Hard Red Winter Wheat

[Tofu]

Modern Survialist Thinking? I don't have a clue what that means. Its like saying Modern Economic Thinking describing the entire economic spectrum. What you prep, how you prep and what you are prepping for is 100% a personal choice. For me and my house we trying to do things that make us more self sufficient and improve our lives for the here and now and will benefit us if times get hard.

The grain mill and bread maker are two pieces that accomplish both. We purhcased a KitchenAide mixer and a grain grinder attachment, it makes bread flour on the second pass quite nicely. The bread maker is a luxury item but we have also invested in some cast iron bread pans and practice with both (its fun to play with your food!).

But really, how do you think this SHTF thing is going to play out? No one can answer that so we prepare. We have adopted a very simple formula putting the likelihood of an event with the impact on the number of people. For example, if I lost my job it would be a SHTF scenario but it would be limited to me an my household. Having a years worth of groceries stored up would go a long way in easing my families stress level while I worked to become employed again. A tornado touched down in my neighborhood, bad yes, but my brother's house on the other side of the county wasn't effected. The TVA dam burst and washed out several hundred homes down river, not effecting anyone in the next county. As the scale of the disaster goes up, the likelihood of it goes down. All the way up to a super volcano or an asteroid at that point all of our preps are pretty much wasted.

So as my family preps, we are doing so for the most likelihood of events. If you want grains for bread in your preps, buy a grinder. If you don't, don't. Ain't no biggie either way.

[Mikeg175]

I understand about the learning from the past , but if I am devoting a part of my time or my wife's to do a certain chore and it can be done easier and allow yourself time to do other things , wouldn't that be better ? I know I survived without a cellphone for many years , but until they go belly up I will use mine as much as I can . I may not be a pure survivalist in my thinking , I keep the staples rice , veggies , fruits , meats , and prepackaged meals and I can't see the merits of grinding and baking ( which will destroy any OPSEC ) when I could make a meal as nutritious or even better with less effort and allow me to do other things ( patrol , fix things , chop wood , the list is long ) and now my wife is able to do more instead of grinding and baking , which will burn a lot more fuel then boiling water or heating something up . I keep a fully stocked first aid kit ( kit ? ) and I know as part of my kits I keep mouth2mouth devices which are disposable , so I can use on others if needed , the old school way was pinch the nose , tilt them back , make a seal and breathe ( I'm simplifying ) . It makes it nice , I don't need to contact another person's mouth , I don't get vomited on and when I'm done , I will probably sanitize and use again . Which to me makes it easier and safer . Which is my point , I love bread , but I think I can keep OPSEC and my time levels down with other options , but I see many , many people much more versed and knowledgeable saying to do it , and I have never been a sheepie , so before I take a leap and drop the cash and storage , I would like to know the advantages over the other options .
I also understand the knowing the old school aspect , but if I am stocking up on wheats and using them and when it is gone , I am back to square one unless I live in area where I can grow it or someone else can . I have grown quite a few successful gardens and I can't see myself growing wheat , when I think veggies would be better suited and more bang for the buck . Please enlighten me , I want to understand before I am too late to get something setup and stocked . Thanks for your help ..

[Rmplstlskn]

So I am just wanting to learn the advantages of maybe incorporating a mill and wheat into the picture . I don't want to just buy a mill and wheat because it seems everyone has one and says you need it . If it is just for the cost effectiveness then I will keep spending a little more to keep my ease and time constraints down , if it something else , please let me know . Thanks

We as MODERN people are short-sighted and tunnel-visioned... It has taken many lessons and much reality slapping me in the face to get out of that myself... So when it comes to SURVIVAL, which in reality is just a fancy word for LIVING on this earth in a CHANGED reality, we have to look at what people did IN THE PAST.... People, going as far back as recorded history, have used GRAINS and RICE to live and survive, among other staples. It worked SO WELL that it got us HERE, to modern man in 2011... Everything done up to this point was to make the BASICS EASIER, and to add COMFORT to the work of LIVING, that is all... So to try to not LEARN from our PAST is inviting failure and perile, in my opinion. This is why I store wheat (several different varieties, thanks to my BREAD tests), rice, legumes, and other BASIC staples... For I KNOW that humans in the past SURVIVED on such things...

And it also shows me, in line with another post I just made in another thread, that if you are by YOURSELF, it truly will be HARD and almost IMPOSSIBLE to survive if it all goes tits up... If you have a wife and kids, it will HELP dramatically, but still be a HUGE burden... If you are part of a like-minded group, then it may still SUCK but it will be a LOT easier...

Rmpl

[Mikeg175]

I have wondered do people get wheat to make bread and nothing else ? Is wheat bought because it is cheaper in the long run ? I have about a years supply of food atm and not wheat . Most of my food is rice , pasta's , feeze dried meats , freeze dried veggies , freeze dried fruits and so forth . I know buying my food stuffs freeze dried is a lot more expensive then grinding down my foods and making it from scratch , but I felt/feel that if Im in a situation where SHTF and I'm trying to keep my family and myself going , I don't want to spend half my day grinding and baking . I'd rather boil my water , make some rice , toss in some kind of meat and eat . I have about 6 months of Mountain House food also . Am I looking at this wrong ? I just feel like if I can simplify my time making food and eating it , then I have more time for the other things that will need tending to .
Thanks for your advice on this , I am open to learning . I learned years ago how to make bread and pasta with mills and the pasta tuber ( cant remember name lol ) , but it took a awhile to make it before you could even start baking or cooking . I also feel that baking some bread will alert the whole area that you have fresh food and I know fresh bread smells Real Good and thats when I can head to the bakery and buy it if I want it . So I am just wanting to learn the advantages of maybe incorporating a mill and wheat into the picture . I don't want to just buy a mill and wheat because it seems everyone has one and says you need it . If it is just for the cost effectiveness then I will keep spending a little more to keep my ease and time constraints down , if it something else , please let me know . Thanks

[miked2345]

Regarding finding wheat... We have 2 "Super Walmarts" (With grocery stores) in my area. (Michigan) Both of them carry Hard White Spring wheat and Hard Red Spring wheat, in 25 lb bags. It is right next to the flour. Now granted, both stores only had a few bags, but at least they
carry some.

[Tofu]

of that I have no doubt...

[Blondie]

Thank you, Tofu, for the info.
I will be most grateful to them, and gracious.

:)

[Tofu]

I'm not a member, and they let me purchase with no hassle. But I stress, please be very nice to these folks. They are volunteers and are usually very kind and helpful.

Here is a list of their products:

PDF Order Form

[Blondie]

Question about Family Home Storage Centers

@Tofu- This was a helpful thread. Thank you for starting it.
I have been trying to find wheat in my area and have had no luck -have to special order it ($$).
There is a Family Home Storage Center within an hour's drive from my location.
Do you know (or does anyone else know?) if it is only for church members or will I be able to buy what I need from them?
...their list of products is just what I am looking for right now.

Thank you for your response!

[Bearman202]

I went to the local HyVee and ordered wheat from their bulk foods section. I could only order the Hard White Spring wheat, but a friend that knows a lot more than I do about this told me that it's slightly lower in protein than Hard Red Winter, but that's about the only difference. It came in 25# bags and sold for $14.xx per bag. It took about three days for it to come in. Check your local store and see if they can order it for you. They will have a catalog, although you may have to find the manager of the bulk foods section to find it for you.

[Lowdown3]

Clicked the "storage food" link above and it went right to the JRH site. Which link did you have a problem with Rmp?

[Rmplstlskn]

I wouldn't buy and store "FEED" grains either... And Sam's Club doesn't have that except in certain Mormon States...

Here is where I got mine a few years ago...
Emergency Essentials Bulk Grains

Shipping was ridiculously cheap and it arrived about a week later...

JRH has grains too but their site is down when I went to go get a link...

Rmpl

Check Walmart, they have wheat here in Ohio. Look in the bakery isle. They had hard red and white for like $12 per 25llb bag.

[Romulus]

where to buy?

I am ready to store some wheat so i went to the local Sam's and they didn't carry it. When I asked about where I could by some red winter wheat for grinding into flour the "sales associate" looked at me like I was friggin nuts, them proceeded to eye everything else i had in my cart.

Anyway, I went to the local farmer's co-op and they told me they had "field wheat" that was suitable for human consumption (again the weird look), but when I went to get it, it said "FOR BIRDSEED ONLY" on the bag....I didn't buy it. My next stop was the local health food store who told me they could order 50 lb bags of red wheat berries for $49.00 ea. At almost a dollar a pound, that'll break my budget quick.

Any suggestion? I don't live near a LDS store. Saw the link for JRH Enterprises, thanks. Are these considered wheat "Berries"? Is there a difference between wheat and wheat berries? Is one better than the other?

[Lowdown3]

It's interesting to me how some threads can be overrun with spammers and others never have one. Their must be some pattern to the spammers mind??? It's too bad they don't have the "juevos" (sp) to just work like the rest of us, they would probably do well.