Hard Red Winter Wheat

[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 ..

[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 the different levels of prepping and preparing for them all , it can't be done . So wheat is just for breads is what I am gathering . I enjoy my breads and tortilla's but they aren't a deal breaker and if SHTF , then when I use up my grain , Im short bread anyways ( hehe short bread , was an unintentional pun ) . I just wanted to make sure I wasn't missing a vital part of being ready . I am trying to have a variety of food stuffs available , so we can have some different tastes and not get bored . I might run it by the wife and see if she is up for it . Thanks for the info and anything else posted .

[Tofu]

It takes a little time to get a system worked out.

By accident I discovered a plant that came in my garden seed sampler pack called Amaranth. Grows big and tall and produces these tiny little seeds that can be ground up into bread flour. Has a kick butt nutrional value, way better than grain or rice and so easy to grow.

Golden Giant Amaranth

[southern michigan]

Try googling "triple washed wheat" and there should be a few good places to buy "baking quality" wheat.... also Wheat Montana is a producer of wheat and other grain you just have to find a wholsale distibutor and it is high quality stuff!

[SCinPNW]

I second what Southern Michigan said regarding Montana Wheat. My first wheat order came directly from Montana Wheat, unfortunately, the shipping just kills you. Since then the only place I have found to purchase it is from Whole Foods which turns out to be a pretty good deal since their mark up is pretty low on the 50 pound bags compared to paying shipping costs.

Also, in case anyone is interested, here is my bread recipe that I have been making for about three years now. As you will notice, it makes 5 loaves at a time, but I just freeze them and pull them out when we need.

7 Grain Bread

This is our FAVORITE bread!! The combination of grains makes it moist and it doesn't fall apart. This will make 5 loaves or 3 Pampered Chef loaves. I usually make 2 big loaves and a pan of hamburger buns (I often add italian seasonings to these and we use them for sandwiches).

7 Grain Bread (Makes 5 loaves or 3 big loaves)

Grind:
3 Cups hard red wheat berries
4 Cups of hard white wheat berries
2 cups soft white wheat berries
1 cups 7- grain blend(Or some combination of 10 cups of whole grain)

5 1/2 C warm water
2/3 C olive oil
1 C honey
1/4 C yeast
2 T wheat gluten
2 T salt

Mix 2/3 of the ground grain, water, oil, honey, yeast, and wheat gluten together. Allow to "sponge", rest and grow for 15 min.

Mix in remaining flour and salt.

Knead alot. I do 8 min.
Warm the oven to about 150 - 170*. (Pre-heat for 5 min only; turn oven OFF before putting bread in oven to rise).When the kneading is done, place dough in an oiled bowl and cover with a towel. Let rise for 25 to 30 minutes. Remove from oven and form 5 loaves and raise them for 20 to 25 minutes in the warm oven. Leave them right in the oven, increase the temp to 350* and bake. Once the oven has come up to temp set the timer for 20-30 min. Remove a loaf and check the temperature by inserting a cooking thermometer into the bottom of a loaf when it reaches 200 degrees the bread is done. Bush tops with butter if desired.

I cool them on their sides...makes a funny pattern, but they don't fall down in the middle.

**This dough is great for rolling out and making hamburger buns...I use the wide mouth canning jar lid for a cutter.

**Italian Spice bread: knead 2 T of garlic and 1/4 a cup of Italian seasoning (Oregano, basil, rosemary, marjoram, sage, thyme) into each loaf of bread. Yum!

**Cinnamon Breakfast Bread: knead 2 T of Sugar and 1/8 a cup of Cinnamon.

**I have also used this dough to make Garlic Pull Apart Rolls, with the added Italian spices.

[Klayton]

Thank You for the recipe.

[tarheelsman71]

Okay....so I call this Mill near my hometown. They basically make fodder for farm critters. Anyway I ask him about me getting some wheat for LTFS. I am on the phone with this guy but I can already see the expression on his face, cuz his voice gets all high pitchy and asks what do you need that for. Tin foil hat time. Anyway, he only sells wheat in tremendous quantities. He said the smallest order he could sell me was 350 bushels at 11.75 a bushel. I said okay and I would get back with him. Then I asked myself....how much is that? didnt have a clue that I was about to order 21,000 lbs of wheat. I did the math and while it would make me a wheat baron after the crash, I would have to take a month off from work to process it. I would have to procure 600 5 gal buckets, mylar bags, and oxy abs. Then I would have to find room for all that stuff. In case anyone doesnt know, a bushel of wheat is 60 lbs. (according to the website from the UNC Agriculture site.) But for about 4000 bucks my group would have more than enough wheat!!!!! :D :D :D

anybody got a spare tractor trailer rig and trailer :)

[Tofu]

Tarheel: $11.75 a bushel is a really good deal, depending on how its packaged which is probably loose, requiring a special trailer. But to give clarity the LDS PDF that I linked to is charging $11.45 for a 25lb bag. And all I'm going to do is open the bag and poor it into Mylar. If you had a group willing to buy that much, it would be worth having a grain party and saving $6.50 per bag. Those savings would go down depending on the cost of transport and if you have to rent the special trailer.

[tarheelsman71]

I wish I had the room for that much wheat. That is my problem. I have a group with 22 members, and 8 of those are kids, so 21,000 lbs would be awesome. But just the logistics of finding 600 buckets would be daunting. Then the storage of those buckets. has anyone checked the ballistic rating of wheat? I could probably build a small building with the buckets and the slap on some mud for an "Adobe" effect. Then eventually....eat my building. I just wish the Mormon Bishop in my area would let me purchase from them. I had just found out where the nearest cannery was, had called the night supervisor for the place. Got his cell number and everything....and then somebody posted a youtube video on his visit to the LDS cannery and all the cool stuff he got for cheap ...it went viral....and the bishop shut it down. Oh, you can still go there, but you have to have a mormon sponsor to buy anything. The only person that I knew that was mormon moved back to Utah some time ago.

[1Admin]

Sounds like barrels not buckets are the way to go Tar. Cheaper packaging costs also (potentially). Pack your mylars like normal, after sealing turn the bucket upside down to get the sealed mylar package out. Then before the mylar gets hard, put the package inside the 60 gallon barrels.

Barrels can be found $10-15. each and will hold 300-350 lbs. versus maybe as little as 35 on a bucket. Your mylars can max out at 50 lbs. so you might save a mylar or two also.

Downside is they aren't very mobile.

[tarheelsman71]

Thanks protus....

I have been looking at that too. I just need to find about 20 more people in my local area to share the amount of grain. I hit up another local board in my area to see if there was any one interested but either they are truly worried about OPSEC, which I understand, or they are more of the armchair style prepper. Good news is my ATV has a winch....now all I have to do is create a contraption to lift those barrels so I can get them to the retreat!:)

[MustangGal]

I finally found a source for hard red wheat that doesn't cost an arm AND a leg! I talked to the owner of the health food store in the next town over and he can get me organic for ~$40/50# or non-organic for less.

[Monel]

LDS = $11.45 for 25 lbs, = $22.90 for 50 lbs

[Irish-Tech]

I have several cases of the LDS wheat, among other things. If anyone isn't a member in the Houston area let me know and ill bring you along next time I go. Aside from Beans not much in the way of protein or veggies. My wife and I get Shelf Reliance for the fruit, veggies, and protein.