How Much Wheat in a 5 Gallon Bucket – Pounds, Calories, #Loaves Bread
Have you ever wondered how much wheat (wheat berries) you can fit in a 5 gallon bucket (cups / pounds / calories)?
Have you ever wondered how many loaves of bread from a 5 gallon bucket of wheat? And therefore how much wheat to store in your long term food storage, for say, 1 year’s worth?
Here are the answers:
How Much does a 5 Gallon Bucket of Wheat Weigh?
Awhile ago when packing a few more 5 gallon buckets with wheat, I made a note of how much it weighed for future reference.
The 5 gallon bucket itself weighed 3.2 pounds when empty (with the lid).
The 5 gallon bucket when filled with wheat weighed 36.4 pounds (slightly more or less depending on how full you stuff the bucket).
Therefore the wheat itself weighed 33.2 pounds — call it 33 pounds.
How Many Loaves of Bread from a 5 Gallon Bucket of Wheat
We semi-regularly make bread from our wheat berries. It takes about 2.5 to 3 cups of wheat berries — milled into flour — in order to make one typical loaf of bread. This will depend on the recipe. Note that you will end up with slightly more volume of flour after milling the wheat berries.
How many cups of wheat berries in a pound?
One cup of ‘hard-red’ wheat berries weighs 7 ounces (checked on my digital scale). That equates to 2.3 cups of wheat berries per pound if you do the math (in case you were interested).
How many cups of wheat berries in a 5 gallon bucket?
I previously measured and weighed that 33 pounds of wheat berries fit in a 5 gallon bucket. So, knowing that this wheat weighs 7 ounces per cup, and that a full bucket holds 33 pounds (528 ounces) of wheat, therefore a full 5 gallon bucket of wheat contains about 75 cups.
( 528 / 7 = 75.4 )
# Loaves of Bread
Therefore, each 5 gallon bucket of wheat will make about 25 loaves of bread.
( 75 / 3 = 25 )
How Much Wheat To Store For One Year?
Calories in 1 Cup of Wheat Berries
There are approximately 600 calories in one cup of ‘hard-red’ wheat berries. Depending on which online resource you check and the exact wheat variety. But they’re all nearly the same.
Total Calories in a 5 Gallon Bucket of Wheat
Therefore there is a total of about 45,000 calories in a 5 gallon bucket of wheat ( 600 x 75 = 45,000 )
Wheat Calories in a Loaf of Homemade Bread
The caloric content of wheat in a typical loaf of homemade bread (if 3 cups per loaf) is about 1,800 calories.
How Many Loaves of Bread for a Year?
Lets figure on hypothetical preparedness for worst case scenarios… Bread appears to have relatively lots of calories. So lets say that you were to have bread every day…
Half of your calories from bread?
If half of your caloric intake would be from bread (as an example, just to put some perspective on it).
We know that a minimal number of “survival calories” ( 2000 calories per day ) is needed each day — just to stay alive. If half your daily intake were from bread — you’re looking at about 182 loaves of bread in a year.
That’s equivalent to 7 (5 gallon buckets) of wheat, or about 230 pounds.
25% of your daily calories from bread?
Just do the math. You’re looking at about 3.5 (5 gallon buckets) of wheat, or about 115 pounds for a year.
The Takeaway
I did a bunch of math and calculations to help you determine how much wheat you might want to store. That said, a good long term food storage plan involves many foods. Not just bread! And each of those other foods will contribute to your overall caloric intake. This is just one part of it. But hopefully this puts some perspective on it for you.
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