STORING FLOUR

If you are actually serious about storing foods for your own survival, you MUST store whole wheat and a grain grinder! There simply is no substitute for long term storage of whole wheat that can be home ground into flour for cooking. But you can store any kind of flour by sealing it into bags (I use a small kitchen garbage bag), freezing at 0 F for 4 days, then storing it on a shelf or closet...it will keep at least several years this way.

To store whole wheat in small quantities, place a tall kitchen garbage bag into a 5 gallon bucket, fill with whole wheat, use a straw to remove all air, seal the bag, snap on the lid of the bucket, and freeze it for 4 days...it will last for decades this way. A normal (white) 5 gallon bucket is actually only about 4 gallons, and will hold 30 pounds of rice, 25 pounds of beans, or about 25 pounds of wheat. You should have at least 10 buckets filled with each of the above for each person.

To store flour for be used within a month or so, nothing beats a high quality plastic container with a large, screw on lid.  The best design I have seen is sold with cat food, as it has a molded in handle, large screw on lid, and is very sturdy.  After your cat has finished off the contents, wash out the container, let sit with full of water and a teaspoon of bleach for a day, rinse out, pour in some cold coffee and swish it around, rinse again, dry, and it is ready for use. The coffee trick is the idea of Brian, a reader of the site and a friend, who discovered that coffee will absorb and neutralize virtually any residual aroma from a previous use.  Brian also uses these containers for sugar, salt and other food products, as they line up easily in the pantry and the large lid opening permits easy access for measuring cups without spilling.

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