Gluten Free Food Storage

I am 8 months into the GFCF diet and have decided to take on long term food storage. This is really a lifestyle not a project. My church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, has for many years asked it's members to try and have enough storage to last 1 year. This was not something I did all at once but rather I started just buying one extra item at the grocery store each time I went. This was when my husband was in college and the budget was TIGHT! I remember once I bought a case of Ramen Noodles that was on sale for a few dollars and then later that month it was all we had to eat! I have really been blessed by always having some kind of storage.

Fast forward 15 years and we have built our storage up to a years worth. I still stock up on whatever is on sale but have added to that bulk items my church purchased as a group for a large discount. We store wheat, oats, barley, cornmeal, salt, sugar, rice, potatoes, beans, canned soups, pastas, and many other misc. items as well as nonfood items like toilet paper and paper towels. My husband has at times been self employed and not had a steady paycheck, having so much food storage gave us peace of mind. It has also meant we could take more risks in his business without worrying. My husband decided to take a year off of working and build up a new business from home. That year became two years and honestly if we didn't have our food storage we would not have been able to make it so smoothly through this time. We are now in the process of building it back up and I need to include GF flours, starches, and grains. There is little if any information I can find on how to do this and what to store. Diane at Against the Grain, my local GF market, has been very helpful. I guess owning a food store in Utah you have to have some kind of knowledge about food storage!

From what Diane tells me starches store very well for atleast 2 years but any kind of flour does not. For this reason I purchased a grain mill specifically for GF milling. I chose the Wonder Mill because I have a friend who highly recommended it as well as Diane from Against the Grain. I do have a K-tec from the old days when I ground wheat but I felt like there was no way to throughly clean it and I also still need some way to grind all that wheat.

Here is the list Diane suggests for 1 GF adult for 1 year:

Long Grain White Rice 100 lbs

Gluten Free Oats 50 lbs

Garbanzo Beans 50 lbs Can be ground into bean flour.

Long Grain Brown Rice 50 lbs Must be rotated. Last longer frozen.

Short Grain White Rice 25 lbs this can be ground to make sweet rice flour.

Popcorn 25 lbs Can be ground into corn meal or corn flour.

Buckwheat, Amaranth, or Millet 25 lbs

Gluten Free Pasta 25 lbs

Dry Legumes 60 lbs This can include dried peas, beans or lentils.

Powdered Milk 16 lbs Or Dari Free for a dairy free diet.

Sugar/Honey 60 lbs

Cooking Oil 10 quarts

Salt 8 lbs

Water 14 gallons per person regardless of age.

In addition I store:

Nuts

Tapioca and Corn starch 100 lbs each

Xanthan gum (2 lbs per person)

Rice and Almond Milk

Spices

The Plan:

My plan is to take one day every 3 months and grind enough flour for the next 3 months. I will also make up flour mixes, cookie mixes and bread mixes that day. I see myself looking like a mad scientist with flour poufing up all around me! I will keep you posted on how it works!