Yukon_Mike

Just a side note. I own and recommend a "Family Grain Mill" and it mills just about everything very well EXCEPT POPCORN... The manufacturer does not recommend popcorn milling. So you may want to verify your mill can mill it before you buy popcorn grain and save yourself the money and maybe your mill.

A 150cc absorber will be fine for quart jars. A quart jar has 950cc's of volume, of that volume there is only 20.5% of oxygen, the rest is nitrogen. Actually you only have to deal with 194cc's of oxygen but remember the food you put in the jar displaces almost all the air inside so you are dealing with far less oxygen than that. So again the 150cc absorber will be fine. As for what I use I like to make my life simple and I only stock and use one size absorber for all my food storage needs be it quarts, gallons or 5 gallon buckets. The size I stock is 500cc's. This may seem like overkill for quarts but using a larger absorber will not hurt anything.

What kind of food did you store in the buckets? I would think that, if the food in the buckets has only been there a few weeks it probably is OK. I would open the bags and put the food and absorbers into new Mylar bags and seal. Also note, that only Mylar with the aluminum film is a barrier against long term O2 intrusion.

Sorry to say, but no it will not work on grain. The meat grinder uses a chopper blade and that is not meant for fine milling of grain.

I use them for all my baking and as often as I can in simple meals. I started using them for practice but they are so good I now use them all the time. My favorites that I stock are Cheese Blend Powder, Whole Egg Powder, Butter Powder and Mozzarela Cheese for pizza. As for the #10 cans; what I do is when I need to open the can I then transfer the contents to 1 quart canning jars (takes about 3 per #10 can) with one oxygen absorber in each. This way I can work out of one jar and the rest stays fresh and safe in the pantry. I've been doing this for five years now and it works fine for me. Mac & Cheese This is better than the boxed stuff. Makes 2 cups 1 cup elbow macaroni ½ cup instant dry milk 4 tbs butter powder 4 tbs cheese blend powder 1 cup water (saved from cooked pasta) In about 2 quarts of water and 1 tsp salt boil the pasta until just cooked. This should take about 8 minutes then drain but reserve one cup for sauce. Do not rinse pasta. Return the pasta and the one cup of pasta water to the pot and all the other ingredients. Bring to a simmer while stirring until the sauce is blended smooth, about 3-5 minutes.

There are "Medical Wipes" that are designed for wound cleaning. However, "Household Wipes" may have bleach and other cleaning chemical agents in them that may cause more harm than good. Read the label and see if yours are recommended for medical purposes. Personally I would go to my first aid kit for wound care just to be safe.

I prefer propane and a propane camp stove for emergency cooking. Like Ben Raines it is simple to store propane and when used in a camp stove it nearly duplicates the speed and comfort of your kitchen range. In emergency situations you don't need to be further inconvenienced with a new way of preparing your meals. Simply put this is basic preparing and is necessary to go along with your food storage plan. The test results of consumption will show that you really don't need much propane to be prepared for months of meal cooking. Below are some of the questions I have been asked about propane. Hope it is helpful in making your decisions. Propane: How much is used for basic meal preparations and how many one pound cylinders or pounds of propane do I need to store for a predetermined number of meals? I conducted this test to determine how much propane is used in a propane camping stove for basic cooking tasks. My camp stove is almost 30 years old and the burner is rated @ 10,000 BTU’s per minute. The newer propane stoves can come with 12,000 BTU burners so they will consume a bit more propane per minute. The results below are for one burner in operation at a time, obviously two burners burning at the same time will double the propane consumed. Percolated coffee: I used my 8 cup percolator for this test (also can be used on a campfire). Turning the burner on high it took 13 minutes to begin to perk. It took another 5 minutes to complete the brew. Total time the burner was on start to finish was, 18 minutes. Total propane consumed was 1.8 ounces for the 18 minute burn time. Heating a can of soup: A typical can of soup is 2 cups and this is the amount I used for the test. Turning the burner on high it took 5.0 minutes to bring it up to a boil. Total time the burner was on start to finish was, 5.0 minutes. Total propane consumed was .5 ounces for the 5.0 minute burn time. Test results: My burner consumes .1 ounce of propane per minute on highest setting. A one pound cylinder will burn 160 minutes or 2.6 hours continuous. A one pound cylinder will make 9 pots of coffee. A one pound cylinder will heat 32 cans of soup. A one pound cylinder will burn for 16, 10 minute cycles for general meal preparations. A 20 pound RV tank will provide 320, 10 minute cycles for general meal preparations. A 30 pound RV tank will provide 480, 10 minute cycles for general meal preparations. A 40 pound RV tank will provide 640, 10 minute cycles for general meal preparations. One of the common questions about propane is: What is the shelf-life of propane? Propane has an indefinite shelf-life. As long as the tank or cylinder is sound condition and doesn’t leak it will last as long as the tank that contains it. Another question is: Do the one pound camping cylinders leak over time? Well it is possible because there is a mechanical valve that makes the seal. So I checked eight of my one pound cylinders that I have had in storage for just over 15 years and none of those have leaked any propane out. This was verified by using a gram scale and checking the weight each cylinder and found they were within 2 grams of each other and the same weight as two brand new cylinders. Note: I own and do recommend the 40 pound RV tanks for SHTF or for a remote retreat because they hold a good amount of propane and they are still very portable. Just be aware that if you buy used ones they have a maximum of a 10 year refilling life from the “date of manufacture” stamped on the surrounding valve protection and hand hold shield. If the tanks are older than ten years you can’t get them refilled and you’re out the money for the tanks. New ones are around $70.00 each. Hope this helps with your planning!

I purchased the Family Grain Mill with the Hand Base and with the optional adapter for use on my Kitchen Aid stand mixer for motorized operation. This combination allows milling with or without electricity. This mill mills coffee, wheat, rice, corn (not popcorn), oats, rye, barley, spelt, flax, buckwheat, millet, sesame and more it also cracks grain like Barley if you want to home brew beer. There are just six parts to this grinder, very easy to disassemble for cleaning and built for durability with very high quality. This is a burr grinder, the burrs are made of hardened stainless steel and fully adjustable including index markings for repeatable settings reference from coarse to fine grinding. Yes, it is mainly plastic but the plastic is Lexan (polycarbonate) the same plastic used in bullet-proof windows. The mill is versatile because of its modular design that lets you add a Vegetable Processor that slices and shreds vegetables, fruits, cheeses etc., a Flaker Mill for making oat meal, a Meat Grinder and Sausage Stuffer. This is a very efficient machine, my milling produces three (3) cups of flour in four minutes of hand cranking at two (2) Revolutions Per Second cranking speed (single milling) with almost no effort to turn the crank. I use the Kitchen Aid mixer adapter when I mill and maintain the 2 RPS speed. At this cranking speed the milled flour only reaches 93 degrees from kernels that are 76 degrees to start with so there is no heat degradation to the flour milled. The hopper is large and it can hold up to five cups of whole wheat kernels. The laminated wood hand crank base clamps to a table top very securely without marring the table. The hand crank is very easy to turn and is easy to continuously crank at about two revolutions per second. For those who want to get into grain milling with a lower cost but good quality, fast and versatile machine this is it. The mill comes with a life time warranty, what more could you want? My Family Grain Mill was $130.00 including the Kitchen Aid mixer adapter for motorized operation. Not a bad price when you consider it is two machines in one; I have a hand crank miller or a powered miller when there’s electricity. In just 8 minutes you can mill enough flour (6 cups) for two loaves of bread.

Thank you all! JLR27, Thanks for the link. I'm always looking for recipes using Long Term Stored Foods. I experiment every weekend making something from the stored foods. Today, I made Cracked Whole Wheat Cereal,Yummy! And every other weekend I mill grain and bake bread, today was that weekend.

Hi all, I'm not sure how I found this site except that I constantly do web searching for self-reliant information mainly relating to food, gardening and homesteading. I am not a member of the LDS Church but do want to say thanks to them for the basic information they supply about food storage. While the information I have found is not definative it is a good base line to start from. Over the last almost 5 years I have been focused on self-reliance including a long term food supply. During this time I am also writing a book about the subject to simplify the method as there are to many unrealistic opinions out there that are not backed up by actual and verifyable testing. I'm looking forward to sharing my work with you so when, not if, the day comes we all can ride out the event in reasonable comfort. Yukon