As we've mentioned before, grains will store for a much longer period of time than ground flours, if you store them properly.
There are many ways to store grains, depending on your needs and how you use them.
Many bakers I know keep some of the grain they are using often in their freezer to keep it fresh and to keep the grain at a cooler temperature when they grind it fresh from the freezer.
This works if you aren't storing a lot of grain or if you have a dedicated space in your freezer for keeping your grain.
We keep our grain in a couple of categories: immediate-use, short-term storage and long-term storage. The key is to keep your storage grains so they won't get bugs or rodents in them, and in a relatively temperature-stable condition in order to get a long storage life from your grains.
Our immediate-use grain is in a 5 gallon bucket with a gamma seal lid. I keep this grain handy so I can scoop out of it for use whenever I need it.
Our short-term storage grains are in sealed 5 gallon buckets. We put the grain into mylar bags with oxygen absorbers, sealed the bags (we use a hair straightening-iron for sealing our bags, you can pick one up at any discount retailer in the hair products section), then sealed the buckets. They are stored in an accessible area and are used to replenish my immediate use grain bucket when it gets low or runs out.
Our long-term storage grains are also in sealed 5 gallon buckets. Some we did ourselves using the mylar bag and oxygen absorber method mentioned above and some we purchased already sealed. These are stored in an out-of-the-way area that we only access about twice a year for rotation purposes and these grains are intended as part of our long-term food storage program.
You can purchase grains from many, many different places and it is best to research food co-ops in your local area as a starting point for purchasing your grains.
We have purchased many of our long-term storage buckets of grain from Emergency Preparedness - they will ship the 5 gallon buckets of grain to you with a minimum order of 6 buckets. They come via FedEx on a pallet delivered right to your door. This is one of the best ways we've found to get our long-term storage grains; shipping is only a flat $12.00 for any order over $120.01!!! This is an very cost-effective way to get heavy items like buckets of grain delivered to you.
There are many ways to store grains, depending on your needs and how you use them.
Many bakers I know keep some of the grain they are using often in their freezer to keep it fresh and to keep the grain at a cooler temperature when they grind it fresh from the freezer.
This works if you aren't storing a lot of grain or if you have a dedicated space in your freezer for keeping your grain.
We keep our grain in a couple of categories: immediate-use, short-term storage and long-term storage. The key is to keep your storage grains so they won't get bugs or rodents in them, and in a relatively temperature-stable condition in order to get a long storage life from your grains.
Our immediate-use grain is in a 5 gallon bucket with a gamma seal lid. I keep this grain handy so I can scoop out of it for use whenever I need it.
Our short-term storage grains are in sealed 5 gallon buckets. We put the grain into mylar bags with oxygen absorbers, sealed the bags (we use a hair straightening-iron for sealing our bags, you can pick one up at any discount retailer in the hair products section), then sealed the buckets. They are stored in an accessible area and are used to replenish my immediate use grain bucket when it gets low or runs out.
Our long-term storage grains are also in sealed 5 gallon buckets. Some we did ourselves using the mylar bag and oxygen absorber method mentioned above and some we purchased already sealed. These are stored in an out-of-the-way area that we only access about twice a year for rotation purposes and these grains are intended as part of our long-term food storage program.
You can purchase grains from many, many different places and it is best to research food co-ops in your local area as a starting point for purchasing your grains.
We have purchased many of our long-term storage buckets of grain from Emergency Preparedness - they will ship the 5 gallon buckets of grain to you with a minimum order of 6 buckets. They come via FedEx on a pallet delivered right to your door. This is one of the best ways we've found to get our long-term storage grains; shipping is only a flat $12.00 for any order over $120.01!!! This is an very cost-effective way to get heavy items like buckets of grain delivered to you.
Another option we have in West TN is a local farmer who places a bulk grain order twice each year for customers who pre-order. He does a spring and fall order and then you pick up your order from him in North Mississippi when it arrives. You can order in sealed food grade pails (not in mylar, but in sealed buckets) or in bags. We've known the Funderburk family for awhile now and they are fantastic to work with: FunderFarm is the link to their website. They also sell grains and mixes already ground and ready to use, as well as different grinders.
In another post we'll talk about the different grain grinders and what we've found that we like best.
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1 comment:
Bulknaturalfoods.com does a twice a year order and has MANY pickups all over middle TN, well all over TN in general.
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