Corona Mill for whole grain bread-store what you eat and eat what you store

I wanted to try something different and also use up some old storage food so I got my trusty Corona mill out and dusted it off. I like to practice doing different things with it like grinding different grains and beans to make new recipes I've read. Over the years I must have downloaded a hundred cookbooks and recipe books. I have a good selection on making different breads and I had a craving for some whole wheat bread. It was time to rotate some grain. I have about 10 pounds each of hard red winter wheat and triticale in the pantry that needed used up soon. I found a very simple wheat bread recipe and I substituted half the wheat with the triticale. Now, the Corona isn't made to make flour of the fineness that you buy in the store. It was originally made to grind corn which is a staple in Central and South American cooking. In other words it grinds coarse. This is fine and after running the grains through the Corona three times I had the desired size of grain I wanted. It is equal in size to the grains in real whole wheat bread you pay too much for at the grocery store. You can set the "tightness" of the grinding plate faces incrementally as you go from very coarse to the finest it will grind.
Triticale is a hybrid grain. Its a cross between wheat and rye and the grains even look like wheat. In the raw the grain looks just like a light colored wheat grain. Not at all like hard red winter or spring wheat. It has a different taste, somewhat like rye bread, that my wife and I both enjoy.
I don't have a regular grain mill that is capable of making flour but thats not a real big problem for now. I'll probably pick up one of those hand powered "country living" ones. I don't like the idea of having to depend on anything electric for when things go south. Who knows how long till powers restored? I buy whole wheat flour by the 25 pound bag and keep it airtight and cool so it lasts a good long time. I only use a little of the store bought flour to give anything I bake a little body. The recipe called for 3 3/4 cups of flour but I used about 3/4 cup and the whole grain made up the difference. I still have about 1 1/2 pound of the ground grain left over for more baking. It keeps well in the refrigerator for a few days. It came out very good and we ate well tonight.

 Heres the set up. I switched the round bowl to a square bowl to better catch the grindings.

 This is the bowl of grain after the third setting and grinding. The mill face is set as tight as it will go.

 This is a close up of the ground grain.

 Clean up. There was very little waste-about half a teaspoon of grain and flour.

 Yum.

WinCo Foods

For those readers who live in the western states of California, Nevada, Idaho, Washington & Oregon: WinCo Foods is a chain of grocery stores that offer excellent bulk food varieties. I talked to the manager of the bulk food section and here's a bit of good news! I can order bags of bulk food such as wheat, rice, beans, etc. in various size bags and containers. I've been shopping at WinCo for years and the quality of their bulk foods has been exceptional. I use them as the primary source for my rotating stock of food storage.

This link will show where theyhave stores at present and they are growing in number. http://www.wincofoods.com/

Storage containers redux

I was in touch with a fellow bushcrafter, Buroak, over at Bushcraft USA, my favorite forum, and we were discussing using Gatorade containers for long term food storage. His idea was to use the 64 oz bottle for rice/beans/whatever type of loose food and add dry ice to it.

First, a short discussion on dry ice. Dry ice is extremely cold and you must never, ever touch it with your bare hands. Some suggest you use heavy leather gloves, I suggest you use good metal tongs to handle it. Wrap the ice in a towel to smash it up. It would be horrible to catch a piece of this stuff in your eye. Dry ice evaporates into a heavier than air gas called carbon dioxide or CO2. The CO2 fills the bucket and no living creatures can survive in this atmosphere as all the oxygen has been displaced. Foods stored in CO2 environments will last for years. When you fill a bucket, bag, or other container with grain,you lay a piece of dry ice on top and set the lid on the container. You must wait for the dry ice to completely evaporate before securing the lid.

For a 5 gallon bucket, a piece of dry ice about 1/4 pound will do. For a 64 oz Gatorade bottle, I figure a hefty teaspoon full size piece will do. This is a good idea because if you use small containers, you wont be bothering the large, long term storage food. The small container should have enough grain for several meals, maybe a weeks worth.

I suggest you go over and join Bushcraft USA. Its a great site and a lot of wonderful, knowledgeable folks who are more than willing to share information. Also, I loaded the Food Storage FAQ in the downloads section. This is a wealth of information for do it yourself food storage. Check it out.

Food storage buckets

I use plastic food grade buckets for storing food. The ones I get from restaurants for free are food grade. You can also buy them brand new. The important thing to remember is FOOD GRADE plastic. Some plastic will leach chemicals into your food that you don't want to eat. I once picked up a dozen buckets that were used for pool chlorine when I first started storing food. Even after washing them a dozen times and letting them air out for a few weeks they still reeked of chlorine. Not good for food storage but useful for storing some tools and non edibles. As for lids, I really like Gamma Seal lids. They screw off rather than peal off like regular lids. A bit more expensive but great for buckets that you may be opening frequently.

Heres some links to food storage grade buckets and lids. The first is for the popular Gamma Seal lid.

http://www.usplastic.com/catalog/product.asp?catalog%5Fname=USPlastic&category%5Fname=24&product%5Fid=20669

Next is the regular, cheaper lid.

http://www.usplastic.com/catalog/product.asp?catalog%5Fname=USPlastic&category%5Fname=24&product%5Fid=9751

Here are 5 gallon buckets. Notice they are FDA approved. This means food grade.

http://www.usplastic.com/catalog/product.asp?catalog%5Fname=USPlastic&category%5Fname=20327&product%5Fid=26588

Here are 6 & 7 gallon buckets. I prefer the 5 & 6 gallon size. These are FDA approved.

http://www.usplastic.com/catalog/product.asp?catalog%5Fname=USPlastic&category%5Fname=20327&product%5Fid=9746

Heres a link to oxygen absorbers as well as how to use them.

http://www.nitro-pak.com/product_info.php?products_id=366

Heres a link on oxygen absorbers, desiccants, and diatomaceous earth for protecting storage food.

http://www.survival-center.com/foodfaq/ff17-oxy.htm

Another popular method of protecting storage food is dry ice (CO2) and nitrogen. Heres an informative link on those process's.

http://www.survival-center.com/foodfaq/ff17-co2.htm

Some folks like to put their loose grain, seeds, beans, etc. in mylar bags. Heres a link.

http://www.survivalunlimited.com/buckets.htm

I hope this information has helped you and inspires you to start your own storage program. With stored food you cant go wrong. If nothing ever happens, you can just eat it anyway.

Food storage FAQ

Heres a link for a food storage FAQ (frequently asked questions). In my opinion this is the best one out there. With the rising price of food, its a good idea to stock up.
Heres the link:

http://athagan.members.atlantic.net/Index.html

Theres also an excellent water treatment & storage FAQ on Alans page.