Just in Case (7 page)
Salt
* I look for mixes such as pancakes and quick breads that require only water for preparation. Otherwise I make my own mixes (see
chapter 18
for my recipes).
I put this category first because so much of our diet depends on basic baking supplies. With these items in stock, you can make pancakes for breakfast, bread for lunch sandwiches, and dumplings to go with chicken and gravy for dinner. Muffins and cookies will supply much-needed calories. Keep in mind that everything that comes in a box or sack must be repackaged in glass jars or plastic containers lined with food-grade plastic bags for storage (see page 25).
I have included flour on this list. White flour is essentially a dead food. The milling process strips it of nearly all nutrition. Enriching puts back only a tiny fraction of what has been lost. Its only virtues are that it stores well and kids like its blandness. I store both white flour and whole wheat berries that I grind as needed. I do not bother storing whole-wheat flour, as it begins to lose nutrition as soon as the wheat is ground. Within six months, it is no more wholesome than enriched white flour. By mixing ground wheat berries with white flour in a 1:1, 1:2, or even 1:3 ratio, I get a loaf that kids love and that is a healthier alternative to plain white bread. If you don’t choose to store whole wheat berries, consider replacing two tablespoons of flour per cup in recipes with one tablespoon of wheat germ and one tablespoon of wheat bran. (Opened containers of wheat germ should be kept cold or else the oil in it will become rancid.) A teaspoon of soy flour per cup will give a nutritional boost as well. If you do decide to store wheat berries, you will need a grain mill for grinding them, which is a considerable investment.
Baking supplies are easy to buy. Most items are easy to find and inexpensive, although I have had to buy my powdered eggs, powdered margarine, and wheat berries from a catalog. Food cooperatives are excellent options for buying baking staples in bulk, as are warehouse stores. If you find that the volume is too much for you, even with storage in mind, offer to split a large amount with a friend. Flour and wheat berries take up the greatest amount of space of any food storage items, but they will reward you with almost limitless cooking options.
GRAIN MILL
How much to store will be based on how much baking you are planning to do and your family size. As a rule of thumb, you’ll need:
• 3 to 4 cups of flour per loaf of bread
• 1 ¾ cups of flour per dozen muffins
• 2 cups of flour per dozen pancakes
• 2 cups of flour per three dozen cookies
Obviously, a family of four will have no trouble consuming five to six cups of flour per day. At seventeen to eighteen cups of flour in a five-pound bag, it would be easy to use more than ten pounds per week.
