Week 20

FOOD STORAGE TIP OF THE WEEK

Food Storage:  30 Lbs. of Wheat or Flour

Extra Item:  11 lbs. of Macaroni or Spaghetti

Cedar City LDS Cannery:

Hopefully you will be able to visit the Cannery on a regular basis to get some of the bulk items such as the ones above.  You can't beat the prices and most of the items will store for 30 years or more because of the way they are packaged.  Plus, it's a lot of fun and a great way to meet people!  Our ward meets at the Cannery on the second Thursday of each month at 5:00 pm. (they like us to be there at 4:45 pm to get prepared, turn in orders, etc.)  Our next scheduled Cannery date will be Thursday, June 9th - put it on your calendar and plan to be there!

Here are the Cannery prices for this week's items:

Wheat, Hard Red - #10 Can (5.8 lbs.) @ $2.80 (48.3 cents/lb.)

Wheat, White - #10 Can (5.8 lbs.) @ $2.80 (48.3 cents/lb.)

Flour, White - #10 Can (4.8 lbs.) @ $3.00 (62.5 cents/lb.)

Macaroni - #10 Can (3.4 lbs.) @ $3.85 ($1.13/lb.)

Spaghetti - #10 Can (4.3 lbs.) @ $4.50 ($1.05/lb.)

Car Kits:  Sand or Kitty Litter, Ground Cloth - Carpet or Visqueen

Family Preparation:  Prepare to plant a garden.

Spiritual Preparation:  Read Alma 34:32-34.  Re-evaluate your life.  If there is something that you need to repent of or do better at, resolve to take care of this matter.

Food For Thought:

The following information is taken from the website http://foodstoragemadeeasy.net/.  As previously mentioned, I personally use my blender to grind wheat, however for those of you who want an actual wheat grinder, they have interesting information on that.  They also have a lot of other great information on all topics concerning emergency preparedness.
_________________________________________________________________________

Whole Wheat Bread – From Start to Finish

Types of wheat

• Spring or winter: Winter red wheat tends to have a slightly higher protein content and is a bit harder than than spring wheat. Winter red is better for baking bread. There is not a significant difference in hard or soft white wheat.
• Hard or soft: Hard wheat varieties have higher gluten (protein) and are better for making breads. Soft varieties have lower protein and nutrients and are better for pastries, pastas, and breakfast cereals.
• Red or white: Red wheat tends to have a stronger wheat flavor than white wheat. Most red wheat varieties are hard, and most white wheat varieties are soft, but you can find soft red and hard white if you really prefer one over the other.

Storage

• If unopened, the optimum shelf life of wheat is 12 years or more. It is edible for a lot longer than that, but won’t necessarily keep the same flavor or nutrient levels.
• If opened, wheat will stay good for about 3 years.
• Once it is ground into flour, wheat loses most of its nutrients within a few days unless you store it in the freezer.
• You can add oxygen absorbers or dry ice to help keep critters out of your wheat.

A lot of people are intimidated by grinding wheat, or wonder how you grind wheat. It’s actually really simple and wheat grinders are available in a wide range of prices. The main thing you need to decide is if you are planning to use your wheat stores on a regular basis and rotate through them, or if you only want to use your wheat in an emergency situation.
If you plan to use your wheat frequently it is worth investing in a quality electric grinder. We recommend the Wondermill Grain Mill as it seems to be the fastest, cleanest, most convenient of electric grinders and only $239! (In fact, we liked this mill so much that we decided to apply to become an official dealer for them!) For emergency-only usage, a hand grinder will be sufficient, but make sure you get one that can still grind into a flour fine enough for bread. The Back to Basics grinder is the cheapest one we found that would still grind flour.
For a simple demonstration on how you actually grind wheat, please view our How to Use a Wheat Grinder video on YouTube.

After searching long and hard for the BEST whole wheat bread recipe, we finally found one that was darn near perfect. It was fluffy, delicious, good for sandwiches, and even the kids would eat it! Modified slightly from the One Happy Homemaker Blog, here it is:

You can half this recipe and make one delicious large loaf

• 3 c. very warm water (but not too hot)
• 1 T. instant or quick rise yeast
• 1/3 c. vegetable or canola oil
• 1/3 c. honey
• 1 T. salt
• 6 cups whole wheat flour (hard white wheat is best)
• 1/2 c. whole oats
• 1/4 c. gluten w/ vitamin C

Combine the first 5 ingredients and mix. Add 5 cups flour, oats, and gluten flour. Mix well. Continue to add the other 1 c. flour slowly until the dough forms a ball and scrapes the excess dough off the sides of the bowl. Mix for 5-10 minutes. While mixing, preheat your oven to 100-125 degrees.
Oil the counter surface & your hands (Use oil, NOT flour). Put your dough on the oiled surface & slice WITH A KNIFE into 2 large or 3 small even loaves. Pat down and roll into loaf shape, then put into greased bread pan.
Turn OFF your oven, cover loaves LOOSELY with saran wrap, and put in warmed oven to rise till double (about 45-60 minutes, depending on humidity in the air).
Remove loaves from oven and preheat to 350 degrees. Bake loaves for 25-30 minutes. Remove from pans immediately and place on a wire cooling rack.