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88K views 83 replies 40 participants last post by  Mels thinkingitover 
#1 ·
I pretty much know that as far as rice and beans go I will store them 5 Gal pails and mylar bags. But I am not so sure this will work with wheat flour, salt and sugar. Any advice?
 
#60 ·
A vacuum sealer gives no advantage when using O2 absorbers. The O2 level in the end is identical anyway. But the added vacuum adds stress to the mylar that may increase the chances of getting a pinhole, and speeds up O2 getting back into the bag over the years.

And vacuum sealing doesn't remove nearly as much O2 as an O2 absorber does. So it's not a long term storage solution on it's own.
 
#61 ·
Mike, No disagreement here, which is why I said you may also use a Vacuum Sealer. Personally I prefer redundant systems makes me "feel' more secure even if it may not actually be the case. My dry goods have D.E. & O2 absorbers added, are vacuum sealed stores than stuffed into five gallon food grade buckets that I vacuum out after adding more O2 absorbers and D.E.. So triple redundant. Vacuum sealing does make my packages more compact and I am unaware of ever having any pin hole problems. On the flip side once could argue that air in your stores could put them at risk of popping if to much external pressure is applied to them. Honestly I doubt either scenario is likely if reasonable caution is used. Mostly likely anyone method will be fine, half dozen of one six of the other, personal preference being the deciding factor.
 
#62 ·
I mostly put it out there so that newcomers don't think they have to vacuum seal AND use an O2 absorber. I also use DE as a backup against a failed bag.

Another thing to consider about vacuum sealing, is that the more vacuum inside the bag, the harder it's trying to suck air back in. Mylar is a very good O2 barrier, but not quite 100%. I haven't seen any lab tests or anything, so I'm only going on caution here. But they do warn to only vacuum seal mylar that is rated for it, which is thicker and more expensive. Thicker is always better. It resists O2 permeation long and of course is more durable and less likely to get a pin hole or leak.
 
#63 ·
We store both white flour and hard winter wheat (mostly white, some red). We eat what we store and store what we eat... to an extent. I use a Ktec electric grain mill for routine grinding. It will make a very fine flour that we use to make bread. Awesome little mill that can even grind beans and other grains. Use ear pro as it is quite loud. Caveat: it has no hand crank option.

The white flour gets added to lighten the loaf, especially when we use red wheat. Some recipes don't work as well with straight wheat flour. White winter wheat ground fine will still have all of its nutritional value, but will make a lighter loaf than red (in our experience). Whole wheat bread does not need to be heavy or dense.

One word of caution is to not to store freshly home-milled flour for very long. Shelf stable flour has been bleached and processed to make it shelf stable. Nearly all of the oils (and any fat soluble vitamins) are removed in the process. I learned early on to not grind too much and to store it in the refrigerator (or another cool place) as it can turn rancid with time/heat/o2. We try to grind enough for a week or two and no more. Thats a nice balance between quantity, quality and clean up.

YMMV
 
#65 ·
"When you have four hundred pounds of beans in the house, you have no fear of starvation. Other things, delicacies such as sugar, tomatoes, peppers, coffee, fish, or meat, may come sometimes miraculously, through the intercession of the Virgin, sometimes through industry or cleverness; but your beans are there, and you are safe. Beans are a roof over your stomach. Beans are a warm cloak against economic cold."
-John Steinbeck, Tortilla Flats
 
#68 ·
We have both wheat and flour. We store the #10 cans from the LDS. It's easier to rotate through them, since it's a smaller volume. None of what we have stored has made it through the 10'year mark, so I can't attest to the shelf life of the flour personally.

The LDS prices are very good for both, making it affordable. Although if you don't live near one of the purchasing centers, I don't know how shipping factors into it. A thread a while back stated they started charging for shipping. However the prices were cheaper than Costco bulk, and it's already canned.:)
 
#70 ·
Sugar is estimated at 10lbs per person, per year. Of course, YMMV. You can also store honey instead. It doesn't "go bad" and you can use it as a sugar replacement, but it's typically the more expensive option.

Salt is estimated to be about 5lbs per person per year (consumption purposes). It is, however, a multi use item...really, you can't have to much of it.
 
#73 ·
I have a small amount of wheat and a hand grinder. I thought I would try it out one day and grind some. It was more work than I really like to do but would if hungry. It takes a lot of wheat and a lot of grinding to get enough flour to make a loaf of bread. I keep flour and rotate it but keep wheat for the long storage.
 
#75 ·
I actually found the board doing a google search on storing masa flour.

The consensus seemed to be good for a year and a half, so I date them.

It is very nice to find like minded people. :thumb:

Bighill, I was surprised how long it took Houston to resupply veggies and meat after a hurricane, several years ago. I found out I like Turkey Spam just fine. :thumb:
 
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#84 ·
Sigh... and it's your first post too...

One - weevils are not parasites, they are insects.

Two - your freezing plan makes you feel good. It does nothing, absolutely nothing about killing insect eggs. Think about it, if freezing killed off all the eggs, there would be no insects north of Huntsville, Alabama. :cool:

The only way freezing does anything but pass time, is if it is done twice on a very specific schedule. It is still a waste of time and effort though because you need to use oxygen absorbers to store the grains for any length of time and the O2 absorbers do away with the insect threat.
 
#83 ·
I don't bother freezing. With whole grains, that's what DE is for, and with other things, like flour, if it has enough O2A's, the weevils can't breath and can't live. Also, in that scenario, that's why I have a flour sifter. So the bugs get caught.

Gross, but true! :xeye:
 
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