Flour is another prepper and homesteading staple. From making biscuits to bread to cakes and pastries the uses of flour seem to never end. With this in mind let’s take a look at how to store flour for safe, long term storage.
What I usually do when I bring flour home is put in in my main Tupperware container for flour. This is the flour that I use regularly so it is not being stored for a long period of time.
When I but flour to put away for future use I start by putting it in the oven at around 225 degrees for 10-12 hours to kill any possible insects or insect eggs. I know that sounds pretty gross but it does happen that bugs get in the flour while it is in warehouses, on trucks being delivered or even on the grocery store shelves.
Once I take it out of the oven and let it cool down to room temperature it is ready to go to long term storage.
I generally store flour in 1 gallon Mylar bags and add one 300cc oxygen absorber per bag. I do put multiple bags of flour in to a food grade 5 gallon bucket. Since the flour is in a Mylar bag you can store it in a non-food grade bucket if you want. I just prefer to always use food grade buckets.
I label the Mylar bag with the contents and also the date that I bagged it. This helps me to always use the oldest product first.
I usually use a regular lid on the 5 gallon buckets when I seal them up and then swap that lid for a Gamma lid once I open the bucket. This makes it easier to identify which bucket to pull additional product from as well as making it easier to open and reseal the bucket as needed.
Here’s a video from Prepare Every Needful Thing showing a great way to store flour long term.
Another option is to store wheat berries either in a food grade 5 gallon bucket or in Mylar bags and then put the bags in the food grade buckets. I currently am storing Hard Red Wheat Berries and Soft White Wheat Berries this way. I also have some Hard Red Berries that I purchased from the LDS store in #10 cans for long term storage.
