Whole wheat flours are generally good for 4-6 months. How they are stored makes a lot of difference. In your pantry, I wouldn't use it if it's been there much longer than a couple months and I'd check for bugs/eggs before using. Since whole wheat flour is made using the entire grain, it retains some essential oils from the grain and these will degrade over time and develop a rancid smell. I freeze all my flours except for small quantities kept in the kitchen that will be used within 2-4 weeks.

Flours can also be stored sealed in #10 cans that will last for years but, I'm assuming, that's more info than you're looking for. :)

/tricia

If it smells bad - throw it out. You can usually tell if it has gone rancid. I am kind of wondering why you never used it. I keep WW flour at easy reach and use it way before it has time to go bad. I keep specialty flours in the freezer, such as VWG, semolina, rye, etc. even though I use these quite frequently as well, now that I am baking all of my bread. I also keep cornmeal in the freezer, but not grits, as I go through grits rather quickly.

When buying something like flour, always check the sell-by date and store accordingly. If it will go bad before you think you will use it up, store it in the freezer.

If something has gone rancid, it has lost all of its value, despite what it cost originally.

Lars

Ironically, wheat berries (the whole grain) have an extremely long shelf-life (30-years+) at room temperature (or colder), but once the bran is cracked/destroyed during milling, the resulting whole wheat flour begins to degrade within 3-hours of milling from exposure to oxygen, and it really should be stored in the freezer. Freezing it will slow the oils from going rancid, but won't prevent it entirely because it's still exposed to oxygen.

This is true of all seeds with a bran/germ/endosperm, and is why milling your own grains/seeds/beans is the ONLY way to get the freshest flour, and highest in nutrition possible.

As a long time home-miller, I'd put it in the trash because any valuable nutrition has long since degraded, and the oils have been exposed to oxygen for far too long to be anything but a toxic free-radical, which is damaging to your body. Rancid oils don't have to smell rancid to BE rancid. If they get to the point of smelling, an acidic kind of smell, they have been rancid for a long time.

Fresh is best...... -Grainlady

I opened the flour, took a wiff and in the trash it went!

Lars, I purchased the flour for a new bread recipe the specifically called for it. The weather turned hot, then some unexpected family stuff came up, and I never got the bread made. I guess it just got pushed to the back of the shelf. Since our weather has turned cold, the urge to bake bread has hit. I remembered I still hadn't tried that new bread recipe.....and remembered that I had bought the flour. I guess I will be buying some new flour, and paying more attention to how it's stored and shelf life.

Thanks, Janice

King Arthur whole wheat flour is given a date one year from the date of milling. I try to buy it only when it's been very recently milled, and then I refrigerate it.

As an advocate for home milling, and something I'd encourage over buying commercial whole grain flours, "recently milled" really doesn't cut it if you want the highest amount of nutrition possible, and I'm assuming that's the goal when choosing whole wheat flour over bleached/unbleached flour with the bran and germ removed.

In fact, I'd suggest using bleached/unbleached flour and adding fiber and nutrition with flaxmeal and/or ground chia seeds (freshly-mill your own in a coffee/spice mill) over using commercial whole wheat flour. Other than the fiber from the bran, all you are purchasing is degraded vitamins and minerals, and rancid oils.

Some brands of whole wheat flour are nothing more than "white" flour with some of the bran raked back into it to make it look like whole wheat flour, and to extend the shelf-life because the germ has been removed. The oil in the germ goes rancid in a relatively short amount of time. King Arthur, Hodgson Mills and Wheat Montana are brands that DO use the entire grain.

King Arthur White Whole Wheat Flour for this region is milled at a stone mill just outside of town, and in years past (before going wheat-free this year) I purchased the same wheat they used for King Arthur ($20 for 50# - which mills into 50# of flour). At the Extension Office we did a taste test using freshly-milled flour with wheat from that mill and a bag of KA White Whole Wheat Flour from the local grocery store. The store-bought flour tasted "dusty" and old, and more acidic than freshly-milled due to the oils changing from exposure to oxygen (actually, it's just going rancid).

Even if the flour were frozen after it was milled and sold in the freeze case, instead of warehoused and shelved at a wide variety of temperatures, there's a huge nutritional loss due to exposure to oxygen.

For the most nutrition possible, mill and bake within a 3-hour period. If I had freshly-milled flour left I would freeze it and use it within a week of milling to get as much of the 25 vitamins, minerals and proteins possible. Flour that has been warehoused and shelved for many months have lost most of their B Complex and C vitamins.

Fresh is best.......

-Grainlady

Havng surplus berries and peaches that had been in the freezer since 2009 I decided last spring to make bisquits and cobler thereby systematically cleaning out the freezer (now updated to early 2010). Hadn't done bisquits in a while. Wasn't sure how long really. I make em separate that way there's no crust to punch thru creating a high speed purple jet.........

Well anyway it had evidently been quite a while as the Use By Date on the baking powder was 3 years old so the can was at least 5 YO. It was solid in the can and took some digging. The flour was at least that old. Thankfully it was pure bleached flour (no food value) and therefore safe to use. Also had some self rising flour circa 2001.

Cake flour in a couple boxes from God knows when. It was best used by 2009 & 2010 so it musta been a couple years older than that becuase my wife was still cooking then and had quit making cakes. Still have that - going to doctor it up and make bisquits again one of these days. Soon as I get time.

Anyway the bisquits came out somewhat flatter than I remembered and tasted maybe a tad bit off but mixt with cobler and or butter and coffee was really superb. Uh, I grew up in boarding school and anything tastes good or more to the point I eat whatever is on the plate whether it tastes good or not. I splurged for some new flour and powder and the taste improved.

I think.

mxyplx, I don't think you'll be happier with biscuits from cake flour. Cake flour is delicate and doesn't have the gluten that all purpose has, although I've seen recipes that take a mixture of both. I do think that some fresh baking powder is going to improve your biscuits, though.

Put enough butter on it, and nearly anything is edible, I think. (grin) Add some peaches and sugar and it becomes even better.

I think the self rising flour has lost it's "rise" by now, but as long as you don't find bugs in the flour, it's usable, I guess. Actually, you could probably even sieve out the bugs and make it OK.....

Not good, you understand, but safe to use.

Annie

Old flour makes horrible baked goods - period. Even stored in the freezer, its maximum storage life is about 2-years, and 1-year at room temperature - with the exception of whole grain flours, which have a shorter shelf-life.

As a foods judge at Fairs, old flour is one of the reasons for many of the poor baking characteristics and it's why we teach 4-H children to always use the freshest ingredients available when judging is involved.

It's also wise NOT to mix old flour and new flour. New flour won't improve the baking qualities of old flour.

But all is not lost.... I use bleached all-purpose flour in my gardens as a bug repellant, so that's a good use for old flour.

-Grainlady

Here is a link that might be useful: Flour as a bug repellant.

Grainlady, I have thought about getting a mill and buying berries, but I am feeding just one person, my house is quite small and storage is very limited. I have not basement and my tiny pantry is stuffed with home canned goods, sweet potatoes, winter squash,etc., and the fridge pretty full of fermented veggies along with the regular fridge inhabitants. I just don't know where I'd store a mill and a bag of wheat berries. I do the best I can by buying King Arthur, though I know it's not the best solution.

I can buy locally raised and stone ground cornmeal that has been refrigerated from the time it's ground.

Our society is simply not designed to maximise food quality.

Lots of little tricks for small spaces. A 15dollar spice grinder does and amazing job for small quantities. And SO fresh. One spice grinder and a few smaller packages of various wheat berries and seeds takes up the same space as one bag of flour. I don't stock regular sugar but honey and maple sugar and a coconut sugar, but i have a small container of those 'individuals' from the coffee shop. (no i did not stuff them in my purse like a granny, they are constantly being thrown out at work) I have them for house guests...but i needed powdered sugar recently and just spice ground a few of those with a bit of cornstarch.
A spice grinder will even make rice flour but does not do well with beans really.
Great for flax seed. Buckwheat, millet, oats, etc. Fresh is so much better.
Once the bran on any grain/seed is cracked, the oils in it begin to oxidize and go rancid.

A spice grinder is a good place to start. I've been making a mixed grain and seed cracker recently and just need small amounts. A spice grinder does a 1/2 cup in seconds or just a minute depending on the grain/seed.

-check baking soda and baking powder BEFORE mixing if in doubt.
Powder in warm water, soda with vinegar. Just a tsp. They both will bubble if still active.

Well I googled >>milling yer own flour>cleaning yer Flour Mill> Where to keep the Damn thingEvery mill is pleasure to clean. Easy. Few minutes. Nuthin too it. If they clog why that's no problem Ay Tall - just disassemble em and clean em out. Very simple. From this I suspect every machine has only 1 or 2 feather weight parts that can be just snapt apart and together by a 93 YO 86 lb grandma with 20-20 vision.

It wasn't made clear to me if you clun em under a faucet, in a tub of water or with an air hose. I favor the air hose since I have a compressor and a toxic face mask. Seems to me the water would produce a gooy mess. I could blow out the bleached flour over the garden........guess I could plant one.
===============

Seriously 50 yeas ago I and my 1st wife were into all the things you all mention. Our kids were seldom sick and not too seriously and recovered quickly with all the good stuff we pumped into em mostly to the doc's consternation. Anymore tho it's too much.

This post was edited by mxyplx on Fri, Nov 15, 13 at 10:11

laceyvail-

It sounds like you have done an excellent job maximizing the space available - no small feat (pun intended :-). We live in a 1,372 sq. ft. home, but the basement makes a big difference compared to your space challenges.

My mills (and I have a number of them) would be a priority - even if I had to stash them behind the sofa or a chair along with buckets or #10 cans of grains/seeds/beans, but this is how we've lived for 43-years of marriage.

There's a great little book by Cindi Van Bibber "No Wheat Grinder Wheat Recipes". The recipes are made with cooked wheat "base" and you blend it in a high-speed blender (see link below) to make things like cakes, cookies, breads/cereals, main dishes, meat dishes, desserts, salads and side dishes. But that's another appliance there may not be space for in a small abode. But if you have a Vitamix, it can be used to grind grain into flour, and used to make coconut milk or nut milk. I use the pulp left from making coconut milk to make coconut flour and the pulp from almond milk to make almond flour for making gluten-free baked goods. Even a small coffee/spice mill can be used to mill grain, especially the softer grains.

When I do Home Food Storage Classes, we always have lively discussions about where to find storage space for enough food for a year. Having lived in a 2-bedroom, 10'X50' mobile home when we were first married and had our first child, I was able to accumulate 6-months worth of food (so we were never "starving" college students), and I learned how to maximize space. Our best friends were Mormons and they taught us the value of food storage - which paid dividends over the years.

Creative solutions:
-Shallow shelves up the backs and sides of closets, or the space next to the doors on the inside (wide enough for canned goods).

-Raising all beds to accommodate storage underneath.

-Making a side table for your bedroom or living room out of a steel or plastic trash can topping it with a round piece of plywood a round tablecloth. Add a round sheet of tempered glass or plexiglass on the top of the tablecloth to keep it clean. Store things inside you don't need frequently - such as off-season clothing, holiday decorations, etc.

-Build narrow shelves (the depth of quart canning jars works well) beside a window to the wall corner, and cover them floor-to-ceiling with matching or contrasting window coverings, which makes the window look larger while hiding all your canned goods.

-Under and behind sofas

-Window seats with storage inside.

-Bench seat at the end of the bed with storage inside.

-Shelves, close to the ceiling, around the perimeter of a room. Cover it with a pretty valance if you don't want the items to be seen.

-One clever mother disassembled her children's bed frames and stacked boxes of canned freeze-dried and dried food like powdered milk, grain, seeds, beans, etc. (6 #10 cans per box), and topped the boxes with a simple dust ruffle she made from a sheet, and put the mattress on top. This mother had an incredible food rotation system in order to make it work well. BTW - there is enough space in the footprint of a single bed for enough food for one person for 1-year.

With people eating Reese's Puff Cereal made with 27 ingredients, Cheez Whiz - 27 ingredients, Nutri-Grain Strawberry Yogurt Bars - 56 ingredients, Morning Star Farms Chick'n Nuggets - 59 ingredients, KFC Chicken Pot Pie - more than 100 ingredients, and calling it "food", really aren't concerned with nutrition or food quality and what is now being called "death by fork".

-Grainlady

Here is a link that might be useful: Cindi's Lifestyle Treasures - Books

lacey, we ground our last batch of flour with a coffee grinder, and it worked but you have to give it a break between "batches" or you'll burn the thing up. It's not optimal but it works, kind of.

Actually, I like the wheatberries just cooked as a side dish or breakfast, so I've eaten up a lot of my "stash", LOL, and only baked a couple of batches of bread so far.

I definitely want a grain mill and I'll get one. Eventually. I'm wanting to raise some corn, maybe Bloody Butcher or Florian, and grind it, we use as much cornmeal as we do flour I think.

So, a spice grinder or coffee mill will grind small amounts, but it's not really fine and it takes time and if you aren't careful you'll burn up the grinder. (Says the woman who roasted coffee beans in a popcorn popper, LOL) If it's just you, that very well may be a reasonable solution.

I did buy GMO free organic wheat berries from Montana Wheat, but my local Amish market has organic wheat berries available.

As for our food supply, well, I've been on that soapbox for a very long time.

mxyplx, I realize that sometimes what is best nutritionally or the most healthy isn't always (or even usually) the easiest. Each of us can only do what we can do. I lost my diabetic father 5 years ago, he was in a wheelchair, didn't drive himself any more, couldn't afford to have his old farmhouse converted to anything usable. His cooking was very limited and my stepmother was (and still is) mentally ill so they ate a lot of Taco Bell and KFC and I took meals, but my stepmother would throw them out, she only likes fast food.

I still believe he would have lived a longer and healthier life if he had the opportunity to change his diet, but for him, that wasn't a viable option. So I did what I could, and still grieve for the time lost.

So, do what you can do and I won't preach. Much. (grin) At least buy some new baking powder and flour, though, will you?

Annie

This is a timely subject for me. My freeze space is limited because I keep all sorts of flour down there. With the holidays coming, I emptied one side, compared flours, and pitched a couple. I can't afford to have duplicates!

Thanks for the reminder!

anne92: not to worry
I'm 78.6 my BP is 123/78 take no meds can still lift 200# (well maybe 175) all the colesterol numbers are where they're supposed to be.

Not too bad for an old son of a bi - uh - gun.

Now back to cooking. :->