Storing flour long term

[Patchouli]

What is your best method for storing flour?
Sometimes I keep it in the fridge.
I would hate to open a large bag of flour and find it had bugs in it.
Just looking for ideas since I have a couple of bags that might be sitting for a while.

 

[Dani]

I store mine in big 5 gallon food grade buckets with lids. You can pick them up at restaurant s or bakeries at the grocery store.

 

[tiffanysgallery]

Flour put into the freezer kills bugs. But then, frozen bugs taste better?

I keep my flour in their original packages and put them into food grade buckets with screw on lids to store.

 

[Country Living]

I've always kept my store bought flour and cornmeal in the freezer - it keeps out the bugs and extends the life of the flour. I found a bag of flour from 2014 (bad me) in the back of the freezer and it's as good as the day I bought it. I have winter white wheat berries for grinding when I have the time to make bread from fresh ground flour.

 

[Caribou]

While I don't us this for flour as I don't keep it for long periods, I pour 3 or 4 inches of wheat etc. in the bottom of a mylar bag. I then drop in a small chunk of dry ice and top the bag with product. I mostly seal the bag and after the dry ice sublimates I seal the bag. These bags are placed in a plastic bucket before filling.

As little as 3% CO2 will stop any bugs from hatching. Flour tends to pack tightly so this may not work as well for it but it won't hurt anything.

 

[Tank-Girl]

I keep mine in the freezer.

I live in a hot, humid tropical climate and my flour goes rancid and bug infested very quickly if I don't.

I keep nearly all my grain products in the freezer for the same reason.

 

[Country Living]

We keep several bags of flour in the freezer because we bake something almost every day. We put a bay leaf in the store bought flour (and rice) we keep in the pantry to keep out the bugs. Even though the flour is in a "sealed" container, as is the rice, the little critters seem to find their way inside.... haven't had any trouble since the bay leaves joined the battle of the bugs.

 

[JAC]

What is your best method for storing flour?
Sometimes I keep it in the fridge.
I would hate to open a large bag of flour and find it had bugs in it.
Just looking for ideas since I have a couple of bags that might be sitting for a while.

You are better off to store wheat berry then grind into flour as you need it. Wheat berry can store for many many years. Flour goes bad pretty quickly.
As for the bags of wheat you have make biscuits and gravy! Yum.

http://shelflifeadvice.com/cooking-ingredients/dry/flour

I buy wheat here:
https://store.lds.org/lds/CategoryD...4vDEPSHypZF2XYdzSItBYo=&ddkey=https:ClickInfo

 

[SouthCentralUS]

I keep about 100 pounds in mylar at all times. I use it every day. We never buy baked goods. My son in law is getting me some wheat for pennies a pound from his wheat farmer friend.

 

[Patchouli]

I have some cans of wheat in storage, I did it myself with a dry pack and canner. They are probably at least 15 years old.
This is a helpful thread, maybe worth pinning at the top for future reference?

 

[Weedygarden]

I have had flour go rancid that was a couple years old. I think it is important to keep it in a freezer to keep it fresh. I think a second plastic sealed layer outside the original paper bag it comes in is important, such as mylar or seal-a-meal pouches.

You can get flour in #10 cans from https://store.lds.org/lds/ProductDi...p_category=&parent_category_rn=&storeId=10151

Six # 10 cans is currently $31. They are saying it has a 10 year shelf life. I imagine sealing it in a can makes a difference. If I had some I would put my cans in the freezer.

 

[Patchouli]

It's a good thing to be prepared and you guys are a great group to get ideas from on that.

 

[Weedygarden]

Okay, all you people posting about the lds dot org products. Cracks me up, cuz I know you're not LDS, or are you?

I am.





It's a good thing to be prepared and you guys are a great group to get ideas from on that.

Not, but I have been to the storehouse many times. When I wanted to build up my food storage, starting in 2008, I went every break or day off I had. They knew me and I knew them. I have achieved my basic goal and do not go very often. I was there last summer, to buy white beans.

 

[Patchouli]

There are other companies to buy from that will pack up a tractor trailer with bulk orders, travel around the U.S., dropping off to co-op groups, and deliver it to your location. I can't right off remember the names of any of them. They offer more stuff than LDS storehouses do. The storehouses being a great resource for basic foundation of food.

 

[Patchouli]

@JAC your link wasn't quite the one. this one should do it.
https://store.lds.org/lds/CategoryD...=grid&langId=-1&catalogId=3074457345616676768

 

[Weedygarden]

There are other companies to buy from that will pack up a tractor trailer with bulk orders, travel around the U.S., dropping off to co-op groups, and deliver it to your location. I can't right off remember the names of any of them. They offer more stuff than LDS storehouses do. The storehouses being a great resource for basic foundation of food.

I have belonged to food coops. I started one when I lived in ND. There is a coop warehouse somewhere in Minnesota that would drive out and make deliveries to various food coops in the Dakotas and other areas. We had to order many things in bulk, such as a case of canned green beans or 25 # of lentils or rice. Or we could split with other members. I know there are other food coop suppliers. There is one that does fresh produce, mostly in the western United States, Bountiful Baskets.

 

[Meerkat]

I guess we would just freeze ours. We use Food Saver to store flour we will use in next year or so. And we do have food grade buckets too we use.
I'd like to order some oxygen absorbers though.

 

[JAC]

I had a friend who was a shelf reliance dealer. They sell the thrive line of freeze dried food. She became a dealer simply to get the discount when she bought hers. So I bought through her and we both got discounts and then extra bonus stuff as well. Once a year they had a year end sale, I think around October so we would load up then. We only bought meat, dairy and some odds and ends that we couldn't get elsewhere for long term storage. Fruit was purchased fresh and dehydrated and stored in mason jars with O2 absorbers. Beans and rice were bought in bulk bags and put in buckets with o2 absobers. Cases of MREs were also purchased and stored in cold storage. Wheat by the cases were bought from LDS. I did a lot of sealing in mylar and I have to say the mylar from lds was best. The crap on amazon was too thin. I would get about 3 loaves of bread from a #10 can of hard white wheat berries. That stuff is delicious and makes store bought taste like crap. Also, dehydrated fresh pineapple is the best stuff I have ever tasted.

 

[Meerkat]

I had a friend who was a shelf reliance dealer. They sell the thrive line of freeze dried food. She became a dealer simply to get the discount when she bought hers. So I bought through her and we both got discounts and then extra bonus stuff as well. Once a year they had a year end sale, I think around October so we would load up then. We only bought meat, dairy and some odds and ends that we couldn't get elsewhere for long term storage. Fruit was purchased fresh and dehydrated and stored in mason jars with O2 absorbers. Beans and rice were bought in bulk bags and put in buckets with o2 absobers. Cases of MREs were also purchased and stored in cold storage. Wheat by the cases were bought from LDS. I did a lot of sealing in mylar and I have to say the mylar from lds was best. The crap on amazon was too thin. I would get about 3 loaves of bread from a #10 can of hard white wheat berries. That stuff is delicious and makes store bought taste like crap. Also, dehydrated fresh pineapple is the best stuff I have ever tasted.

We need to use our dehydrator before it locks up. Pineapple sounds good.

 

[JAC]

We need to use our dehydrator before it locks up. Pineapple sounds good.

Pineapple is like the best candy you ever ate. I think after SHTF there would be those who might do anything for it.

We found dehydrating fruit worked well. We used the jars to insure that we got it dry enough. It has to be much more dry than the dehydrated fruit that you buy in the store or it will mildew or mold. We dry it then put in a jar for a week or so. If we see any moisture on the sides of the jar it isn't dehydrated enough. If after a week or two it still looks dry then we add the O2 absorbers and tighten the cap down tight.