Top 10 Foods to store

[610Alpha]

In the book "How to Survive TEOTWAWKI" JWR gives his top 10 foods to store (not in any order):

Salt, Rice, Wheat, Corn, Oats, Fats/Oils, Powdered Milk, Canned Fruit/Veggies, Canned Meats, and Sugars.

elittle

[Matt In Oklahoma]

Good list but I am really having trouble with thinking wheat and corn are the best thing to store right away. Rice and beans make more sense when starting because it takes no extra equipment and nothing special to digest or get used to. One of my family members has a delicate digestion system so i am having to take this into consideration, I dunno whatdaya think

[610Alpha]

You always must tailor lists to your needs. You are correct in that wheat and corn do require equipment (could be a couple of stones like the indians but that is another matter). This list was just his top 10 foods list, his opinion, not a blanket everyone must have everything on this list. So if you don't have a grain grinder and you have people in your group with stomach issues then obviously you would go with the beans and rice as long as it meets your needs. This is a nice starting point for most people. Hope that helps. Good to see that you are taking in all the aspects.

[Matt In Oklahoma]

Thanks, whew I would hate to do the indian thing. My dad had a grinder and bowl from the SW desert area and we tried it once when I was a kid. whew that was work on some dried corn.

[crossbow]

You always must tailor lists to your needs. You are correct in that wheat and corn do require equipment (could be a couple of stones like the indians but that is another matter). This list was just his top 10 foods list, his opinion, not a blanket everyone must have everything on this list. So if you don't have a grain grinder and you have people in your group with stomach issues then obviously you would go with the beans and rice as long as it meets your needs. This is a nice starting point for most people. Hope that helps. Good to see that you are taking in all the aspects.

IMPROVISED GRAIN MILL
The grain mill described can efficiently pound whole-grain wheat, corn, etc., into meal and flour - thereby greatly improving digestibility and avoiding the diarrhea and sore mouths that would result from eating large quantities of unground grain.
TO BUILD
(1) Cut 3 lengths of pipe, each 30 inches long; 3/4-inch-diameter steel pipe (such as ordinary water pipe) is best.
(2) Cut the working ends of the pipe off squarely. Remove all roughness, leaving the full-wall thickness. Each working end should have the fill diameter of the pipe.
(3) In preparation for binding the three pieces of pipe together into a firm bundle, encircle each piece of pipe with cushioning tape, string or cloth - in the locations illustrated. [Yet another use of duct tape] [Illustration show wrapping at 2 inches and 8 inches from the bottom and 2 inches from the top]
(4) Tape or otherwise bind the 3 pipes into a secure bundle so that their working ends are as even as possible and are in the same plane - resting evenly on a flat surface.
(5) Cut the top smoothly out of a large can. A 4-inch-diameter, 7-inch-high fruit-juice can is ideal. If you do not have a can, improvise something to keep the grain together while pounding it.
TO MAKE MEAL AND FLOUR
(1) Put clean, dry grain ONE INCH DEEP in the can.
(2) To prevent blistering you hands, wear gloves, or wrap cloth around the upper part of the bundle of pipes.
(3) Place the can (or open-ended cylinder) on a *hard*, *smooth*, *solid* surface, such as concrete.
(4) To pound grain, sit with the can held between you feet. Move the bundle of pipes straight up and down about 3 inches with a rapid stroke.
(5) If the can is 4 inches in diameter, in 4 minutes you should be able to pound 1/2 lb (one cup) of whole-kernel wheat into 1/5 lb of fine meal and flour and 3/10 lb of course meal and fine-cracked wheat.
(6) To separate the pounded grain into fine meal, flour, course meal, and fine cracked wheat, use a sieve made of window screen.
(7) To separate the flour for feeding small children, place some pounded grain in an 18 x 18-inch piece of fine nylon net, gather the edges of the net together so as to hold the grain, and shake the bag-like container.
(8) To make flour fine enough for babies, pound fine meal and course flour still finer, and sieve it through a piece of cheesecloth or similar material.

do a search on the 3 pipe grain grinder and get a picture, they do work and better than some of the cheap grinders on the market.

[Lowdown3]

The reason everyone says Wheat is that you can do so many darn things with it.

I started with rice and beans, it was about six years till I was able to find any wheat in quantity. That was actually in 93 when we went out to SLC, UT for a Preparedness Expo. We had to go to Sam's to buy a table (renting one was actually MORE expensive than buying another one). They had wheat in 50 lbs. bags at the Sam's there.

The vehicle was loaded down big time on the long trek home.

[vick]

hey thanks for the info.crossbow,i'am going to make one of these.