Best Multi-Use Grain

I am interested in what y'all think the best grain would be as an over-all, comprehensive food source?

These are the qualities I am most interested in:

seed for growing to mature harvest
seed for sprouting
seed for milling for fine flour to make bread
mature plant to be fed to livestock
seed to be fed to livestock
disease resistant
drought tolerant
hardiness of soil variables


The grain I am looking at thus far, is hard red wheat, oat and quinoa.
I am not familiar with how well oat and quinoa would be as far as making bread.

Any suggestions appreciated.
Any input on the three grains I listed much appreciated.

I am in USDA hardiness zone 9.
Our soil is what is termed as "black gumbo"

If your looking for the most inexpensive possible I keep 500 pounds of raw rolled oats from a feed store. They're in 50# bags at about $16 each. Put those inside of a plastic bag and 2 of those fit inside of a plastic trash can with a snap-on lid.

Replace every 2 years by roto-tilling it into the garden and use for bird food. For about $130 every 2 years I have insurance. Last ditch survival stuff but it's better than starving to death.

It can also be used in traps to get rodents and birds for protein. $65/year is cheap insurance. I'd hate to eat it, cook with it, mill it into flour to make breads, etc. But when the many hundreds of canned and many containers of dry food items run out, this is my NASA-level redundancy (4 levels) 4th level.

If "IT" ever goes down where you will be surviving on your own for more than 6 months, quality won't matter. you'll eat bark off the trees and weeds under the porch steps if you think it will help you survive just 1 more day. Cheap rolled oats is because I very seriously doubt the "big one" will ever happen. But the birds like the rolled oats in the feeders and my garden flourishes with the rich mulch of my over-aged insurance.

reply to post by tkwasny


50# for $16 bucks?!? That is AWESOME!!

Down side though, would be not being able to use it for consumption.
Human consumption is paramount to livestock.

The rodent trap idea is stellar though.

I have bought the 10lb bags of squirrel mixture at walmart which have corn, various grains AND peanuts. I don't remember how much they were though. Of course, I wouldn't use these for consumption either, I would only use them for the seed planting value, livestock or bait-type situation like suggested with the oats.

Originally posted by tkwasny
, this is my NASA-level redundancy (4 levels) 4th level.

What does this mean?

Originally posted by stupid girl

Originally posted by tkwasny
, this is my NASA-level redundancy (4 levels) 4th level.

What does this mean?

Alway have a 1. primary, 2. secondary, 3. tertiary and 4. on-shelf-spare.

"Grains" such as quinoa, amaranth, spelt and Kamut are called "ancient" because they've been around, unchanged, for millennia. By contrast, corn, rice and modern varieties of wheat (such as hard white wheat and hard red spring wheat) have been bred selectively over thousands of years to look and taste much different from their distant ancestors.
The ancient grains — confusingly — are not all grains. Grains are technically grasses. By that standard, Kamut, spelt and wheat are all grains, but quinoa and amaranth are not. Still, the common term "grain" has stuck for all of them.

However, the fact that they're little changed from antiquity doesn't necessarily make the ancient grains more nutritious than modern ones,

Claims of "Ancient Grains"

So, quinoa is technically not considered as grain.

I have heard quinoa is one of the best all purpose grains and has much more nutrition than wheat, is gluten free and grows and harvests easily.

If you decide for your Quinoa bread recipe to use 100% Quinoa flour, you will end up with bread, or other baked goods, with a “truffle-like” texture. You might find that a 40/60 or 50/50 ratio will work great. All purpose flour should not be completely replaced as it does have different properties and texture that is needed for other cooking and baking purposes.

Look up quinoa bread recipes.

I'll second quinoa and amaranth both for nutritional purposes and for the reason that they are not really grains. We aren't designed to eat grains really. I don't know from personal experience how easy they are to grow. But, since they've both been cultivated for at least thousands of years, and in extremely challenging environments for cultivation, I would say that they are well within a normal person's skills in that area. I know quinoa is nitrogen fixing. Have you considered a variety of legume crops? Lotsa good beans out there!

Why not head down to the local health food store and get a pound or so of each to play with? Quinoa sprouts are ready to eat in about a day and a half. I'm going to look into the rolled oats thing though. I had no idea you could get that much food back-up for so little money.

Stay well.

I would go with quinoa, but that's because it's virtually the only grain I eat. More and more people are becoming gluten-intolerant and quinoa (which really isn't a grain, but a relative of the beet family) has protein, carbs and is more nutritionally valuable than wheat or corn.

I second the suggestion to try several in small batches.

If you plant ryegrass in your yard you can have a nice drought tolerant lawn. It also serves as emergency food for the future if you don't keep poisoning it. Dandelions are great food also, they grow in the lawn and mow like grass. Same with plantain, it grows in the yard and most think it is a noxious weed. Very drought tolerant plants and good food for emergencies.

If you want to stock up on something, oats are good and so is barley. Rye flakes are great for breakfast cooked like oatmeal. Takes a little longer but has more flavor. The coop here has them for one-o-nine a pound, everyone should try them.

I think Millet would be a best bet:

Millet Nutrition

This tiny "grain" is gluten-free and packed with vitamins and minerals. In fact, while it's often called a grain because of it's grain-like consistency, millet is actually a seed.

Does NOT feed pathogenic yeast (candida), Acts as a prebiotic to feed important microflora in your inner ecosystem Provides serotonin to calm and soothe your moods. Helps hydrate your colon to keep you regular. Is alkaline. Digests easily. Magnesium Calcium Manganese Tryptophan Phosphorus Fiber B vitamins Antioxidants

(The above link is an internet retailer, I just grabbed the first link from my search, do your own if you're against selling things.)

OR: Grow your own (EHow link)

High protein, vitamins, all the good stuff.

all though its contraversal, i think hemp seeds is important in your seed bank. Hemp is high in protein, fiber and omega 3. it can be used for rope, fiber, hemp milk, butter and more.