Now we’re on to the real nuts and bolts of Food Storage. Help someone out this holiday season by showing them how to actually USE their Food Storage. Day 6 is going to start the actual food items with GRAINS. Make sure to add your Day 6 Tags to whichever gift option you choose.

Blender Wheat Pancake Mix

If you haven’t seen Crystal’s Blender Wheat Pancake mix gift idea, you’re gonna love it! Check it out here. It wont cost you much, but will surely impress and motivate someone to use their food storage.

Wheat and Handout

Get some of those cute decorative plastic food baggies and fill it with your favorite grain. Maybe wheat, pasta, rice – whatever you wish. If you fill it with Wheat for someone who doesn’t have a wheat grinder, make sure you print out this post for them. It has A BUNCH of ideas on how to use wheat without a wheat grinder.

WonderMill

If you’re feeling REALLY, and we mean REALLY generous – give the gift of a WonderMill! For the month of December Wondermill has their electric mills on sale for $239.95. We’re dealers and offer free shipping – so now is the perfect time for a gift you know they will love!

Back to the 12 Days List

If you are not used to eating “survival foods”, they can be a real shock to your system if you rapidly switch to a diet that consists of only food storage items. Times of emergency are challenging enough, it’s not good to add the additional stress of a complete diet change into the mix. This is especially important for small children who won’t necessarily understand what’s going on. So hopefully your food storage doesn’t look like this – unopened, stashed in the basement, hiding from your kitchen.

Once you decide to start incorporating food storage into your everyday cooking, you should do so gradually or your family may get sick. Wheat and beans are high in fiber and if introduced too quickly can give your body a fiber overload and cause you to not feel so well when you eat those foods. Here are some ways you can add these foods to your diet slowly so your family has time to get used to them.

1. Start cooking from scratch and add little bits at a time and gradually increase it. This can work well for making bread. Start with only 1/4 of the flour being whole wheat flour. Work your way up to 100% whole wheat over the course of a few months.

2. Use food storage foods 1-2 times per week. Gradually increase this number over a few months. This works well for foods like beans. You can use dried beans in a few meals a week without your family getting tired of them or having adverse reactions.

3. Try your food storage items in desserts. This is a tip from Crystal over at Everyday Food Storage. By introducing them in desserts you can build up your family’s tolerance for new foods.

If you have a wheat allergy, please make sure to review our post about Alternatives to Wheat for Food Storage, and if you don’t have a wheat grinder, view our post called 7 Ways to Use Wheat Without a Grinder. Between those two posts there should be some tricks for everyone to be able to start incorporating their wheat and other foods into their diet on a regular basis.

Buttermilk Biscuit Recipe:

Ingredients:

2/3 cup all-purpose flour
2/3 cup whole wheat flour
2 tablespoon sugar
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup butter
1/2 cup buttermilk (1/2 T. vinegar + 1/2 c. milk* and let sit for about 1 min.)

*You may also substitute this for powdered milk

Directions:

Combine all dry ingredients. Cut in butter. Stir in the buttermilk until the dough is moist. Knead 6-8 times on a floured surface. Pat out to about 1 inch in thickness. Cut with a biscuit cutter or glass rim. Place on a greased baking sheet and bake at 375 F for 17-18 minutes or until lightly browned.

Recipe adapted from one found on allrecipes.com

For other food storage recipes check out:

Our Food Storage Recipes Page
Our sister site EverydayFoodStorage.NET
I Can’t Believe It’s Food Storage book
Country Beans book

To enter, simply add our NEW button to your blog to help us spread the word about Food Storage. You don’t even have to write a post about us – well unless you want to…

Email us at info@foodstoragemadeeasy.net with your blog address so we can see the button, and we’ll put you in the mix to be a lucky winner. If your blog is private, send us the link and we’ll just trust you. If you don’t have a blog email us and we’ll give you another way to enter. Entries are due November 19!

<div align=center><a href=http://foodstoragemadeeasy.net target=_blank><img src=http://foodstoragemadeeasy.net/fsme/images/newbutton.jpg border=0></a><br><b><a href=http://foodstoragemadeeasy.net target=_blank>Food Storage</a> Made Easy</b></p></div>

The first resource is our recently added 5 part series on “Why People Build a Food Storage”.  So many people have stumbled upon our site wondering what this is all about.  So feel free to pass along this link to people who are new to Food Storage.

The second resources is our “7 Day Challenge Report” pdf that we recently published with all our, and our readers findings on living 7 days of emergencies. We learned so much from each other and this pdf has incredible tips and findings anyone can benefit from.

Good Luck Everyone! Remember if you don’t win you’ll still have time to take advantage of the $30 rebate. It’s great timing with the Holidays around the corner to start asking for Christmas presents early…

1. Store extra of the other grains

According to food storage calculators, one adult should store 300 lbs of grains for a one year supply of food. Of this 300, half of it is supposed to be wheat. If you have a wheat allergy, obviously this is not going to apply to you. You may choose to store a lot more alternative grains which include oats, gluten-free quinoa, millet, amaranth, rice, or cornmeal. You can start to collect food storage recipes that use these grains instead of focusing on the traditional items like breads, etc.

2. Learn how to make substitutions

A lot of recipes that call for wheat flour can be modified for wheat allergies. For example, cream of chicken soup or any white sauce base recipe can be made using bean flour. You can make gluten-free bread using other flours such as rice flour, millet flour, oat flour, etc. If you own a wheat grinder then these types of substitutions are SO easy to make and you can store the bulk grains in your food storage, just like you would store wheat! For a great summary of different types of gluten-free flours check out this post on the Gluten Free Mommy blog.

We need your help!

We would love to compile some even more in depth resources for people who suffer from Celiac Disease or others who need to follow a gluten-free diet. If you have good food storage recipes or other tips on how to do gluten-free food storage please email them to info@foodstoragemadeeasy.net. We will be incorporating all of your feedback into a helpful handout that will hopefully benefit a lot of people who are trying to live gluten-free AND work on food storage!

At first I made this recipe with store bought tortillas, canned beans, and canned cream of chicken/mushroom soup – but I promised myself bit by bit I would make it using all the “advanced” techniques. Now that I have had a lot more experience using my food storage, I make it the real way and it tastes so much better – I wont make it any other way.

So here’s to sharing it with you and to giving you a special cooking challenge.

Ingredients:
1 can of black beans (*see below)
1 lg onion (*see below)
1 can of cream of chicken (*see below)
1 can of cream of mushroom (*see below)
¾ cup of milk (*see below)
1 (4oz) can diced green chilies
1 (8 oz) can mild enchilada sauce
1 pkg soft tortillas (*see below)
½ lb cheddar cheese, grated
½ lb monterrey jack cheese, grated

Directions:
Wash and cook beans. Mix next 6 ingredients with beans (Optional: add 3 chicken breasts shredded). Place tortillas in greased 9 by 13 inch pan. Top with half the bean mixture and half the cheese. Repeat the layers. Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes. Cool slightly and cut in squares.

Try each of these techniques one at a time or all at once. They are things that used to scare me and now I love doing them this way in all my recipes.

1 can of black beans with 1 1/2 cups of cooked beans from your food storage. Need to know how to cook them? Check out Crystals post on pressure cooking dry beans here.

Onion with dehydrated onion. These are not only a time saver, but are great to store to have added flavoring in your food storage.

1 can of cream of chicken, 1 can of cream of mushroom, and the milk with the bean flour cream soup recipe found here.

Store bought tortillas, with homemade tortillas made from scratch using recipe found here.

Again if you’re new – don’t get overwhelmed by these “weird” techniques – try them one at a time and one day you’ll be amazed at how much you have learned!

The recipe I’ll be sharing calls for whole wheat tortillas, so if you’re up for the challenge of trying it out when I share it, get a head start by trying these!

Ingredients:
4 cups of whole wheat flour (fine)
¼ tsp baking powder
2 tsp salt
1 cup of warm water (may need a little more – I usually do!)
¼ cup cooking oil

Jodi always mocks me for not being the “recipe” type, or having “clear” instructions when cooking (I’m one of those, a little bit of this and a little bit of that types…), so just to show I can be specific…

Directions:
1. Mix all ingredients together to make a nice pliable dough.
2. Knead 1 minute and let rest 5 minutes.
3. Roll the dough out so you can easily make equal pieces
4. Cut the dough into 18 equal pieces (I halved the recipe here)
5. Form into 18 balls
6. Roll thin (spray pam to help if there are sticking or dryness problems)
7. Fry on both sides, they cook quickly (no need to grease the frying pan at all)
8. Eat! It doesn’t take long to cook.

TRICKS:

I use a little hand roller that helps a lot and since I use tortillas mostly in recipes where they don’t have to look perfect, I don’t feel so bad when they don’t turn out in perfect circles… (Although I’m sure I could trace some lid from a bowl and cut around if I really cared)

My sister uses this kind of tortilla press and she says they are much faster and easier to make. I think one day I’ll get one. It’s only $13 on amazon, so to all my family members reading this… ahem ahem.  But for now, my handy roller works fine.


At a cooking class I was at once this lady had an electric press and cooker .  The thing was amazing! You threw a ball of dough in there and closed the lid, and voila! A perfect tortilla.  For people who love kitchen appliances (and have the room to store them) this could be something to check out!

Hope you like these!

1. Thermos Wheat
Recipe from author Rita Bingham

Bring 1 c. of wheat kernels, 2 c. water, and 1 t. salt to a boil in a medium saucepan. Pour into a heated stainless steel or glass-lined thermos bottle. Secure cap. Place bottle on side. In the morning, pour off any additional water, add butter and honey, and serve hot.

2. Wheat Berries
Add some of your plain dry wheat kernels to a pot of water. Bring it to a boil and cook for a few minutes. Then let simmer for about 45 minutes. Drain the wheat berries and stick them in a tupperware container in the fridge. These are delicious to add to yogurt or to use to replace some meat in recipes. You can also use it in place of brown rice in a lot of recipes.

3. Popped Wheat
Take 1 cup of your cooked wheat berries (see above) and add to a frying pan of pot with two tablespoons of oil in it. Cover with a lid and cook over a hot stove shaking the pan while it cooks. After about 4-5 minutes the kernels will be nice and toasted. Put the popped wheat on a paper towel to get the extra oil off, and sprinkle with your choice of seasonings. Try it with salt, seasoned salt, garlic, barbecue salt, onion salt, cinnamon and sugar or any combination you desire. These are delicious on salads as a topping, mixed with trail mix, or as toppings for a desserts or just as a healthy snack.

4. Wheat Grass
Most people have heard how healthy wheat grass is for you, but most people DON’T know that you can make your own wheat grass at home for free with just a little bit of your food storage wheat. Check out this step by step tutorial on Safely Gathered In if you want to try it yourself! It looks so easy. Then you can snip bits off and add them to your fruit smoothies, or if you have a juicer you can use them in other healthy juice drinks.

5. Cracked Wheat
You can crack wheat in a blender or a coffee grinder. To do it in a blender you simply put in about 1/4-1/3 cups of wheat and pulse it until it looks like little cracked kernels. These kernels will cook much faster than regular wheat, and cook up in the same way that you cook rice on the stove or in the microwave. You can use cracked wheat to make hot cereal, add it into bread, or cook it up and use as a meat filler. For more info in cracked wheat visit this post at Everyday Food Storage.

6. Wheat Sprouts
Making wheat sprouts is a different method than making wheat grass. You can sprout wheat just like any other vegetable seeds, legumes, or other grains. Make sure to review our tutorial on how to grow sprouts. Most people like wheat sprouts to be very small, just barely sprouted. These are delicious to throw on salads or to add into your whole wheat bread for a little extra texture and flavor.

7. Blender Wheat Flour
If you are cooking a recipe for something like pancakes or waffles, you can EASILY use your whole wheat kernels, mix the whole recipe in your blender, and pour it straight from there onto a griddle or waffle-maker. Just make sure to add the liquid for your recipe into the blender, then add in your wheat kernels and blend for about 5 minutes. Then add the rest of the ingredients. We blogged about trying Blender Wheat Pancakes and we also have a delicious Corn Cakes Recipe you could try in the blender too.

Please note: Don’t go trying all of these ideas all at once! If you add TOO MUCH wheat into your diet TOO FAST it can give you digestion problems, and we promise you don’t want to have that

Do you have any other ways you use wheat without a wheat grinder? Share them in the comments below!

Corndog Muffin Recipe:

Ingredients:
1 1/2 c. cornmeal (about 1 c. fresh ground popcorn)
2 1/2 c. flour (about 2 c. fresh ground wheat)
1/2 c. white sugar
1/4 c. brown sugar
4 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
2 eggs (can use powdered eggs)
2 c. milk (can use powdered milk)
8 oz shredded cheddar cheese
6 hot dogs cut in thirds

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Mix dry ingredients in large bowl. Beat eggs and milk in a separate bowl. Add to dry mix and add cheese just until moistened. Spoon mixture into muffin tins until 2/3 full. Add 1 hot dog chunk to each muffin. Bake for 14-18 minutes or until golden brown.
 
 

I cut my hotdogs into smaller chunks and it wasn’t as good that way. I also think next time I might try it with my buttermilk cornbread recipe and just stick the hotdogs and cheese into that batter. I LOVE that cornbread recipe better than any other. The kids LOVED this recipe and it is very filling so we had tons of leftovers.

For other food storage recipes check out:

Our Food Storage Recipes Page
Our sister site EverydayFoodStorage.NET
I Can’t Believe It’s Food Storage book
Country Beans book

Types of Cornmeal:

Steel ground: The most common type of cornmeal, it has the husk and germ almost all removed. Because of this, steel ground cornmeal has less flavor and nutrients but does have a very long shelf life. This is the type you will typically find at the grocery store.
Stone ground: This type of cornmeal retains more of the husk and germ but because of this it is more perishable than steel ground.
Cornmeal can be found in white, yellow, red, and blue varieties. Yellow and white are the most common.

Types of Corn:

The basic types of dried corn used for food storage are: flint, dent, and popcorn. All can be used fairly interchangeably but flint is a little better for cornmeal, dent is better for corn masa, and popcorn is the most versatile since it can be popped for a snack OR ground into meal or flour. Corn can also be found in white, yellow, red, and blue. Yellow corn is often recommended over white corn since white corn does not contain carotene (which converts into vitamin A). Yellow dent corn is very common at food storage stores, but popping corn can easily be found at any grocery store.

Corn/Cornmeal Shelf Life:

Cornmeal: Between 6 and 18 months. Store in a cool dry place to help prolong this.
Corn: 8 years or more if stored in a sealed airtight container with an oxygen absorber.

Corn/Cornmeal Uses:

Dried corn can be used as a vegetable in stews, popped into popcorn, or ground into flour or cornmeal. Corn flour is most commonly used to make corn masa which is a dough used to make tortillas. Cornmeal (fresh ground or store bought) can be used to make delicious cornbread or corn cakes. It can also be made into hominy or grits.
 

Recommendations:

We recommend starting by purchasing a small amount of cornmeal and try some food storage recipes out and see if your family likes eating those foods. If it turns out to be something you really like, then we highly recommend storing a lot of popcorn and grinding it fresh which helps with flavor and gives you more nutrients. If you don’t have a wheat grinder available to you, try to buy cornmeal in good sealed containers such as #10 cans to help prolong the shelf life.

   

All you have to do to get the rebate is purchase a Wonder Junior Basic or Deluxe of WonderMill Electric Mill from our Wheat Grinder product page anytime between September 1, 2009 and November 25, 2009. Once your order has been shipped we will send you the $30 rebate form from the WonderMill. Make sure to follow the directions carefully and submit your form by December 15, 2009.
 

At Food Storage Made Easy we always sell the electric grain mills and the hand grain mills at the lowest price available, so when you add the $30 rebate from WonderMill onto that (and our current free shipping promotion) this is the rock bottom lowest you will ever be able to get a WonderMill wheat grinder!

p.s. Make SURE to watch the blog later today (Wednesday) for one more BIG announcement and the HUGE list of prizes still to be given out. Don’t forget to check out the Day 7 Winners just posted!

Common Types of Sprouts:

• Grains
  • Wheat
  • Rice
  • Oats
  • Corn
  • Barley
• Legumes
  • Peas
  • Lentils
  • Soy Beans, Garbanzo, Mung beans
  • Dried Beans (black, pinto, navy, kidney)
• Nuts + Seeds
  • Almonds
  • Sunflower Seeds, Sesame seeds, Alfalfa
  • Vegetable Seeds esp. pumpkin

Health Benefits of Sprouts:

• Sprouting a seed enhances its already high nutritional value (i.e. Oats when sprouted contain 600% more vitamin C)
• Sprouts are high in antioxidants that prevent DNA destruction and protect from the effects of aging
• Sprouts contain concentrated amounts of phytochemicals which help protect against diseases
• Alfalfa sprouts contain saponins which:
  • Lower bad cholesterol and fat but keep the good hdl fats
  • Stimulate immune system
  • Help prevent cardiovascular disease
• Sprouts are a nutritious, low-fat filler for meats or addition to soups, etc.

How to Grow Sprouts:

1. Prepare the seeds
   • Remove broken and discolored seeds
   • Wash seeds
   • Soak overnight (if necessary)
   • Drain
2. Place seeds in sprouting container and rinse thoroughly.
3. Drain off all excess water.
4. Place in a warm area where temperature will remain even.
5. Rinse 2-3 times per day.
6. Once they reach the desired length, place near sunlight until leaves become green.

For a full tutorial with pictures on how Jodi experimented with growing Lentil sprouts visit her post on How to Grow Sprouts.

Sprouting Resources:

The Complete Sprouting Cookbook – This book is from the 70’s but it has everything you could want to know and more. Jodi’s mom had it hidden in a cupboard and we just raved over it when we found it.
Sprouts: The Miracle Food – More recent book on sprouting.
Sprout Master Sprouter – The kit that Julie uses to grow her sprouts.

Have you had successes or failures with sprouting? Share your experiences in the comments below!

When cooking rice, follow your package directions and add a teaspoon of salt and a teaspoon of OIL! That was it, a trick that has worked everytime!

Now for some tips we found on the internet at wikihow:

• Instead of cooking the rice in water, you can use beef stock or chicken broth.
• You may wish to tweak the “rice to water ratio” with experience – for example: for larger quantities of rice, you may find a little less or more than one and a half the amount of water results in better rice.
• One cup of dry rice grains cooked in this way is about sufficient to accompany a meal for 2 adults.
• If the rice is a major component of the dish, you might need up to 1 cup of rice per adult.
• Your base measurement doesn’t need to be a cup necessarily – the key is to add 1.5x as much water as rice, whatever the quantity.
• It works best to use the original lid of the pot you use, since it will seal best.
• When the rice first boils, it might weep a bit or even lift the lid. Keep watch and an ear out for the start of the boil.
• These times and ratios are for white rice (e.g. Jasmine, Basmati, etc). If you are cooking brown rice you will need around 2C water to 1C rice and double the time.
• Water boils at a lower temperature at altitude. If you live at a high altitude it will take longer to cook rice.

If you are just getting started with grains, make sure to go to our Step 5: Grains page and just follow our recommendations there. However, if you already have a start on your grain storage you may want to explore some of our Beyond the BabySteps posts which go into more details about specific grains. Today we are going to cover one of our favorite grains … oats! Oats are one of the grains listed in most food storage calculators and we definitely recommend storing them.

Types of Oats:

For long term food storage purposes you should consider storing one of three varieties of oats:

• Steel Cut Oats – This variety is often sold in bulk, in #10 cans, and in emergency preparedness stores. These are oat groats which have been cut into chunks with steel blades. They’re not rolled and look like coarse bits of grain.
• Rolled Oats – This variety is your typical grocery store variety. Rolled Oats are made by steaming oat groats and then rolling them flat. They take longer to cook than quick cooking oats, but retain more flavor and nutrition.
• Quick Cooking Rolled Oats – Quick cooking rolled oats are not to be confused with “instant oatmeal” where you just add water and microwave. They are simply rolled oats that have been rolled a little bit flatter to reduce the cooking time.

Health Benefits of Oats:

Oats are considered a “whole grain” because both rolled and cut oats retain their bran and their germ. Whole grains are recommended to be at least 50% of your daily grain intake due to their benefit to cardiovascular health, weight management, and other nutritional advantages.

Uses of Oats:

Oats are not just for oatmeal! Oats can make DELICIOUS oatmeal cookies, homemade granola bars, topping for a fruit dessert, etc. It can also be used as filler for meat dishes (my meatloaf recipe calls for oats) and can even be sprouted if you have some unhulled (or whole) oats in your storage.

So pick up some oats from the grocery store, try using them in some new recipes, especially those that use all shelf-stable ingredients, and then start stocking up!

At Food Storage Made Easy we always sell the electric mills and the hand mills at the lowest price available, so when you add the $20 rebate from WonderMill onto that (and our current free shipping promotion) this is the rock bottom lowest you will ever be able to get a WonderMill hand grinder.

All you have to do to get the rebate is purchase a Wonder Junior Basic or Deluxe from our Wheat Grinder product page anytime between June 15, 2009 and August 15, 2009. Once your order has been received we will send you the $20 rebate form from the WonderMill. Make sure to follow the directions carefully.

We are so glad to be Authorized Dealers for this great company. The Wonder Junior hand mills will be PERFECT additions to your food storage if you are planning to participate in the Seven Day Challenge. Who knows, you may be without power for part of it

What is barley?

Barley is a grain with short, stubby kernels and a hull that is difficult to remove. It is often used in soups or stews as a filler and to add some extra chewiness. It is a good source of fiber and niacin, and is also low in fat with no saturated fat or cholesterol.

Types of barley

Similar to rice, there are two types of barley, a refined (white) variety and a “whole grain” variety. The most common is the white, highly processed “pearl” barley that has had most of its bran and germ removed along with its hull. It is the least nutritious form of barley. The second variety is called “pot” or “hulled” barley and it has been subjected to the same milling process as pearled, but with fewer trips through the polisher. Because of this, it retains more of the nutritious germ and bran.

What type should we store?

Since pearl barley is so highly processed (similar to white rice) it has a much longer shelf life than pot barley. If you enjoy barley and plan to store a fair amount of it, then definitely store mostly pearl barley. However, if you are going to be using it a lot and rotating through it on a regular basis it would be beneficial to store at least some of it in the pot barley variety in order to have the benefit of additional nutrients.

Where do we buy barley?

We occasionally find bags of pearl barley at the grocery store near the beans and rice. Jodi had a bit of trouble cooking it from scratch so she decided to buy a box of Quaker Quick Barley to give her some easy experience with learning to use it in her own recipes. This is found in the same section and typically easier to find than the bags as well. If you can’t find it at your grocery store, or you want to buy it in bulk, there are a few good sources online. We found some pretty good deals on Amazon for a 10 pound bag of pearl barley or a 12 pack of Quick Barley.

How do we use barley?

You may remember from a while back that Jodi tried making a Chicken Barley Chicken recipe found on her box of quick barley. It was actually really yummy. She has also added it to her mom’s famous roast beef stew and it was a delicious addition. Around Christmas-time Crystal from everydayfoodstorage.net included a great gift idea that was a soup mix containing … barley! It sounds really good too. Click here to view instructions for making the soup mix (you have to scroll down a bit on the page).

So the bottom line is, barley is not too scary and it’s not even gross. Just buy a small box or bag and look for ways to use it in some of your meals. If you like it then you just discovered another healthy alternative to include in your food storage grains. Yay!

Red vs. White

Red wheat tends to have a stronger wheat flavor and produces a heavier denser bread than white wheat. Red wheats are typically the hard varieties and whites are typically soft. However if you prefer the flavor of one over the other you can find soft red and hard white. Experiment with different varieties in your recipes to find out what works best for you and your family.

Hard vs. Soft

Hard varieties of wheat are the most common and versatile. Hard wheat has a higher gluten (protein) than soft wheat. It is better for making breads, pastas, pancakes, etc. Soft varieties have lower protein and nutrients but are better for pastries and other items where a light fine flour is required.

Spring vs. Winter

Wheat is categorized by which season it is harvested in (either winter or spring). Winter wheat has a tiny bit less protein than spring wheat. Winter averages about 12% protein while spring wheat is closer to 14%. The winter wheat is a little harder than spring as well. Red winter wheat tends to be better for baking than red spring wheat. There isn’t much difference between winter and spring varieties of white wheats.

Our preferred variety of wheat to use is hard white (either winter or spring, whatever you can find). We don’t do much pastry cooking so the hard white has been great in everything we have tried to make. Our families don’t object to any of the meals or foods where we have replaced store-bought white flour with whole wheat hard white wheat flour. To view some of the success we’ve had with using our wheat visit our Wheat Recipes category page.

Let’s Talk About Wheat!

Hi. We are farmers and grow hard white wheat so you can enjoy wholesome wheat straight from the farm. You can find us at HiStakes-Spelt.com. We would like to show you why you would want to use more whole wheat in your food storage and in your everyday diet.

Differences to Consider When Choosing Whole Wheat: If you need advice and are wondering what kind of wheat to choose to make your bread and other pastries, I’ll tell you my preferences. If I had to choose only one type of wheat to store and eat regularly, I would choose hard white wheat. (For those who can tolerate the gluten.) It makes a lighter texture, lighter colored, sweeter bread that other wheats make. Mostly, it is just really good. (How do you like that description?) Breads made with hard red wheat produce a fuller, heartier, almost-heavier flavor, and the bread will have a slightly darker color. However, both make good bread – it is just a matter of taste which you prefer. Actually, my favorite bread uses a combination of hard white wheat, hard red wheat, and spelt (more to come in another post on spelt).

Hard White Wheat (spring and winter varieties) are most often used for breads as well as specialty noodles. Our hard white wheat protein levels are at about 13 (which is standard) and will make a light, sweet, wonderful whole wheat bread. (Especially if you make your own fresh flour from your own grain mill, like the WonderMill.)

Remember, don’t confuse “whole grain white wheat” with store-bought “white flour”! Whole “white” wheat is slightly lighter in color than “red” wheat, both have good nutritional value and are very close in actual color. Store-bought “white flour” has had all the nutrients removed from it adding no nutritional value to the products you use it in. Whole grain white flour and store-bought white flour are not even close to the same thing!

Do you know about Oxidation? In whole-grain foods, the plant’s cellular walls protect their nutrients from oxidation. As soon as grain is ground, the process of oxidation begins to occur thus exposing the cell’s contents to oxygen in the air. Whole grain flour that is several days (or more) old, has been exposed to oxygen that significantly reduces its nutritional value. You get full nutrition from whole grain foods if you mill them when you need them, right in your kitchen. Modern high-speed grain mills make it fast and easy to enjoy the freshest, best tasting and most nutritious food imaginable!

Our grain is thoroughly cleaned and tested by baking bread with it – which is really the ultimate test. Our natural whole grain wheat makes bread and other baked goods that taste wonderful and are packed with natural nutrition! (And we use our own product. That says something!)

Our wheat and spelt are thoroughly cleaned to ensure you receive a pure product and also to protect your grain mill from any foreign objects. (Grain that isn’t sufficiently cleaned may contain small stones that will damage or destroy a grain mill… not to mention that you don’t want such things in your food!)

You should store your grain in air tight containers in a dark, dry and cool place. It is recommended to use an oxygen absorber in your airtight container to keep your grain fresher until ready for use. (Rumor has it that oxygen absorber packets can damage the possibility of sprouting grain, not true. In fact, the grain stored with oxygen packets sprouted faster and better than the grain that was stored naturally.)

At HiStakes-Spelt we don’t just offer wheat and spelt, we also offer many quality bread baking ingredients so you can make successful, delicious bread that your family will love. We are also happy to answer any bread baking questions you may have. We also blog about our food storage adventures at Food Storage Plus and would love to have you come by and say hello!

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Thanks Jamie for being such a great resource for us to learn more from. We hope everyone will get to know you better

We were just notified by WonderMill that they have had to increase their prices. Starting February 15th, the lowest price they will allow dealers and distributors to advertise the mill for will be $259.95 (as opposed to the current $239.95). While $259.95 is still a great price we wanted to let everyone know NOW- that prices are going up. If you are planning on getting a milll anytime soon, do it before the 15th, so we can still get you the $239.95.

See our WonderMill page for more information. We said we were offering free shipping for the first 10 mills, but since we already reached 10 we’re just going to pretend we lost count and keep on offering free shipping until the 15th

P.S. Since the WonderMill is getting so many orders before this price increase – they are back ordered and will be shipping all the mill orders they get now, the first week of March.

My kids LOVE it when I make pancakes … especially for dinner! The other night we were having so much fun I snapped a few pics for you to see how food storage really can involve the whole family and be fun and delicious and healthy.

Blender Wheat Pancakes

1 Cup Milk (translation for powdered milk is 3 T. Milk and 1 C. Water)
1 Cup Wheat Kernels, whole & uncooked
2 Eggs (2 T. powdered eggs 1/4 C. Water)
2 tsp Baking Powder
1-1/2 tsp Salt
2 Tbs. Oil
2 Tbs. Honey or Sugar

Put milk and wheat kernels in blender. Blend on highest speed for 4 or 5 minutes or until batter is smooth. Add eggs, oil, baking powder, salt and honey or sugar to above batter. Blend on low. Pour out batter into pancakes from the actual blender jar (only one thing to wash!) onto a hot greased or Pam prepared griddle or large frying pan. Cook; flipping pancakes when bubbles pop and create holes.

Remember our All We Want for Christmas Post? Our families must have been spying on our blog because we received several items from the list!

Julie STRUCK GOLD this year! She got a WONDERMILL GRAIN MILL! Her mom got her and 2 of her sisters the best present ever. Needless to say she’s been going to town (remember her all about wheat post). She loves it so much, we became Authorized Dealers for WonderMill to help people buy them at the Minimum Advertised Price allowed (click here for details). By the way, aren’t Julie’s sisters cute?

Jodi received a few books that will definitely help her with her food storage goals this year, Cookin’ with Dried Eggs and the Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving. She also got some food from The Ready Project which she’s excited to try out!

So now for our “NEW YEARS RESOLUTIONS”:

• I want to save up enough money to buy a wheat grinder so I don’t have to borrow Julie’s any more
• I want to plan my summer garden specifically with canning in mind
• I want to create a recipe binder full of meals that use my long term food storage items and cook from it frequently

• I want to cook more with dry beans and quit being so afraid of the soaking concept
• I want to plan dinners ahead of time to use more of my long term foods
• I want to find a way to help people who hate excel do an effective 3 month food supply plan even though the current excel file ROCKS! But I know, I know you don’t all love excel

Easy Granola Bars

Ingredients:
4 1/2 cups rolled oats
1 cup all-purpose flour (I used whole wheat flour that I ground)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2/3 cup butter, softened — Better believe I substituted this with Applesauce
1/2 cup honey
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
2 cups miniature semisweet chocolate chips

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Lightly grease one 9×13 inch pan.
2. In a large mixing bowl combine the oats, flour, baking soda, vanilla, butter or margarine, honey and brown sugar. Stir in the 2 cups assorted chocolate chips, raisins, nuts etc.
3. Lightly press mixture into the prepared pan. Bake at 325 degrees F (165 degrees C) for 18 to 22 minutes or until golden brown. Let cool for 10 minutes then cut into bars. Let bars cool completely in pan before removing or serving.

I love making these and them putting them individually cut in a Tupperware for a quick snack option. You don’t have to substitute the butter with applesauce, I just always like to try it whenever I can…;)

For more great recipes, make sure you check out our friend Crystal’s book:

Types of wheat

• Spring or winter: Winter red wheat tends to hava slightly higher protein and is a bit harder than content than spring. Winter red is better for baking bread. There is not a significant difference in hard or soft white wheat.
• Hard or soft: Hard wheat varieties have higher gluten (protein) and are better for making breads. Soft varieties have lower protein and nutrients and are better for pastries, pastas, and breakfast cereals.
• Red or white: Red wheats tend have a stronger wheat flavor than white wheats. Most red wheat varieties are hard, and most white wheat varieties are soft, but you can find soft red and hard white if you really prefer one over the other.

Storage

• If unopened, the optimum shelf life of wheat is 12 years or more. It is edible for a lot longer than that, but won’t necessarily keep the same flavor or nutrient levels.
• If opened, wheat will stay good for about 3 years.
• Once it is ground into flour, wheat loses most of its nutrients within a few days unless you store it in the freezer.
• You can add oxygen absorbers, bay leaves, or dry ice to help keep critters out of your wheat.

A lot of people are intimidated by grinding wheat, or wonder how you grind wheat. It’s actually really simple and wheat grinders are available in a wide range of prices. The main thing you need to decide is if you are planning to use your wheat stores on a regular basis and rotate through them, or if you only want to use your wheat in an emergency situation.

If you plan to use your wheat frequently it is worth investing in a quality electric grinder. We recommend the Wondermill Grain Mill as it seems to be the fastest, cleanest, most convenient of electric grinders and only $239! (In fact, we liked this mill so much that we decided to apply to become an official dealer for them … more on that next week though!) For emergency-only usage, a hand grinder will be sufficient, but make sure that you get one that can still grind into a flour fine enough for bread. The Back to Basics grinder is the cheapest one we found that would still grind flour.

For a simple demonstration on how you actually grind wheat, please view our How to Use a Wheat Grinder video on YouTube.

After searching long and hard for the BEST whole wheat bread recipe, we finally found one that was darn near perfect. It was fluffy, delicious, good for sandwiches, and even the kids would eat it! Modified slightly from the One Happy Homemaker Blog, here it is:

You can half this recipe and make one delicious large loaf

• 3 c. very warm water (but not too hot)
• 1 T. instant or quick rise yeast
• 1/3 c. vegetable or canola oil
• 1/3 c. honey
• 1 T. salt
• 6 cups whole wheat flour (hard white wheat is best)
• 1/2 c. whole oats
• 1/4 c. gluten w/ vitamin C

Combine the first 5 ingredients and mix. Add 5 cups flour, oats, and gluten flour. Mix well. Continue to add the other 1 c. flour slowly until the dough forms a ball and scrapes the excess dough off the sides of the bowl. Let mix for 5-10 minutes. While mixing, preheat your oven to 100-125 degrees.

Oil the counter surface & your hands (Use oil, NOT flour). Put your dough on the oiled surface & slice WITH A KNIFE into 2 large or 3 small even loaves. Pat down and roll into loaf shape, then put into greased bread pan.

Turn OFF your oven, cover loaves LOOSELY with saran wrap, and put in warmed oven to rise till double (about 45-60 minutes, depending on humidity in the air).
Remove loaves from oven and preheat to 350 degrees. Bake loaves for 25-30 minutes. Remove from pans immediately and place on a wire cooling rack.

I really thought the amount I ground up would last me for months and months. Truth be told I’ve already used more than half of it. I’m so excited because I REALLY never thought I could get into the whole rotating, everyday cooking thing as much as I have. Here are the ways I have been using my wheat, for real!

BREAD: So for the past few weeks I’ve made my bread – haven’t bought bread in over a month. I have tried lots of recipes for bread machine breads (Ok I’m not that awesome, I use a bread machine).

PANCAKES: Next, I have been making pancakes from our friend over at everydayfoodstorage.net She teaches how to make the famous blender pancakes. The picture is from her blog, I’m not going to claim that I can decorate food that cute. My husband LOVES these.

Side note: I just used the wheat flour since I already had it ground. I substituted the oil with applesauce, and I use 2 egg whites with one yolk only. I “try” to be “healthy”. Even with the healthy substitutions they are amazing!

PIZZA: I’ve also gotten addicted to homemade pizza. I throw ingredients into my bread machine, hit dough setting, then 90 minutes later I roll it out, top it, and bake it at 425 for about 20 mins -I like the crust crusty. AMAZING and totally healthy because I try to top it with mostly veggies, turkey pepperoni – my FAVORITE!, and just a “little” cheese. The recipe is easy even:

3 Cups of whole wheat flour (I use hard white wheat)
1 Cup of water
2 Tablespoons of Oil
2 Tablesppons of Sugar
1tsp of Salt
1 Tablespoon of Yeast

(So tonight, I actually just threw these all into a bowl, mixed it well by hand, and let it rise for an hour- worked without the bread machine).

GRANOLA BARS: Last but not least I am on a quest to find the perfect EASY granola bar recipe. I found one at allrecipes. com that had whole wheat and oats it in. I made it and liked them pretty well, but they weren’t super healthy (lots of sugars). I’m not sure if it’s totally possible to make a super healthy granola bar, so if anyone has a recipe for this PLEASE share. I’m kind of a health nut, kind of. Anyways, here are pictures of my granola bars. They were good all week, didn’t get dried out or anything.

GRINDING WHEAT IS EASY, FOR PROOF WATCH OUR WHEAT GRINDER VIDEO

p.s.  Gift #2 is coming early next week.  Are you getting excited yet?

So last week I started on a mission … to get my emergency plan ironed out, including the disaster kit and 72 hour kit food items. Back in July when Jodi bought all the ingredients to update our 72 hour kits, I put mine in a bag in the closet (the truth comes out). I started to think, if I had to evacuate my house I would be in big trouble. All my food was in a bag in one closet, the emergency supplies I DID have were scattered around the house, and another thing – my important documents binder wasn’t made and I had no cash in case credit card systems were down. How would it have worked for me if I had to evacuate my house quickly – ummmm not so well!

It’s been about 5 days of me focusing really hard and now I finally have my emergency bin all put together! We are going to be focusing a whole month on Emergency Preparedness early next year, but for now I wanted to fill you in on a couple things I did and learned.

1- I bought a car kit ($20 at Wal-Mart). If your Wal-Mart doesn’t carry something like this, we found this Emergency Road Assistance Kit that is very similar and is great because you can toss in a water bottle and some snacks into the bag as well.

2- I PUT my binder with important documents together (passport, birth certificates, social security cards etc). When doing this, I asked myself one simple question – if my house burned down – would I be annoyed I didn’t have this document? If so, I put it in.

3- I went to the bank and took out $200 cash – and asked for small bills. In Hurricane Ike, a lot of people commented on how they wish they would have had small bills so they weren’t paying too much for stuff when stores didn’t have change.

4- I put my 72 hour kit food in a nice old big plastic animal cookie bin. It fit perfectly and was easier than using milk jugs (I like easy).

5- I gathered up all the items in the disasters supplies area of our Emergency Preparedness Plan and purchased the things I didn’t have.

6- I placed ALL this stuff in a big bin in my front hall closet. I was sad because I had a cute little shelf all arranged in my basement for this, but then learned that it’s best to keep your kit somewhere that you can access it easily if you have to evacuate quickly.

p.s. My wonderful sister sent me a list of things she compiled for HER emergency kit. Some of the items were not initially on the list that we posted under Getting Started. I have recently added them to our Emergency Preparedness Plan and uploaded the revised list so you may want to print off a new copy if you have been using the older version.

Have you done your emergency checklist yet? You can accomplish all of this within a few days if you just set your mind to it!

Multi-Grain Flour–grind the following:
1 part barley
1 part corn (popcorn is great!)
1 part rice (I used brown)
3 parts wheat (I used hard white)

Multi-Grain Pancakes
In a medium bowl, combine:
1/2 C multi-grain flour mixture
1/2 C white flour
1 T sugar
2 t baking powder
1/4 t salt

In a small bowl, combine:
1 egg, beaten
1 C milk
2 T oil

Combine wet and try ingredients together and stir, but don’t over-mix. Pour onto a 350 degree griddle. Makes about 8-12 pancakes depending on the size you make them.

Emily’s Comments: I tried this alternate recipe this morning, and it was a HUGE HIT! Usually I’m lucky if Adam and Avery eat just one pancake, and both of them ate TWO! These taste a little bit nuttier than normal pancakes, but the texture is not heavy at all.

Serving Size: 4 servings
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 10 minutes

Ingredients:

• 1 1/4 cups whole wheat flour
• 1 1/2 cups buttermilk
• 1/3 cup cornmeal
• 1 egg
• 1/3 cup granulated sugar
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1/2 tsp. salt

Directions:

1. Preheat a skillet over medium heat.
2. Spray skillet with nonstick spray
3. Combine all ingredients in a large bowl with a mixer set on medium speed. Mix until smooth, but don’t over mix.
4. Pour the batter by 1/4 – 1/3 cup portions into the hot pan and cook for 1 to 3 minutes per side or until brown. Repeat with remaining batter.

Jodi’s Comments:

These are AMAZING! I used fresh ground whole wheat for the flour, and fresh ground popcorn for the cornmeal. The consistency was light and fluffy and the flavor was great. They were SO delicious, especially with honey drizzled over the top. My kids ate 3 pancakes each!

This is a modified version of IHOP’s Country Griddle Cakes recipe

Leave a comment if you try this recipe and let us know what you think!

SPECIAL NOTE – After the cameras stopped rolling and it was clean up time, we found that the WonderMill was WAY cleaner. The Nutrimill blew out more flour and was a little slower in a side by side test.

Do you own one of these wheat grinders or a different one? What do you like/dislike about it? Stay tuned for our Wheat Grinder Article coming soon!

Stay tuned for a special wheat grinder article and video which will be added soon!