Spelt, Wheat and Food Storage

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Please follow along and we would love to hear from you as we continue our venture on food storage. Thanks for reading…

I think it is a toss-up. I’ve been trying to decide - If I were to go on a ride (or need my emergency supplies or even food storage) I would take…. (have you ever played that game?  I can’t decide if I would want water or toilet paper first. I suppose it would depend on how much water I had been drinking before the need for toilet paper arises?

I decided to write about both this week. Most other food storage reference tables do not provide ANY  information about how much toilet paper you should keep on hand and keep in stock. (Is it that you don’t realize it until you are out? Maybe that is why I am concerned about it right now - we are almost out.  How do you like that confession?)

Anyway, I am going to venture an educated guess - please FEEL FREE TO HELP EDIT AND COMMENT  on this educated guess of how much toilet paper (tp) one should keep on hand for our “emergency” supply. If you are male, you would need less tp than if female. So, I am going to venture that each male per household should have at least 24 rolls. Each female should have 52 rolls of their favorite tp to last a year. I am guessing 1 roll for every 2 weeks per male and 1 roll a week per female.

What do you think?

(Well talk more about water tomorrow.)

Did I give you the website for U.H.T. milk? You can do a search on it if you want, or you can check out my favorite milk from Gossners.

If you think UHT milk is a good idea, go here to learn more about how they process it and learn that this is great for trips, backpacking, hiking, school lunch, etc. They also list the flavors and sizes here.

http://www.gossner.com/home/gossner/admin.php?do=ipage&pageid=2&mid=2

Or you can follow this link to read more on their frequently asked questions:

http://www.gossner.com/home/gossner/admin.php?do=ipage&pageid=3&mid=4

It is really interesting and good reading. Happy learning.

I got to thinking… I’ll bet not very many people know much about farming in Idaho, so today, I thought I’d tell you what we are up to. The snow if FINALLY mostly gone and we have been planting spring wheat and actually, because we had such a hard, cold winter, we got to replant some of our winter wheat as well. We just got done planting the wheat, yesterday. We are a little behind compared to past years, but we aren’t too worried about planting right now. Today, we are in the middle of planting peas. Next will come the alfalfa and finally the Famous Idaho Potatoes.

Today was beautiful - warm, sunshiny. I planted my flowers that were feeling neglected. I hope the weather cooperates and that they will not die. One of my jobs right now is to be a gardener. I like to garden - flowers, vegetables. But somewhere in July, I forget that I like it, and my plants usually suffer. I have goals to do better at producing more beautiful flowers and gardens and vegetables than the previous year. “I think I can, I think I can, I think I can… ”

p.s. Have you tried Dairy Maid Skin Cream? You know when your hands get super-dry after gardening or spring cleaning or just doing everyday stuff? This is the best hand cream (for men and women) to get your hands back to functioning normal - not cracked, dry, and bleeding from having all the moisture sucked out of your skin. It is also great for feet, heels, elbows, etc. You get the idea.

I hate powdered milk, to be more specific. Unless it is in a homemade hot cocoa mix (anyone need that yummy recipe?) I don’t want to drink it. I know we are supposed to have it in storage for “just in case”, but how could I bring myself to use it if I truly hate it?

I have pondered this question many times and think some of you may have as well.  Therefore, I decided it was worth writing about.

So, we have the dilemma, now what? I’ve decided I could possibly make it up and use it as an ingredient in cassaroles, mashed potatoes, or other dishes calling for milk, but I would NOT drink it plain. So, I can justify having a little bit in storage, for those emergency milk ingredients to combine with something else.

But what about my babies and milk for drinking?

WE FOUND A PALATABLE SOLUTION! It is called UHT Milk. UHT is Ultra Heat Treated milk. Just the way it is processed, it is sealed and stored on a shelf for a few years! (Recommended one year, but has been known to last up to three years!) It is real milk - tastes like real milk - and even comes in a variety of flavors. It is my newest favorite discovery. We found it at Gossner’s in Utah. I’m not sure how many other places do this, but if you need a great alternative to powdered milk - this is it. (By the way, I do not get commissions for recommending anybody’s products here… I just am happily sharing my discoveries.)

Got milk? I do - several drinkable gallons is a good start on my food storage.

Did you know you are supposed to prepare your wheat to be stored when storing long term?

Here are a few suggestions for storing your wheat, rice, noodles, legumes, and the like:

• You can “can” it or seal it in 10 pound tin cans using a dry pack canner.
• Use a nitrogen pack to create an oxygen free atmosphere
• You can use a 5 or 6 gallon bucket with those cool spin-on and off gamma lids. They claim to be air-tight.
• Use a 5 or 6 gallon bucket with a regular lid, sealed tight with a nitrogen packet.

Also, wheat has an incredibly long shelf life, so if you don’t rotate it for 20 years or so, it is still good to use after those 20 years have passed - so long as someone has taken the time to store it correctly.

Now, if you are only going to store it short term, you still want to make sure it is sealed in a bucket (you don’t really need a nitrogen pack for short term). But you do want to keep weevil and other pests out of your food storage, so make sure it is packaged nice and tight in some type of clean bucket or container.

Happy Storing!

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Just in case you want to get started on what to do, here are a few resources for more information:

Family Storage Pamphlet:
http://www.providentliving.org/content/display/0,11666,7554-1-4081-1,00.html

Food Storage Calculator:
http://www.survivalring.org/foodcalc.htm

I just want to say YIPEE we are live and running with the blog. I plan on writing my thoughts on the grain market - includes wheats, spelt, possibly flax. Food storage and fun things I learn along the way that I think you might be interested in reading… So, to our new adventures together…