By Heather O.
Yes, I know that a lot of people would say that it’s been official for over 20 years, since I got baptized when I was 8, but I finally feel like I have arrived. That I can now properly call myself a Mormon.
Why, you ask?
I grew up with my mother telling me that we were sure to survive any kind of catastrophe because we had pounds and pounds of wheat in our garage. Never mind that I wasn’t really sure how you could actually eat wheat. Never mind that we had almost no other kind of food storage whatsoever. Never mind that we lived in Southern California where the natural disasters were few and far between (well, except for that earthquake thing). We had wheat. We could do anything.
Since I’ve been married, I’ve always been pretty lousy at food storage. But some enterprising and probably more righteous women than I in our stake got together a group order for wheat grinders, and then when to the cannery. I ordered a grinder, then asked them to get me some wheat.
I have never been to a cannery, I must confess. I have visions of thousands of gleaming cans, stacked up somewhere, and some machine that sucks unidentifiable food into the cans, with smiling old women in hair nets handing them out once they are sealed. I’m sure the real situation is rather normal, but I still can’t get this mildly creepy vision of the canning machine out of my head.
Anyway, the righteous food storage lady in our ward handed me a box last week, saying, “Here’s your wheat.”
I was in awe.
I haven’t opened the box yet, and I don’t even know what the wheat looks like. All I know is that the box was wicked weavy. It’s like some mystery, waiting to be discovered in my pantry.
I haven’t opened my wheat grinder, either. It’s a mystery is waiting to be discovered in my cupboard, next to my bread maker, which in my head will be the wheat grinder’s companion. The grinder grinds the wheat into flour, the bread machine makes the flour into bread. Simple, healthy, economical. Everything a good Mormon should be.
At least I hope that’s how it works. If not, I’m totally screwed. And they might have to revoke my Mormon certificate after all.
To receive the Mormon merit badge you have to eat a bowl of uncracked wheat and then a separate bowl of cracked wheat mush. It’s suggested that you eat these with milk and also with raisins or brown sugar or honey for sweetening.
To enter the highest kingdom of the celestial glory you must make homemade wheat bread. Leftover dough can be used to make frybread.
Comment #1 by danithewMarch 12th, 2007 at 11:26 amDanithew-
I don’t even know how to prepare a bowl of uncracked wheat. Do you just heat it up with water and milk, like oatmeal?
See, I’m a total wheat virgin, here.
Comment #2 by Heather O.March 12th, 2007 at 11:30 amYou got one box?? That’s not that much. You need more if you’re to survive. But, yes, it’s wicked heavy.
Comment #3 by The WizMarch 12th, 2007 at 11:38 amWho wants my wheat? I think I have 9 cans of white winter wheat. And now we have celiac. So I need rice instead.
Comment #4 by CylMarch 12th, 2007 at 11:39 amHeather, you soak it in water overnight, then boil it until it’s chewy. Yes, it tastes as bad as it sounds.
danithew, in order to reach the highest degree, the milk must be reconstituted powdered milk, also from storage. And we need to make sure people understand that the sugar or honey must be mixed with the wheat at roughly a 1:1 ration in order to make it swallowable.
Comment #5 by Mark IVMarch 12th, 2007 at 11:41 amI have to tell you that when I was growing up my parents adhered rigorously to the strictest wheat standards. We had abundant wheat storage, the wheat grinder and we ate homemade wheat bread and wheat cereal. My father especially. He ate wheat mush daily for breakfast and often encouraged (that’s an understatement) us to do so as well. I don’t know if he still does eat it for breakfast but I doubt he’d turn it down.
I learned to eat my wheat mush and eventually I even learned to like it. Well, sort of. I haven’t eaten wheat cereal in years but I could probably do it again.
My mother doesn’t make homemade wheat bread anymore. It’s too much work and she now does genealogy something like 14 hours a day.
Comment #6 by danithewMarch 12th, 2007 at 11:51 amDanithew,
It sounds like your mother is quite a woman. And that your dad has a very, um, clean digestive tract.
Comment #7 by Heather O.March 12th, 2007 at 12:05 pmI can manage to eat boiled wheat, the texture is better than oatmeal at least.
Comment #8 by AlisonMarch 12th, 2007 at 12:08 pmI refuse to have wheat for my storage. Too much work. Rice and Beans for me. All you need is a can opener and some water. No grinder required.
And don’t forget the pop tarts. Best food storage ever.
Comment #9 by dedeMarch 12th, 2007 at 12:29 pmYeah Heather - that’s probably way too much information about the parents - but it’s fun to laugh about.
Comment #10 by danithewMarch 12th, 2007 at 12:34 pmOhhh, you are going to LOVE freshly ground whole wheat flour! There’s no going back to the dusty store bought whole wheat flour now! I don’t make bread - too much work - but love to use it is cooking and in pancakes.
You probably already have a pancake recipe for 100% whole wheat flour (what Mormon chick doesn’t
, but just in case you don’t, here’s my favorite:
Pancakes
1 ½ c. whole wheat flour
1 T. baking powder
¼ t. salt
2 eggs
1 c. milk
3 T. oil - (I use Smart Balance Omega to get in some heart-healthy fats)
2 T. sugar
You can add in some blueberries or even chocolate chips (yum!!) if you want variety. This makes about 7-8 medium pancakes.
Comment #11 by ElleMarch 12th, 2007 at 12:39 pmYou crack me up, Heather! I’ve been reluctant to add anything other than canned food to our food storage because I would have **NO** idea what to do with that wheat once it was sitting in my basement. No. Idea.
Comment #12 by Julie PMarch 12th, 2007 at 12:48 pmI’ve never heard of someone grinding their own flour and using it in a bread machine-I’ve only seen packets at the store to make “bread” in the bread machines. Maybe you could compare that to the equivalent of a cake mix vs a homemade cake.
Perhaps if you’re going to go to all the trouble of grinding your flour, maybe you could go one step further to bake it in loaf pans??
Comment #13 by JillMarch 12th, 2007 at 1:27 pmThis is my thing about wheat… I consider wheat an emergency storage item. I’m just not gonna be using it unless there was a famine or emergency, and I figure that if it was bad enough that I was cracking open the wheat, there wouldn’t be any power either. If there was no power, what would I do with the wheat? How would I make the bread? The breadmaker wouldn’t be much use… So basically, if I’m gonna have wheat, I need to learn how to make bread over a fire or something. And I know that’s definitely possible, but I’ve not quite mustered up the energy to even want to begin to find out how. And since I don’t know how to use it, I’m hesitant to get a bunch of wheat.
We’ve pretty much got cans and packets and stuff in our food storage.
Comment #14 by SueMarch 12th, 2007 at 2:12 pmYou really should visit the cannery, it’s actually sort of fun! Our storage - instant pudding, punch mix, potato pearls, and maybe some soup. Let’s just say the pearls get used the most (they are so freakin’ good!!)
Comment #15 by AmyMarch 12th, 2007 at 2:22 pmHaha…. I had to laugh at this entry, every now and then I do something that is particularly Mormon (like update my water storage) and then I feel as though I am “re-baptized” into the church.
Comment #16 by HilaryMarch 12th, 2007 at 2:27 pmI’m been eyeing some wheat grinders as of late. Let us know how it works for you!
Pre-kids, I was in an elementary school teacher ed program. For the history methods class I was supposed to come up with a table full of “artifacts” for a certain time period–western expansion in American history for mine. I took a handful of wheat from my storage and added that to the collections.
What I thought was funny was the other teachers’ reactions to the wheat. “Where did you find that?” I knew where to find 50 lb bags, but not where to find a handful.
My husband bought me a wheat grinder when we were engaged. So romantic…
Comment #17 by Sara RMarch 12th, 2007 at 2:31 pmI always said if there was a natural disaster I want to be living by my mom. She has a whole 10×9 room (with floor to ceiling shelves) devoted to food storage, plus a wall of her garage devoted to wheat and powdered milk. They have the generator to run the wheat grinder, and a hand grinder just in case. And water. Tons of water. And fruit, lots of homemade canned fruit. I think she has at least one of everything from the cannery. She’s had her food storage as long as I can remember. I don’t know if I can ever be that good. That’s why I want to live close to my mom, just in case.
And it was always funny when we moved, and the movers opened up the garage. The looks on their faces when they saw the entire wall of 10 gal buckets was hilarious!
Comment #18 by Trivial MomMarch 12th, 2007 at 2:45 pmThis sounds like me about four or five years ago. I had been given two 40 lb. buckets of red wheat for my birthday one year from my parents. I took it. Didn’t know what to do with it. Thought maybe I’d chew on it if we had an emergency with no power. But it felt good knowing it was there– felt like a “true Mormon”.
Comment #19 by NikkiMarch 12th, 2007 at 2:52 pmThree months later I started making my own pizza dough. I had already been making cinnamon rolls. Now I felt very domestic. I did it by hand because I didn’t have a bread maker to knead it for me.
That Christmas I asked my hubby for a bread maker. I got it and read the entire book that comes with it with the suggestions and recipes and how-to fix common problems section. I made a yeast bread for the first time (since Beehives) the day after Christmas. And it was so yummy! Then I decided I needed to learn how to make whole wheat bread. I bought the whole wheat flour from the store and made it a couple times. It was heavy and boring. Until I discovered my mom’s recipe and the difference between red wheat and white wheat.
Beginners, go with the white wheat– it’s not so strong tasting. The next year I bought a wheat grinder and figured out it would take me a year of baking my own bread at 1 1/2 loaves a week once a week to pay off the wheat grinder. So I did. And now I consider myself an expert. It’s easy– and I’ve just submitted an article for publication on making whole wheat bread with bread kits. But you can read the basics of it on my blog. Bread recipe here and bread kit instructions here.
So now, whenever my hubby’s squadron asks for food and bread donations for a luncheon, I always volunteer bread– because it costs like 11 cents a loaf to make.
I’m a wheat junkie myself. I grew up with my mom using our wheat grinder every day to make fresh flour for all kinds of delicious goodies and I can’t think of a more satisfying breakfast than a hot bowl of cracked wheat. It’s amazing what you can make your kids like if you start them on it young enough!
Alas, I have no food storage myself. Our apartment is tiny and so I just try and get the 25 lb bags of flour at Costco and a few extra tubs of peanut butter. The cabinets stay full and when I did an inventory a few months ago I was happy to discover we easily have a months worth of food for our family.
I would love to have a wheat grinder but that would mean I’d need to store wheat as well and there’s just not room. Someday.
Comment #20 by sarahMarch 12th, 2007 at 3:22 pmOk, WHAT???? Egad woman! You’ve brought me off my hiatus!
Check out this recipe for pancakes and waffles using your wheat. You don’t even need a grinder or flour- just whirl it up in your blender. Best pancakes or waffles ever- my family won’t even eat anything else anymore.
http://dandelionmama.wordpress.com/2006/07/02/sunday-morning-blender-waffles/
You really should check out a cannery- it really is kind of fun. We don’t have to discuss that I’ve been a card carrying Mo for only four years, and I have millions of buckets of wheat!
Comment #21 by Tracy MMarch 12th, 2007 at 3:36 pmMy sister has tons and tons of boxes of cake mix and brownie mix in her food storage. She said that’s all she needs. Her theory is what mormon mommy wouldn’t trade a pound of wheat/flour/rice etc. for a box of brownies? I thought it was genius.
Comment #22 by lizMarch 12th, 2007 at 3:38 pmYou think making bread by hand is hard? I thought it would be but it’s not. My mom just gave me the most amazing wheat bread recipe. I’m out of wheat flour (because I don’t have any wheat or a grinder…) and so I haven’t tried it yet. She has a secret ingredient for it that makes it unbelievable. I can’t wait to try it.
Comment #23 by Natalie S.March 12th, 2007 at 4:01 pmI want a wheat grinder. I want wheat. But we get WIC checks and so now I have something like 75 pounds of dried beans.
What do I do with 75 pounds of dried beans!?!?
About 1 1/2 years ago, we had a huge storm and the power was out for five days. We had to use what was in our frig fast and use our grill and gas stove to cook with. We had to put dry ice in our upright freezer (I learned to only put it on the top shelf), and some in the frig to keep the food good. We did not have much in dry storage. We learned much from that experience. Like one of the commenters above, I’m looking into buying a non-electric wheat grinder because what if you don’t have power. When I think about food storage now, I think about what kind of food will work without having power, and perhaps clean water. My food storage is not huge for sure, but I am trying to learn new recipes with wheat flour and beans and such, so that I will at least have the knowledge to draw upon in crisis and eventually a good food storage to draw upon. When we are encouraged to be prepared for an emergency now, I take it seriously and try not to put it off. It’s not fun realizing you are not prepared during an emergency, especially when you are responsible for kids. Very sobering. If you don’t want to learn about wheat flour and dried beans, do like others above mentioned and store things that you do know how to make.
The whole wheat pancakes are a great start. Also, I taught the YW to make tortillas a while ago, they are simple and can easily be made during crisis.
Comment #24 by NuttyMarch 12th, 2007 at 4:07 pmHey! What kind of wheat grinders do you have? My itty-bitty grinder died a horrible death recently, and I’ve still got a 40-lb bucket of wheat to use. The grinders I’ve seen online are about $300. I’ll pay it if it’s a good grinder, but I don’t want to pay that much for something that ends up dying soon.
So those of you who grind wheat regularly, what brand is your grinder? And I’m fine with just electric - I don’t care if it can grind by hand or not.
My Saturday chore ever since I was big enough to see over the counter was to make bread. I love the stuff. I have no guilt about eating bread for a meal, or feeding it to kids for a meal. What could be healthier than homemade bread made from home-ground flour?
May you love your grinder. Oh, but be prepared for about six weeks of failure before you get the bread right. When I switched from bought flour to ground flour, for some reason it took me forever to figure out what I was doing wrong. FYI - my grain was too coarse to make a spongy dough. My itt-bitty grinder could make cracked wheat, but not decent flour. Many loaves went into the trash before I figured that out.
Comment #25 by MelindaMarch 12th, 2007 at 4:35 pmHeather, congrats! Whole wheat is really good. I actually like cracked wheat cereal; it reminds me of winter mornings at my grandparents’ house in Cardston, Alberta. We have WW pancakes almost every morning for breakfast and have gone through several buckets of our wheat that way. Haven’t really gotten into bread making, but do occasionally do it.
We have a Whisper Mill, which is supposedly very quiet. It’s about as loud as a vacuum cleaner and sounds like a plane taking off. I think they’ve been discontinued, though I don’t know why. We’ve had it almost 4 years and it’s still going strong.
Comment #26 by Mrs MMarch 12th, 2007 at 4:56 pmMy Saturday chore ever since I was big enough to see over the counter was to make bread. I love the stuff. I have no guilt about eating bread for a meal, or feeding it to kids for a meal. What could be healthier than homemade bread made from home-ground flour?
Melinda, your children will bless the memory of the homemade wheat bread - especially if it’s served up hot with butter and honey. But if you arrive at a great recipe, please don’t lose it. I would be willing to kill for my mother’s bread recipe. She basically perfected it and it has disappeared off the face of the earth. She thought after making it so often she’d never forget how she did it. Unfortunately, that isn’t the case.
Comment #27 by danithewMarch 12th, 2007 at 5:00 pmWow, so many wheat lovers!
My basic premise for getting the wheat in the first place was to make bread, and yes, I know it’s not hard. We go through so much bread in our house, and I really like the idea of eating true whole wheat bread. I realize that the bread maker and the wheat grinder will be useless in a storm when the power is out (which is the most likely, in fact, almost probablye emergency in our area we would face), but my thought was that I could have some bread in the freezer, which would keep and be available even if when had a power outtage for a few days. I also really like the idea that it costs 11 cents to make a loaf. The real bread here is WAAAY more than that, and I’m not kidding when I tell you that our little family of 3 goes through 2 loaves of expensive bread a week.
So, there’s my thought process. Which is why I only bought one box instead of 15 barrels of it.
And, Tracy, let’s not get started on how you, a recent convert, make all of us “lifers” look incredibly lame. I know exactly what post you are talking about, I read it when you posted it, and thought, ‘Sheesh, she already has wheat?’ when I did. You are truly amazing.
Comment #28 by Heather O.March 12th, 2007 at 5:18 pmA few years ago when my BIL and SIL moved, they gave me all their food storage. Of the 15 or so 10 gallon cans were 3 or 4 of wheat. I thought, what am I going to do with this?? Well recently I was given a wheat grinder and LOVE it! It’s a little loud, but I can grind a bunch of wheat and make bread with it often. I love that when I eat homemade bread I know it’s fresh and doesn’t have tons of preservatives in it that make it last over a week. I feel healthier. For those interested I have this one. Instead of a bread maker I just use my kitchen aid to knead the dough and then take charge of the rising and shaping part myself. I think bread pan loaves taste better than bread maker bread anyway…just a thought!
Comment #29 by Jamie JMarch 12th, 2007 at 7:18 pm[…] Heather O. won’t be officially Mormon until she’s actually eaten cracked wheat for breakfast […]
Pingback #30 by Mormon Mommy Wars » Mormon Fact or FictionMarch 12th, 2007 at 7:57 pmThe wheat grinder I have is a Nutrimill Grain Mill. Here’s a link to a site with a description and price. Mine didn’t cost that much. It was on sale. They have a lifetime guarantee. They’ll even give you free replacement filters. It’s as loud as a vacuum. So I load it up with wheat and leave the kitchen and close the door. Or if it’s dry outside, I plug it in on my front porch. Right now it’s in the basement right next to the wheat and oats– and that’s actually been a pretty good place to grind wheat lately. Then I take my super huge Tupperware canister down there, fill it up with the freshly ground flour and bring it to the kitchen. At first I told myself that I needed to learn so I could I feel good knowing that I at least know how to do it– even if I choose not to. Our food storage supply of wheat has saved our family $140 a year just in baking homemade bread. In addition to that we also make muffins (dozens at a time) with whole wheat flour.
Comment #31 by NikkiMarch 12th, 2007 at 9:28 pmMelinda (and maybe Heather too)
There is a wheat grinding attachment that you can get for the KitchenAid stand mixers that are so popular right now. If you’re going to spend the money, get the mixer(to use on a regular basis for cooking) and the grinder attachment. As Alton Brown says… multitaskers only!
Check out http://www.kitchenaid.com/catalog/product.jsp?src=Stand+Mixer+Accessories&cat=158&prod=673 .
Comment #32 by Chad TooMarch 12th, 2007 at 9:49 pmI have a $15 A/C powered coffee/spice grinder that I use to grind wheat. It works okay on white wheat, spelt, white rice, brown rice, black rice, and lentils, but the whole kernel hard red winter wheat is too hard for it. So I run the hard red winter wheat through a Shule Grain Crusher to crack it, then put the cracked hard red winter wheat in the coffee grinder.
The coffee grinder does 1/2 cup of grain at a time, but I use mostly store-bought whole durum flour (”chapati flour” from middle-eastern markets) for bread, and use 1/2 cup freshly cracked whole wheat, and up to 1 cup freshly ground whole wheat flour per loaf.
For a large 2.5 pound loaf, I also put in some other grains:
1/8 cup flour made from ground lentils.
Comment #33 by BookslingerMarch 13th, 2007 at 12:43 am1/8 cup corn flour or corn meal.
1/8 cup oat flour.
1/8 cup brown rice flour.
1/8 cup black rice flour. (yes, BLACK rice, available at Asian grocery stores.)
1/8 cup freshly ground barley flour.
1/8 to 1/4 cup store-bought rye flour.
1/4 cup spelt flour, store bought or freshly ground.
1/4 cup store-bought farina (wheat), available at many middle-eastern groceries/markets.
Sprouted wheat and beans are really yummy and nutritious, and you don’t have to have any fancy grinding equipment or the use of a stove. All you need is clean water and a glass jar and you’re set. (kidney beans are poisonous if they are uncooked, so don’t sprout those)
Comment #34 by Eliza R.March 13th, 2007 at 10:40 amMmm, I love sprouts. Hadn’t thought of that one!
Comment #35 by Heather O.March 13th, 2007 at 10:49 amBesides tasting good and being much cheaper than store bought, homemade whole wheat bread is much more filling than “air bread” (my families description of store bought) which adds to the savings as the kids get older and can be satisfied with one sandwich instead of three. Making bread by hand is a great way to relieve tension too.
Comment #36 by alaskagrandmaMarch 13th, 2007 at 1:03 pmWheat grinders are also good for kids with chicken pox, poison ivy, or any other itchy rash. Why? Because the anti-itch Aveeno Bath is just ground up oatmeal. Talk about savings. Around here a box of Aveeno colloidal oatmeal sells for $7. Grinding the same amount at home costs about five cents. Seriously. Of course your wheat grinder has to be able to grind super-fine, pastry quality flour…
Comment #37 by SarahMarch 13th, 2007 at 1:57 pmSarah-
What a great tip!
And just for general knowledge–my wheat grinder is The Kitchen Mill, from Blendtec, and it cost under $200 with the group discount. I just ground 4 cups of wheat into about 5 cups of flour in, oh, about 45 seconds. The bread is rising as we speak.
Ah, my pioneer ancestors are pleased.
Comment #38 by Heather O.March 13th, 2007 at 5:26 pmYou guys are all amazing. I’ve never even seen unground wheat. Heck, I’ve never even seen a wheat grinder (although I do make pizza dough from scratch on occasion!)
Can I ask a question? I live in an area with a climate that makes any grain hatch weevils out of it - unopened bags of rice, unopened bags of pasta, Tupperwared flour, unopened bags of cereal, … you get the idea. Does this happen with boxes of cracked wheat too? Is anyone afraid if they keep their wheat in a box or a big tub that it will go bad? We found that we can sometimes only keep something for a month or two. Any ideas about this?
Comment #39 by meemsMarch 14th, 2007 at 12:57 amFreeze your rice, flour, etc. first. That kills all the weevils and their eggs. Then you should be able to take it out and leave it in a tupperware.
Comment #40 by MelonieMarch 14th, 2007 at 1:04 amMeems-
Comment #41 by NikkiMarch 14th, 2007 at 1:42 amCracked wheat would bring on the weevils too. I’d say to keep everything in Tupperware in the freezer. Pull out only what you need and then return the rest. My sister has a big problem with bugs in Hawaii.
[…] If that wasn’t enough, after I picked my son up, we came home and I immediately started on a fresh loaf of bread from my freshly ground wheat. While the bread was rising, I made homemade chicken noodle soup to serve to my family on this blustery, rainy day, while also teaching my son about the finer points of yeast and other culinary talking points. […]
Pingback #42 by Mormon Mommy Wars » The rise and fall of the domestic goddessMarch 16th, 2007 at 11:52 pmmeems-
We had a similar problem in Boston with my flour, and now I just put all my flour in the fridge and keep it there permanently. The unground wheat is in sealed cans, so I’m not worried about bugs in the cans, but I do know that freshly ground flour can go rancid within a matter of days, and really shouldn’t even be kept in the fridge for longer than 2 weeks.
Also, when we lived in Arkansas, I would immediately take all my cereal and rice out of the boxes and put them in pourable Tupperware containers. We had a HUGE problem with bugs down there, and I’m told they are attracted by the glue that holds the cardboard together. Blech. Once I got the food in Tupperware containers on top of my fridge, away from any buggy hiding places in cupboards, we never had a problem.
I’ve also heard you can spread your flour out on a cookie sheet and bake it at a very low setting for about 15 minutes to kill all the bugs, but seriously, what a pain in the neck. I admit I tried it once, because I was desperate, but now I’m content with having the lower half of my fridge devoted to cooking staples. I even stuck my honey and my sugar in there for a little while when we were dealing with a particularly stubborn colony of ants this summer.
Comment #43 by Heather O.March 17th, 2007 at 4:23 pm