Date: October 12, 1997 07:44 AM
Author: Tom Jones (dr_jones12@hotmail.com)
Subject: Questions about using whole oats from the feed store.

While I was at the local TSC buying feed corn for my food reserves, I noticed they also had whole oats in 50# bags for $8.49 a bag. This is 70% more than the corn, but a little variety would be nice. Still only 17 cents a lb., and no shipping costs. My questions:

1. Can this be processed with a grain mill like the "Little Ark" (stones and burrs, alum, WaltonFeed, $106)?

2. Would it be a 2-stage process (whole grain to meal with burrs, then meal to fine flour with stones)?

3. What is the shelf life of whole oats stored in , say -- plastic buckets?

4. Any problems with this idea?

Thanks to all the Doctors and Doctresses out there who are contributing so much to my edumagation on these forums!

TJ

(http://garynorth.entrewave.com/forums/Index.cfm?CFApp=16&Message_ID=4041)

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Date: October 12, 1997 09:59 PM
Author: Kyla Jones (kyla_jones@hotmail.com)
Subject: Whole Grain Oats


Hi TJ - I don't have the answers to all your questions but I can tell you that the site for the info on how long you can store foods on the Walton Feed site is: http://waltonfeed.com/grain/life.html

Also, you can cook whole grain oats just like you would cook rice. You can use it as a side dish or in soups. Lehmans sells a roller that can make rolled grains like oatmeal.

Kyla

(http://garynorth.entrewave.com/forums/Index.cfm?CFApp=16&Message_ID=4083)

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Date: October 15, 1997 12:16 PM
Author: Al Durtschi (rcox@mail.lcc.whecn.edu)


>...Can [oats] be processed with a grain mill like the "Little Ark"...

First, let me mention that the oats you are referring to here in the feed store are probably not oat groats, but oats with their outer shell still on the kernels. This outer shell is quite nonedible by us humans, even though the grass eating critters do quite well on it. The oats need to be processed in a mill to remove this outer shell. But to answer your question - Yes, you could use a stone grinder to make oat flour out of oat groats. You could also use a roller, like the kind you can get at http://www.lehmans.com to turn the oat groats into rolled oats.

>Would it be a 2-stage process (whole grain to meal with
>burrs, then meal to fine flour with stones)?

Either the stones or the burrs would grind the oat groats into a fine flour in one step. The stones would give you a slightly finer grind. The stones are mainly for grinding dry grains and the burrs are for oily grains or nuts. But the burrs will also grind dry grains just fine. See http://waltonfeed.com/self/grinders.html for more info on this.

>What is the shelf life of whole oats stored in, say -- plastic buckets?

We feel you should be able to get 8 years if your bucket is nitrogen packed and kept below 70 degrees F. See http://waltonfeed.com/grain/life.html for more info on this subject.

Al

(http://garynorth.entrewave.com/forums/Index.cfm?CFApp=16&Message_ID=4202)

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Date: October 16, 1997 12:26 AM
Author: Lynn Lowrie (hope1@breeze.net)
Subject: Oats


I have stored whole oats for years. They store fine, but I have purchased them through a supplier for humans, in 25 lb bags. I finally decided it would be more convinient to store rolled oats since they are used in more ways without having to be ground. Rolled oats can be used for cereal, fake meat patties, cookies, GRANOLA (my fav), while whole must be ground and other than cooked as a side dish (I find them too sweet) you can replace only about 25 % of the wheat in the bread recipe with oat flour if you want your bread to rise. Oat flour does make good pancakes and waffles, usually better when mixed with another grain (flours of rice, wheat, barley). If you are in the western states you can order from a place called MOUNTAIN PEOPLES WAREHOUSE. My email is above if you want a phone number.

You need to be practicing this type of cooking BEFORE you get to Y2K. It does take much practice to use these grains if your used to eating plain old food.

By the way, if you want a real treat, try making waffles with any whole grain flour and adding a little brown rice flour. Make sure you spray a good amount of pan coating on the grids before you pour in the better. These things are so good, make a lot extra to eat cold, like a sandwich or just a piece of bread.

Not necessary to use wheat flour for quick breads, since quick breads using baking powder don't need the gluten from wheat to rise nicely. Experiement, don't be shy about it. You can always throw it out and clean up the mess if you don't like it.

I have spent a lifetime using my food storage items in times of 'tough'. But of course always replaced as soon as I was able. I am more than willing to share what info I have if any body cares to ask. I have a real testimoney of food storage, having done it and used it successfully for almost 30 yrs. So good luck to all you experiementors. Another thought, are you aware you can replace your (complete) meat protein with grains and pwd milk if you use it right? Good info in a pinch.

(http://garynorth.entrewave.com/forums/Index.cfm?CFApp=16&Message_ID=4224)