I've been looking into emergency food lately and have been amazed at the value and versatility of hard white wheat. I'm posting this for the benefit of others here who may not know about this great storage food or maybe are intimidated because it doesn't seem as easy to use as beans and white rice.
Hard wheat, stored properly in a mylar bag w/O2 remover packet and dessicant in a pail will keep for decades.
In a grid-down situation bread can be baked in a dutch oven in a fire or fireplace, or just baked directly in hot ashes (ash cake). A bread oven can be improvised using clay soil and straw http://www.geocities.com/mosesrocket/, bricks, cinder blocks, cement, etc... anything that you can burn a fire in that will retain the heat. Brown-type breads are cooked in a steaming pot. There are also many types of flat breads that are baked on a hot surface. The sourdough method is a way to leaven without a constant supply of commercial yeast. A sponge can be started naturally if no commercial yeast is available. Breads of many types are made by third-world peoples who don't have electric or gas ovens and commercial yeast. It can be a low-tech, simple food.
Wheat can also be coarsely ground and cooked as cream of wheat -- bland but better nutrition than white rice. Coarse-ground wheat can be added to soups and stews.
Wheat can be sprouted as wheatgrass to yield nutrients not found in the unsprouted grain. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wheatgrass
Cost wise, wheat gives a lot of bang for the buck. By my calculations, a pound of hard white wheat offers:
- 1,550 calories
- 7.8g fat
- 344g carbohydrates
- 51g protein
- 116% D.V. Iron
- a whole bunch of fiber
A 50 lb. bag contains 77,525 calories, which at 2000 cal/day will feed one person for 38 days. The last wheat I picked up from the Belchertown Co-op was $26.55 per bag ($18.33 wheat plus $8 freight from Montana to Belchertown) Ten bags for $266 will feed one person for a year or two people for 6 months. To put this into perspective... how much did you spend on your last gun or bulk ammo purchase?
Vegetable oil, salt, yeast packets, baking powder, and honey are good to store with the wheat for bread-making/cooking (rotate the oil, baking powder, and yeast).
I bought a Family Grain Mill with hand crank base for $119. I've been using home ground flour in my bread machine and the family loves it. I plan to start experimenting soon with non-electric bread making methods.
Hard wheat, stored properly in a mylar bag w/O2 remover packet and dessicant in a pail will keep for decades.
In a grid-down situation bread can be baked in a dutch oven in a fire or fireplace, or just baked directly in hot ashes (ash cake). A bread oven can be improvised using clay soil and straw http://www.geocities.com/mosesrocket/, bricks, cinder blocks, cement, etc... anything that you can burn a fire in that will retain the heat. Brown-type breads are cooked in a steaming pot. There are also many types of flat breads that are baked on a hot surface. The sourdough method is a way to leaven without a constant supply of commercial yeast. A sponge can be started naturally if no commercial yeast is available. Breads of many types are made by third-world peoples who don't have electric or gas ovens and commercial yeast. It can be a low-tech, simple food.
Wheat can also be coarsely ground and cooked as cream of wheat -- bland but better nutrition than white rice. Coarse-ground wheat can be added to soups and stews.
Wheat can be sprouted as wheatgrass to yield nutrients not found in the unsprouted grain. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wheatgrass
Cost wise, wheat gives a lot of bang for the buck. By my calculations, a pound of hard white wheat offers:
- 1,550 calories
- 7.8g fat
- 344g carbohydrates
- 51g protein
- 116% D.V. Iron
- a whole bunch of fiber
A 50 lb. bag contains 77,525 calories, which at 2000 cal/day will feed one person for 38 days. The last wheat I picked up from the Belchertown Co-op was $26.55 per bag ($18.33 wheat plus $8 freight from Montana to Belchertown) Ten bags for $266 will feed one person for a year or two people for 6 months. To put this into perspective... how much did you spend on your last gun or bulk ammo purchase?
Vegetable oil, salt, yeast packets, baking powder, and honey are good to store with the wheat for bread-making/cooking (rotate the oil, baking powder, and yeast).
I bought a Family Grain Mill with hand crank base for $119. I've been using home ground flour in my bread machine and the family loves it. I plan to start experimenting soon with non-electric bread making methods.
![[shocked]](/xen/styles/default/xenforo/smilies.vb/007.gif "Shocked [shocked]")
