I have a heavy box full of grains sitting on the floor in the corner of my kitchen. It has been there for almost two weeks, and I really need to finally figure out the best way to store these grains.
From my recent order (which now I hope I didn’t order too much), I received 7.5-pound bags of einkorn, hard wheat (two bags of that), rye, and spelt. Since they arrived here, I’ve just been opening the bags, taking what I need to bake, and then returning them to the box in the corner. It’s a temporary situation that has gone on for too long.
Honestly though, I have been thinking and researching about where to store them properly. This is important so that they last as long as possible – without worrying about bugs, other creatures, or an unsuitable climate threatening their shelf life.
Thinking about the shelf life
From my online searches, the Whole Grains Council advises that the grains I need to store will keep for one to three months on a cool, dry pantry shelf, or longer in the freezer, about two to six months.
We can store refined flour in our pantry for much longer, because the fats have been removed. Whole grains contain fats (along with a ton of nutrients!), so they have a shorter shelf life.
Storing a moderate amount of grains
I’ve seen videos where people show how they store their grains in giant buckets, but I’m not sure I have a need for that kind of volume – especially at this early stage of my fresh flour baking journey.
For example, I don’t foresee buying a five-gallon bucket of wheat grains. (On the other hand, I never imagined myself buying grains to begin with, so..) With that said, I’m not sure I actually have a good concept of how much flour I go through in a week or a month. So, I will need to start paying attention to this, and will adjust my grain shopping quantities accordingly. 🙂
Previously I would just buy a bag of flour and buy another one when it ran out! That’s the extent of planning and thinking regarding flour was for me before.
I think I want a smaller volume of several types of grains, at least for now, so that I can try them out and see what we like the best. I really like spelt, so I might need to stock up more on that.
Freezing?
I have read that freezing your grains will prolong their shelf life. This idea initially struck me as very unusual, but it seems like this could be a good idea. America’s Test Kitchen recommends doing this.
But I do want to have a good amount of grains ready at room temperature for baking when I want to use them, and I’m not sure yet if it’s necessary. Freezing could be an option, although we don’t have a large freezer.
Containers for five-pound bags
So now I’m back to what kind of containers would be best. The bags I have most recently ordered are five-pound bags each. Do I want to store the separate bags all together in one big bin? Or store them separately?
My research has told me that we want to keep out moisture and pests when storing grains, and to keep them in a dark, cool spot. So some kind of bin or jar would work well, as long as there is a tight seal.
I’m thinking a lot about the material – not sure about plastic because of microplastics and just general environmental reasons. Glass could be good if it isn’t too heavy or bulky. Localgrain.org suggests using half-gallon jars. I like the idea of using glass jars because it seems like it could be a low-cost, environmentally friendly solution that can store the grains reasonably well. I watched this video by Grains and Grit, which was very helpful, and she recommended glass jars for this quantity.
My grains storage solution
Now that I’m convinced that I want to store my grains in pretty glass jars, I placed an order online for four jars that are gallon-sized. They’re kind of expensive! If I were on a tight budget, I’d probably buy one at a time, but I’ve decided to go for it and hope this will be my forever solution.
So I ordered four gallon-size jars, and they were actually 20% off, which made me happy. I might need to get a couple extra at some point.
After washing and drying the jars, I began filling them with the grains, and realized that they aren’t quite large enough for an entire 7.5-pound bag. They’re still probably the best size for this quantity, though!
I cut out the labels off the bags and taped them onto the jars. Maybe these are temporary labels until I create some other ones, but for now I think they work! Finally, I cleared out some space in a cabinet right where I make bread. Thinking this will be a good storage space!
It’s a good solution! I’ll just store the small amount of grain that couldn’t fit in the jars, as well as any overstock that I may end up with, together in a bin in the pantry. I’ll reassess this in a couple of months to see how quickly I’m working through the grains, and see if I need to freeze any in the future.
How do you store your grains? What is most important to you in terms of where and how you keep them?
Great idea