Survivalist Forum banner

Freezing Wheat Berries

7K views 11 replies 9 participants last post by  cale 
#1 ·
I just bought 200lbs of wheat berries grown locally. Makes great bread - local bakeries have been using it for years.

I am going to seal it in mylar bags with oxygen absorbers then place in plastic buckets. Since I'm using the O2 absorbers is it necessary to freeze the wheat for three days before packing? I'd searched and didn't find a specific answer. Thanks.
 
#2 ·
I just bought 200lbs of wheat berries grown locally. Makes great bread - local bakeries have been using it for years.

I am going to seal it in mylar bags with oxygen absorbers then place in plastic buckets. Since I'm using the O2 absorbers is it necessary to freeze the wehat for three days before packing? I'd searched and didn't find a specific answer. Thanks.
I don't freeze mine, I use food grade Diatomaceous Earth for pest control, you'll have to do a little searching on these forums for recommended amounts also be careful not to breath it, eating it is ok and actually good for you to a degree but breathing it is very bad...

http://www.earthworkshealth.com/products.php?gclid=CJ23rOXV0qUCFQO8KgodtQvhlQ
 
#3 ·
You're going to get varied answers on that question. Some will recomend freezing and some will adamantly reject it. Because it was easy for me to do, I stored my wheat in the freezer for a couple of weeks before I packed it away in mylar. I don't believe it was necessary but probably did some good. After I pulled it out of the freezer and before I packed it in the mylar I let it come to room temperature for a day. This let any moisture that condensed on it to evaporate once I brought it out. We live in a very dry area so that's really not much of an issue to me. Looking back, though, if you thought the condensation/freezing was a problem you could freeze your wheat after they're sealed in the mylars. Won't get any moisture through the mylar.

All that said, in the end with the proper amount of O2 absorbers in your packaging it's all probably a redundant exercise to freeze anyway.

gk
 
#4 ·
(IMO) Don't bother freezing it. I assume you want to kill off eggs of bugs etc., Mikek and others have made the point that those bug eggs survive in the field through tough winters anyway...mother nature is one smart lady!

The 02's and mylars are all you'll need.
 
#7 ·
I don't freeze anything before putting in Mylar with O2 absorbers, but then I'm new to this. I don't have a deep freezer and have spent some time looking over all the science I can find on this. The best summary for LTS that I found is here;
http://extension.usu.edu/weber/files/uploads/J Thompson Handout1.pdf

As far as DE, spearmint gum, bay leaves, etc I haven't found any science reports showing them to be effective. Most are harmless to humans but no facts that they kill all insects and larvae 100% of the time. For that a low O2 environment seems to be the best, as long as it's very low and for at least 14 days. O2 absorbers, in Mylar bags, will accomplish this if you get a good seal. Plastic buckets, without the Mylar bags, hasn't been proven to be effective, even with good seals on the lids.

And having a good seal on the Mylar is almost as good as steel cans for long term storage. The science is still fairly new with this so it may take another 20 years or more to see how effective it is for very long term storage of food. It was only this last decade that the cans were tested. With these tests they extended the shelf life for many foods including things like flour, oats, baking powder, dried apples and a few others. Even the MRE's have extended there shelf life using much the same technology. It use to be 3-5 years, then 5-7, now it's up to 10 years, probably longer. It just needs more testing and more time for things sitting on the shelves.

http://ndfs.byu.edu/Research/LongTermFoodStorageResearch/ResearchOnFoodStorage.aspx

With any LTS you try to minimize the effects of sunlight, oxygen, humidity and temperature. Mylar with O2's help significantly with 3 out of 4 of these, much like cans.
 
  • Like
Reactions: MikeK
#10 ·
As far as DE, spearmint gum, bay leaves, etc I haven't found any science reports showing them to be effective.
Spearmint gum and bay leaves have been thoroughly disproved by tests. The effectiveness of DE has been proven. And the packaged food industry has used it for a long time in many packaged mixes. Bisquick is just one. They also use it in grain silos to keep stored grain free of infestations. They use 7 lbs DE per ton of grain if I remember right.
 
#8 ·
Freezing

We kept our preps in the garage for Y2K (The biggest non even in history) and it was exposed to -20 deg for a week. 4 years later we ran out of money and had to et our stored foods, it was perfect we had no problems with any of our wheat and actually we left several buckets for 3 more years before eating it NO problem.
We learned a good lesson about having preps on hand and have always had them on hand

Dragonsnack
 
#9 ·
I don't freeze mine. I doubt the effectiveness of freezing anyway, since the bugs or eggs survive the winters just fine in some of the coldest parts of the country.

I use food grade diatomaceous earth to protect against bugs. The packaged food industry has used it for a very long time in such things as Bisquick and other grain based mixes. To keep infestations from forming. It's cheap and a little goes a long way. It has a lot of other uses around the house, so it really should be a part of our preps anyway.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top