Oatmeal

Basically, grits are rough cut cornmeal...basically.

 

Yes, and not my last. But I have learned.

 

Big fan of Evangeline. Got married under the oak in that gazebo. Loads of fun. The people of Louisiana were very nice to a Texas boy and his bride.

 

Mom and Grandma always had a fight over the pig's head when dad butchered. Mom wanted to use it for head cheese and grandma always wanted it for grit wurst. Grit wurst was made from the meat from a boiled pig's head, steel cut oats, and spices. It was either made in loaf tins and cut it into slices and fried for breakfast or made it into a sausage, stuffed into cotton sacks like krub "blood pudding" and sliced for breakfast. Lots of recipes for oat grit wurst on the net. If mom won, grandma would make it from the cracklings left when the lard was rendered. With the pork scraps added it wasn't bad, close but no cigar, and still good for breakfast. Ate it fried in bacon grease with Karo or such for a sweetener. We always looked forward to it as it was winter food, only got it after it was cold enough to butcher. Mom made oatmeal on the wood stove, moved it to a spot where it wouldn't burn, and we had that for breakfast the rest of the year. We eat oatmeal every day and eat the regular oats with a few raisins added and cook it in the microwave. Our Pansonic has a sensor setting for breakfast oat meal. Put 1\4 cup of oats in a bowl, add 12 - 15 raisins and just cover with water, put 2 bowls in the microwave and hit start. A few minutes later a cheap bowl of oat meal with a good texture and with apple sauce and a fresh fruit on it I haven't got tired of it in 77 years.

 

Question- I noticed in the feed store that oats were quite cheap. I know they are not as processed but can people store them in their preps? I noticed molasses was real cheap also. So what is the difference and would it be harmful?

 

Been asking that for years. Nobody will give me a straight answer.

 

It has been many years since I lived on the farm, but in the 1940's the oats sold at the feed store or elevator were not fit to be eaten by people without more processing. Once the outer shell, the non digestible hull, was removed, they were called groats and would not keep very well. Like whole wheat flour or brown rice, the oils once exposed to oxygen, become rancid after a time and they do not taste good. You could buy feed that was rolled or crimped, but it would not store well. We grew a mixture of barley and oats as well as corn. Used a hammer mill to grind them, mixed it with added minerals and made one weeks feed at a time. I do not know about the molasses but the truck and tank that they came in then were not what you would consider food grade. It was really a byproduct of making sugar and it sure did not look or smell like molasses. Cows sure loved it though. There are hull less oats in the sprouting section of the health food store, but I have never tried it or tried to grow it.

 

Most feed store oats are not edible because they have the hull on them. You have to ask where they get them and look to see if they are hulled or not. Also check for additives like molasses.

 

Anybody thought of buying feed corn for storage? I read somewhere that Tractor Supply had shelled corn that was not chemically treated for insects. I bought a bag, winnowed it good and stored a five gallon bucket in Mylar. I also washed some, let it dry in the sun, ground it and made cornbread which was fine. Just wondering about others thoughts on this.

 

I would, and can, buy it straight from the farmers around here. They keep the last truck worth or so of harvest to sell off like that in a few places. Money up front for them, fresh unmessed with deer feed for the hunters.

 

@Seacowboys does. He mentioned using feed corn here post #4- Corn for cornmeal | Survival Forums not sure if he has a specific process.

 

We get ours from a farmer in Mississippi. We drive over with a truck bed of empty 55 gal drums. Pull up and he fills them with an auger. Don't even have to move the barrels til we get home. Fun little road trip

 

I can do oatmeal, but cheese grits I could almost live on...

 

Crawfish cheese grits? You have my attention.

 

Thanks for the great info!!

 

I found a great oatmeal recipe link-
What to Do with 25lbs of Oats

I found the link in an old Monkey recipe thread. Credit to finding the site above goes to Equilibrium post #6 in this thread. Whole Wheat Flour Recipes | Survival Forums