Storing Wheat

A friend of mine asked me about wheat storage and how to prevent bugs. I know there are a lot of people who buy bulk wheat to only sit in their food storage, "just in case." Since they never use it, it is a good thing they store it in sealed, round containers so it is preserved in as good a condition as possible! For my part (and my mother's), we use it so quickly, we have never had to worry about storing it this way. I pour the wheat I will need for a month straight from the bag it came in, into a large plastic, lidded bucket, and scoop out of that to grind it. I have never had a bug problem--and neither has my mom in the 30+ years she has been doing it this way. Of course, I'm sure it helps that the wheat we buy is triple-cleaned and sealed in durable bags.

If you do have a bug problem currently or won't be using your wheat storage very quickly, click here for information on how to deal with these concerns.

If you're wanting to store wheat for a super long time, click here for detailed instructions.

For more interesting and helpful information on "the staff of life" and how to store it, see this site.

Testimonial

When one of my uncles found out about this site, he wrote me the following. Another testimonial that it is possible to spend very little on groceries and eat healthily at the same time...

"We are able to feed all 7 of us on $40.00 a week. (Now this isn’t exactly accurate for either of us because we depend so heavily on our existing dry-goods food storage such as wheat, wheat, and oh, did I say wheat?) Also, we use a lot of oats, brown rice, beans, lentils, split peas, etc. Also, we augment a lot with our garden produce, especially things that store (potatoes, carrots and other root veggies) plus herbs that we freeze such as basil and cilantro. [My wife] processes lots of tomatoes, jams, and juices. So these things that we already have on hand we don’t count in our $40.00 a week."

He brings up another passion/interest/hobby of mine: gardening. One of my deepest desires is that we one day have a good garden again, for health, food storage, budgeting, and pleasure reasons. There's nothing quite like getting your hands in the dirt and growing your own food!

White Flour vs Wheat Flour

I found the following information very interesting and thought I would pass it on...

"Wheat generally contains about 23% protein (whole wheat flour 12% and white flour 11%). Interestingly, the protein in wheat germ is extra-rich in lysine, which is deficient in the rest of the grain after it is milled. Since WWII, wheat has been severely milled, causing an equally drastic drop in nutrients. By using only the endosperm to make the white flour and disgarding the bran and the germ, what is lost are the following: 77% thiamin, 80% riboflavin, 82% niacin, 72% B6, 50% pantothenic acid, 67% folate, 86% Vitamin E, and 29% choline. With the bran and the germ removed, the "prized" white flour is used extensively while, at the same time, the bran and the germ are packaged and sold at inflated prices so that people can buy them, add them to their processed foods and, once again, achieve good health." (Read entire article here.)

Money Saved by Home Grinding: Budgeting Tip #4

If you are wondering if it would be worth it for your family to make the investment of a wheat grinder, take a look at this site. It breaks down the numbers (from 2007) to show you how much a family of four can save on bread and cereal in a year by cracking and grinding their own wheat to cook these items from scratch. I hadn't done the math myself, so it fascinated me to see it all spelled out like this. And keep in mind that my family spends even less, as the wheat we buy costs a few dollars less than the $15 per 100 lb of wheat quoted here...

At least $2.00 per day for store bought bread
At least 2.00 per day for store bought cereal
At least 4.00 total per day
x30 days
At least $120.00 per month
X12 months or at least $1440.00 per year

By using a mill, you spend only: (figuring wheat at $15.00 per 100 lbs plus eggs, sugar, salt, etc)

$.40 per day for wholesome bread
.15 per day for healthful cereal
.55 per day
X 30 days
$16.50 a month or $198.00 per year

The average savings for bread and cereal alone is over $1200.00 per year!

Fiber and Weight Loss

"Fiber makes us feel full sooner and stays in our stomach longer than other substances we eat, slowing down our rate of digestion and keeping us feeling full longer. Due to its greater fiber content, a single serving of whole grain bread can be more filling than two servings of white bread. Fiber also moves fat through our digestive system faster so that less of it is absorbed.

"Meat and dairy products contain no fiber, and refined grains have had most of their fiber removed. To increase your intake of fiber, eat more whole and natural foods, and fewer processed foods."

Go to this great site to read more about the importance of fiber and its role in maintaining or obtaining a healthy weight.

Cracking Wheat

As for cracking wheat, because our wonderful KitchenMill grinds finely on every setting, I had to hang on to our last stone grinder so I have something with which to crack the wheat. My mother has a very heavy duty bread mixer with a blender attachment, so she uses the blender to crack wheat and that machine has so far lasted her 9 years.

A word of warning: Using a regular blender for cracking wheat is not a good idea! My mother tried it and had the blades fly off the blender, and when I tried it with a good quality (but not heavy duty) blender the motor burned out after a few uses.

I have been told you can buy cracked wheat at the store, just like you can buy whole wheat flour. But besides the obvious economical benefit of making it yourself, there are the nutritional benefits as well. Most people say that wheat begins losing its nutritional value (particularly its protein content) 72 hours after it is milled. It is therefore absolutely healthier to grind your own flour and crack your own wheat--with as little time in between milling and eating as possible (or store it in the freezer). If you buy either of these products at the store, by the time it gets to your kitchen, it may as well be refined white for all the nutritional value you get from it (though it will still be a good source of fiber).

Wheat Grinders

For our first few years of marriage, we used old stone electric wheat grinders that we found at thrift stores or that people didn't use so they gave to us--and we went through about three of them. We were grateful to have something to grind our wheat with, but all of these machines had their setbacks. One was even so messy I had to grind wheat outside on the front porch so as not to end up with an entirely floured kitchen! And one, though I could set it to many levels of courseness, did not grind flour fine enough for our liking. Another disadvantage of these machines was simply the fact that they were stone grinders, which heat up with the friction and thereby heat the wheat, diminishing its nutritional value. I have also read that stone grinders are bound with aluminum oxide, which isn't necessarily something we we want to ingest. And, stone grinders are very heavy (20-30 lbs) and bulky and therefore more difficult to use. Fortunately, by the time I became fed up with our current stone grinder, we were in a position to buy a new electric non-stone grinder, like the one in this picture.

There are many types of wheat grinders out there (my mother uses a different kind than I do) that can be purchased new or used, but I have been very pleased with this one. It is a KitchenMill made by K-Tec and is reasonably priced. It produces high quality flour quickly and the whole thing only weighs 8 lbs! This site has an excellent description of the machine and its advantages, as well as other helpful and interesting information about grinding your own flour.