Using Your Food Storage: An Easy, Sneaky Trick with Wheat

Don't you love it when you get ready to fix dinner and find out that you're missing a key ingredient? That happened to me last night.

I got all set to make one of  Hubby Dear's favorite meals. You'll be astonished to hear that it was a casserole. ;)  Uh oh - I had only thawed 1 lb of ground beef and the recipe required 1-1/2 lbs. What was I to do? Eating out was not an option. Literally. There aren't many options unless we want to drive 45 minutes away.

In a temporary flash of genuis, I remembered a post I had read on the Honeyville Farms Cookin' Cousins blog. What about extending the ground beef with cooked, cracked wheat? If you've been following me over the long haul, you'll remember that my first experience with cracked wheat was less than stellar. Nevertheless, I decided to give it the ol' college try.

Getting ready to crack wheat in my blender

My Wondermill Juniorwould have been the best choice to crack the wheat, but I was feeling lazy, so I decided to try using my blender again. I had the bright idea that the blender might do a better job cracking the wheat if I poured the wheat in while I had it running. I don't know what possessed me - maybe I was thinking of when you make salad dressings and pour in the oil slowly at the end. Needless to say, the wheat shot back at me, giving my complexion the "been in a dust storm" look and adding to the lovely lived-in look of my kitchen. 

Much like the last time I attempted to crack wheat in the blender, I ended up with a mix of whole kernels, cracked kernels, and flour. Sigh. I decided to proceed on anyway.

I brought a cup of slightly salted water to a boil and threw in 1/4 cup of cracked(ish) wheat. I stirred it every now and then as it cooked down and softened. It took about 15 minutes or so and then I threw it in with the cooked ground beef and onions for my recipe.

Adding cooked, cracked wheat to the beef and onion mixture

When you stir it in, you can barely see it

I added the sauces and seasoning and followed the rest of the recipe as written.


The Results:

It worked!! My kids couldn't tell anything was different at all. Hubby Dear noticed a bit of a difference in texture, but didn't say anything until I quizzed him. I actually think I prefer it with the wheat. The slightly toothsome texture was welcome.

I wouldn't hesitate to substitute cooked, cracked wheat for part of ground beef in a recipe. As long as it is going to get seasoned or incorporated into a sauce, the wheat just blends in with the rest of the dish.

I never thought I'd say this but cracked wheat came to my rescue!

Adventures in Whole Wheat: Cracked Wheat Cereal

Since my waffle experiment went swimmingly, I was eager to try out another application for whole wheat sans grain mill. I opened up Emergency Food Storage and Survival Handbook and found a recipe for Cracked Wheat Cereal and gave it a try.

First I measured out 1 cup of whole wheat kernels. Then I attempted to crack the kernels by pulsing them in my blender. They did not crack well at all. Some kernels remained whole, others cracked a bit while still more was turned completely into flour.

This is what it looked like when I gave up and decided to proceed with the recipe. After I was finished, I went back and read

the instructions for cracking wheat in a blender and you are supposed to only crack 1/4 to 1/3 c. at a time. Oops. Maybe that was the problem...

I added water, salt and a pat of butter to my improperly cracked wheat and cooked it for the 20 minutes it calls for in the recipe. When the time was up, it was still soupy and the wheat was extremely chewy.

I then increased the heat and stirred the mixture until the water had evaporated and the kernels were tender-ish.

The recipe made two large servings. Following the suggestions in the recipe, I added some milk to each bowl. Hubby Dear requested that I top his with cinnamon and brown sugar. I put honey and cinnamon on mine.

We dug in and chewed. And chewed some more. By cracky, that cracked wheat was chewy! The overall taste was okay, but the texture made it hard to enjoy. Neither of us finished our bowls.

The Verdict: This tastes like you expect "survival food" to taste. I'll pass on this one unless we're truly in a survival situation.

If you give this recipe a shot, let me know if you get it to come out better than I did.

Cracked Whole Wheat Cereal, from Emergency Food Storage and Survival Handbook by Peggy Layton

1 c. freshly cracked wheat
3 c. water
1/2 t. salt
1 T butter (or 1 T butter powder reconstituted with a few drops water)

Combine all ingredients in a pan. Bring to a full boil and reduce the heat. Simmer 20 minutes. Serve with honey, raisins, and milk. This cereal is also delicious with chopped apples, berries, nuts such as almonds or cashews, sunflower seeds, or cinnamon. Makes 2 servings.