Friday, February 18, 2011

EGGS & MILK & GRAINS...The Who, What, Where, When & Why

Source: TheFoodStorageShopper.Net
EGGS and MILK
Some of us are not willing to give up dairy milk and switch to powdered milk completely–I understand! If you were to use just 2 quarts of powdered milk in your cooking a week instead of regular milk - you would save $27.57 a year!
Let’s take that even further - the average price of a gallon in milk in the USA is $3.50 (2009) - if you were to buy 2 gallons of milk a week it would cost $364/year. What if you switched to powdered milk? Since you can get 51/2 gallons from one #10 can of powdered milk - it would cost you just $144/year. That is a savings of $220 over a year!! Not to mention you don’t have to run to the grocery store every time you run out of milk.
Let’s check out powdered eggs. The average cost of a dozen eggs in the USA is $2.20. That means it costs around 19cents/egg. The average #10 can comes with 226 eggs (18 dozen). The cost of a can of powdered eggs is on average $19.99. That makes each egg cost around 9 cents/egg. That is half the cost!
Let’s say you use around a dozen eggs every week. If you were to switch from regular eggs to powdered eggs, you would save $57 every year!! AND you would not have to be the “begging” neighbor every time you realize you are out of eggs - after you started making cookies!

Source: EverydayFoodStorage.Net
Never run out of eggs again! The cans come with an average the equivalent of 226 eggs (18 dozen) in them.
They are cheaper-The average price for powdered eggs is $17.00 which makes a dozen eggs 94 cents!
Very EASY to use. The conversion is 1 T. egg powder + 2 T. water for a medium egg and 2 T. egg powder + 1/4 c. water for an extra large egg. (Remember that there are 16 T. in 1 C. to make multiple egg conversion easier) When baking you do not need to re-hydrate the eggs before adding to your mix, simply add the needed egg powder and needed water to your mix and proceed as your recipe outlines!
My other FAVORITE thing about them is that you can make a 1/2 egg with out the mess. Translation: halfing recipes calling for an odd number of eggs just got a whole lot easier!

GRAINS
You can purchase grains at Grocery Stores, Online, Wholesale Centers, and Home Storage Centers (LDS Canneries).
Here is a small list of wheat suppliers - there are a TON of suppliers - don’t over pay for your wheat. Depending on where you live, you can figure out what is a good price depending on what is available in your area!
Honeyville Grain - they have cheap shipping, and if you are ordering heavy weight items - that is something to factor in! Check out the comments below as well. You can purchase their products for a lot less at their discount stores.
LDS Canneries - The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints have food canneries which are open to the public. You can purchase a variety of food storage items. i.e.: Wheat, Beans, Powdered Dry Milk, Pasta etc. If you are unfamiliar with canneries, please check out this post a comment with your questions I will be happy to walk you through this option.
Costco & Walmarts - in Utah, some Walmart’s and Costco’s are offering 45 lbs prepackaged wheat - it may be worth your while to check it out.
http://www.histakes-spelt.com/wheat.php
Here is a great comment I received - From Ellie in Va.“We are currently awaiting a shipment of wheat that we ordered from Circle S Seeds in Montana. http://www.circlesseeds.com/ We are getting it for $18 for a 50 pound bag including shipping. The only catch is that we had to order 1000 bags to get this price so there are about 80 people going in on the order.” Consider getting a large group together - don’t be afraid to ask for discounts. They can only say no.
If you have a great wheat supplier, please leave a comment letting us know where!
Cost Comparisons
Grain to flour is ounce for ounce. So if you have a #10 can of white hard wheat which had 5.8# it would make 5.8# of wheat flour. To compare cost here, we must compare the cost of whole wheat flour. The average cost of 5 lbs of whole wheat flour around $4.75, you can get 45 lbs of white hard wheat for $20 -$45 dollars depending where you shop. You must factor in the cost of a wheat grinder, however it is well worth it when you compare the price per pound - 95 cents/lb for prepared whole wheat flour - or 55 cents/lb (I used $25 for 45lbs). It is well worth the investment to get a wheat grinder. You also get a lot of great health benefits from eating freshly grinded wheat. Check out foodstoragemadeeasy.com if you have any questions on wheat grinders.
Low Cost or Homemade Options
There are so many ways you can use grains to make your own bread, pasta, desserts etc. I highly recommend buying a wheat grinder and learning about all the different ways you can use wheat flour. It is so delicious and very healthy. There are also a lot of ways you can use wheat berries (cooked wheat grain) as a meat supplement to make your meals go further, and to make them healthier!