[Homesteadingfamily] Re: Shelf Life for Grains

Hi Eunice:I have been milling our grains, beans and rices for about 20
years. You can store them ALL for hundreds of years! They must be
packed in a container like the pails you got with or without the mylar
liners. The liners may help extend the products, but if price is an
issue, don't worry about them. We have some of both in storage (with and
without liners). They have found grains in tombs that sprouted after
hundred of years in Egypt! it must remain in the "whole berry" form to
last longest. So, don't buy any kind of "cracked grains" for storage.
The nutrition will be gone in about 72 hours. You can still eat it, it
just won't have the impact of health like it did before. After you mill
your flour, whatever is left over must be frozen to keep the nutrition
intact. Just get a good variety like hard red, hard white (for loaf
type breads), soft wheat for biscuits, pastries, etc, Spelt, Quinoa,
Amaranth, rye, durum (for making semolina for pasta) even Triticale (a
hybrid wheat grown in the USA). Any dried bean or type of rice can also
be stored this way. The beans do not have as long of a shelf life,
though...they tend to lose moisture and take more water and longer to
soak and cook to get soft. White rice gets better with some age, but
brown rice will have about 6 months to a year of storage time.Now, this
all depends on how you store it, too. You can keep it in the basement
like Danny said....anywhere cool and dry and rodent/bug free. You can
also use oxygen absorbers to prepare the grains for long term storage,
if you cannot freeze bags that big. Just toss a few on top of the filled
pails, then seal and date.You will want to store your pails no matter
what they contain on pallets or something other than concrete. The
concrete will draw condensation underneath the pails....pails are not
impervious to moisture over time....so make sure you use something like
carpet, wood, block, pallets, to keep them elevated for air flow. The
temps: need to be as cold as you can keep them...heat is a big destroyer
of the nourishment in the grains. You can stack them about 2-3 high, but
no more...the weight could crunch the bottom pails.Most grains will
sprout, too, so you could grow more if you needed to or just sprout for
the sprouts! They are VERY nourishing!There are many nice whole grain
books out there too to help you get started for a variety in your diet.
And of course, you'll want the BEST hand mill that you can afford! This
will be of utmost importance unless you want labor intensive things to
do after the fact! Try several kinds before you select the one that will
fit your lifestyle....and there are quite a few to look at. The more
expensive is not necessarily the best, though...and you might want to
consider one with a "roller flaker" feature to make your own oatmeal.I
wish you the best in this and your health will reflect the wholesome
goodness of "making your own".~deb

--- In Homesteadingfamily@yahoogroups.com, ERWachter@... wrote:
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> I'm going to start grinding grains for bread and other baking. I'll
be purchasing Sunflower seeds, Flax Seeds, Spelt, wheat, oats, etc. My
question is how long can I store these. It is about a 2 hour drive to
my favorite store in the Shenandoah Valley, so I would like to buy as
much as possible.
>
> What would be the best way to store the grains? I have buckets that I
got from Kroger deli. Would these work?
>
> Thanks
>
> Eunice - in VA
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