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Thursday, January 8, 2009

CANNED WHEAT

Emergency Essentials sells a #10 can of wheat for $7. It contains five pounds of wheat. Eaten alone it delivers 1500 calories a day for five days. This will suffice in an emergency diet. After shipping you are spending about eight dollars for the can, assuming you buy more than one can. Shipping is a straight $6 regardless of item up to a certain purchase amount. You should buy at least six cans at a time to decrease the cost of each item. They can be reached at
www.BePrepared.com
For twelve bucks you could buy a five gallon poly bucket with lid and fill it with thirty three pounds of wheat. But the goal here is to buy metal containers, safe from rodents. The less costly way is to buy a thirty gallon metal trash can ( I am assuming here that no cheap fifty five gallon drums are available locally for purchase that are safe for food storage ) for about twenty five dollars. It will hold about two hundred pounds of wheat. Your final cost is about $75 if you use diatomaceous earth as an insecticide. Times two gives you over a years supply of food for $150, safe from rodents and insects. The cost of that amount in poly buckets would be about $120. For an thirty extra dollars you are buying rodent protection.

If you can’t store such a large container you must buy the canned wheat from Emergency Essentials for $8 for a five day food supply. Now, I love that company. Over the years I have placed several orders and always been extremely pleased. They are the epitome of a well run, caring, customer orientated company. You could do worse than buying from them. But what if you can’t afford to pay $1.50 a pound for stored wheat? You want small sizes, you want rodent proofing and you want as cheap as possible. A lot of folks such as apartment dwellers or RV dwellers can’t store a big metal drum. And poly buckets are not the super cheap bargain they used to be at half the price as currently offered ( and with thinner lids now, no less ). When it was a lot cheaper you could excuse the occasional rodent loss. But with the current cost it seems silly to buy expensive wheat storage that is less than perfect.

The metal cans are perfect, except for one thing. They are rodent proof, being of metal. They are insect proof, being nitrogen packed. But they are expensive. It would cost you about $600 to buy 400 pounds of wheat this way. Four times the cost of the trash can. Yet the trash can is not insect proof. It is insect resistant, but not 100% proof. Clearly, to save money you need to have less than perfect storage. I would rather buy rodent proofing and have insect resistance. I trust the diatomaceous earth. It just might not be totally guaranteed. So, how do we lower the cost from factory canned wheat?

You can go to Lowe’s and buy a one gallon paint can for $3.48 plus tax. The one at Home Depot costs $3.88 plus tax. It will hold about six and a half pounds of wheat. Almost a weeks worth verses five days for the other. A marginal improvement to be sure, but one that might save your life one day. An extra day and a half of food per can. About a buck worth of feed store wheat will fill the can. Your cost is no more than five bucks even with a tablespoon or two of diatomaceous earth thrown in. Be sure to put a plastic grocery sack in first. I’m not sure what is coating the inside of the paint can but it can’t be good to have food on it.
The cost for a years worth would be $320. About half the cost of the commercially prepared canned wheat. Not 100% insect proof, but pretty darn close. Perhaps an acceptable risk considering the cost savings. If you were to buy a months supply at a time the one would cost you $50, the other $25.

Another way would be quart canning jars. True, they are glass and so more prone to breaking. But they can be used for actual canning after you eat the wheat from them. The paint cans can’t really be reused except for more wheat if you are growing your own. If you can buy a quart Mason jar with lid and ring for a dollar it will not cost much more than the paint cans. And if you own a vacuum sealer already you can buy a $5 attachment that sucks the air out of wide mouth canning jars. No insecticide to buy. And you can see if there is any infestation. Plus you can stack the boxes full of jars easily. Granted, you will need a bit over sixty jars per hundred pounds of wheat. But you would only have to buy a dozen at a time. Or buy all at once for a discount. A good idea if you plan on canning in the future. Not if they are going to be a disposable item after the wheat is gone. However, they could be a good barter item even if you don’t plan on canning yourself. Just something to think over.

The cheapest way to safely store wheat away from rodents is in used fifty five gallon drums. The drum and wheat will go for under $100 for 300 pounds. If you can’t find a drum, or just wish to store a little bit of metal protected wheat to insure against lose from your poly buckets, go with the paint cans or Mason jars. You only have to spend $25 to $50 at a time and it is cheap enough insurance. I myself have poly buckets, commercial canned, metal square cans, and now paint cans. You can’t have enough wheat or 303 rounds.
END

Original Article: http://bisonsurvivalblog.blogspot.com/2006/10/canned-wheat.html

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