Thought I’d share my newest endeavor. And get some input on my next one.
I realized I had very little sugar stored away, compared to the wheatberries and beans. While I am not in a position to grow much food or raise animals, I place myself in ‘prepper’ mode instead of ‘homesteading’, and will rely on a couple of year’s worth of stored supplies until such time that I can move and become a homesteader, like teeny.
So, I bought a bunch of sugar on sale and some buckets. I already had the mylar and oxygen absorbers. But I realized sugar is better without the absorbers, since that makes it rock hard. And sugar will store indefinetly without them anyway. So I put sugar in gallon-sized mylar bags, used a straw to suck out any puffiness from the bags, and ironed them shut, making sure the seal was as wrinkle-free as possible. yeah right - who has really had a lovely, shiny, non-wrinkly seal? Anyway, I had enough room in the bags to make the seal quite wide, so the bottom portion was somewhat smooth compared to the rest. I put the individual bags in a bucket, snapped on the lid, and was done! I don’t think I’ve ever stored anything without oxygen absorbers and it was super easy not having to worry about them, how long they’ve been left out, having to work very quick, etc. The reason I used individual gallon bags is - that’s all I had. I did have one 5 gallon one left from Emergency Essentials - but it is so thin that I don’t trust it. I could see light through some of the ones I got from them - so beware if you order some from there. I don’t know the mm thickness but the gallon ones from LDScatalog are obviously thicker. Anyway, I also thought I’d rather have smaller portions available to use than 5-6 gallons, and have the rest protected by mylar. The thought of bugs in the sugar made me ok with wasting some bucket space by having 4 mylar gallon bags instead of 5 gallons of sugar all together.
Now, my next endeavor - cornmeal! On a prepper thread here, they were talking about having canned cornmeal. Back when I was planning my preps, I thought cornmeal already ground went rancid. I was told to buy dent corn and then grind it. (My grinder doesn’t handle popcorn, which is more readily available at Emergency Essentials, Honeyville, etc.) I never did get any. But in reading about cornmeal, as long as it is degerminated, it has a longer shelf life and if mylared/oxygen absorbered - can last 5-10 years. So I have 20 pounds in the freezer as we speak, to freeze any critters. Then my plan was to put that in the oven at a low temp for an hour or so to both dry it out and to kill any more critters. Then pack it into gallon mylar bags (again, just my new preference although I have the majority of SP in 6 gallon mylar bags), throw in oxygen absorbers for freshness and to kill any remaining critters, and seal ‘em up. I know I do overkill on the bug thing and only need to either freeze or bake, but I’ve always done both because I’m squeemish.
Any ideas on the cornmeal project are welcome! thanks, CB.
2.You can also can flour, sugar, etc, using the oven to heat them...CANNING DRIED GOODS IN THE OVEN
3.I have also heard of people using 55 gallon drums of corn (or beans, etc.)...prior to sealing, you put a mason jar in the middle of the grain, kind of just squish it down so that the top is still open. Put a candle in the jar, light it, then put the lid on. The flame will use up all the available oxygen and then burn out. No oxygen, no bugs. Cool idea, seems like it would work.
As far as corn meal goes, Buy whole and grind as you go.