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Challenge ~ Week 17


The Harvest is Almost Gone

 

 

 

Long Shelf-Life Grains for Your Pantry

 

This week we will concentrate on long shelf-life foods, specifically, Grains. Even if you are not preparing for survival, storing for an emergency could save your life. Having an emergency food supply could mean the difference between life or death. Learning how to properly store grains for long term is key to extending its shelf life. Failure to properly store long term food in a survival setting, will mean you may STARVE!

Grains are one of the cheaper options for long term food storage but not all grains can or should be stored long term. In a survival setting, natural disaster or job loss, you should have your emergency food supply to fall back on. Ideally, you should make an effort to extend the average shelf life of any emergency food items. Purchase grains in bulk, if you can, and place the grain in a food-grade bucket, put the date you stored the food item before you add it to your food storage. If properly stored a soft grain will have a shelf life of 8 years and could be extended if it is stored properly in a cool, dark location. Soft grains are great, but hard grains are better. When stored correctly, they have longer shelf life than soft grains. If you store hard grains properly they will have a shelf life of 10-12 years. When using proper techniques for building long term emergency food supply you can store these grains up to 30 years or longer.  Place a date on the container, it will help you with food rotation. Always eat the oldest dated items first. 

Grains to Avoid Storing

Not all grains are suitable for long term storage. Here are the grains you should avoid storing long term.

                                            Brown Rice                                                                                          Pot Barley                                                                                                        Pearl Barley

 

These three grains should be avoided when storing in pantry. 

Brown Rice ~ Brown rice is a whole grain rice with the inedible outer hull removed. This kind of rice sheds its outer hull or husk but the bran and germ layer remain on, constituting the brown or tan color of rice. White rice is the same grain without the hull, the bran layer, and the cereal germ. Brown rice is NOT a long shelf life item because it becomes rancid within 4-6 months..
Pot Barley ~ A Pot barley is simply barley with only the outermost, inedible husk removed, lending it a very nutty flavor.
Pearl Barley ~ Pearl barley is more refined, being both husked and polished, and therefore less nutritious. It is the best choice of grain for diabetics as it helps keep your blood sugar levels under control. 

Proper Food StorageHere are the items you need to ensure the proper storage of grains for long term use:

Food-grade buckets
Vacuum sealer or heat sealer
Mylar bags various sizes
Oxygen absorbers

Here Is Your Challenge.

Add to the suggested items below or substitute the items of the list to suit the people you are planning for.

Food Storage Purchase

Water (1 Gallon per person per day)

Canned Soups

1 Bag of Wheat  Berries

Wheat grinder or Mortar and Pestle

Extra Item Purchase

Macaroni or other Pasta

Pet Food (Wet and dry food if you have a picky pets)

Heavy Duty Trash Bags 

Toilet paper (1 pack per person) find at the Dollar Store

Cooking Thermometer 

 

Add to your 72 Hour Kit

Over the counter drugs- Children’s Aspirin, Vitamins, Laxative, Anti-diarrhea, Aloe Vera, Headache Relief, Toothache Medication, Bug Repellant, Cold Remedies, etc. 

Family Preparation

Take a picture of yourself and every person in your group.

Take a group photo of your family and your prep group.

Tape or glue the pictures to the inside of your phone book and documents in your Preparedness Journal.  

Place the family/prep photo and phone book in the 72 Hour kit.

Skill or Drill ~ Let's make homemade bread.  

Find a homemade bread recipe and make it. We suggest the website Butter with a side of Bread website.

Savings:
Save $17 as your budget allows. Save something.

Please consider donating to deCamp Outdoors.

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Thank you for your donation.

Disclaimer:  We at deCamp Outdoors are not scientists nor doctors. We are Preppers and Survivalists who share information based on research and studies as well as experience in the field of emergency preparedness. We strive to be 100% accurate, but if you see something that doesn’t look right, please send an email to deCamp Outdoors.  We participate in the Amazon Services, LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn funds by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites, at no cost to you. Videos, information and illustrations found on this website are for purposes based on the individual experiences of the presenter and or website/page dialog. Every situation is different and your results may differ. You should analyze the risks and research the information accordingly before proceeding to take action. We encourage everyone to read the Disclaimer Tab.

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