# How to properly store Wheat berries?



## FREEDOMprepper1776 (Feb 9, 2021)

I bought wheat berries for making fresh flour & possibly for planting as well. Anyone with experience know the best way to store them? I have a 50 lb bag arriving soon.


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## Nick (Nov 21, 2020)

The best way to store them would be in 5 gallon buckets inside mylar bags with o2 absorbers. You would need 2 buckets for 50#.

You could skip the mylar and just store them directly in the buckets but the mylar would probably give you a longer shef life.


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## FREEDOMprepper1776 (Feb 9, 2021)

Thank you!


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## Kauboy (May 12, 2014)

I would recommend the 5 gallon bucket method as well, but with a specific caveat to the size of the mylar bags.
Let's say you're going to make some bread. You don't need 25lbs. of wheat for that, right?
If you had stored your wheat in 5-6 gallon mylar bags inside of your 5 gallon buckets, you'd have to cut open the large bag, and then worry about resealing it with new O2 absorbers after taking out what you need.
However, if you store your wheat in numerous half or 1 gallon bags, you only need to open up one, and the rest stay sealed and secure.

This method does end up using more bags and more absorbers, but you mitigate potential wastage and reduce the risk of resealing the bag improperly in the future, potentially spoiling what's left.

If you aren't familiar with mylar bags, they are heat-sealable. I use an old hair flat iron my wife doesn't use anymore. It works great.
Drop in the appropriate amount of absorbers for the volume of your bag and contents, squeeze out as much air as you can, and then heat-seal the open end.
It's easiest to seal the mouth of the bag most of the way, leaving just enough room to drop in the absorbers and squeeze out the air, and then you only need to seal up a small portion to finish it off.


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## FREEDOMprepper1776 (Feb 9, 2021)

Thank you for the detailed directions! I'm definitely going to divide up in smaller bags as you said. I can't wait to use fresh flour for the first time.


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## ND_ponyexpress_ (Mar 20, 2016)

best way we have found to do it here


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## Kauboy (May 12, 2014)

FREEDOMprepper1776 said:


> Thank you for the detailed directions! I'm definitely going to divide up in smaller bags as you said. I can't wait to use fresh flour for the first time.


Be sure to note what type of berries create what type of flour. You could end up with hard red wheat and very different flour than expected.
:tango_face_wink:

Good luck!


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## FREEDOMprepper1776 (Feb 9, 2021)

The mylar bags I ordered won't be here before the wheat berries...so now I'm trying to figure out the best way to keep them protected until the mylar bags get here. Would 1/2 gal Ball jars with the screw on lids suffice for now?


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## Nick (Nov 21, 2020)

FREEDOMprepper1776 said:


> The mylar bags I ordered won't be here before the wheat berries...so now I'm trying to figure out the best way to keep them protected until the mylar bags get here. Would 1/2 gal Ball jars with the screw on lids suffice for now?


I wouldn't worry too much about transferring them into anything else yet, unless for some reason you can't get your Mylar bags for like 6 months you'll be fine. I keep most of my lts food in smaller bags but some things that I store a ton of like white rice, beans, wheat berries, etc. go into the big bags and then 5 gallon buckets. I can fit 35 lbs of white rice in a mylar bag in a 5 gallon bucket. If I break it up into one gallon bags I can't get nearly as much in. I do still keep a good supply of those things in smaller bags though.


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## Kauboy (May 12, 2014)

FREEDOMprepper1776 said:


> The mylar bags I ordered won't be here before the wheat berries...so now I'm trying to figure out the best way to keep them protected until the mylar bags get here. Would 1/2 gal Ball jars with the screw on lids suffice for now?


Keep the wheat in whatever container/packaging it arrives in until your mylar, absorbers, and buckets are ready.
We're discussing long-term storage here. Mylar + O2 absorbers + buckets = 25 year shelf life is done right

I guess now is a good time to ask what manner of packaging is the wheat showing up in?

Also, it's not uncommon to order large mylar bags and cut them down to sizes you want to use. You can fold a sheet of the stuff up into a smaller volume and heat seal all the edges to make custom sizes.
Oh, and you'll want to store the unused O2 absorbers in their own new mylar that you've squeezed all the air out of and heat sealed to keep them fresh. Once they are exposed to air, they have a limited absorption capacity, so you want to limit their exposure to open air.


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## Megamom134 (Jan 30, 2021)

I have mine divided into 1#, 2# and 5# mylar bags with o2 absorbers so I don't have to keep opening the entire contents. I store most of my stuff that way, takes up more space maybe but I get the buckets pretty cheap so worth it for me.


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## FREEDOMprepper1776 (Feb 9, 2021)

@Kauboy The wheat berries will be in a bag I believe, so I'm a little worried it'll get wet when they're delivering. I requested it be put into a box to help protect it during shipment, but I never got confirmation they would. Thank you again for your very helpful responses.


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## bigwheel (Sep 22, 2014)

FREEDOMprepper1776 said:


> I bought wheat berries for making fresh flour & possibly for planting as well. Anyone with experience know the best way to store them? I have a 50 lb bag arriving soon.


I didnt realize wheat even had berries. Shows what I know. Watch for mold and weevils. They both require two things to grow which is 02 and moisture. Take away both and light and they should be good a thousand years from now like the wheat in the Pyramids sorta. The Mormons would load it in a five gallon plastic bucket with a lid and set a chunk of dry ice on top and let it sink into the contents and put on the lid right quick that purges the O2 with Co2...then you put the buckets under the bed to hold that up and get rid of you bed frame. Sorta like it says here. 
Storing Wheat Berries - Library


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