Friday, December 19, 2008

In the comments to my earlier post on grain storage, hotdogjam had this to say.
No insult intended.

Do you like grain? Do you plan on rotating the grain? How long will it take you to work through 50 pounds of grain?

Man, I stick to what I like and eat regularly.
An excellent point. And no insult taken. I wholeheartedly agree that you need to store what you eat, so it can be properly rotated, and you will enjoy eating it in a stressful event.

I love cornbread, and I'm in the process of figuring out the recipe I like the most, and stocking the supplies I need to make it. I also enjoy johnny cakes, and taco's. Both of which come from corn.

The dried corn is intended for me to stretch my prep dollar farther, by supplementing the canned goods I have with wholesome cornbread. Lots of fiber, carbs and protein in there. Depending on the situation I would tap into the corn after using all the corn meal I have in my kitchen. Granted I, do not eat cornbread as often as I would if I was living off of my preps, but I don't eat a lot of canned food either.

Don't overlook the value from storing grains. As best as I can figure without doing any real math, 50# of dried corn would make about 75 - 100 skillet-sized cornbreads. That is a lot of food in a compact form that has a very long shelf life for short money. Dried corn in mylar bags is good for over 10 years. So:
$14 for the corn
$2 for the mylar
$1 for the O2 absorbers
$5 for the bucket and lid
$21 total
That's $2.10 a year it cost me for a lot of wholesome food. $2.10 will buy four cans of generic canned food here, most of it has an expiration date in a little over a year. Economically there is no comparison between storage of whole grain and canned goods. Freeze dried lasts 25+ years but is really, really expensive. I'm eyeballing freeze dried dairy products in #10 cans because that is what makes the most sense. Buying freeze dried noodles seems crazy to me, as the grain to make the noodle has a great shelf life with the simple addition of an O2 barrier.

I'll start worrying about rotating it in about 5 years. I will, however, check it every three months to make sure it's still sealed, and I poke around my food storage every few days to make sure no mice are around. Everything is sealed but I still don't like vermin anywhere near my preps.

So yes, I eat grain. I just process it some.

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