Question about grains

On a survival blog they said to buy grain at a feed and grain supply. They said to get grain with-out additives. I called one and they said the whole wheat and corn they had was for animal feed. Can humans eat this? The price is less than half what the local grain mill charges. Anh help appreciated. Thanks

 

Its labled for animal feed but its still just corn and grain. You cn even get oatmeal (called rolled oats there) from the feed store for a lot cheaper. It should be no problem in the least to use for human consumption. Its possible that there COULD be some contaminants in it (bugs, etc. not so much like poisons) but then, while we try to forget it that stuf is in our regular foods with allowable amounts anyway.

We have done some corn bread from corn bought for the stock just to try it. You can also get antibiotics there and if its the injectable kind you get you can buy the needles for it there too.

 

Be sure that the animal feed has not been treated with any type of med. or antibiotcs, if so treated it will be stated somewhere on the bag.

 

I just read in the LDS manual (I'm not mormon but they have a great manual) that feed for animals can also have mold that will not be in human grade. so be very careful.

 

True, human grade food is of a higher standard but for the most part the "animal" food is safe. Just know what you are buying before you try to eat it!

 

Yeah you would mostly want to buy the bulk straight grains (bulk is cheaper even tan the 50# bags, just take in barrels and let them fill them) or the 50# bags of rolled oats and such and make sure not to get the medicated of the mixed feeds. As long as you buy the bulk corn and grains though then you are buying the same as the food producers do. It goes from the field to the farmers bins then once dried to sellable levels (or when theprice is right) it is hauled to the local elevators and sold to them and run into their big elevators and goes from there for feed or to people food producers or whoever wants to buy it. So long as you store it properly and take basic precautions to inspect it then you shouldnt have much more risk than buying the food from the grocery store. Now if yourgoing to the hardware store it COULD be a seperate grade (I'ld still eat it but thats true of most anything that dont eat me first of some that may try) but from the elivator stuff just hasnt been processed yet to the same degree.

 

Question is whne storing beans, rice oats etc. how do you store the 100lb bags and prevent them from spoiling?

 

Haven't had long term on beans yet but with wheat just had it in plastic bucket with the standard oxygen packets in it and stuff from Y2K ground and cooked up just fine...not sure about how good it was nutritionally.

 

Where do you buy your Fullers Earth? Never heard of using that before for storage but it seems like a great idea but not sure where to buy the 'pure' stuff.

 

Thank you for posting this.

How many lbs. of grains would you think a family of 5 would need for a year?

Since I've never had a need for antibiotics for animals. which antibiotics would I be looking to buy at the farm store?

 

What is Fullers Earth?

 

They have pennicilin G, oxytetracycline, and I think a few others that you can buy with no problems at most of the farm/feed stores. The Penn-G in liquid can be used for shots in the rump and I just follow the doseing instruction by weight on the bottle. IIRC its a 20 guage needle we use and unfortunatly its about as small as you can push it through.

Personaly I dont store much grain other than what we feed the critters just because I figure its just easier to go ahead and store flour thats already ground so we dont have to add grinding flour to the chores for a while on top of bakeing our own bread all the time and all the other added chores likely to be faced in a SHTF time.

That said, the 5 gallon buckets work well and if you want to you can toss a chunk of dry ice on a papertowel on top of the stuff in the bucket and lay the lid on while it melts then the CO2 will push the O2 out of the bucket as the dry ice melts then you seal the lid on.

 

For someone that has never given/been trained to give a shot in the rump it is better to give that shot in the thigh. You could do more damage than good if you hit the syotic (sp?) nerve in the rump.

OGM

 

Store what you are already eating ie groceries. Sure buy oatmeal and rice etc, but don't plan on living on raw wheat. Eat what you store and store what you eat. Forget a year's supply of wheat. Put the same amount money into canned soups and pasta.

 

Use diatomaceous dirt instead to keep bugs away from ground grains. It's natural, cannot hurt you (unless you breath in large quantities) and doubles as a primo flea killer on pets, bedding and everything else (incl livestock!). Just put a cup or so worth in the top of your 5 gal bucket full of grain/flour, shake a bit to distribute. Works for rice, as well, to keep those no-see-ums gone.

 

Just wondering here but would it be worth to heat up the outside of the bucket with in a warm water bath to semi heat up the plastic. then put the the beans etc in the bucket followed by the CO2. I was thinking of the heated bucket so that when you put the sealed lid on and move it to a cool sotrage area it will create a vacuum of sorts trapping the CO2 etc in it?

Also would you put the Diatom particles inside mixed with the grains or you mean outside the lid? Also, would it be worth using a vacuum food machine to store grains and floor in packets of about a lb so that it becomes easier to use when the need comes?

 

NO, do NOT heat a plastic bucket! That only speeds particulation (or whatever it's called when the plastic starts to off-gas). The CO2 packet will work solo.

Put the diatomaceous earth IN the grain -- it's super fine so you won't even notice in flour. Although for flour, I'd recommend whole dried bay leaves for relatively short term storage (ground flour doesn't hold all that long), diatomaceous for other grains and such.

Best bet for wheat (for making bread, noodles, etc.) is to store wheat berries - they can keep for a *very* long time if kept dry and cool.

Rice, even high quality, does not keep well for long term. It'll be edible but will taste "off". I've heard basmati actually improves in taste with age, however.

Beans will last this side of forever if dry and cool.

 

So the lids will seal and prevent air from coming in??