Buggy grain meals/flours- was-Re: [Sca-cooks] types of corn bread?

[marilyn traber 011221]

> And yeah,
>  cornbread mix works really nicely for small amounts. When I buy 
> bags of cornmeal, I tend to end up not using it fast enough, and it 
> gets buggy.  <<shudder>> --Maire

I like corn bread products enough, that even when R&M aren't in the mood, I 
can eat up a double batch inside 3 days. Among other things, cornbread makes 
a great base for assorted leftover/extra gravies for breakfast, or a quick 
lunch.

But, you mentioned having your flours, etc go buggy...

Around here, we keep an assortment of different flours. Since we've been 
making a fair number of breads with the new machine, Margali went out and got 
a couple of tightly sealed plasic containers, which keeps the flour cat and, 
so far bug proof, for the flours we keep out and handy. However, around here, 
we also tend to buy Omigosh quantities of stuff through the Commisary, as 
well as through BJs, and our solution is to keep the excess in the freezer, 
since we seem to go through periods of using a lot of certain things for a 
while, then getting into something else and not using some things for a 
while. I can't tell you how strongly I suggest, for serious cooks, 
particularly single cooks, as I have been for most of my life, the wonders of 
as big a freezer as you can afford and fit into your living space. Not only 
can you take advantage of sales, and wrap and freeze individual portions of 
meats and vegetables, but it's there for pre-cooking foods that are best done 
in mass quartities and freezing individual portions, so that if you're busy 
or tired you can just nuke yourself up a bite to eat- and you know it's good, 
because you cooked it to YOUR specs, as well was stashing things like flour 
or spices, so that they stay fresh until you're ready to eat them.

One advantage of freezing flours, is they stay just as easy to remove 
whatever amount you need as they do unfrozen, unlike, say, a roast or ground 
beef, where if you want just a little, you hafta thaw the whole thing.

Really, guys, particularly singles, get and use a large freezer. Used 
properly, it can be your most versatile bit of kitchen equipment.

Phlip