Flour storage

[walkingnam]

There is an argument going on in my household. This argument is about flour and is used in such household thing as breads, cookies, pasta, and numerous household.

In preparing for long term storage how would you store this item without refrigeration (wife's idea). Mine is store flour in glass containers. There has to be something in between. Afterall our great grandparents and great great grandparents had to do something, especially when migrating from the east to the west.

Any ideas.

 

[coopersmith]

Put it in buckets with bay leaves as a bug deterrent. Works for me.

 

[newmisty]

Put it in buckets with bay leaves as a bug deterrent. Works for me.

What kind of bucket you talking about? A 5gal with snap on lid?

 

[stAGgering]

There is an argument going on in my household. This argument is about flour and is used in such household thing as breads, cookies, pasta, and numerous household.

In preparing for long term storage how would you store this item without refrigeration (wife's idea). Mine is store flour in glass containers. There has to be something in between. Afterall our great grandparents and great great grandparents had to do something, especially when migrating from the east to the west.

Any ideas.

Right container just add O2 absorbers.
I have stored spelt flour and Pamela's Pancake Mix for over a decade as said.
No UV/sunlight exposer and lower the temp the better.
With oxygen absorbers, nothing can live in the glass container.
Even non-refined with oil content flour lasts.
Had oily walnuts 8 years and tasted brand new, from O2 absorbers in sealed glass.

I use twice recommended, ordered first from LCS and Ebayed recent order.

 

[coopersmith]

What kind of bucket you talking about? A 5gal with snap on lid?

yes, from the lumber yard. Some will say not food grade, I dont care.

 

[TAEZZAR]

I am presently putting flour in a qt. Mason jar, with 2 @ 300 CC oxy absorbers & then pull a vacuum.
It is my best guess !

 

[Goldhedge]

In preparing for long term storage how would you store this item without refrigeration

Save the wheat berries in a jar with O2 absorber. Grind your own flour.

 

[the_shootist]

The way I understand it, throwing in sufficient O2 absorbents before sealing is the key to successful, long term storage of flour and other food stuffs. I don't believe there's a calculation for how many of those little O2 absorbing suckers go into a 3.5/5 gal bucket but am very willing to be corrected on that by someone here more knowledgeable than I.

 

[Avalon]

I freeze for a few days first to kill bugs then use mylar bags and O2 absorbers and put them in a 5 gallon bucket. Flour has a shorter life span than beans and rice for long-term storage. My professionally packed flour form the LDS is 10 years.

 

[the_shootist]

At the rate TPTB are destroying the food supply, those long term stored foodstuffs won't need to be stored for very long before they'll be needed

 

[Agavegirl1]

I have used vacuum sealed 1/2 gal mason jars with O2 absorbers and a desiccant packet using my Food Saver attachments. Or I put 5 one gallon Mylar bags with the same O2 absorbers and desiccant packet and put them into a food grade 5 gallon bucket with lid. I freeze the bags of flour before packaging to kill any larvae especially important for whole wheat. I'm using the last of my WW flour from 2012 and need to seal up another 12 jars. I might use the Mylar idea this time since I have a lot of the gallon bags leftover from a bunch of free Old Fashioned Oats my husband got from a job site. He puts production lines in a lot of food factories.

 

[Cigarlover]

Wheatberries and a mockmill stone grinder. I dump the wheat berries in 5 gallon food grade buckets from Lowes. Nothing else needed. They will last a decade or more.
By my calculations I have 3-5 years worth of wheatberries and that's if I bake every week. I don't. In fact probably won't bake at all during this heat.. You can also bake a lot in the spring and freeze your bread and pull it out as needed over the summer.

Currently I have
Einkorn (The original wheat)
Emmer
Spelt
Hard white (Good for bread and pizza crust)
Hard red (Good for bread. similar to whole wheat)
Soft white (Used for cookies, cakes and muffins.)
Durum (Used for pasta)
In total about 700 lbs. After this year I'll decide how much I have actually used an decide if I need more.

 

[Goldhedge]

mockmill stone grinder

Where did you get your mill?
@Cigarlover

 

[Cigarlover]

Where did you get your mill?
@Cigarlover

This is a comparison of the different mills that Mockmill makes. Great mills for sure. There's a link in the description of her video. I bought the slower one and it's fine for home use. The faster one would be if you had higher production needs.

 

[Avalon]

At the rate TPTB are destroying the food supply, those long term stored foodstuffs won't need to be stored for very long before they'll be needed

we stopped buying long-term storage and switched to stuff we eat daily.

 

[stAGgering]

The way I understand it, throwing in sufficient O2 absorbents before sealing is the key to successful, long term storage of flour and other food stuffs. I don't believe there's a calculation for how many of those little O2 absorbing suckers go into a 3.5/5 gal bucket but am very willing to be corrected on that by someone here more knowledgeable than I.

I do not use 5 gallon containers.
However, the O2 absorbers usually are labeled or sold with O2 CC max intake, or atmosphere total CCs able to eliminate 02 from.
O2 absorbers must have moisture in order to work... it is rust at work in those packets FeO2.
One can buy 2x size or 2x total.
I repack absorbers in glass jar with either rice or black beans stuffed, as plastic breathes.
Do not have info at hand and just repeat previous packaging.

Note: the O2 absorbers worked with fresh locally purchased Scottish salmon, marinated home mix, dehydrated, and kept 6-8 years.
Opened up, and tasted as if time had stopped.
Packed glass containers which were to large for rich content.
Slow consumption saw them turn in couple months+ in fridge.
Not badly, but Sally the blk lab received high grade treats for awhile.
She hated them ;-)

 

[southfork]

Wish I could help, we did however pick up another pail of survival food at costco yesterday.

 

[Avalon]

This is a comparison of the different mills that Mockmill makes. Great mills for sure. There's a link in the description of her video. I bought the slower one and it's fine for home use. The faster one would be if you had higher production needs.

Im really struggling about getting a grain mill. I have cases of wheat berries. I was planning on eating them whole and not worrying about grinding. However if this is going to be prolonged I maybe I should consider a mill.

 

[DodgebyDave]

The best long term storage is to eat the biscuits as fast as she can bake them

 

[Avalon]

The best long term storage is to eat the biscuits as fast as she can bake them

Who is she? You guys are going to have learn to make a sandwich or you wont survive SHTF

 

[coopersmith]

I like hand sandwiches. I put piece of lunch meat in my hand, then eat it.

 

[the_shootist]

I like hand sandwiches. I put piece of lunch meat in my hand, then eat it.

Just be careful to avoid chomping down on one of those digits

 

[Fatboy]

Im really struggling about getting a grain mill. I have cases of wheat berries. I was planning on eating them whole and not worrying about grinding. However if this is going to be prolonged I maybe I should consider a mill.

Back when, I went with the Country Living Grain Mill. It is manually powered, it does have a electric motor option you can purchase (or you can do your own) but if there is no power, it is nice to have the ability to grind by hand. They also have/had different burs for grinding other products.

There was/is quite the debate about stone or steel grinding surfaces. I chose steel.

 

[Cigarlover]

Im really struggling about getting a grain mill. I have cases of wheat berries. I was planning on eating them whole and not worrying about grinding. However if this is going to be prolonged I maybe I should consider a mill.

Neener says inflation cycle will be 30 years. I just heard that last night so I am still processing that info. My initial thoughts on it are as follows.

1) I think anyone not living in a cave for the last 30 years knows that the government is lying about 8.5% inflation. Real inflation is closer to 25%.
2) In order to curb inflation the fed needs to get ahead of inflation and move the fed funds rate up drastically. So using their numbers it needs to be 9-10%. Using real numbers it needs to be in the high 20's.

3) neither of those rates is possible .

4) so what's left is to reverse course and inflate away the debt or cut spending and pay down the debt. We know which choice the government will make.

5) Short of backing the dollar with gold I don't see any other way to tame inflation and get it under control. On th pother hand 40-50% of the US population will be homeless if they don't get inflation under control.

So bottom line I I see inflation for awhile. This will be worldwide and the world is waking up to the fact that the US dollar screwed them hard without lube. Countries with high debt loads in US dollars are really screwed. This is going to lead to war. By the end of the war there will be a new system put in place and no more dollar. I believe that's why central banks around the world are loading up and hoarding gold. Gold is the storage vehicle for wealth and the bankers know it.

Holy shit did I just take this thread off topic. LOL. Apologies to the OP.

 

[Agavegirl1]

Well my SHTF gourmet selections have arrived. Seafood, beef, chicken, and a fun snack item. The Mylar vacuum sealed bags have windows so the actual product is visible.
They look great but I’m in the woods now so my photos won’t load until I have Wi-Fi.

We are just starting to look into the wheat berry idea but haven’t found a source yet. We have a hand crank grain mill. Will that do for just two people?

 

[wallew]

we stopped buying long-term storage and switched to stuff we eat daily.

this is solid advice...

YOU should only be storing what you normally eat

regardless of the amount of time left

don't waste your money on 'prepared for emergency' food stocks - unless that is what you normally eat

with a short time 'left' we still only store things we eat normally

If you do have some of that emergency food in your preps... crack a couple of them open and see what they taste like

NOW is the time to find out, not when things go south

if you love them it's a win, if not, you still have a small amount of time to correct it IF necessary

 

[Avalon]

We are just starting to look into the wheat berry idea but haven’t found a source yet. We have a hand crank grain mill. Will that do for just two people?

great price for a case... its hard red. The white is sold out

https://store.churchofjesuschrist.org/usa/en/food-storage-3074457345616678849-1/hard-red-wheat

 

[nickndfl]

What if you're allergic to gluten?

 

[Fatboy]

great price for a case... its hard red. The white is sold out

https://store.churchofjesuschrist.org/usa/en/food-storage-3074457345616678849-1/hard-red-wheat

Recently, stuff comes in and goes out of stock fairly regular. Just keep checking back for availability.

 

[walkingnam]

Great advice Wallew, Avalon, and others. This is just what I'm trying to do. My wife loves baking bread and making pasta. I love what she does and it shows on me.

We are stashing what we normally eat the only question we had was how to keep flour from going bad. The package life is about a year when you buy off the shelf. Our forefarthers had to have a way to preserve flour when crossing the prairies.

I'm getting a new (bigger) freezer and putting the flour in there next to the frozen meat, chicken, etc . We are also outgrowing our 2 car garage for storing our item. Looking elsewhere and don't want to expand to the attic. Also, I'm going to be using the desicant packs (02 absorbers) as mentioned here. But most of all hoping for the best.

 

[StrawMan=Corporation]

I use whats called viddles vaults with oxygen absorbers and a blanket of nitrogen on top with a lit candle burning close to the top of threads of the lid, when the candle extinguishes take it out and seal the container.

The 45° angle viddles vaults can be purchased at costco at various times of the year.

 

[wallew]

coopersmith said it

BAY LEAVES

say two to a one lb pkg - ten to a five lb pkg, etc, etc

been doing it for more than 20 years, never had any problems and we've lived in Cali, Colo and are now in Texas.

works every place we've lived - still using bay leaves with success