Emergency Food Storage - Types of Grain to Store

       

Following the "store what you eat and eat what you store" philosophy, you'll want to store the grains that you normally include in your diet.

You might also want to experiment with some new grains to add variety to the items in your food storage. However, I suggest trying the new grain in a couple of simple dishes (ones that you can prepare from your stored foods) before deciding to add them to your food storage list.

Here's a list of some common grains and a few of their possible uses:

Wheat - ideal for making bread due to its high gluten content.

Corn - used in recipes such as cornbread, muffins, brown bread, hush puppies.

Rice - often used as an alternative to wheat for those who are allergic to gluten.

Oats - used as hot breakfast cereal and in recipes like oatmeal cookies, oatmeal bread, and granola.
* Note: If you plan to purchase oat groats (the whole grain), you'll need to have an oat roller in order to make rolled oats. Otherwise, purchase rolled oats instead of oat groats.

Barley - commonly used as breakfast cereal and in soups; can also be mixed with other flours and used in bread-making.
* Note: Hulled barley is more nutritious than pearled barley, which has had the husk, germ and bran removed.

Rye - has a low gluten content; often mixed with wheat to make bread.

Buckwheat - not a "true" grain, but is commonly considered so; buckwheat flour is often used in pancakes; buckwheat groats can be served hot as a breakfast cereal or used in baking. Cooks very quickly as compared to other grains.

Millet - commonly used in soups, stews, and casseroles.


And here are some less familiar grains:

Spelt - although it contains some gluten, it's often tolerated better than wheat by those sensitive to gluten.

Amaranth - has high protein content and "good" amino acid balance; can be boiled for porridge or ground into flour and used in baking.

Sorghum - can be boiled, used to make flatbread, or mixed with wheat flour in breads.

Quinoa (pronounced "keen-wa") - high in protein and minerals such as iron and magnesium; used as breakfast food, to replace cracked wheat in pilafs, or used in casseroles. Cooks very quickly as compared to other grains.

Posted by Beth on Friday, August 18, 2006