OK I see flour listed as something to stockpile in home emergency kits. I have been cooked for most of my life (mom, 3 years in college cafeterias), and been living off stuff like just-add-water pasta and canned food for the last 2.<br><br>I have NO idea how to use flour, and what to make with it--bread? Pasta? Noodles? Seriously, is there a place I can find info on this stuff, or is it more practical to stash my civilian MREs (canned goodies)

Unless you're putting up a serious stash (6 months to a year) don't bother with flour. Bread is one traditional product from wheat flour. But for sanity & best health, then add things like powdered milk, oil, yeast... it's not worth the hassle for short-term/portable supplies unless you are very familiar with using it and/or on an extremely tight budget.. OTOH, if you regularly bake your own bread, biscuits, pasta, etc. have at it...<br><br>Try out a package of Bisquick (make biscuits and pancakes with it). Note that it takes milk... try out a package of "just add water" mix. If you can stand the taste of the "just add water" stuff (some of it is OK), put back a box or two. If the Bisquick suits your fancy, it will work fine with instant milk (not the same as powdered milk), especially if you add a little oil to make the "fat" content of the "milk" similar to what the liquid stuff has.<br><br>I've used my own "biscuit mix" with great satisfaction - flour, salt, baking powder, fat or oil, etc. It's far simpler to buy the pre-mixed stuff like Bisquick... It makes perfectly acceptable dumplings (no baking - float on boiling whatever with a lid on the pot). Flaky bisquits, pancakes - generally "bready" type stuff - "soda bread", tho, not yeast-raised bread. It also works OK for thickening gravy (stand-alone, stew, whatever) - again, whicker out how to use it beforehand. Neither flour nor the fat in the mix have an unlimited shelf-life - rotate ~ annually (eat the "old stock").<br><br>Long-term flour storage is best accomplished in the form of wheat berries - and unless you have a hand-cranked grinder, it's WAY too much hassle (best tasting flour is fresh-ground, tho, just as best cornmeal is fresh ground - you'll swear it's a whole new taste sensation).<br><br>Hope that helps.

Skunk, living in L.A., you have access to some very good bulk outlets; Smart&Final ( Iris), the various organic/vegetarian stores and the L.D.S.(mormon) church has regional outlets for bulk purchases. MajorSurplusNSurvival has carried bulk goods such as wheat berries in the past, but many of those retailers took a loss after the Y2K fiasco on overstocked #10 cans of Lima beans. Bulk foods ( aside from canned goods) present a storage/use problem for every advantage. You save money, but have to rotate and preserve the foodstuffs. You do eat healthier.

I am just about ready to make up a batch of pancakes from scratch, using flour, baking powder, salt, etc.(regular Sunday morning ritual). It is amazingly simple to turn out pancakes, muffins, and many varieties of non-yeast breads (banana bread is my favorite). Get a copy of Joy of Cooking and a few simple supplies from the supermarket - measuring spoons, muffin pan, etc. and have at it. You might also look at a few camping style cookbooks - they feature recipes for hard tack and other items that can be baked before going on the trail. You will find a couple of baking appliances are even made for the hard core cook/backpacker to carry into the wilds. I wouldn't depend on flour/baking skills for a mainstay in any foreseeably short survival episode, but the more protracted the situation, the more you will appreciate the ability to produce some of the items above. Just adding to your general cooking ability will enhance your well being in a survival situation.<br><br>I think Krusteaze is the best of the prepared, "just add water" mixes - a very good place to start. Made from scratch is definitely better - I must be off to the kitchen.<br><br>If you can't find a copy of Joy of Cooking, just get a girlfriend who can cook..

Don, Im loading up my dutch ovens, cake mix and stopping for strawberries in Cammarillo. Heat the coffee, Ill be there in an hour ;O)

Skunkabily,<br><br>Long post follows:<br><br>I'm trying to remember what your goal is - IIRC, you're building a modest stock of emergency preparedness supplies with consequences of natural disaster (e.g. earthquake) as one of the contingencies you're attempting to be prepared to cope with. I seem to recall that based on advice you rec'd here, you recently stocked something like Sterno and a Sterno stove as your emergency preparedness stove. (More on that later.) I hope that I've recalled this correctly... if not, cease reading.<br><br>It was based on my recollection of all the above that I stated that flour may not be very critical to your preparations. Something simpler, like modest amounts of Bisquick or Krusteze is a little more appropriate for your goals than flour, IMHO. (Thanks, Hikerdon - I strongly agree that Krusteze is the best of the "add water" ones out there; couldn't remember the brand name at the time I posted the first reply). <br><br>If my recollection of your goals is correct, I reiterate what I stated initially: Flour by itself is not important. How are you going to make what with it in an emergency? I suppose you could make various pan breads (e.g. pancakes, fry breads, etc.) over a Sterno stove. Dumplings are certainly feasible, but much more involved than that is going to run you out of Sterno in quick order as well as drive you crazy trying to improvise.<br><br>I eat lots of bread. The entire family does. It's not a meal without bread. My luxuries on extended backpacking trips are not candies, GORP, gourmet coffee, etc. - it's that bag of hard rolls that I somehow manage to stow and carefully ration out. I miss them when they are, too soon, gone. At home I bake bread regularly. Except for cakes, I am the flour user in our family (wife can make bread, but it's a time thing for her - she uses a bread maker; I do it by hand). All the kids are competent at a variety of bread-making tasks - manually or bread-maker. I make the pancakes, scratch bisquits, soda breads, etc. Obviously, I am a fan of wheat flour (and rye and corn meal and oatmeal and...). I am embarrassed to say how much flour we keep in stock in our cold room... let's just say that it doesn't come in 5 lbs packages.<br><br>Grains are fundamental foodstuffs. Chris & Hikerdon should chime in here, but IIRC, wars in Europe were limited to how much grain (historically wheat primarily, with rye a significant contributor) was in stock to fuel the armies and advances were limited by the advances that could be made by the mobile bakeries, not the foot soldier's pace. Adults can survive on bread alone (it takes a bit more than us meat-and-fat eaters realize, but not all that much in terms of poundage of hard wheat). hehe - no scripture quotes, please - off topic. Not until the arrival of that South American plant, the potato, coupled with the invention of canning, were invaders partially freed from the constraints of the mobile bakeries. Yet even as recently as WWII, the major European combatants were significantly (even exclusively at times) fueled by fresh baked bread.<br><br>In another part of the world, rice played (plays?) a similar role, but I am not as familiar with the overall nutritional impact of rice (it has some protien nutritional shortfalls by itself as compared to wheat - hence "beans-and-rice" synergistic type combinations are more favorable to those who need more protien, such as growing children). See things like "Diet for a Small Planet" if your inquiring mind wants to know more...<br><br>Wheat, rice, barley, rye, corn - ah, yes, corn. Hmmm. Tasty. Terrible for an exclusive diet, nutritionally speaking. Important to North Americans, but not as a stand-alone food stuff like wheat and (I assume) rice. Barley and rye are a bit more primative grains than wheat and for various reasons probably were cultivated earlier than wheat. Not so important now, nor as readily available at as low a cost as wheat or rice. Only wheat has significant amounts of the protienacious "glue" that binds things into what we recognize as "bread", which is why "cornbread" is at least half wheat flour... I think that cornbread without wheat flour is usually called a "corn tortilla" in our part of the world... and for all I know, even those may have a little flour in them.<br><br>I hope I'm not triggering a long discussion about all this - hopefully just corrections to any errors I've posted... and I'm not a vegetarian; I'm an omnivore.<br><br>So... is that wheat product we call "flour" important? Heck yes! Should it have a prominent role in your stockpile? I don't believe it should. I think for your goals, you should focus mostly on more nutritionally concentrated foodstuffs that require fairly simple preparation before eating.<br><br>I agree with Hikerdon - learn to use flour. In your everyday life. Heck, just learn to cook - it's part of eating, and only dead folks don't eat. Great book he suggested, BTW - a veritable classic and easy to use. As for your stockpile... flour is not an ideal component for a short term. <br><br>Long term... well, you need to be able to STAY to use those long-term supplies, eh? It's a whole 'nother topic. There are tons of resources you may look through for those long-term kinds of preparedness. The Mormons are perhaps the "best" single source of info on that topic, but certainly not the sole source of info. A rock-bottom cheap "it will keep you alive" long-term stockpile of food prominently features wheat (flour if stored carefully) - along with other basic compents such as oil, salt, etc. Not a fun diet. Serious stockpilers divert efforts to what they normally eat (within reason) and eat thru the stocks in the course of a year (eat the oldest stocks and replace). It's very tedious until the habits develop and it takes more storage space than you have - and it's too time-consuming without the right storage conveniences (like shelving that allows access to front and back of the shelves for simple "new to the back, eat from the front" schemes). Not to mention that it can be expensive for one person - an ounce of tuna fish in a small can costs more than an ounce in a large can.<br><br>It seems to me that a significant portion of your stockpile should include "grocery store backpacking" type foods or freeze-dried (I think freeze-dried are too expensive, tho). For sure you should have enough packable foods to be able to walk far enough away from an all out catastrophe to be safe and then wait for the FEMA-type responses to become effective - perhaps a weeks worth. While you will not starve in a week's time, it gives you a lot more options "just in case".<br><br>As for cookery - the darn stove thing re-visited - when the discussion got insistent, I dodged some insistent posts instead of posting directly to the topic. I did not and do not agree with some of the advice nor the "reasoning" that accompanied some of it ("I use this and you should because..."). Sterno is OK - much better than nothing, and Chris kind of dug me out of feeling compelled to participate with that suggestion. But prepare your meals for two days with it and draw your own conclusions. I think it has some drawbacks based on my experiences with it. Doesn't even do a great job of boiling water, IMHO. A can of it in a "Be Prepared" pack for a variety of uses is one thing; planning to use it 30 days to wait out a disaster is another thing altogether.<br><br>What I would have suggested (and may have already) is not something I use or own; it's what I believe is most suitable for what you say you wish to be prepared for - and I'm factoring in what I know of your location, experience, safety, convenience, suitability, cost, availability, versatility, etc. - it's NOT what I would choose for *myself* where I live with my skills, circumstances, etc. There is such an obvious genre choice, I smack my forehead in disbelief. <br><br>There are other decent choices I know of that I will try to "rank order" for you as well (and Sterno is one of them), even though one stands out. Email me offline if you wish to investigate my suggestion; the stove thing seemed to have potential to draw some hot flames, which is why I lurked some of that discussion instead of posting. OTOH, I don't know everything by a long shot... pretty much everyone here has given you great suggestions.<br><br>Sorry for the long post, but I am trying to keep your stated goals - as I recall them - in mind. Hope this helps.<br><br>Regards to everyone who slogged thru this messy post! Tom

Tom, I am always amused at what passes for controversy and flame wars in this forum. I think anyone who has surfed the net, especially survival oriented sites knows how ugly it can be. I am certainly not always on target with my replies, red lettering withstanding. My sterno suggestion was a quick fix reply. I have a Coleman two burner, 4 Dutch ovens and the BBQ on the porch. Id extrapolate further, but you and Don made me hungry. I have dough rising, coals turning grey on the patio and my fingers are sticking to the keys as I type!

Chris, <mumbling over a mouthful of craisin-nut squrrel food snack> LoL! Let's see, the nearly ready smell of 3 day fermented rye bread dough wafts thru the house, calling me to finish it off and toss in the oven, and I had to stop during my posting to go make a huge batch <burp> of thick-slab bacon and pancakes... you get no sympathy from me! I left the butter out so it stays soft and ready for those three large round loaves that are gonna be ready to eat early this evening...<br><br>As for DOs - they can have mine when they pry them from my cold... I just need a horse to lug ours around for me. I have my eye on the small GSI hard-anodized one... I suppose I'll look like a tinker lugging it around, not that I care...<br><br>Tom

Another flour which may be very useful to those whose choices are limited by food allergies is made from "spelt." It makes a very good substitute for wheat. Spelt's cooking properties are very similar to wheat. It can almost be interchanged in a recipe for wheat. Its products are about as light & tasty as those made from wheat. Note that spelt contains gluten.<br><br>Spelt, & wheat-free bread made with it are available through health food stores, although they may need to specially order it. For those who are not allergic to wheat, it is probably not worth the effort to get it. For those allergic to wheat, food, especially bread, gets a lot better with spelt. <br><br>That's been our experience. YMMV.<br><br>John