In an effort to use and try out my long-term storage food, I cooked whole wheat this week. This wheat is hard red from a #10 can I bought over 10 years ago. It was never opened until now and the wheat is hard, dry and looks just as good as the day it was canned.

I rinsed and sorted through the wheat kernels before cooking. I opted to use the slow cooker (crock pot) method. I used 1 cup of wheat kernels along with 2-1/2 cups of water with a half teaspoon of salt. I placed all this in my crock pot on low overnight. It may of overcooked as my wheat berries were dried out a bit. It was cooking for about 10 hours which was probably too long.

I tried it as straight hot cereal as the recipe states. I added a bit of milk and sugar to a small bowel. I personally didn’t care for it. But then I tried it by adding a tablespoon to my regular cold cereal with milk and I loved it.

I put the remaining cooked wheat in a jar and refrigerated it. I have been using it daily with my cold cereal and have really enjoyed it.

I had read that it is also a great meat extender. So I added a big spoonful of cooked wheat to my last batch of ground hamburger chili as a test. The results were great and no one even noticed and the chili tasted just fine.

So next time you need a meat extender, you should try using some cooked storage wheat. It was a pleasant surprise and now I know that it is useful and tasteful too. Plus it is important to know how to cook and use your storage food successfully.