Well a day or two ago I finally stopped in on an animal feed store on the outskirts of the county and I was totally lost.  I have never been to a feed store out of never having the need to.  I could have gone before for dog supplies, but had  the idea that feed stores were a place for farm animals, which kept me from going. (ignorance);  When I asked a few questions, I didn't really get "satisfying" answers.  Granted... I really didn't know enough about wheat or oats  to  give a good question.  I guess I consider myself a city'ish guy.

What should I be asking for at my local feed store for the purpose of storing food?  What should I be looking for, and for how much?  Should I ignore the cage of 60 or so chicks divided into what seemed different species as possible pets?  

Up till now I was just paying more at my local bulk food warehouse but have heard that if I know what I am looking for i should be able to get some decent product at a very reduced price

Is your feed wheat triple washed??
If they say yes buy 50lbs for probably around $10.

Triple washed wheat, eh?  What about bulk Oats, like something along the lines of "Quaker Oats" that can be consumed by humans yet intended to be for animal feed?

qaukers is rolled oats if i recall.

Also i think  seed and feed are different beast. About the only thing you can do is look for bags marked or asked for triple cleaned/washed or buy a bag and see how bad it is ( dirt,dust,rat shit etc) if it looks clean and good , buy a few more bags, if not wait a bit. IMHO it may be better to wait for cooler months  to buy it.

#1. Don't go into a feed store asking "can I EAT this stuff?" Liability is the key concern of just about every business now a days. Also, "Cleetus and Festus" at the feed store often times have no real idea about this. Your shopping for your "very picky" horse. You've had him get "sick" before because some grains were treated, you read this article saying that whole grains were better for your prized horse, etc. Then Cleetus and Festus will just think your the typical idiot yuppie.

The best choices in grains that you are likely to find in a feed store-

*Wheat- ask for whole wheat aka "kernals" or "berries" you do NOT want "wheat middlings" "wheat bran" or any form of ground or processed wheat. Whole wheat. Suggest that if you don't know what this should look like that you spend some time online viewing pics of it so you know what it should look like. Do NOT expect Cleetus and Festus at the feed store to know their product, sorry but that's been my experience with it.

I've bought a lot of wheat at feed stores, some for me, most to grow, all has been "feed" wheat except one bag that was more costly and was officially called "seed" wheat. The seed wheat was NOT treated, although it may be in your area, if in doubt ASK. "Treated" means something sprayed on the seed to keep it from rotting and/or getting bugs, etc. it means different things to different people but the bottom line is- you don't want anything for food that has had pesticides directly on it.

*Oats- oats have a hull that would have to be processed off to get what your likely familiar with- oatmeal. You may be able to process oats and have that equipment, you may not. Your NOT going to get quick rolled oats from the feed store. Quick rolled oats is what you get with the little quaker guy on it.....

In other words, probably skip the oats.

*Corn- whole kernal corn, NOT ground corn. Here again we want the whole kernal, not a processed form of it. A lot of "seed" corn is treated and you WILL SEE the purplish tint on the entire seed. If in doubt, take a handful and run it under water or get it wet, if your hand turns purplish color, it's likely treated.

The general idea is to go and find what you need, purchase 1 bag and take it home to check it out. Now, if you are not "used" to feed products, you might assume that the slight "smell" you get when you open the bag is mold or pesticides. It's hard to describe smells but I would say the "normal" smell of clean feed wheat is just kind of an "old" smell (even if it was just packed), to me all bagged grains kinda have that smell. If it's pesticides it will smell more like chemicals, hold a handful up to your noise and look over it carefully, it's going to be pretty obvious.

Unless their is some really grave circumstances, "I" would not buy grains from a feed store right now i.e, SUMMERTIME. Here in the south the best time to buy is in the fall and winter when the bug situation is less or non-existent. This may not be a problem in your area, but it is in a high heat, high humidity area.

Hope this helps.
Lowdown3

As far as oats in the feed store, the stuff you want (maybe) is oat groats (dehulled oats).  Dehulled oats are used as an animal feed, but less common than whole oats.  For humans (and rarely animals), the oats need to be rolled into rolled oats which need to be cooked to make oatmeal, or ground into flour.  So if you don't mind rolling or grinding your own, you can get oats at the feed store.  I don't have any reason to say oat groats store better then rolled oats, but in general intact grain stores longer.

Corn is sold as whole corn or just corn (or maybe dent corn).  You want to avoid "cracked" corn.

In general, try to avoid anything marketed for deer, that is usually the lowest grade of feed.  I can almost guarentee on average the protein content is lower.

Other then this,  I'm with lowdown 100%

Got rolled oats at my feed store - about $15/50#  They had steel cut ones, too.