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Question about wheat berries- food storage
Daniel1212 | 5-24-13 | Daniel1212

Posted on 05/24/2013 4:17:05 PM PDT by daniel1212

After 20 years in the same place, we have to move (by the end of June) as the landlady wants to move and has sold the place.

In 20 years you tend to collect things, one of which is about a 200lb or more food storage drum of hard wheat berries. They were given to us from some good hearted Christians who were taken in by the Y2K scare - thus the wheat is 13 years old. It was sealed using the dry ice method, and it appears the drum is still sealed well, as it is quite concave. They were also kept in the basement at about 65F degrees.

We have yet to find a place to move to, and may give these away, and was wondering if anyone here knew or would comment if the quality was impaired. I know these have oil which can get progressively rancid, but they are sealed.

I opened up a partial barrel of brown rice last year, same age, and into which some air had entered, yet there are no bugs and it smells and tastes fine.

There is a real scarcity of apartments in this lower income Boston MA area (over 1,000 for a 2 bedroom, but we want to stay around here and the city due to the Christian ministry we are privileged to do), and we are not in the social welfare system (though one person is an 83 year old veteran with a low income), but i do not think we would take them with us even if we had a place with a basement to put them in. That drum is HEAVY!


TOPICS: Chit/Chat; Food; Gardening; Health/Medicine
KEYWORDS: dryicefoodstorage; shelflife; wheatberries

1 posted on 05/24/2013 4:17:05 PM PDT by daniel1212
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To: daniel1212

In before the Prepper ping?


2 posted on 05/24/2013 4:21:06 PM PDT by Dacula
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To: daniel1212
They should be fine.

/johnny

3 posted on 05/24/2013 4:34:39 PM PDT by JRandomFreeper (Gone Galt)
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To: daniel1212

My guess is that the quality is just fine.

I have 700 pounds of Wheat berries and beans, split peas, etc, in #10 cans from that same period that have been stored in terrible conditions, with wide ranging temperatures and temperature rarely, but at times having reached 110, I intend to keep my stuff until I die.

My plan is to buy newer, fresher stores in time, but that old batch will remain in storage as my “Stalingrad” rations or my “Jap POW camp” rations, meaning that if starvation ever did become a reality, then I would like to have those old rations to look over.

In Stalingrad they were peeling off the wall paper for the old paste, and in the Japanese POW camps, our men were eating things that were way past rotten and insect infested, like long ruined and ignored, many years old rice.


4 posted on 05/24/2013 4:38:48 PM PDT by ansel12
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To: hiredhand

Ping.


5 posted on 05/24/2013 4:53:29 PM PDT by DuncanWaring (The Lord uses the good ones; the bad ones use the Lord.)
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To: ansel12

You and I think the same way. I don’t throw anything away that is potentially good. I have MREs that I would be embarrassed to say how old they are. But, one day when there is absolutely nothing else, and they look and smell okay, I will have them to eat. I also store canned goods that I have no concern at all about the expiration date.


6 posted on 05/24/2013 5:01:56 PM PDT by suthener
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To: JRandomFreeper

Thanks


7 posted on 05/24/2013 5:06:11 PM PDT by daniel1212 (Come to the Lord Jesus as a contrite damned+destitute sinner, trust Him to save you, then live 4 Him)
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To: ansel12
My guess is that the quality is just fine.

Thanks.

In Stalingrad they were peeling off the wall paper for the old paste, and in the Japanese POW camps, our men were eating things that were way past rotten and insect infested, like long ruined and ignored, many years old rice.

Which horror testifies to man's depravity, and were it not for God's restraining grace, all the world would be like N. Korea.

8 posted on 05/24/2013 5:09:37 PM PDT by daniel1212 (Come to the Lord Jesus as a contrite damned+destitute sinner, trust Him to save you, then live 4 Him)
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To: Dacula

Not sure what that means. I am not much of a prepper, though that is wise if you can, but i do not want to “escape” the masses, but work to turn them to Christ, to prepare for eternity and serve Him now.


9 posted on 05/24/2013 5:13:39 PM PDT by daniel1212 (Come to the Lord Jesus as a contrite damned+destitute sinner, trust Him to save you, then live 4 Him)
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To: suthener
I also store canned goods that I have no concern at all about the expiration date.

Same here. I have been using up a can of cranberry sauce that must be years over its exp date. Thank God for it all. It seems as long as it take air in when opening they should be ok, but be careful of tomato products as they are more likely to bulge it seems.

10 posted on 05/24/2013 5:18:48 PM PDT by daniel1212 (Come to the Lord Jesus as a contrite damned+destitute sinner, trust Him to save you, then live 4 Him)
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To: daniel1212

People eat canned cranberry sauce? Why?


11 posted on 05/24/2013 5:25:51 PM PDT by kabumpo (Kabumpo)
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To: daniel1212

A good rule of thumb is that unless when opened they smell bad, rancid or moldy, they are probably fit for human consumption. However, cooking may be a different thing altogether.

Beans are problematic this way, because they will dry out and are very hard to soften, and the fast way to prepare them is to grind them first on a grinding stone. This also works with dried corn, mesquite pods, things like that.


12 posted on 05/24/2013 5:48:01 PM PDT by yefragetuwrabrumuy (Best WoT news at rantburg.com)
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To: yefragetuwrabrumuy
Beans are problematic this way, because they will dry out and are very hard to soften

Been there! Pressure cooker helps (a right use).

13 posted on 05/24/2013 6:22:22 PM PDT by daniel1212 (Come to the Lord Jesus as a contrite damned+destitute sinner, trust Him to save you, then live 4 Him)
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To: kabumpo
People eat canned cranberry sauce? Why?

Because it was there, and it can compactly stay for years in a can. But i am sure fresh is better, though i never made it.

14 posted on 05/24/2013 6:24:39 PM PDT by daniel1212 (Come to the Lord Jesus as a contrite damned+destitute sinner, trust Him to save you, then live 4 Him)
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To: ansel12

Just a hint ... the UN is encouraging people to eat more insects as a source of cheap protein. I’m not sure if the suggestion is to help us or preserve more of the steak and lobsters for the UN officials.


15 posted on 05/24/2013 7:13:55 PM PDT by RetiredTexasVet (Note that third world , socialist, and communist governments have no Bill of Rights!)
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