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Storing Flour semi long term

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6.6K views 64 replies 29 participants last post by  IamZeke  
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#1 ·
Hello everyone i have a question hoping i can get some good tips.

I have to store about 100 lbs of flour for next year and i dont have or want to order food safe 5 gallon buckets with lids can i put the flour in their original 5 lb paper bags into food safe plastic bags drop a couple of 500cc oxygen absorbers in the bags suck out the extra air with a straw seal them up and put them in a plastic bin maybe 5 at a time?
Will they be ok for one year off the floor in a basement?

Would it be much better to freeze them all first for four days and then put them thru the above process?

Any help would be appreciated very much thank you .
 
M
#8 ·
Aerindel said:
I really don't understand the bug thing. I've never had this problem.
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Eddie_T said:
I just used bread flour that had a June 2015 expiry original unopened package no critters in it. Made no-knead bread, delicious.
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I've had bugs in flour/grains 4 times in 25 years.

Often enough that I now mylar everything unless I'm using a package within a month.
 
#6 ·
Store flour in mylar bags with O2As.

It is easy and costs less than a dollar per gallon volume.

No O2 means no bugs.

If freezing killed bugs consistently then there would be almost no bugs anywhere in the northern half of the nation.
 
#25 ·
BillM said:
Don't store flour.

Store whole grain wheat.

Seal it in Mylar bags with oxygen depleters in 5 gallon buckets.

It will keep 20+ years this way.

You will need a 25 dollar grinder to grind flour as you need it.
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Have you personally made bread from wheat that you have ground with a $25 grain mill? I guess if you run it through 5-6 times you might get a course ground sort of flour but it won't make wonder bread.
 
C
#10 ·
I store my flour, cornmeal, and rice in these plastic supplement containers like this.

https://www.puritan.com/body-fortre...bwBr6BC2mhTyMUNXCsFDeCcB75sdyvHR6Ak1x33X-caUyWX8f6GnBoCYQsQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

After I finish off the whey, I dump in the flour or whatever, run a small bead of RTV around the rim of the container, and screw on the lid. When you first open the container, there's a foil and paper seal on the top of the container. Use a knife to remove the seal intact, flip it upside down, and put it back into the lid. When you reuse the container, the RTV will glue the seal back to the top of the container.
Speaking of insects, when I buy Mahatma rice, I have to keep it in the freezer because if I don't little flies hatch out. The rice tastes great, and the flies don't really detract from the taste, but seeing them and their larvae float on top of the water is kind of a turn off, although they probably add a little protein to the final product.
 
#12 ·
Why? Mylar works faster, cheaper, better, and lasts 10 times longer.

Mylar and O2As are stupid easy and cost a dollar per gallon volume.
 
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#13 ·
I tossed some all purpose flour that was in a screw top plastic canister. It had what I assume was weevil, tiny little things. They come with the flour but that was my first and only problem with weevil.

I have had pantry moths in the past from black oil sunflower seeds that were infested. They were hard to get rid of but the larvae were large enough to easily spot. I don't buy bird seed anymore.
 
B
#15 ·
I freeze mine for 10 days or more with bay leaves in the zip bags. Then I let them thaw on cooling racks like you would do for some baked goods to make sure there is no moisture; then into food grade buckets with rubber seals until needed. I have done that and my wife used the three year old flour to bake with no problems. I never told her how old the flour was. ;). :d: I have 10 pounds in freezer now.
 
#16 ·
BASS said:
I freeze mine for 10 days or more with bay leaves in the zip bags.
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What good is a bay leaf in a ziploc? Bay only repels, not kill bugs. Where would any repelled bug go trapped in a ziploc?

All bay is useful for, besides cooking with, is to drop a few on the shelves in your pantry to discourage new bugs from nesting there.

Besides, freezing has never killed a bug egg yet.

Not seeing bugs after you freeze doesn't mean you killed them off.

If the bug eggs weren't there to begin with then all you did was freeze some flour.
 
D
#17 ·
Grinding your own wheat is great but baking with that is different than using store bought flour. So you need to practice using it. Maybe start off mixing your home ground with store flour like 1 part to 3, then half and half and so on.
There are different wheats, too. Even a white whole wheat becoming more common that is milder and less bitter than most wheat.
 
#18 ·
I had stored a bucket of flour in mylar with O2 absorber for some years ( maybe 3-4). When we moved here, I opened it up to use it and it was fine at first. But, after exposed to air ( in the bucket still but no mylar) it started tasting old after about a week. So , if you use it up right away, it's ok, but the longer it's open after storage, the worse it taste. It's like it instantly "aged" when I took it out of the mylar.
Hope this helps someone ( maybe a year would be ok)

I did the same with rice, and the rice was perfectly fine
 
#21 ·
Did you, by chance, use a larger O2 absorber than is required? They give off moisture, and it's possible that too much moisture may have caused the degradation when exposed to air.

I've use a bit of old flour from #10 cans with O2 absorber that were 20 years old and it was fine. I have used wheat from buckets with O2 absorbers but no mylar that seemed fine also, though you can't truly tell from taste alone.
 
#22 ·
Some good advise has been posted and there was some bug talk and O2 absorber and Mylar talk. However, you said storage for a year, so I will run with that.

1) There is no reason you cannot store white flour for a year and up to two years without special consideration except airtight storage. It does not have enough fat to go rancid. You will however, lose the sprayed on vitamins slowly over 2 years. If you have meal bug problems in your local, O2 absorbers and mylar would be a good thing. I don't have this issue and keep my flour in 60 pound capacity gamma containers marketed for pet food. But, we use flour daily. 100 pounds lasts us 100 days. I have zero white flour stored for the long term. There is not really a point. If I am relying on stores for a 2 year SHTF situation, I am going to want to start grinding whole wheat for the health benefits, not for the fluffy donuts and crusty French bread. Think apple fritters and whole wheat naan instead. :eek:

2) White flour is nothing but a simple carbohydrate with some staying power. It turns to sugar in the end. It is a carrier food just like rice. You add wholesome foods to it and it makes a hearty and sustaining meal. The body can do a slow burn and absorb all the goodness in your peanut butter and fruit spread to your soups and stews...etc. It truly is just a simple carrier that spreads your meal out until you get your next one.
 
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M
#23 ·
Ok I ended up putting them in plastic food grade bags with oxygen absorbers and then all the bags in a big Tupperware bin sealed with silicone and a couple of more o2 absorbers in there.
I’m in NY so they are off the floor with the dehumidifier running hopefully no moisture will get in there.
Thanks for the advice all!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
#24 ·
You don't need all those extra steps. You also lose your value.

Mylar bags are dirt cheap: https://www.discountmylarbags.com/6...0-300cc-oxygen-absorbers-for-dried-dehydrated-and-long-term-food-storage-6060s/
60 one gallon mylar bags and 60 O2As for $30. 50 cents a gallon volume.

Then you can put the sealed mylar in buckets, totes, boxes, barrels, or even on the shelf. Totes are far cheaper than buckets for space. You likely already have totes and boxes around the home. You can mooch square plastic lidded frosting buckets from any bakery.

Plastic bags, Tupperware, and silicone cost money.

Once it is in mylar there is no need to put more O2As in the big container. Worse, you can mess up the job by going all plastic. Plastic bags and Tupperware won't stop O2 infiltration. O2As are a catalyst reaction and once they have done their job they likely won't deal with any new O2 that gets in. The vacuum draw by the O2As can very easily distort the rim and seal on your bin as well, meaning more O2 gets in the bin.

You need to quit trying to find a way around mylar. Lots of plastic and silicone is not the way. Metal is why mylar works. Only rolled edge metal #10 cans will substitute for mylar, and that is a huge rabbit hole to drop your wallet in.
 
#28 ·
Not really. That's mostly old wives tales.

The USDA and the various university agricultural extension research outfits do not endorse it.

It doesn't deal with oxidation either.
 
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#37 ·
Anybody tried storing wheat berries in drums and using CO2 to displace the air?

Block of dry ice on the bottom of the drum, sheet of plastic to prevent freezer burn then fill drum with wheat berries. Seal drum with lid that has a small hole drilled in it and a flap of tape to act as a one-way valve. (Or use the valve from a diving regulator or snorkel.)
CO2 is heavier than air and as the dry ice off-gasses it will drive the air on top out of the drum. Have to experiment to find out how big a piece of dry ice would be needed. Or simply buy a tank of CO2 (or perhaps use Nitrogen) to supply the gas.
Any ideas/comments?
 
M
#44 ·
One more question for those who know, I ordered the Mylar bags and they are coming I also need to store some rice for at least one year.
After I put the rice in the Mylar bags and seal them should I put them in the freezer for year or longer storage or just leave them out ?

Thanks again


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B
#47 ·
We are currently eating kutstzans pancake mix from 2017. We used a food saver and that's it. Currently in the cabinet we have flour that was in a zip lock with an expiration of 2013..maybe in 2023 we will try to bake something with it. Don't over think it, it's only a year your trying to save it for.
 
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