GRAIN VARIETIES
Some of the most important decisions in food storage planning are what kinds of grains to include, but many people do not give this adequate thought. Some just buy however much wheat or corn or rice they think is necessary to meet their needs and leave it at that. Others rely on pre-packaged decisions made for them by their storage food retailer who put together a "year's supply of food" to buy all at once. Either decision could be a major mistake.
There are a number of food storage plans one may use as a guide. Many are based on the so-called "Mormon Four" of wheat, milk, honey and salt, with as many additional foods as the planner found desirable. When it was created in 1937, this plan may have been OK, but we've learned a great deal since then. An unfortunate number of people in our society develop allergies to one kind of food or another. One of the more common food allergens is wheat. Even more unfortunate is the fact that many people who have an allergy to wheat don't even know it. They won't become aware of it until they try to live with wheat as a large part of their diet. For this reason you should store what you eat and eat what you store, so that ugly surprises such as this don't come up when it's too late to easily avoid them.
A second reason to think about storing a selection of different grains is appetite fatigue. There are those who think providing variety in the diet is relatively unimportant and that if and when the time comes they'll eat what they've got and that will be that. For healthy, well-adjusted adults under ordinary circumstances or who have that vital survival mindset this might be possible without too much difficulty. However, the entire reason for having a food storage program is for when circumstances aren't ordinary. Times of crisis produce stress -- possibly physical, but always mental. If you are suddenly forced to eat a diet both alien and monotonous, it is going to add just that much more stress on top of what you are already dealing with. If your planning includes the elderly, young children and/or infants they might just quit eating or refuse to eat sufficient amounts and become unable to survive. This is not a trivial problem and should be given serious consideration. Consider the positive aspects of adding variety and comfort foods to your storage program.
In his book, Making the Best of Basics, James Stevens mentions a post-WWII study by Dr. Norman Wright, of the British Food Ministry, which found that people in England and Europe were more likely to reject unfamiliar or distasteful foods during times of stress than under normal conditions. When it's wheat, day in and day out, wheat's going to start becoming distasteful fast. Far better to have a variety of foods on hand to forestall appetite fatigue and, more importantly, to use those storable foods in your everyday diet so that you'll be accustomed to them.