread or muffins for another change.
6. Experiment with different versions of oatmeal – steel-cut, oat groats, or a multi-grain mix.
7. Quick oats have their place in food storage, although rolled oats are preferred for their additional fiber and nutrition.  Quick oats are handy for days when heating up some water is the only way a hot breakfast is going to happen.
8. To store oats long-term, use cleaned out 2-liter soda bottles, mylar bags, or buckets, and one or two oxygen absorbers in each.  Keep the oats in a cool, dry, and dark location.

Share your oatmeal recipes and favorite add-ins with us!

© 2010, thesurvivalmom. All rights reserved.

photo by FleurP

If you’re storing wheat, it’s probably because you are using it to make homemade bread from scratch, meaning straight from the wheat berry.  If that’s the only way you’re using wheat, though, you’re missing a lot.  Here are six other uses for this most versatile grain.

1. Hot cereal:  Cooked, wheat transforms into puffy and chewy kernels that make a top-notch breakfast cereal.  Top it with cinnamon, brown sugar, chopped apples, dried fruit, yogurt, or anything else you have on hand.  It’s delicious!  For more details, check out this post.
2. Wheat berries in salad:  Cooked wheat berries are terrific mixed in with any green salad or in this delicious wheat berry salad.  You get plenty of fiber and all the nutrition wheat has to offer.  It’s a great choice for vegetarians but is just as good with a few slices of chicken or meat.
3. Wheat meat:  Vegetarians have long made use of this simple “meat” made from the gluten of wheat.  Kellene Bishop has documented everything you need to know about this process here.  The end product can be flavored according to any recipe and formed into shapes such as meatballs.
4. Soup:  Add cooked wheat berries to soup as an additional grain option.  Cook the wheat berries as described in #1 and add a scoop or two to any hot soup while it cooks.  They add great texture to any soup as well as nutrients.
5. Sprouting:  If, perhaps, your attempts at gardening haven’t been something to write home about, you’ll probably have a lot more luck sprouting wheat.  Once the wheat berry sprouts, its nutrients increase exponentially.  Serve the sprouts on sandwiches, in salads, and toss them in any hot dish at the last minute in order to maintain their high levels of B vitamins, vitamin C, and folic acid.
6. Wheat grass juice: If you allow your wheat sprouts to grow until they are 6-8 inches tall, you can harvest the grass, process it through a juicer and have an amazingly nutritious drink.  This juice contains chlorophyll, which is antibacterial, 90 different minerals and 19 amino acids.  One nutritionist told me that drinking just 4 ounces of the stuff every day would eliminate the need for any other fruit or vegetable.  Whatever the benefits might be, wheat grass juice is highly nutritious and one more reason to stock up on wheat.

© 2010, thesurvivalmom. All rights reserved.

It makes sense to stock up on plenty of wheat because it is one commodity that is very, very budget-friendly.  It is also one of the most versatile foods you’ll ever have in your pantry.  Here are a few of my favorite wheat recipes that will take you from breakfast through dinner.

image by K Hurley

Wheat Berries are what’s for breakfast!

I love, love, love a hot bowl of wheat berries sweetened with a bit of cinnamon and brown sugar.  This hot cereal is versatile, and you’ll surely be able to create a version everyone in your family will love.  Here’s the basic recipe.

1 c. hard white wheat

2 1/2 c. water

The easiest way to prepare this hot cereal is to combine the wheat and water in a crockpot, set on low, and cook overnight or throughout the day.  To cook them on a stove-top, follow these directions from 101 Cookbooks.

To cook wheat berries: Combine 2 cups wheat berries, 6 cups water, and 2 teaspoons salt in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Bring to a boil, lower the heat, and simmer, covered, until plump and chewy (and a few of the berries split open), about an hour or so. The berries will stay al dente, and the only way to be sure they’re done is to taste a few. Drain and set aside.

You can mix them with yogurt, dried fruit, nuts, butter, honey, syrup, and any spices that strike your fancy.  They are so nutritious.  If you think you will meet some resistance from your family, mix in a few wheat berries with their cereal or oatmeal to get them used to a new flavor and texture.

Wheat Berries make a great salad side-dish!

image by barefoot in the orchard blog

First, prepare wheat berries using either the crock-pot or stove-top method.  You can make this recipe while the berries are still warm or after they’ve cooled.

Place 3 cups of the berries in a medium size bowl and add:

4 T. olive oil

3 T. balsamic vinegar

salt to taste (optional)

pepper to taste

1/3 c. finely sliced basil

1/4 c. chopped rehydrated tomatoes or chopped fresh tomatoes

1/4 c. celery, chopped (dehydrated or fresh)

3 T. finely chopped red onion

This is delicious as is, but you can add olives, feta, and other herbs you may have growing in your garden or in the pantry.  This salad is absolutely delicious!  You can thank me later.

For every meal, a loaf of bread

Every bread maker has his or her own favorite bread recipe.  The one I usually use lists honey and dried milk as ingredients.  Whatever your recipe calls for, be sure to stock up on enough of the ingredients so you could make at least two or three loaves of bread per week.  In a survival situation, bread will add energy and calories to your family’s daily diet.  Just be sure to know how to bake the bread using at least two different methods, not counting your kitchen oven.  This is where a Sun Oven or a Stove-Tec Rocket Stove come in handy.  A Dutch oven over a campfire is yet another way to bake bread without depending on any fuel, other than a bit of wood.

Do check out The Fresh Loaf for bread-making tutorials, a great forum, and more bread recipes than you could make in a lifetime!

Have I died and gone to heaven? image by GenBug

Mexican food lovers rejoice!

Homemade tortillas are easier to make than you might think, and for the Mexican food lover in you, that’s great news!  Olé! Here’s a simple recipe passed on to me by Suzie Brown, manager of the Honeyville Farms store in Salt Lake City.  She uses shortening, which, as you know, has a very impressive shelf life.

2 1/2 c. flour

1/2 c. vegetable shortening

1 t. salt

1 c. water

Combine all ingredients together.  Mix till smooth.  Form a small ball of dough, approximately 2″ across, and roll into a circle using a rolling pin.  As each tortilla is finished, you can either cook it in on a dry griddle or in a frying pan with some oil.

I’ll be posting a recipe soon for End of the World Enchiladas, using this very recipe for the tortillas, so brush up on your tortilla making skills and get ready!

Bottom line:  wheat is a must-have for your food storage.  Don’t be intimidated by all the wheat jargon cast about by bread-making experts and food storage snobs.  Shop around for the least expensive wheat you can find.  Get an inexpensive grinder and start experimenting.

Tip:  Some people buy their wheat from animal feed stores.  No kidding.  It’s the same wheat you’ll get from other sources but may not be as thoroughly cleaned.  When you’re ready to store it, or use it, just pour it through a sieve first to clean out any dried grass or small rocks.

© 2010, thesurvivalmom. All rights reserved.

A lot has been said about stocking up on wheat and the need for hundreds of pounds of wheat per person per day.  What a lot of preppers may not realize is just how budget-friendly wheat can be, and once you have it, all the inexpensive ways it can be served.

photo by FleurP

First, find a good source of good wheat.

To find the cheapest wheat in your part of the country, give the local LDS church or cannery a call.  They will probably know of local resources or farmers who deliver wheat to your area on a regular basis.  If you live near a large city, track down health food or “natural” food stores and tell them you’d like to buy it in bulk.  What’s their best price?  If you are fortunate enough to have a local Honeyville store in your area, I just bought 50 pounds of hard white wheat for less than $16.  For Starbucks fans, that’s just three Caramel Frappuccinos!

If your only option is to purchase wheat from an online store, see if there’s a reduced shipping charge for larger purchases.  Honeyville’s shipping is $4.99, total.  In comparison, I checked out the shipping charge for just two pounds of wheat at Bob’s Red Mill, and found it was almost double, $8.85.  Walton Feed is another source of wheat, but again, the shipping prices are quite high.  Your best bet may be to ask around and see if you can get a group of friends together to place a bulk order as well as to compare prices vs. the shipping charge.

One more possibility is to contact Grandpa’s Grains to see if they are able to deliver wheat to your area.  This family-owned company is out of Idaho and make regular deliveries here in Arizona, but they want to expand to other states.  Contact them at grandpasgrainaz@gmail.com, if you would like more information about deliveries to your hometown.

Second, decide which wheat you want to buy.

Not sure which type of wheat to buy first?  Go for hard white wheat first.  It’s the most useful of all the wheat types, and don’t worry if it’s labeled, “spring”, or, “winter”.  There’s a slight difference between the gluten amounts in spring vs. winter, but for food storage purposes, wheat is wheat.  It’s all good.  Hard white wheat is what you’ll use for everything from bread to tortillas to crackers.  My suggestion is to stock up on hard white first and plan for it to be the basis of your stored wheat, 50% or so of the total.

If you love heartier, darker breads, experiment with hard red wheat.  A loaf of bread made from this wheat will look more like the store-bought “wheat” bread.  Some SurvivalMoms combine hard red and hard white when they grind their flour and find their family prefers that flavor and texture.  Buy a small amount of hard red wheat for

image by adactio

your experimenting just in case you or your family says, “ewwwww!” and you’re stuck with a hundred pounds or more of the stuff.

The third type of wheat to have in your pantry is soft white wheat.  This wheat provides the best type of flour for pastries, things like cookies, pie crust, cakes and brownies.  About 25% of my wheat is soft white.  I’m not much of a baker, and sometimes a ten-pound bag of flour can last for months in my pantry.  Your situation is probably different.  You’re probably one of those good moms who treat their families to dessert every night!  Not all of us can live up to that standard!

Third, buy a wheat grinder/mill.

This step will be the most expensive, unless you listen to me carefully.  All around the country are women and men who thought they would love nothing better than to grind their own wheat and create a picture-perfect loaf of bread for their families every day.  After a while that got old, and now they want to rid themselves of that bothersome wheat grinder.  You’ll find these grinders, or mills, on eBay, Craigslist, and even Freecycle.  If you’re just starting out on your wheat journey, buy a mill at the cheapest price you can.

As preppers, we aren’t in this “wheat thing” as a lark or a fad.  We take it seriously, but unless you have a wheat mill, there’s really no point in stocking up on wheat.  I’d like to send my kids outside with a bag of wheat and a metate or two, but really, a mill is more practical.  Buy an electric mill first but plan on buying a manual, hand mill when you can afford it.  It will be your back-up in case of a power outage.  The metate will be the back-up to your back-up.

Fourth, learn how to make inexpensive foods using wheat.

I’ll have plenty of recipe suggestions that are super-easy on your wallet.  You can read all about them tomorrow in Prepping on Pennies:  #2, Wheat’s on the menu!

© 2010 – 2012, thesurvivalmom. All rights reserved.

Guest post by Debbie Cee

Rice is the staple grain of a large part of the world.  It is cheap, easy to buy in any grocery store, and stores well.  Rice can be stored the same way as wheat.  You can buy buckets already sealed from online stores or do it yourself.  Freezing rice for at least two days before packing it is a good idea, as this will kill any insect eggs in the rice.  You can buy rice sealed in cans, too, but I find the amounts too small and too expensive for my family.  We have a recycled pretzel jug full of rice in the larder and cook it two or three cups at a time, a couple times a week.

image by fakelvis

In an emergency, you can cook rice by boiling water, adding it to rice in a pot, then wrapping the pot in blankets or towels and letting it sit for half an hour or so.  This is very fuel efficient, which will probably be important in a long-term emergency.

Cooked rice can stretch your available dog food as well.  Dogs digest rice well, and rice is cheaper and easier to store then dog food.  Rice is wonderful.  Store lots.

Oatmeal is great for cookies, you can make your own granola with it, and of course it is a healthy, hearty hot cereal.  You can boil oatmeal and wrap it in a towel as you can with rice.  The oatmeal my family buys, though, is flakes, not a whole grain.  It will not keep as well in your larder as a whole grain will.  I bought cans of whole, rolled oats so I could store it and forget it unless I need it.  Another family may use enough oatmeal day to day that rotating larder supplies work better for them.

I think hot oatmeal will be very welcome for breakfasts in an emergency.  I cook oatmeal on weekends occasionally to keep it a familiar food to my kids, but I have to admit we use more oatmeal for cookies than hot cereal, normally.  For me, it works better to keep most of my oatmeal as a long term supply.

image by norwichnuts

Next is the all-American starch, corn.  Corn bread, corn tortillas, grits and polenta are made from corn.  It is harder to grind corn then wheat, but you can do it.  Just check your grain mill’s directions to make sure it is designed to grind corn.  Popcorn is a wonderful comfort food.  I have jars of it in my larder.  You can store corn kernels and grind them to make cornmeal.  Dent corn makes the best cornmeal.  I use canned corn and popcorn in my normal cooking, and I buy ground corn for my occasional baking uses.

I have chosen not to store corn kernels for my long term supplies because I do not come from a background that uses ground corn routinely and see no great need to change my family’s food consumption into heavier, ground corn consumers.  If we were used to eating grits and cornbread often, I’d store as much corn as I do wheat and rice.

Potatoes, although not a grain, are a staple  food to this northerner and very healthy and easy to cook with.  I was very pleased to find dehydrated potato dices at a good price and have stored them in a couple of long term storage buckets.  I set aside a gallon jug’s worth to practice with and have found that it makes an excellent base for hash browns and is perfect to toss into a soup.  I should probably watch for another sale since we are a potato eating family.

I have several boxes of instant mashed potatoes in my larder.  My kids love them, and they are a super quick food to make for dinner.  With my waistline I prefer to not eat them, however!

There are many other grain choices to look into, and I have only covered the basics.   Look at what your family normally eats to judge what to base your storage on. Sometimes you will have to adjust your family’s diet to make your food storage easier.  This is best done slowly and started as soon as possible.  I save a lot of money with my stored grains, buying a large amount when I can get it on sale or at a very good price and then saving money every time I serve it.

© 2010, thesurvivalmom. All rights reserved.