I need some advice and I apologize if this has already been covered.
I have stocked beans and grains. If we lose power for an extended period it will take a lot of fuel to cook them. The ancients used to grind them before cooking. Great idea. So, I went out and bought a Universal brand hand crank food grinder (like my grandma used to use…cast iron, clamp to edge of counter, verious plates to use for various foods). Only problem was that it had a horrible, awful chemical smell to it. I called the distributor (they are made in China now) and they said it might have been oil used to coat it and that I should wash it. I washed it in the dishwasher twice…didn’t help. There’s no way I could stay in the same room with it, let alone grind my food in it. So, I returned it. Now what? I looked for a battery operated coffee bean grinder…can’t find one. Mortar and pestle (sp?) would be ridiculous. I am a woman alone and not at all mechanical so please no suggestions about big grinding contraptions I could build. Anything on the market that would work? Wouldn’t it just be dreadful to have the food but not be able to cook it? Thank you for any useful suggestions.
Yikes, the title was supposed to be Advice On Grinding Beans and Grain…have no clue how that didn’t take. I hope I will still get advice. thanks…
Walton feed has some good pages on grain grinders. Here is a link to one it will help you decide which one will do what and how much work was involved.
I have the Family Grain mill I purchased it from Lemans. It has worked well…no problems. Thinking of moving up to the Country Living…I’ve been hinting at it for Christmas.
you should have tried to wash it in strong achohol (your sanitizer preps like rubbing alchohol), it would have taken care of any grease, then just added some drops of vegtable oil on the moving parts. Most chinese cast iron products have this realy bad grease on them.. But it can re removed witht dillutants like alcohol and some work.
I meant to add that we just got in a Universal Meat Grinder and it didn’t have any smell or anything. Good thing you returned that…no tellings what had been done to it.
need more food: Thank you so much for the link. That’s exactly what I was looking for!
need more food: Do any of the grinders you sent me to grind beans? Is there one you would suggest? Thanks again!
Nova – at 18:38 So, I went out and bought a Universal brand hand crank food grinder (like my grandma used to use…cast iron, clamp to edge of counter, verious plates to use for various foods).
Nova, I bought one of those too, and it is not even functional. The only grain it would process was wheat, and it was so course there was no way you could call the end product flour. The grinder, as you’ve noted, stinks literally, and it weighs a million pounds. I hope you didn’t pay much for it. I’m keeping mine but only for the most dire scenario.
Ended up buying a Family Grain Mill from AAOOB Foods. Have been using it all week and baking bread and other goodies like a maniac. My family loves it all. I got the manual hand base plus a KitchenAid converter so I can use it on my KA as long as we have power. But even doing it by hand is not bad at all.
You should also learn about thermos, haybox, and solar cooking. Each of these cook grains and beans effectively with little or no fossil fuel used.
IMHO…If money was no object I would buy the Diamant. Then the Country Living and then either Lehmans Best grinder or the Family Living Mill. These all say they will grind dry grains and beans etc. I think most of them said no peanuts.
These are all hand grinders. The Diamant and the Country Living can be motorized, also the Family living has a separate motorized base you can buy.
After much deliberation, I purchased the Country Living Mill. I haven’t used it, waiting on the delivery of whole grains. It looks good with a simple industrial design and quality parts. I forgot the repair kit which I will order seperately. I decided that a pandemic was not the time to have an insufficent machine. I took the same attitude towards the can opener.
It’s harvest time here for corn. The farms that surround me are filling huge silos with feed corn and drying it. I just looked at one 20 meter diameter x 20 meter tall silo, and then looked at the little hand grinder that I have. Figured out how many turns of the crank it will take to grind up one silo. Not a pleasant thought. And winter wheat is being planted soon for harvest next June.
Since most of the corn is earmarked for making chicken feed and the demand will NOT be there for chicken feed after TSHTF, I think I need to hit the antique markets looking for an old commercial grind stone set. And maybe a donkey to power it. Maybe I should also consider changing my last name to “Miller”.
I have a hand-yanked-shoulder-socket-wrenching grain mill. it came from Lehmans. It’s okay. It was around $80–100. I had always wanted one so my husband gave me one for Christmas. I bought a 50 pound bag of organic wheat. I proudly hooked the whole thing up to the counter without asking my husband for directions and even consulting the instruction book. I poured the grain in. I heaved. I said words that may live in the hearts of my family forever. I sweated and hauled that wretched handle around. After I ground out 2 cups of flour, I decided to read the instruction book. WHICH SAID: “grind the first few cups and throw them away in case any of the filings or teeny weeny metal edges break off during the first grindings. I washed that grain mill out. I packed it in the box. I hauled it off to the basement so that in the event of a nuclear holocaust, a massive asteroid strike, death of all the chocolate producing plants in the world, or menopause, I could find it and use it in an emergency.
To compensate for my trauma, I whipped out the old card, dialed a company that produces the K-Tech grain grinder (electric) and had one of the finest grinders sent overnight express shipping. And, as long as we have generator power, I am NOT hand-grinding grain.
If there is a major problem with the power grid going down, I figure my husband will be home and he can hand-grind grain.
That being said, beans are best soaked and cooked and mashed for consumption purposes. In the event of an extreme emergency, it is my understanding that 3 metal pipes can be lashed together (with the ends matching). Grain can be poured into a coffee can, and the pipes can be used to crush the grain into flour by pounding the pipes up and down in the can. For hours and hours until you get enough flour to bake a loaf of bread.
I would rather leap naked into a pirahna filled river than grind grain that way.
Thank you all.
Do you think a hand-crank coffee bean grinder would grind regular beans? They’re pretty cheap. And, I know that you couldn’t grind much at a time, but I don’t eat much at a time. Ground beans would take a fraction of the time/fuel to cook than soaked beans would.
I wouldn’t be beating this to death except I spend most of my prep funds on all manner of beans. Not sure what I was thinking…
“Strider” or should I say “Miller” at 21:45…any where nearby that you could build a water powered mill if needed or you had to? I have plans for one in one of my books. :)
I purchased a Country Living Grain Mill in the event of a pandemic. Otherwise I use a WhisperMill (electric) for weekly baking. Both grind beans nicely.
My thought process went as follows: I am going to be stressed enough during a pandemic. If there is no electricity or water, I don’t want to be spending hours grinding grain, when keeping warm or tending to sick family will be a higher priority. Take my advice and spend the $ on a good grinder if your food stores rely heavily on it. Look at it as insurance.
Also, I eyed Country Living Grain Mills for months on eBay. I found that they tend to hold their value quite well.
I purchased a Country Living Grain Mill in the event of a pandemic. Otherwise I use a WhisperMill (electric) for weekly baking. Both grind beans nicely.
My thought process went as follows: I am going to be stressed enough during a pandemic. If there is no electricity or water, I don’t want to be spending hours grinding grain, when keeping warm or tending to sick family will be a higher priority. Take my advice and spend the $ on a good grinder if your food stores rely heavily on it. Look at it as insurance.
Also, I eyed Country Living Grain Mills for months on eBay. I found that they tend to hold their value quite well.
Can anyone recommend a less expensive manual grain mill that’s nearly as good as the Country Living mill? It’s too expensive for us right now.
Also, can anyone tell me if the yield of flour is equal to the volume of grain? (Does one cup of wheat = a cup of flour?)
Thanks in advance!
I have found that 1 cup of grain provides approximately 1 1/4 cup of flour (just slightly less than that).
Nova – at 22:52 I wouldn’t be beating this to death except I spend most of my prep funds on all manner of beans. Not sure what I was thinking…
Nova, if you don’t know how to use your beans before pandemic strikes, you’re going to be up a creek when it does. Get thee to a bookstore to learn about cooking with beans. Grinding beans to make flour is done, but it is much, much more common (and easy) to soak and use that way.
Northern Star – at 23:20 If there is no electricity or water, I don’t want to be spending hours grinding grain, when keeping warm or tending to sick family will be a higher priority.
My experience is that grinding grain = keeping warm. ;) Seriously though, my Family Grain Mill is not hard to use at all. My 10-year-old daughter was able to crank out three cups of flour in a few minutes.
Meserole in FL – at 00:35
I measured very carefully when grinding to find just this thing out. For us, 1 cup of hard red wheat = 1.5 cups flour on the finest setting on our mill.
DoubleD and Edna Mode: Many thanks for the info!
Edna Mode: Actually I do use a lot of beans and am quite creative with them…but I have electricity now. My concern is when the power goes out…not so easy then. And, being a granola kind of soul all my preps are in their natural state and kinda rugged: whole grains instead of processed, etc. Not too many canned goods. Now I’m really low on money and am trying to be sure that I can use these things with no power. Yikes!!
Nova – at 08:57
That’s good that you are used to cooking with your stores. Like you, the bulk of our preps are whole grains and beans. I have successfully cooked and baked both in my solar oven, in a thermos, and using a Dutch oven over coals. Now that we are into fall, I need to test the solar oven some more to see how much extra time is needed to complete the cooking process. But again, start it in the solar oven, finish it in a haybox cooker. If you are already comfortable cooking with your grains and beans, I think the most valuable thing you can do is learn about solar, thermos, and haybox cooking and practice with them now so you can adapt your existing dishes to those methods.
Meserole in FL, You’re welcome!
How does one efficiently remove small rocks or pebbles from a bushel of grain of any type? Would you need a series of screens or just one screen for any given variety of grain? And what about the rocks that are precisely the size of the grain? Would a winnowing floor with a large tarp be handy, and as you separated “the wheat from the chaff” would the rocks be somewhat sorted, too?
Have any of you tried the Back to Basics hand mill? The price is more within my budget. thanks.
I have the Back to Basics hand mill. I gave it one try-out, and it worked well. As far as longterm durability goes I don’t know.
I went with the Family Grain mill as well. You can’t beat the flexibility of having a motor as well as a hand crank. It also has several optional attachments (Meat griner, Grain flaker, vegetable processor etc.) It’s well made out of lexan with a stainless steel mill head. Of course like all my important preps I bought an extra mill head just in case. I use it to make bread all the time. My family is crazy for Dad’s bread. I ended up buying my wheat from Wheat Montana. Nice company to deal with and excellent product. If you buy over 200 lbs of wheat you also get a significant discount. I’d highly recommend them. I second Edna Mode’s comments regarding cooking with no power. We all have our hand crank grinders, but how do you plan to make your bread when the power is out? I have a kero stove with lots of kero and I just picked up a coleman oven. I haven’t tested it out yet.
sam in az – at 20:12
I have the Back to Basics mill. Bought it first. It’s adequate as a back up, but for the effort spent on grinding, it was not effective for my purposes. That’s why I bought the Family Grain Mill. Wish I had my $55 back that I spent on the BTB mill. On the other hand, Medical Maven says it works for her, so maybe I’m just a brat!
MM is a “he”, and I think I would know. (No foul). : )
Medical Maven-removing stones from grain . . .most bagged grain does not have stones, but the only assured way is to visually scan and remove by hand. I usually scoop out a cup of grain, pouring it into a white enamel basin, then swish grain around with my hand, then scoop it into the grinder. Just as fast and easy as arranging a winnowing-tarp-situation.
BTW, anyone . . .leftover cooked beans can be mashed and used in bread recipe to increase the protein in bread.
Sorry MM!!! (If only I knew how to use punctuation to draw a blushing face!)
Ange D-Thanks, nothing like keeping it simple. That’s my motto.
One time I soaked beans, then ground them in my hand-cranked meat grinder. What a nuisance. It kept oozing out of the top. It made a mess, and every bit of the many surfaces was covered with differently sized pieces. Guess I could have forced some of it through some kind of sieve, then reground the bigger pieces. I wasn’t that patient (or hungry). If I had a very small rubber spatula, that would’ve helped. (Now I’m wondering about a mortar and pestle for the soaked beans.)
I have bought bags of different kinds of bean flour. It seems to last for a few months, at least. But when you already have the beans, that isn’t the answer.
Edna Mode: Any particular suggestions for a good book on preparing/cooking with beans? Thanks!
When it comes to dry beans, I have already cooked and home-canned mine. I figure it was alot easier and faster to cook them NOW, while we have power and I am not sick; then to try and fiddle with an alternative cooking method when I may be ill. IMO
Madamspinner-If you could forward us any more updates from your nephew it would be appreciated. Thanks again for the heads-up on the 25th.
Madamspinner – at 07:06
Same here, I am converting my dry beans to canned also. I will also keep buying dry beans as they are SO cheap for the food value. I did another canner full of navy beans with salt pork this weekend. Don’t forget the cornmeal or cornbread mixes to go with the beans!
“Quality is remembered long after price is forgotten” I saw that on the side of a diamond saw blade used for cutting concrete many years ago. The blade is long gone, but the motto is still useful, and I have always remembered that idea.
When we started looking around for grain mills we looked at all the cheap ones. Each appeared to have drawbacks, and the experiences related here confirm my initial judgement. After considerable discussion and debate we settled on the Country Living Grain Mill. It works extremely well, and if you have larger volumes of grinding to do you can attach a motor to it and save the labor of turning the crank. We got spare parts and burrs when we bought it. I gulped at the price, but I know I won’t ever have to worry about this machine working when I need it, and while the thing was very expensive it’s a bargain when you actually use it. It will be still more of a bargain if the power’s off.
I can easily turn the crank, but then I do heavy manual labor on the weekends. More to the point, my 90 pound wife with shoulder problems can turn the power bar and produce 4 cups of good flour in 10+ minutes. It’s work for her, to be sure, and I’m going to keep my eyes open for a 12 volt 1/4 horse motor on Ebay and set up a 12 volt grinding station to maximize throughput if I am unavailable to turn the crank. Well-engineered hand operated machines like this one are rare, and I highly recommend it. (And no, I have no financial interest in the thing.)
Medical Mavin & HillBilly Bill
Mavin—haven’t heard any more from that nephew. He’s probab;y out in the field, doing his thing. Talked to his wife who just got back to St; Louis with the girls. She said the locals may be uneducated; but they ARE starting to panic big time.
HillBilly—I thought to make the old fashioned corn cakes on the CI griddle and corn grits, & corn meal mush to round out that “corn & bean” protein; among other things.
Note to self: Buy more rice (This stuff looks waaay too complicated, expensive and physically demanding)
hmmmmm . .. the problem with food preparation ahead of time, like with beans, can you really put up enough to last for 18 months? Also, beans store better and cheaper in their dried state. I think that even after 8 to 10 years, reportedly, you just have to cook the beans longer that if they were “younger” beans.
Also, how long do you have to pressure can beans to make sure you can prevent botulism?
God, I am in so much trouble if I have to grind wheat and grains to live. And… why would a person want to grind beans? To make bean bread? I am not being sarcastic, FWIW. (PS… I don’t have wheat/grains to grind. Like wolf, I have a lot of rice!)
~sigh~ If I live through the pandemic… I’m gonna be exhausted… and I swear, I will never again take for granted electricity and running water and a doctor at my fingertips.
I have more Jasmine rice then anything; I don’t eat too much bread, but have the makings for corn & flour tortillas; I LIKE the dry beans, but they don’t like me….so I figure I can eat ALOT more rice then I can beans. LOL !!
As a reminder to those with a huge amount of rice…you need to also include B-1 ( Thiamine ) in your preps. Especially if the rice is the white, polished kind. If it came right down to it; a person CAN live on just rice & water, but ya gotta have that B-1; along with multi-vitamins.
Enough Already, I think you’d want to grind beans so they’d cook quicker and save fuel. Any other reasons?
anon mc – at 22:56 Edna Mode: Any particular suggestions for a good book on preparing/cooking with beans? Thanks!
Sorry to take so long to reply. The thread got buried. I don’t have any bean-centric cookbooks to recommend per se. I just adapt the recipes I use everyday to my solar cooker. I have bought two specific cookbooks with using my preps in mind:
1. The Old Sturbridge Village Cookbook. I like it has recipes used in the 1700s and 1800s with hearth cooking methods (Dutch oven, etc.) but also includes equivalents for modern cooking methods. You can buy the most recent version from the Old Sturbridge Village Web site, but I bought a used copy off eBay or Amazon (can’t remember which). However, this cookbook will do you absolutely no good if you have stockpiled mainly prepared convenience foods. It’s to be used with whole ingredients (veggies, grains, etc.).
Madamspinner – at 07:06 When it comes to dry beans, I have already cooked and home-canned mine. I figure it was alot easier and faster to cook them NOW, while we have power and I am not sick; then to try and fiddle with an alternative cooking method when I may be ill.
I have done a lot of canning of meals with this exact thought in mind. I also prefer canning to dehydrating for many things because they contain liquid, which if we are low on H20 will be valuable for cooking and hydration.
Wolf – at 09:20
You want to talk demanding, try listening to two or three kids whine after being served just rice for the millionth time. And even myself. I don’t want to just eat the same thing day in, day out. The reason I’m prepping to such an extent is because it will be hell enough. The least I can do is enjoy my food. Plus, I’m having fun learning how to make all this stuff from scratch. And I feel better about what I’m feeding my family. We are eating more healthily pre-pandemic than we ever did.
2. The Beginnners Guide to Dutch Oven Cooking. Bought this one from Border’s online. It’s truly a beginners guide, and a lot of the recipes do call for prepared convenience foods. It isn’t even really “cooking” in the truest sense of the word. More like mixing. I think you can look inside this book using the tools on Borders.com or Amazon.com.
That post got all out of order. The second cookbook I referenced got stuck at the end somehow. Sorry about that! Trying to do too many things at once.
LMWatBullRun – at 08:12
Who did you purchase your Country living Grain Mill From?
Thanks.
OK … I am about to ask a reasonably silly question. Where do you all buy your whole grains? I haven’t found any place near me that does.
Buying the stuff online is out of the budget/question.
I have an animal feed store right down the road from me and they don’t carry whole grains either except as chicken feed and a few oats for horses.
Organic groceries are waaayyyy outside the budget right now.
So give it up folks … where did you get your wheat?! <grin>
Kathy in Fl-Any Amish communities nearby? That is where I pick up my cleaned, cheap grain supplies.
Medical Maven – at 12:56
Nope … not in Florida. I don’t think there are even many Mennonite communities, at least none that I’ve heard of.
Grain is just not a product of FL … some soybeans in northern FL. Some corn … but most corn growers have been biting the dust the last couple of years because of lack of adequate rain.
check “bulk foods” in your area.. possibly other feed mills in a more rural area would carry the grains you’re looking for??
I have a bulk food store in a small town down the road that has my standing order for our grains, as well as large quantities of flour, sugar, etc that I don’t want to worry about storing until the SHTF…. when my PPF gets too high (8 or 9) she has my order and will fill it for me within a week, then I can worry about storage! :=)
Kathy in FL
I have a store called Home Economist down the street from me. We used to stop in to get bulk candy on the way to the movies!! But I’ve been spending more time looking around and realized they have powderd buttermilk, couscous, tomato powder and even TVP. Well, last week when I was wondering around I found two kinds of wheat. When I figure out how I’m going to grind it I’m going back to get some to try it out. I’m going to ask if they’ll put aside a sack for me. This place sells lots of spices and nuts. Maybe you have a spice store nearby that sells it or can get it for you. I bet I’ve been in that store a dozen times and I’ve never seen it before (course I wasn’t looking hard, way back before I found fluwikie).
Oh and by the way, I’ve redone my linen closet, thanks to you, and now have enough towels, wash cloths and linens to host an army!! :-)
Will you believe that we no longer have any “bulk stores” in our area? I don’t think they could compete with the warehouse type stores. There used to be many, then it was down to two … now there are none. <sigh>
Kathy in Fl-This would be a long shot, but you could google Farm Coops in Texas and see if you could work a deal with a manager of one of those businesses to ship you a couple of bushel of uncleaned wheat (or other grains) with an agreed-upon markup and shipping. Wheat now is around $4.50 per bushel (a bushel is approx. 60 lbs). There would be very little chaff or weed seeds in it, and you could do the final cleaning with screens and visual inspection.
Medical Maven – at 13:29
I’ll give it a shot, but figure shipping will be problematic. I’m much further south … down in Tampa.
I’ll also check for co-ops in general and see if they have any contacts that might be useful.
Kathy in FL-most states have “food co-ops”. Cooperative organizations, companies, groups of families who pool money and resources to purchase (usually) organic or bulk foods. You can buy natural and organic wheat for usually $11-$20 per pound. If you cannot find one, post here and I will go looking for a group in your area. I have a handy-dandy list somewhere that has one in Florida that I had wanted to get something shipped to me from there once.
BTW, wheat moths find it really easy to invade. I have found the best way to store wheat is to store in quart canning jars. 2 and 1/2 dozen jars stores 50 pounds of wheat. Freeze jars for 2 days. You are set!
Kathy in FL - beprepared.com (Emergency Essentials) has 4 kinds of wheat in 6-gallon SuperPails. Their max shipping charge is $12. It does say “Your order must weigh a minimum of 200 pounds if it includes SuperPails.”
Ange D – at 13:34
Holy Moly! There is no way I can afford $11-$20 per pound. LOL! Looks like I’m back to that southern staple … corn meal.
I have some flour stored but don’t expect it to last indefinitely. With a family of seven, it simply isn’t realistic to fail to realize that we will have to go without some things. I’m just trying to minimize how many things we will have to learn to do without.
I am a part of a buyers club(batch of friends who were sick of the markup at the local co-op)Thru Praire farms…They are on the net….We can order monthly but must get at least800.00 worth of foods (we may be grandfathered at that amount may be higher now)The semi pulls up and we take out our 50 lbs bags of whatever we have ordered.We can also get single items or whatever.It has been a godsend to my prepping.
Not to minimize the nutritional value and long storage life of whole grains, but when I can buy 5lbs of flour at Aldi’s for $0.74 and it will keep for two years, I’m just not seeing the value.
Here is where I got my grain mill
Kathy in FL (rofling and l-ing and l-ing!!!) DID I SAY PER POUND????????? LOLING! I am SOOOOOOOOO sorry. I meant for 50 pounds.
Please forgive me. My last remaining brain cells (all two of them) must have rubbed together too hard and backfired.
That was: “$11-$20 for FIFTY pounds of wheat”
(God forgive me if I get pandemic flu. The doctors won’t be able to tell if I have neurological damage or not given my present state of mind)
Kathy in FL – at 12:51
Are you saying ordering online for bulk grains is out of the question due to the shipping costs? Cuz I agree 100%. That’s why I order from Honeyville Grains. The shipping, no matter how little or how much you order from them is $4.49. Other places I looked into the shipping cost as much or more than the product I would have been ordering. A 50# bag of wheat is about $36.89 (or $0.74/pound) plus shipping.
I agree with Hillbilly Bill about buying whole grain vs. flour—but only up to a point. I can get 50# of flour at Sam’s for $10 ($0.20/pound). Or, I can get 50# of wheat from Honeyville for $36.89. But the Honeyville Grain lasts virtually indefinitely when stored properly. Plus, depending on how you grind it, you can get up to 1.5 times the volume of flour. (I gete 1.5 cups flour per 1 cup of grain.)
I have a combination of flour and grains, and I plan to top off with a lot of flour when the time is right.
I haven’t ordered food from Beprepared.com. I find their shipping to be inconsistent and their service disorganized. Honeyville ships pretty much the next day, they send tracking info, and if there are any hassles, they fix them without any questions asked.
Ange D – at 13:34
Ange D, Can you post contact info for New Hampshire, please? As many as you have? Or point me to a site if you’d rather. Thanks!
Edna Mode – at 14:14
I’m right with you concerning Honeyville’s reasonable shipping and customer service. I have never had a problem with them.
Edna Mode - I’ve always received great service and delivery from beprepared.com. My last order from Honeyville was placed on August 29 and I didn’t receive it until Sept. 12(and I only live half-way across the country.) This was after making 2 phone calls to them checking the status of my order and I never did find out what day it actually shipped. Not the experience many of you here have had with them. Oh well, I guess my mileage just varied on that one;) I do think Honeyville has the best deal on the wheat.
I agree with both you and HBB on the flour/grain dilema. But if we get to the other side of a worst case scenario and supplies are eratic and prices sky high, I think I might be glad to have a supply of wheat on standby. So for now, my plan is to have plenty of both.
“So for now, my plan is to have plenty of both.”
Can’t go wrong with that!
OKbirdwatcher – at 14:38
I’m sorry you had a bad experience with Honeyville. That surprises me. I’ve ordered from them about six times, extended family has ordered from them, and never a problem. On the other hand, the experience you had with Honeyville describes my experience with beprepared. Twice. So I don’t order from them anymore. It’s Walton Feed (funky, funky Web site and expensive shipping IMO, but good products) and Honeyville.
I agree 100% with having plenty of both grain and flour. I am actually using my grains now, too, and I can’t wait to see what my husband’s cholesterol is when he has his physical in few weeks. (Course, lower cholesterol would mean no statis Rx. Hmm…need to rethink this wholegrain baking thing.) ;)
I ordered from Be prepared and had good luck with them. You have to order a certain number of pounds when buying buckets. Also if they have something on backorder you can call and add to the order and the freight is locked in at the original price. So the freight is free on fill ins until the final piece is shipped. This may have changed. They were always nice and co-operative.
I ordered my Country Living mill from the manufacturer. You can phone or email and ask if they have any blemished mills, which are perfectly fine (usually just a minor paint issue) and are sold at a discount.
Hillbilly Bill – at 13:43
I’m with you HB, I have over 150 pounds of flour stored. If it expires before the pandemic, I will rotate it and be extremely happy about it. Since I think it’s likely to hit before that, I don’t think it will be an issue.
Actually I’m rotating it now through normal use.
Edna Mode - My experience with Honeyville wasn’t really “bad” - just not quite up to par and not as good as my first order with them. But I will order from them again; heck everyone has an off day now and then;)
Yea, statins, hmmmmm…my DH is already on them. I’m not. I think I see a cholesterol check in my near future…
Just for fun I put (4) 6-gallon SuperPails (45# ea) in a shopping cart at Internet Grocer. $18.90/ea, $75.60 total. The shipping would be $131.72!!!
“Hello, Honeyville?”
But seriously, if you compare just the price of the wheat, $18.90/45# vs. $36.89/50#, I think Honeyville and some other places are adding some of the actual shipping cost into the price of the grain. They have to be. I know I sure couldn’t ship 150–200 pounds of anything for $4.49??? Regardless, H.Ville has the best deal, hands down.
Kathy in FL
You might check with your local Mormons. If there is a cannery in your area you may be able to pick up bulk wheat (and other items) at a very good price. My local cannery sells to non-LDS folks but I’m not sure if all of them do. Wheat (both red and white hard winter wheat) is under $5 per 25lb bag. Very nice folks to deal with. :)
OKbirdwatcher – at 16:08
You are absolutely right. Honeyville does pad prices. There’s no way they could stay in business otherwise. However, when I made my orders, dollar for dollar, the bottom line was always significantly cheaper ordering from Honeyville. You can get cheaper shipping from places like AAOOB Foods, but you have to wait sometimes months for them to have a container ready to ship to your neck of the woods. My PPF would be through the roof wondering where my stuff is. No thanks.
Nimbus – at 16:23
Aack! $5 a bag?! You’re killing me man!
Regarding the issue of storing flour versus wheat, I, too, like the idea of having a constantly rotating supply of flour on hand. However, for long term storage, if I want whole wheat, flour is not a good option, as it will become rancid wihtout refrigeration/freezing quite rapidly. That is why I like the idea of storing unbleached white flour AND whole grain wheat (for nutritional boost/flavor that only comes from the whole grain).
Hillbilly Bill – at 13:43
May I ask how you are storing your flour? For me this would be the best option if it would not go bad.
Thanks for your help.
Suzy
Pat in AZ – at 15:08 Thanks for the scratch and dent info on the Country Living! I see an upgrade in my future!
Kathy I hope you can find some wheat somewhere! I buy at at a small health food store…$7.25 for 25 lbs. We did have Ozark co-op delivering here but I think they have bankrupted.
Suzyinaz – at 19:15
I buy 5 lb bags just because I don’t use a lot at one time. I seal the original bag in a zip lock freezer bag and put it in the freezer for at least 3 days (I’ve been known to forget about it). To keep it safe from mice and such I am storing it in a chest freezer that we are not currently using, but it would be OK in any dry, cool place. Information I have read says flour will last this way for 2 years. I do know that what I am using now is 8 months old and it is just fine.
Suzy,
I do the same as Bill---only I use a bit more than he does. I would like to have the whole wheat flour stored, too, but it just goes bad too fast. So the only solution for the whole wheat is to buy the whole grain and grind it. (I’m saving for a grinder and then have a local source for the wheat berries.) I have seen that some of the places that sell the #10 cans of dried food have #10 cans or 5-lb buckets of flour for long term storage, but it seems kind of spendy to me.
Something else I like to have on hand is brown rice, but I store mostly white (basmati), as it lasts longer.
Right now, I am only making one loaf of homemade bread a week, mostly to keep my stored white flour in rotation and to keep myself in practice and tweak the recipes I use. As you can well imagine, this loaf does not last long, sometimes not through the day! We supplement this with whole wheat and rye bread from the store, as well as squishy white bread for our granddaughter on weekends. It’s an unfortunate fact that white bleached flour and white rice store longer than their more healthy cousins. I’m just trying to find a balance in prepping that fits our budget as well as our normal dining routines.
Kathy in Fl----I have LDS friend and her church ordered Wheat and such and it was cheap and came on a semi-truck. If you don’t know any LDS I would call and ask if they would be ordering anytime soon and ask if you could order also. The more they order the better the price and I know they would let you. Give it a try.
Kathy in FL – at 13:38
I can drive an hour from my home and buy high quality bulk cheaply. Organic quick oats for .61/#, rice for .41/#, rice flour for .50/#, beans for .50/3 - 1.00/#. Wheat is .38/#. I pick it up - no shipping.
I cannot remember how I found out about this company but I called them and told them of you in Tampa and asked about a similar company down there. They don’t go to Florida and were not familiar with a competitor there. So I checked a few places and came up with these links. I would call them - especially the university and ask for the information. I am sure someone does this down there.
My wife and I buy about once a year and put it in buckets w/mylar bags ourselves. Very convenient.
Links to Farmers Markets:
http://www.ams.usda.gov/farmersmarkets/
Florida Agriculture
http://www.florida-agriculture.com/
University of Florida AG site
I have a NutiMill and a basic hand crank for back-up, my wheat is from Wheat Montana, great wheat! What I am looking for is a hand crank coffee grinder, I have found one and it was like 300.00 I don’t think so. So if anyone finds one let me know----
Kathy in Fl,
I would also like to recommend the “Morman option”. While I do not belong to the Latter Day Saint (LDS) Church, I do order my grains and such with them from the Walton Feed Co. every year in the Springtime. The food comes on semi trucks and all I have to do is help unload. It is a very coordinated effort and I am done in about 2 hours. I have ordered my new 50 gal water barrels that way, my Country Living Grain Mill, superpails of grains, and anything else Walton sells. The more that is ordered, the cheaper shipping is. That’s why LDS members welcome “outsiders” to join in on the annual shipment. In fact, I coordinate the Catholic homeschoolers’ orders with LDS in Minneapolis. Also, I have learned a tremendous amount from the LDS folks at the Preparedness Fair that they host each year. By the way, having done the Walton thing with them for 4 years now, the amount of food ordered this past Spring on the semis was a whopper 3 semis delivering over 2 days. The biggest I’ve heard about. Makes me wonder if the LDS are watching this pandemic thing closely.
Nimbus- Sounds like you are LDS. Is anything being said specifically about the pandemic possibility at your church? Maybe my experience is just a fluke.
You can check online for the nearest LDS (Mormon) dry-pack cannery. Go to LDS.org then click on “provident living” on the left side of the page. Then click on “food storage and preparedness.” Then “Home Storage Center location” on the right side of the page. Click on your area on the map and it’ll tell you exactly where the dry pack canneries are in your locale and their phone numbers. They are tickled pink when ANYONE comes to see them. You DO NOT have to be LDS to use their services!! I just canned a LOT of wheat about a month ago. Here is the price list for that time: (All are number #10 cans, sealed with oxygen absorber packet and price includes boxes and 2 plastic lids per case of 6 cans) Hard, white wheat (5.8 lbs.) $1.99 Hard, red wheat is the same price black beans (5.6 lbs) $4.20 white beans (5.3 lbs) $3.38 pinto beans (5.0 lbs) $3.29 (We don’t pay sales tax at ours; I don’t know if that’s nation-wide or not.)
They also have quite a few other items such as dehydrated apple slices, dehydrated carrots, chocolate or vanilla pudding, non-fat dry milk, dried onions, white flour, cocoa mix (my husband loves this stuff), macaroni, etc. If you want more info on prices or items, just ask me, or contact your local cannery. You can call them and make an appointment for yourself or a group. You can also dry-pack with pouches instead of #10 cans, but I don’t have that info in front of me. It’s easy, it’s MUCH cheaper than ordering from anyone online that I know, of and it’s kind of fun, in a weird way. And I know exactly what’s in those cans!! P.S. The “provident living” I mentioned has LOTS of good food storage ideas and helps.
Sailor-
Just got back on this thread after traveling a few days. It’s been several years since we ordered the mill and I don’t recall where we got it. Good service, though; I should check and see. If I recall we paid around $300 for the mill and about another $100 for the accessories. I’d expect they are more expensive now. Just did a Google and saw a coupel places that advertise they have them for $330 or so. Walton’s Feed has them for around $375. Not the best price but they don’t stack orders for that stuff either, they keep things in stock.
UT Mom,
I think I will contact the cannery locally. I’ve heard some about it but never tried it. How long does it take? I suppose it depends on what one wants, huh?
Minneapolis Mom- “How long does it take” to do the actually canning? The workers at the cannery are all volunteers and very happy to help you so it doesn’t take long, probably 1–2 hours for most orders. If you want to do a HUGE amount of stuff (or have a bad back) it’s not a bad idea to bring along a friend, spouse or teenager. And be sure to have a big enough vehicle to get the stuff home. All those cases nearly filled up my little RAV4 last time!!
UT Mom,
I just printed out your post for my bulletin board. Now I know where to get all the stuff I want without paying those shipping charges! I’m out of rolled oats right now and don’t have to wait until Spring to order again.
By the way, the LDS website is bookmarked as one of my favorites. I was a newbie at gardening this year, and I took the advice about square foot gardening to heart and produced some terrific veggies this year. I’m thankful for all their preparedness recommendations so I don’t have to reinvent the wheel.
Just a note, not all LDS canneries are open to non-LDS members. There are quite a few who are not. Not because they are being difficult, but primarily due to the fact that some canneries service large populations of LDS members and simply do not have the facilities to service non-members as well.
Call the one nearest you and see. But don’t be surprised if they don’t answer. I’ve called the one nearest me several times and no one has ever answered the phone and I have yet to get a call back. They are volunteer driven so each one will be slightly different in management style. <grin>
Minneapolis Mom – at 22:37
Nope I’m not LDS. I called my local cannery following a recommedation on another board. I went in on my lunch break one day and was given the full tour - it’s just an amazing operation. They must handle thousands and thousands of tons of food per year.
Our local cannery happens to be run by a married couple as a church “mission”. The cannery is only open when folks are scheduled for a canning session. Bulk goods can be purchased any time that people are there either canning or unloading trucks. I haven’t participated in a canning session but they have been underway when I’ve stopped in to pick up wheat and it looks like fun.
Kathy in FL - our cannery here is open weekday evenings, all day Friday, and all day Saturday. I know they will all have different schedules but you might try calling during those times. It was mentioned that fall is their busiest time of year.
One more thing about the LDS canneries- they will let you dry-pack your own stuff, too, not just their bulk goods. Some people get a better price on bulk wheat, for example, and just pay the cannery for the cans, lids and oxygen absorber. When I was there a month ago a lady was canning Frosted Flakes!!
It’s true that they can be hard to reach, but I’m surprised they don’t have a phone message telling you when they’re in. Ours can only be reached on Mon. & Thurs. morning, but the phone recording tells you that. They also have at least one morning each week for “walk-ins” when people can show up without an appointment. That’s when I usually go.
And someone earlier was wondering about the shelf life of canned wheat. I’m making bread out of wheat I canned in 1989 and it’s great!
Love Texas at 18:34 -
I was shopping the Wheat Montana site a couple days ago but couldn’t seem to find any shipping info without doing a “mock” order. Did I overlook it?
I’ve also been looking for a hand crank coffee grinder for months. No luck. The last time I tried finding a Zassenhaus online, they were out of stock everywhere. Just checked sweetmarias.com - they say the supply problem continues, no idea when they’ll get a shipment, but Zassenhaus is still in business. These grinders are priced in the $65-$80 range. Still looking…
OKbirdwatcher—When I bought mine it was thru a group order with the LDS church.
Minneapolis Mom---Talking to my LDS friends they say the church is on top of this bird flu thing, and working on it. They have been taking a lot of surveys to find out who stores food and how many do not. I think they are beefing up their storage (the church) and the wheat silos are full so to speak. Knowing them they are planning like crazy, they are so good at that. I will let you know any updates.
OKbirdwatcher---Thanks for the info in the coffee grinder, I was thinking about checking a flea market.
bump
Regarding coffe grinders, I’ve been thinking I need to get one of these when I realized I should be able to do it with my Family Grain Mill. I checked with the company I bought it from, and sure enough, I can grind coffee using my FGM. The trick is to follow the coffee with a cup of wheat to clear any of the oils left on the burr. My purse is glad I thought of this.
For those still looking for a Zassenhaus, there are bunches of old ones, many described as being in working condition, available on eBay using the Buy It Now feature. Some look great. Others not so. I myself would not buy any of the ones that are painted. Could be lead in the paint judging by the age of the grinder. Other than that, can’t think of a reason not to buy.
OK, time for a grain mill. Didn’t read the whole thread.
Is there a concensus?
EM- what is your recommendation?
THANKS
Country Living mill with accessories and repair parts $475?
Closing this for length. New thread started here.