Flour for Tomorrow: What to Buy Today and How to Store It

 

Flour is one of those basic foods that's cheap, useful and easy to take for granted—until suddenly everyone wants it at the same time.

We saw that happen during COVID. When people began staying home, many went back to baking their own bread, and flour started disappearing from store shelves. Sales jumped dramatically almost overnight, and stores and suppliers had trouble keeping those little household bags of flour stocked.

For most of us, the reason behind it didn't really matter. What we saw were empty shelves where the flour used to be.

That's one reason I believe flour deserves a place in basic emergency food storage. It's inexpensive, it can be used in countless recipes, and a little flour can go a long way when you're trying to make meals from what you already have.

And there's another lesson I took from that time: don't wait for an emergency to buy the flour—or to learn how to turn it into bread.

What Flour Should You Store?

For most households, all-purpose white flour is the best basic emergency flour.

It's inexpensive and can make bread, biscuits, pancakes, tortillas, flatbreads, dumplings, gravy, muffins and countless other foods. Properly stored white flour can maintain quality for roughly a year at room temperature and considerably longer when refrigerated or frozen.

Bread flour is useful if you regularly bake yeast bread.

Whole-wheat flour is nutritious but has a shorter pantry life because it contains natural oils that can eventually become rancid. Refrigerate or freeze it for longer storage.

Self-rising flour is convenient, but I prefer storing all-purpose flour along with baking powder, baking soda and salt separately. That gives me more flexibility.

A Deep Freezer Can Be Part of Your Food-Storage Plan

One of my favorite ways to protect extra flour and grains is also one of the simplest:

Freeze them.

Package flour in airtight freezer bags or food-safe containers, date it and place it in a deep freezer. Freezing dramatically slows deterioration and also helps protect grain products from pantry pests.

This is actually something I incorporated into my grid-down novel, Miles Apart — Book 2 of the Miles Trilogy.

In the story, flour and grains that had been stored in a deep freezer were still available when the grid went down. I included that because it illustrates a useful preparedness principle:

Food doesn't have to be frozen at the moment the electricity fails for the freezer to have been useful.

If flour has already spent a year or two protected in a freezer, you've essentially kept it from spending those same years aging on a warm pantry shelf.

If a prolonged grid outage occurs and the freezer eventually warms, the flour doesn't suddenly become bad because the electricity is gone. You can remove it, allow it to come to room temperature while still sealed, inspect it and move it into your regular food rotation.

In other words, the freezer has already bought you time.

That makes a deep freezer useful for more than meat and frozen vegetables. It can also be part of a rotating dry-food storage system for flour and other grains.

Affordable deep freezer from Amazon for less than $100, free shipping 

I have personally used the smaller deep freezer for grains, to not only extend shelf life, but to prevent potential pests.  

What About Weevils?

Freezing has another advantage: pest control.

Flour, rice, grains and similar foods can occasionally contain tiny insect eggs or larvae before you even bring the package home.

Freezing susceptible dry foods at about 0°F for several days can kill many common stored-food insects and their eggs.

Afterward, keep flour in tightly sealed food-safe containers. This prevents new pests from entering and keeps an infestation in one product from spreading throughout your pantry.

What If My Flour Has Been Frozen for 1–2 Years?

Don't automatically throw it away.

If flour has remained frozen and properly sealed, remove the amount you need and leave the package closed until the flour reaches room temperature.

This helps prevent condensation from forming on cold flour.

Then check it.

It should be dry, free of insects and mold, and have a mild, neutral smell. If it smells musty, sour, oily or rancid, discard it.

Once long-stored flour comes out of the freezer, I would put it into regular kitchen rotation rather than expecting another several years of room-temperature storage.

Don't Store Flour in a Hot Garage

Heat and moisture are enemies of stored food.

A hot garage, attic or outdoor shed is a poor place for flour, particularly in southern climates.

Remember four words:

Cool. Dry. Dark. Sealed.

An interior pantry or closet is usually a much better choice.

Date your packages and rotate them. Use the oldest flour first and place newly purchased flour behind it.

Want to Store Food for Decades? Think Wheat.

If you're preparing for years rather than months, consider storing whole wheat berries in addition to flour.

Properly packaged wheat can have an optimum storage life of around 25 years under favorable conditions. Once that wheat is ground into flour, its storage life becomes much shorter.

That suggests a practical two-part system:

Flour for now + wheat berries for long-term storage.

Hard white and hard red wheat are particularly useful for bread. But if you're storing wheat for a serious grid-down situation, don't forget one critical piece of equipment:

A manual grain mill.

Electric grain mills aren't much help when there's no electricity.

Flour Isn't Enough—Store What Goes With It

A few inexpensive ingredients can turn flour into dozens of foods.

Keep salt, baking powder, baking soda, yeast, sugar or honey, powdered milk and cooking oil or shortening according to what your household actually eats.

Then learn several recipes requiring very few ingredients.

A simple skillet bread or flatbread may require little more than flour, water, salt and heat. Biscuits and quick breads don't require yeast.

That's exactly the kind of cooking knowledge that becomes valuable when electricity, transportation or grocery supplies are disrupted.

Buy Today for Tomorrow—Don't Wait for the Crowds

You don't need fifty pounds of flour tomorrow.

Build your supply gradually.

If you're already buying one five-pound bag, buy an extra bag for storage. Freeze some. Keep some in your working pantry. Date everything and continually rotate the oldest into your kitchen.

If you're preparing for longer emergencies, add properly stored wheat berries and a manual grinder.

COVID demonstrated how quickly an ordinary staple could disappear when millions of people suddenly wanted the same product.

So don't wait for empty shelves.

Buy what you eat. Store what you buy. Rotate it. Learn how to use it.

What Is the Best Cornmeal for Long-Term Food Storage?

How We Store Coffee for Long-Term Preparedness and Rising Prices

FOODS THAT NEVER EXPIRE: What You Can Safely Store for Decades

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No Oven, No Yeast, No Problem: The Simplest Skillet Bread You Can Make

 

Emergency 3-Ingredient Skillet Bread

When the bread is gone, the power is out, or you're down to the basics in the pantry, you can still make something warm and bread-like with flour, water and salt.

Ingredients

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• ¾ teaspoon salt
• About ¾ cup water
• 1 tablespoon oil, butter, shortening, lard or bacon grease — optional

Directions

1. Mix the flour and salt in a bowl.
2. Slowly add water until the mixture forms a soft, workable dough. Add the optional fat if you have it.
3. Knead with your hands for about 1–2 minutes.
4. Divide into 6–8 pieces.
5. Flatten each piece into a thin round, about ⅛–¼ inch thick. A rolling pin isn't necessary—your hands work just fine.
6. Heat a cast-iron skillet over medium heat. The pan can be dry or very lightly greased.
7. Cook each bread for about 1–2 minutes per side, until cooked through with browned spots.
8. Stack the finished breads under a clean towel if you want them to remain softer and easier to fold.

Cooking Off Grid

No electricity? That's the point.

Cook these on a gas stove, outdoor grill, camp stove, woodstove, or cast-iron skillet over a campfire. When cooking over a fire, use a bed of hot coals rather than tall flames so the bread cooks instead of scorching.

The Bare-Pantry Version (half the recipe) 

If you're down to almost nothing, use:

• 1 cup flour
• ⅓ to ½ cup water
• Pinch of salt

***This skillet bread is a huge WIN for me. I tossed together 1 cup of flour, and was able to make my flat bread in less than 5 minutes! Best of all, the bread was delicious. I Enjoyed a breakfast "taco" of scrambled eggs and the bread held things together beautifully. During a grid down, this is my top favorite bread to put together. 

Half the recipe for Skillet Bread + added my optional 1 tsp oil 

Cooking stove top in iron skillet 

Took less than 5 minutes to mix, knead and cook bread

---

When You're Out of Bread, You're Not Necessarily Out of Bread

One thing many of us learned during the COVID-19 pandemic was just how quickly ordinary foods could disappear from grocery-store shelves. Bread and baking staples were among the products affected by the sudden surge in at-home eating and baking.

It was a good reminder of something I've come to appreciate about preparedness:

Knowing how to make food can be just as important as storing food.

---

Bread Has Been Survival Food for Thousands of Years

There is nothing particularly modern about making bread this way.

Archaeologists have found bread-like remains at a hunter-gatherer site in what is now Jordan dating back about 14,400 years—thousands of years before agriculture became established. Researchers believe some of those early breads were made from ground wild grains and other plants, mixed with water and cooked on a hot surface or in the ashes of a fire.

That's about as basic as cooking gets:

Grain. Water. Heat. Food.

My travels have also made me realize just how important bread remains in everyday life around the world.

Cairo, Egypt

Photo of bread from the roadside in Cairo - March 2010

While traveling in Cairo, I photographed simple round breads being sold along the street. Egypt has a long bread tradition, including aish baladi, the country's familiar everyday flatbread.

Jerusalem

Street vender selling fresh bread in Jerusalem - March 2010

In Jerusalem, I photographed a vendor selling stacks of sesame bread from a street cart. The bread appears to be ka'ak al-Quds, commonly called Jerusalem sesame bread or a Jerusalem bagel.

It's a yeasted, baked bread rather than our emergency skillet bread, but once again bread was inexpensive, portable everyday food.

Pita in Israel

Restaurant in Eilat, Israel - March 2010

At meals in Israel, we ate pita with hummus, vegetables, meat and other foods.

Pita demonstrates just how useful a simple bread can be. Tear it apart for dipping, stuff it with food, or use it to hold an entire meal.

Simit in Istanbul

Street vendor in Istanbul - October, 2017

And in Istanbul, Turkey, I photographed carts piled high with simit, the distinctive sesame-covered ring bread that has been part of Istanbul's street-food culture for centuries.

Simit requires more ingredients and preparation than our emergency flatbread, but the lesson is the same: bread is simple, portable food that people around the world have adapted to their own ingredients and cooking traditions.

---

What Can I Do With Emergency Skillet Bread?

Make it thin and flexible and use it almost like a tortilla. Fill it with beans and rice, scrambled eggs, potatoes, leftover meat, cheese or vegetables and roll it into a burrito-style meal.

Use two smaller pieces for a sandwich, or fold one around tuna, peanut butter and jelly, cheese, eggs or whatever else you have.

Tear it into pieces and eat it alongside beans, soup, chili or stew. Use it for dipping. Spread it with butter, honey, jam or molasses. Sprinkle a warm piece with cinnamon and sugar for something sweet.

You can even use a piece as the base for a quick skillet pizza if you happen to have sauce and cheese.

That's what makes this such a useful preparedness recipe. The bread becomes whatever the meal needs it to be.

Experimenting with skillet bread. Add spices, top with cheese... 

Instant Bread!

Whether the power is out, the stores are picked over, you're cooking outdoors, or you've simply run out of bread before grocery day, this is one of those recipes worth knowing by heart.

Because when supplies are limited, simple food skills give us options.

And sometimes a warm piece of homemade bread can make an emergency meal feel a whole lot more like a regular meal.

How to Make Hardtack: The Survival Cracker That Lasts for Years

Old-Fashioned White Bread Made Easy in a Bread Machine

How to Make Johnny Cakes: Simple Cornmeal Bread for Hard Times

Johnny cakes are one of those old-fashioned foods that make sense for a preparedness pantry. They are simple, use basic ingredients and can be cooked in a skillet without an oven.

If you already store cornmeal, this is one of the easiest ways to turn it into a hot bread.

Simple Johnny Cake Recipe

You only need a few ingredients.

1 cup cornmeal
½ teaspoon salt
About ¾ cup boiling water
A little oil, shortening or other cooking fat

Place the cornmeal and salt in a bowl. Slowly add the hot water and stir. Add just enough water to make a thick mixture that will hold together.

Let it cool for a few minutes. Heat a lightly greased cast-iron skillet or griddle.

Shape the cornmeal mixture into small, thin cakes. Cook until the bottom is browned and firm. Flip carefully and cook the other side.

Grid-Down Tip: If conserving cooking fuel, you don't have to heat water separately. Mix the cornmeal with room-temperature water and let it rest for about 15–20 minutes before cooking. Coarser cornmeal may need a little longer to soften.

Only 3 ingredients - cornmeal, water, salt 

Why Johnny Cakes Work for Food Storage

The biggest advantage is the ingredient list. Cornmeal stores easily compared with many fresh foods. Salt stores well. Water is basic. Cooking oil or shortening is useful to keep in a preparedness pantry anyway.

There is no yeast to worry about. There are no eggs or milk required in the basic version. You do not need an electric mixer or conventional oven.

That makes johnny cakes useful during a power outage, while camping or anytime you are trying to cook from stored foods. A cast-iron skillet can be used on a regular stove, camp stove or open flame. 

Degerminated cornmeal for long term food storage

What Kind of Cornmeal Should You Keep?

For regular pantry storage, I like plain degerminated cornmeal. It generally stores better than whole-grain cornmeal because much of the oily germ has been removed.

I recently wrote a separate article about choosing cornmeal for food storage, how I store it and why I look for the word degerminated or degermed on the package.

What Is the Best Cornmeal for Long-Term Food Storage?

I prefer to store plain cornmeal rather than self-rising cornmeal. Plain cornmeal gives you more options. You can use it for johnny cakes, cornbread, cornmeal mush, breading and other simple recipes.

Just added room temp water - Off grid method

Pan fry in your choice of oil. I drop spoon full into pan then 
press with spatula. Then flip over when browned. 

I added some honey to a few cakes. My favorite! 

A Little History Behind Johnny Cakes

Johnny cakes have been made in America for generations. The exact recipes changed from place to place. Some versions were very simple. Others included milk, sugar, eggs or other ingredients.

Corn was an important food in North America long before European settlement. Indigenous peoples had been growing and preparing maize for thousands of years.

As corn became part of colonial cooking, simple cornmeal breads became common in many areas. Johnny cakes became especially associated with New England and Rhode Island.

By the late 1700s, johnny cakes were appearing in American cookbooks. Cornmeal was filling and could be turned into bread without a complicated baking process.

Simple corn breads also became important in other parts of the country. During difficult times, including war and frontier life, people often relied on cornmeal when wheat flour was not readily available.

That is one reason there are so many names for old cornmeal breads. You may see terms such as johnny cakes, hoecakes, corn pone or corn dodgers. They were not always exactly the same recipe, but they came from the same practical idea: use the grain you have and turn it into food.

Johnny Cakes Are Different From Hardtack

Hardtack is meant to be dried and stored. Johnny cakes are not.

I would not make a large batch of johnny cakes and try to keep them for months. Instead, I would store the cornmeal and make the cakes when I needed them.

That is what makes this recipe useful for preparedness. You are storing the ingredient, not the finished bread. When you are ready to eat, add water and cook.

Instant cornbread in a pinch!

Why I Like Recipes Like This

I do not expect to cook every meal like someone living two hundred years ago. But I like knowing what I can make from a few basic ingredients.

Best of all, during a grid down, this meal is easy to toss together. Just let cornmeal sit in water to soften - then plop in hot skillet or over an open flame in iron skillet. (the term, Hoe Cakes came from the idea people used the flat back of a hoe to heat these cakes over an open fire) 

What Is the Best Cornmeal for Long-Term Food Storage?

How to Make Hardtack: The Survival Cracker That Lasts for Years

Dutch oven: How to Bake Biscuits in a Cast Iron Dutch Oven Over a Campfire

FOODS THAT NEVER EXPIRE: What You Can Safely Store for Decades

When the Water Suddenly Stopped: What a Broken Pipe Taught Us About Preparedness

 

Last month, we were suddenly reminded just how important preparedness can be when our water stopped running.

Literally.

One minute we had running water, and the next it was gone. Not even a drop.

At first, I went outside to see if perhaps a city utility truck was nearby and the water had temporarily been shut off. Instead, to our dismay, I noticed a trail of water coming from the side of our house and rolling down the street!

We had another water leak. My heart plummeted. 

We'd dealt with a broken water line a few years earlier, so this wasn't entirely unfamiliar territory. With the Texas heat, drought and shifting ground, broken water lines are something we've seen more than once in our neighborhood.

And, of course, it happened on a Friday afternoon, with the weekend looming and the possibility of higher plumbing costs right along with it.

After calling several plumbers, we finally found one who agreed to come out that evening. Unfortunately, we were told the actual work wouldn't begin until Saturday. The plumber estimated it could cost approximately $700 to $900 just to dig down and locate the leak, depending on how much digging was required.

That didn't include repairing the pipe.

I questioned him again.

"$700 to $900 just to dig?" My brain tried to calculate how much the total could be. $1500 or $2000? 

He nodded. 

I told him I'd think about it and let him know whether we wanted to keep the Saturday morning appointment.

Pipe located

Maybe I Could Dig It Myself

The timing was almost comical.

Earlier that very day, I had been online registering for archaeology and anthropology classes at my local college. Archaeology has been a lifelong interest of mine, and I've participated in excavations before. I've also been thinking about how important it is for me to stay active and in good physical condition if I want to continue doing fieldwork.

Archaeological excavations can involve a lot of walking, hiking, bending, lifting and, of course, digging.

So after hearing that someone wanted $700 to $900 just to dig a hole, something occurred to me.

Wasn't I just thinking about how I needed to stay in shape so I could dig again?

The water had already been shut off at the main, so I grabbed a hoe and started carefully working away at the soil.

Before long, I felt the pipe.

Based on our previous repair, I suspected the new leak might be somewhere near the same area. I didn't want to turn the water back on and soak the ground again just to confirm it, so I stopped for the evening and allowed the area to dry.

The following morning, I went back to work on the hole.

My husband was still recuperating from a recent medical procedure, but he came outside and helped as much as he could. Sure enough, we located the pipe and cleared the dirt away from it so a plumber could easily access the damaged section.

From what we could see, it appeared that a connection had pulled apart. The shifting ground may have placed enough pressure on the line that the pipe needed a little additional length before it could be properly reconnected.

I took a photograph and texted it to another plumber. I didn't call back the first plumber as I felt they were overpriced. 

He agreed to come out on Sunday and repair it. Because we had already located and exposed the pipe and agreed to refill the hole ourselves afterward, he agreed to have it repaired for $450. 

We had turned an expensive emergency into something much more manageable simply by doing the part of the job we were capable of doing ourselves.

I buy my 5 gallon jugs at grocery stores and keep filled for emergencies 

Our Stored Water Bought Us Time

There was another important part of this experience that had nothing to do with plumbing.

We weren't panicking about not having running water.

We already had water stored.

We kept containers of water available for flushing the toilets. We placed a bowl of water in the sink for basic hand rinsing and cleaning. Most importantly, our Berkey water filter was already filled, giving us drinking water while the household water remained shut off. (In a true grid down situation, we wouldn't waste water on toilet flushing...)

That stored water did more than provide something to drink.

It bought us time.

Because we could function without running water for a couple of days, we didn't feel forced to accept the first expensive option simply because someone could get the water running sooner.

That may have been the biggest preparedness lesson of the entire experience.

Located! Didn't even need to turn on water to double check. 

Preparedness Can Keep an Emergency From Becoming a Financial Emergency

I came away from this experience looking at household preparedness a little differently.

Emergency supplies aren't useful only during hurricanes, tornadoes, power outages or some major national disaster. Sometimes the "disaster" is simply a broken pipe on a Friday afternoon.

Having water stored meant we could wait. Having some emergency money available meant the $450 repair didn't have to become another crisis. Doing some of the physical work ourselves reduced the amount of professional labor we needed to pay for.

And perhaps most importantly, we didn't panic. We were annoyed and inconvenienced, but at least we could manage. 

We also trusted what we already knew about our house. The first plumber made it sound as though they might need to excavate a considerable distance along the water line before locating the problem. Based on our previous experience, we suspected where the leak was likely to be.

We dug there first.

And we found it.

Texted plumber this photo - Pipe (purple edge) completely detached 

I'm not saying homeowners should start digging up pipes or attempting repairs they aren't qualified to make. There are plenty of jobs I wouldn't attempt myself. Electrical work, complicated plumbing repairs and anything that could create a serious safety hazard are situations where I want someone who knows exactly what they're doing.

But I learned something else that I'll remember the next time we have to call someone for a home repair:

Ask questions.

Before automatically paying for every part of a job, I can ask the contractor what needs to be done before the repair begins. Is there preparation we can safely do ourselves? Can we move furniture, remove materials, expose an accessible area or handle the cleanup afterward?

Sometimes the answer will be no.

But sometimes there may be several hundred dollars worth of labor that we're perfectly capable of doing ourselves.  I asked the plumber how much we saved doing the actual digging/locating ourself. He said we saved ourselves $500! 

Our broken water pipe was certainly inconvenient. But in the end, it reinforced something I've come to believe more and more:

Even though we didn't "earn" $500, I'm reminded of the quote: A PENNY SAVED IS A PENNY EARNED! 

Pipe fixed! 

Preparedness isn't always about preparing for the worst thing that could happen. Sometimes it's simply about being prepared enough that an ordinary emergency doesn't force you into an expensive decision.

If the Water Stops Flowing: Simple Ways to Prepare Your Home for a Grid or Cyber Attack

The Most Important Prep You Can Never Lose

What Is the Best Cornmeal for Long-Term Food Storage?

 

Cornmeal is one of those inexpensive foods that I think deserves a place in a well-stocked pantry. It can be used to make cornbread, corn cakes, breading, hot cereal and some very simple old-fashioned breads that require little more than cornmeal and water.

But if you are buying cornmeal specifically for food storage, not all cornmeal is the same.

Look for Degerminated Cornmeal

For the average household, one of the easiest choices for storage is plain degerminated cornmeal.

When shopping, look on the package for the words “degerminated” or “degermed.” Yellow or white is fine. I generally prefer yellow cornmeal, but the color isn't what makes the difference for storage.

The important word is degerminated.

The germ of the corn contains natural oils. Those oils are nutritious, but they can eventually become rancid. Degerminated cornmeal has had most of the germ removed during processing, making it better suited for keeping in the pantry than traditional whole-grain or stone-ground cornmeal.

Stone-ground and whole-grain cornmeal are wonderful for cooking, but if my purpose were putting inexpensive cornmeal away for emergencies, I would choose degerminated cornmeal.

I would also buy plain cornmeal rather than self-rising cornmeal mix. Self-rising products contain additional ingredients such as leavening and salt. Plain cornmeal is much more versatile because I can decide what to add when I actually use it.

Degerminated Cornmeal for Food Storage 

What Should I Look for at the Grocery Store?

You don't necessarily need expensive emergency-food cornmeal. Check the regular baking aisle at Walmart, Target or your local grocery store.

One easy example is Quaker Yellow Enriched and Degerminated Corn Meal. Another is Shawnee Best Yellow Degerminated Enriched Corn Meal.

Brands and packaging change, so rather than shopping by brand name alone, I would read the package. The words I am looking for are:

Plain Yellow or White Cornmeal — Degerminated or Degermed

I would avoid buying a large amount of stone-ground or whole-grain cornmeal if my primary purpose were long-term emergency storage.

Cornmeal can be kept in an airtight mason jar for up to 1 year 

How I Would Store Cornmeal

Cornmeal should be protected from heat, moisture, insects and air. For normal pantry use, I would transfer it into a good airtight food-storage container and keep it in the coolest, darkest part of the pantry.

For cornmeal I want to keep longer, I prefer the freezer.

I would place the unopened cornmeal package inside a heavy freezer bag or other moisture-proof container, remove as much excess air as practical, seal it and label it with the date. This also provides additional protection against pantry insects.

Freezing does not turn cornmeal into a perishable food. If the electricity goes out, previously frozen dry cornmeal does not suddenly have to be thrown away.

There is, however, one important rule when taking cornmeal from the freezer.

Do not open the container while the cornmeal is still cold.

Take the sealed container or freezer bag out and allow the entire package to gradually reach room temperature while it remains sealed. Opening cold cornmeal in a warm or humid kitchen can allow condensation to form. Moisture is exactly what we don't want getting into food intended for storage.

Once the cornmeal has completely reached room temperature, I can open it and transfer it to an airtight pantry container if necessary.

Popcorn can be ground into meal if needed 

What About Really Long-Term Storage?

If I wanted to store corn for many years rather than simply maintain a rotating supply of cornmeal, I would take a different approach.

I would store whole dried corn intended for human consumption and keep a manual grain mill with it.

Whole grain keeps its protective outer structure intact until it is needed. Instead of trying to preserve already-ground cornmeal indefinitely, I can grind a small amount of corn into fresh meal as I need it.

Whole dried corn suitable for grinding can be purchased from bulk-food suppliers, preparedness-food companies, some Amish or Mennonite bulk-food stores, grain suppliers and online retailers. Make sure it is food-grade corn intended for human consumption, rather than treated seed corn or livestock feed.

A hand-operated grain mill is particularly useful for emergency storage because it doesn't require electricity. Whole corn is also quite hard, so I would make sure any mill I purchased specifically states that it is capable of grinding dried corn.

For most households, though, there is no reason to make this complicated.

Marked date for cornmeal for rotation

Keep several packages of plain degerminated cornmeal in rotation, protect them from heat and moisture, freeze extra packages when practical, and replace what you use.

Cornmeal is inexpensive, familiar and remarkably versatile—and in my next article I'll go back in history and show just how simple a meal could become when our ancestors combined cornmeal, water and a hot skillet.

__________________________________

An electric grain mill I used to use but gifted to my mother (it was loud to run, but very effective!) 

Kitchen Mill - Electric Grain Mill - High Speed

My preferred type of hand crank grain mill (my favorite gadgets require no electricity) As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

Estrella Cast Iron Manual Corn Grinder

Some of the best cookies with Native American history made from cornmeal

Cherokee Cornmeal Cookies: An Old-Fashioned Recipe Inspired by Early Cherokee Cooking

Backyard Chickens: Are They Worth It? Eggs, Food Security & the Cost of Raising Your Own

 

Backyard Chickens 

Are Backyard Chickens Worth It?

With egg prices, shortages, and recalls making headlines from time to time, backyard chickens start looking pretty appealing. But are they really worth the trouble—and do they actually save money?

I grew up around chickens, and I've raised my own backyard chickens several times over the years. I've only rehomed my flocks when travel made keeping them impractical, and every time I've had chickens, I've enjoyed having them.

The biggest benefit?

I never ran out of eggs.

We ate fresh eggs every day, and sometimes I had more eggs than we knew what to do with.

Fresh Eggs

Getting Started Doesn't Have to Be Expensive

You really don't need a fancy setup to raise chicks.

I've started chicks right in my kitchen using a dog crate, along with inexpensive feeders and waterers purchased at Tractor Supply. You'll also need appropriate chick feed and, when they're young, a safe source of warmth.

I've even ordered chicks through the mail. Yes, live baby chicks can actually arrive at your local post office!

Baby Chick in kitchen box

Once they're old enough to move outside, you'll need a secure coop and enclosed area.

Because I live within city limits, I've never wanted my chickens roaming freely.  I supplemented their regular chicken feed and scratch with table scraps and weeds. 

I'd even gather suitable greens and plants, including chickweed and other vegetation growing nearby or from the park, to give them some variety.

They loved it.

My compost bin, however, did not.

Once I had chickens, it seemed like almost every kitchen scrap that would normally have gone into the compost suddenly went to the hens instead.

Box and leaves for their nest. Used a simple office lamp for heat. 

Did Backyard Chickens Save Me Money?

Maybe. 

After factoring in feed and supplies, I think I roughly broke even.

If your only goal is obtaining the cheapest possible dozen eggs, backyard chickens may disappoint you. Feed costs money, caregiving is a daily requirement, and hens don't produce the same number of eggs throughout their entire lives. If you live on acreage, there are other ways to supplement and replace their feed. 

But farming my own eggs wasn't the only reason. 

I knew where my eggs came from.

I had fresh eggs practically every day.

I could turn many of our kitchen scraps into eggs instead of waste.

And most importantly from a preparedness standpoint, I wasn't completely dependent on the grocery store for eggs. Or worried about recalls and shortages. 

That has value too.

Overwhelmed with eggs 

Before You Buy Your First Chicks

Getting started can be surprisingly simple but check your local rules first.

Find out:

• How many hens you're allowed to keep.
• Whether roosters are permitted.
• How far the coop must be from neighboring homes or property lines.
• Whether your HOA has additional restrictions.

And don't underestimate predators.

Keeping the girls extra safe during the day

Chickens need a secure place to be locked up every night.

Raccoons, foxes, coyotes, opossums, snakes, dogs, and other animals can turn an unsecured backyard flock into a disaster surprisingly quickly.

table scraps - nothing wasted! 

So, Are Backyard Chickens Worth It?

For me, yes.

Not because they saved me a fortune.

They didn't.

They were worth it because we had fresh eggs every day, fewer kitchen scraps going to waste, and one more small piece of our food supply coming directly from our own backyard.

There's also something satisfying about walking outside in the morning and finding breakfast waiting for you. Sometimes from your opened window, you might even hear your breakfast being made! 

Chicks in the City: Chicks in the Kitchen: Raising Baby Chickens Indoors

Good Morning to You too: When Our Hen Turned Out to Be a Rooster

Brooding for More: Frizzle Cochin Bantam Chicks Join the Coop