hello Gem,
if as you say , life were to change on such a dramatic scale , then just about all of us would be up that creek without a paddle (or enough seed to grow anything ) . There are alternatives to wheat as a staple food , but all have there own difficulties . If we were to accept the premise that life has changed for whatever reason , ie disease , fuel shortage , war , climate change etc etc, then we would also have to accept that each of those reasons would each bring about their own individual responses . For example if life changed because of disease , and you had enough seed to supply your food, and you were also fit and able to till , sow and harvest then no problems . If, however, it was changed due to climate , then the seed you have may not survive the new climate change ? A good plan would be to grow small amounts of a few different types of seed ie , quinoa , amaranth , maize , wheat , oats , barley , rye , rice etc. This way you would have at least something that would supply your staple diet. Very few people are prepared to grow all those 'just in case' !! My choice would be to grow wheat , oats , barley and rye , as my all round staple grains . These are easy to grow as they are really just grass , sow them, and they grow. The thing to do is avoid modern varieties . Although they provide much more grain per acre , they also require more knowledge to grow in many respects . Older types are easier to cope with and have been 'played with' less !!. Then there is the converting to flour , just about all grains require grinding to some degree . I have grown and ground , quinoa , amaranth , maize and wheat etc. The worst grain I found was one not mentioned so far , spelt . It was like grinding steel pellets. I would therefore grow wheat , barley, oates and rye along with hemp , linseed , rice ? , with smaller amounts of amaranth, quinoa and maize. As for recipes, pop any of the names into google, and you will get hundreds for each !!
cheers
Russ