What I don't understand about grain storage

[Dilnad]

I see the occasional mention of bugs. I'm not sure I understand....

I am about to get a bunch of 1 gallon buckets and mylar bags and plan to start with beans and rice. I realize 5 and 6 gallon is the way to go but with my small vehicle and the way my condo is laid out, 1 gallon buckets are a lot more efficient for storage and bug out. Also being single I can crack open a gallon if needed without having months on end worth of beans with the clock now ticking.

So here's where I'm confused....
If I buy a bag of rice ( and still quite confused on what rice to buy LOL ) and pour it into mylar bags. Seal them with O2 absorbers, and store them in a closet, I need to worry about critters? This is what I'm gathering from my confusion. I don't even know what to search for to read up on it.

Someone please purge the stupidity on this subject out of my head so I can do this correctly please

[lildrestl3]

White rice last the longest.. Critters in the bag will not hatch with the proper OA and a good seal. Other critters to worry is Mice eating holes in the buckets and bags..

[lildrestl3]

The only bad question is the 1 never asked !!!

[The_Question]

anyone know a site for good 02 absorbers? and the best material for sealing? Should help other people with this problem.

[Allamakee County]

Originally Posted by The_Question

anyone know a site for good 02 absorbers? and the best material for sealing? Should help other people with this problem.

I get mine from USAEmergencySupply.com. But there are many sources, including the LDS website.

Material for sealing... what? The Mylar bags? - Those you heat seal. You actually melt the plastic. I use my daughter's hair straightening iron. Don't tell her.

[Dilnad]

Originally Posted by lildrestl3

White rice last the longest.. Critters in the bag will not hatch with the proper OA and a good seal. Other critters to worry is Mice eating holes in the buckets and bags..

Ok white Rice it is. Pinto beans as well were already decided on because I eat tons of them already.

I plan to use gallon bags and buckets and put (2) 300cc OAs in each. Might even do 3 each as I suspect I will have extra OAs that will just go to waste.

I don't have mice ( or at least not at the moment but you never know ) but I doubt they will be able to get up on my closet shelves. let's hope not.

On the rice subject. Long grain? Other kinds? Does it matter or is white rice white rice. I just don't know anything about it as I regularly eat brown rice. I just know that white is better for LTS.

Thanks for the advice!!

[Allamakee County]

Yeah, it's sad that brown rice does not keep well, because it's so good.

Your extra OAs won't go to waste if you seal them up again after you take out the ones you want to use. Just don't let them have much (any) contact with the air. They stop working again as soon as there is no O2 for them to absorb, and they're good next time you unseal them.

[The_Question]

Originally Posted by Allamakee County

I get mine from USAEmergencySupply.com. But there are many sources, including the LDS website.

Material for sealing... what? The Mylar bags? - Those you heat seal. You actually melt the plastic. I use my daughter's hair straightening iron. Don't tell her.

haha that's awesome

[MikeK]

Brown rice doesn't store long because of the oils in it. But all the white rices store fine. I store quite a variety myself. I have some long grain white rice, but I generally prefer stickier short grain rices. I also store basmati, jasmine, mahagony and black rice. I like variety. One you might look at is converted or parboiled rice. This has more nutrition than standard white rice, yet will store well.

As for bugs, O2 absorbers will prevent an infestation. I saw test results long ago. They added some live bugs to several #10 cans of grains, then treated them with different methods. They opened them later and inspected. Gas flushing wasn't 100% effective and there was some grain damage. As we might expect, that silly bay leaf or Wrigley's spearment gum thing didn't work at all. The can with the O2 absorber showed that a few generations made it, but died off before any damage was done to the grains. So it's the best we have for now. Being stored in a bucket also adds a physical barrier between the grains and any late comers.

I use food grade diatomaceous earth on my grains. They use it in grain silos and such to keep bugs out. And it's commonly used in boxed mixes like Bisquick, for the same reason. Though it's really not necessary, since the O2 absorber will protect food from bugs.

Don't forget variety in beans also. Some of the smaller ones like lentils and split peas cook really fast. Others like great northerns, black beans, red beans, etc., are really handy in some recipes. The more variety the better in my opinion.

[meredith]

As far as rice and other dry goods go...."Store what you eat and Eat what you store!"
If you don't eat or like rice then don't waste your time and money on storing it. If you do like rice then go to your local bulk foods place and get about a cup of each and try them. Find one, two or more that you like and then buy in bulk for storage.
I like short for some dishes and Jasmine for Thai food and then there's wild rice...oh my mouth is watering.
Good luck!

[Fepony]

Awesome stuff here and tons of info. http://www.aaoobfoods.com/

[Summer]

Here's another thought on the bucket size. One gallon buckets and containers eat up space quickly and most don't stack well. You should consider getting 5g buckets and filling one with several 1g mylar bags. You'll still get the smaller sizes you want, but the buckets will be easier to move if you need to.

Oh, and pack some butterfly clips to close the bags with. They're cheaper than the 'bag clips,' and I think they work better.

[lanahi]

Parboiled (instant) brown rice lasts longer than regular brown rice, though still not perfect as a long term prep. I have a few boxes of that but most of my rice is white and in larger bags.

Like Mike says above, get a little of all the kinds of white rice as they all have subtlely different flavors, and the texture depends on length of grain. Basmati and Jasmine are good rices, but it all is. I like the sticky rice too, which is a shorter grain, but long grain for most cooking. Short grain is also good in rice pudding, but you can make anything with all of them. Wild rice is not really a rice and I'm not sure it stores that well, plus it's expensive for a bulk grain.

If you eat what you store and rotate it, you don't have to worry a whole lot about the length of storage. It's just handier to be able to forget it for 20 years or so!

[Dilnad]

Originally Posted by MikeK

Don't forget variety in beans also. Some of the smaller ones like lentils and split peas cook really fast. Others like great northerns, black beans, red beans, etc., are really handy in some recipes. The more variety the better in my opinion.

I am just crazy for Pinto Beans. I eat them every single day. I also store some mixed beans for soups but many less and just keep a few pounds ahead. As for Lentils I have several #10 cans of them which is a ton. I am storing in a condo so have to limit how much of any one thing I can do at this point. Might do a bucket of Northerns though.

Originally Posted by meredith

As far as rice and other dry goods go...."Store what you eat and Eat what you store!".
Good luck!

I do that for most of my preps but this is specifically some LTS stuff and I love rice but I'm a brown rice eater. For LTS I need to go with white. I like it, just prefer brown and that's what I rotate in my daily use.

Originally Posted by Summer

Here's another thought on the bucket size. One gallon buckets and containers eat up space quickly and most don't stack well. You should consider getting 5g buckets and filling one with several 1g mylar bags. You'll still get the smaller sizes you want, but the buckets will be easier to move if you need to.

Oh, and pack some butterfly clips to close the bags with. They're cheaper than the 'bag clips,' and I think they work better.

This is back to the limited space condo issue. I have shelving space for a good amount 1 gallon buckets but no room for 5 gallon ones. Can't even physically fit them up there. I've thought this one through fairly in depth. As for the bag clip idea. AWESOME suggestion!! Thanks.

Originally Posted by lanahi

Parboiled (instant) brown rice lasts longer than regular brown rice, though still not perfect as a long term prep. I have a few boxes of that but most of my rice is white and in larger bags.

I agree. I have a whole bunch of that but not more than I can use inside of their regular expiration dates.

[MikeK]

Originally Posted by Dilnad

I am just crazy for Pinto Beans. I eat them every single day. I also store some mixed beans for soups but many less and just keep a few pounds ahead. As for Lentils I have several #10 cans of them which is a ton. I am storing in a condo so have to limit how much of any one thing I can do at this point. Might do a bucket of Northerns though.

I love them too. They're my favorite. I store great northerns for an odd reason. They make a great "gravy" when ground into flour then cooked. Comes in handy sometimes. I don't like lentils a whole lot so I don't store a lot of them, but I do eat a lot of split peas. They're very versatile. I don't like kidney beans so I don't store any. It's all about storing what you like to eat.

[Dilnad]

Originally Posted by MikeK

I love them too. They're my favorite. I store great northerns for an odd reason. They make a great "gravy" when ground into flour then cooked. Comes in handy sometimes. I don't like lentils a whole lot so I don't store a lot of them, but I do eat a lot of split peas. They're very versatile. I don't like kidney beans so I don't store any. It's all about storing what you like to eat.

Now that's an awesome tip. I still don't have the grinder situation worked out. It's on my list. I'd love to try that though.