The Cost Saving Benefits of Owning a Grain Mill

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I was really excited to see the enthusiasm with the &#;Real Food&#; food budget series.  It seems like many of us are living on a budget and could learn from one another on how to save money, yet, keep good wholesome food on the table.

I wanted to start the series off with my favorite kitchen appliance, and most used, that saves my family real money in our grocery bill.

Owning a grain mill.

I have never actually spent time documenting exactly how much I save, so starting this month I&#;m going to keep real records on my end and hopefully share that with you in a month.  That will show me how much I&#;m spending and saving by owning a grain mill.

For now, I&#;m going to show you exactly what a grain mill does, the different kind of wheat berries that I use, with an estimate of what I&#;m spending a month on baked goods.

What is a Grain Mill?

A grain mill is a home mill that grinds wheat berries into homemade flour.  If you&#;d like information on wheat berries, check out my post on sprouting wheat berries.

Not only are we saving money by grinding our own flour, but we&#;re also getting the benefits of a flour rich in all of its nutrients.

Within 72 hours of the wheat berry being ground, most of its nutrients will be lost and the wheat germ will begin to go rancid.  Often, whole wheat flour you buy at the grocery store has been sitting in a warehouse for some time and can be void of any nutrients at all.

When you grind your own at home, you are able to use the flour immediately retaining all of it&#;s minerals and vitamins in your baked goods or store your leftover flour for up to 3 days in the refrigerator, or longer in your freezer.

How Does a Grain Mill Work?

There are many different kinds of grain mills on the market.  I own a Nutrimill and absolutely love it.  It grinds my wheat berries into a fine powder just like you&#;d find at the supermarket.

Below is a video which will show you how my Nutrimill grinds wheat berries into a fine flour.

What Kind of Wheat Berries Should I Use?

There are different kinds of wheat berries that you can use.  Myself, I stick to two types of wheat berries that work beautifully in my baking.

I could experiment with other kinds of grains, but when it comes to baking, I&#;m in my zone.  I like to use what my family loves and works.

I use a combination of organic soft white wheat berries (left) and hard red winter wheat (right).

I use two different types because they each contain a different amount of gluten and protein.

Soft White Wheat

The soft white wheat berry is a lighter wheat with less gluten and protein.  I compare it to white flour.

I use it for&#;

• pancakes
• pie crusts
• cakes
• cookies
• any other low rising baked good

When you need to make a high rising baked good, you&#;ll need to use a &#;hard&#; wheat berry for the gluten which will allow your baked good to rise.

Hard Red Winter Wheat

The hard red winter wheat is high in gluten and protein.

I use it for&#;

• whole wheat bread loaf
• hamburger/hot dog buns
• english muffins
• pizza dough
• tortillas
• any other high rising baked good

For most of my high rising breads, I use a combination of both flours.  More hard red than soft white.

The Taste

For myself, the best thing about grinding your own whole wheat flour is the taste.  It taste nothing like the whole wheat flour you buy at the store.

It&#;s soft, sweet, and it&#;s flavor is comparable to a white flour.  It&#;s not the dense and gritty type of end product you get with store bought whole wheat flour.

No one will be left saying, &#;you used whole wheat, huh?&#;  Really&#; it&#;s amazing!

How Do You Use it in Recipes?

When I find whole wheat recipes online, they usually are a combination of whole wheat and white flour.

I substitute it one for one.  So if a recipe calls for 2 cups whole wheat flour and 1 cup white flour, I use 2 cups hard red wheat and 1 cup soft white wheat.

Easy peasy.

Now, since it is freshly milled and lighter for every cup of flour I add an additional 2 heaping &#;big&#; spoons of flour.  You know, the big spoon, not the little spoon &#;

That&#;s really it.  Every recipe turns out great.  I never have any problems.

The Cost

The Nutrimill cost around $230.  I was able to buy mine over two years ago on Craigslist for $190.  It was pretty much brand new and still works like the first day I used it.

It is expensive but worth it.

Organic wheat berries cost around $30 per 50lb bag.

Two, 50lb bags of wheat berries last my family about four &#; five months, depending on the season.  I bake more during the winter.

Even if it lasts 4 months, that means I&#;m spending $15 per month on baked goods.  (Well, without adding in honey and whatever fat I&#;m using to add in.)

Per Month I bake (approximately)&#;

• 8 loaves of bread
• 16 hamburger buns
• 24 tortillas
• 8 batches of pancakes
• 4 batches of pizza dough

All of that for $15 per month.

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If I were to buy all of that at the grocery store it would cost over $50 and that is on the low end.  If I were to buy organic, the price would be higher.

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Now remember, this is an estimate.  I&#;m going to start keeping records to find out approximate costs.

Time

What this doesn&#;t add in though, is time.

I do own a kitchen aid stand mixer which does all of my kneading for me, so really, the time is cut down that way.

But what if you work full time, outside of the home, and don&#;t have the time?

I&#;m going to start sharing my recipes to give you an idea of how much time it takes to make these things.  Things like pizza, tortillas, and pancakes are quick to make.

Bread and buns can be made on a weekend or if you don&#;t want to spend your free weekend baking (which I understand) just buy the longer rising breads at places like Trader Joes or Whole Foods that offer great varieties on sprouted, whole wheat, and organic breads.

You gotta do what works for you family &#;

But for those of us budgeting on mostly a one income family, a grain mill is a great investment to save on our groceries.

Do you own a grain mill?  What kind?  Please share any advice with us in the comments below.

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While milling fresh flour at home has been around for quite a long time, it&#;s become more popular in recent years. I was introduced to fresh ground flour close to 15 years ago, but as a single mom with three kids, the start-up costs were prohibitive. I have always cooked from scratch, knowing that homemade food is more nutritious. However as a young cook, I never considered the quality of the ingredients I used in my home cooking. As we become more aware of the quality of our food, including artificial ingredients, we choose to do better. While there are pros and cons to using fresh ground grains, is fresh ground flour cheaper? 

Fresh Ground Flour Versus Store Bought Flour

The number one reason to use fresh ground flour is nutrition. When using whole grain flour, you reap the full benefits of the nutrients in the entire wheat berry. 

Parts of a Wheat Berry

Whole grains have three parts: the bran, the germ, and the endosperm.

• The bran is the hard outer shell of the wheat berry. It contains vitamin B and other minerals.  It is rich in fiber.  
• The germ is the part of the seed where a new plant would develop if planted. It contains vitamin E and essential fatty acids.
• The endosperm is full of carbohydrates and proteins that fuel a growing plant.  

The bran of the wheat berry is the perfect means to preserve the wheat. Once the bran is broken, or ground, the whole wheat flour begins to degrade through oxidization. Fresh ground flour is most nutrient-dense when it&#;s used in its entirety. Some home cooks prefer to sift the bran out of their fresh ground flour. This creates flour with a texture more like store-bought flour. However, sifting removes the vital nutrients that the bran provides, and technically speaking means that it is no longer whole-grain flour.

Shockingly 40 to 45% of the wheat&#;s nutrients are lost within the first 24 hours after grinding.  If used right away, those nutrients are locked in through the cooking process. Three days after milling, over 95% of the essential nutrients are lost through oxidation.  This means that pre-ground flour, even if it&#;s whole wheat flour has already lost vital nutrients before you even purchase it.

Commercial Flour

Conventional store-bought flour is highly processed. The bran and germ are removed to give it a longer shelf life and produce a softer product. Unfortunately this strips away most of the health benefits of wheat. The producers of commercial all-purpose flour recognize the nutrients lost and compensate by producing enriched flour. Synthetic nutrients are added back to enriched flour to compensate for the nutrients stripped from the wheat. The bran and germ are sold separately as grain products. I wrote an entire post about flour that explains some of the common terms regarding types of commercial flour. 

Cost Breakdown: Is Fresh Ground Flour Cheaper?

Now let&#;s talk about cost. Is it more cost-efficient to grind your own flour? When measured by weight, a cup of wheat berries is equal to a cup of flour. However most cooks don&#;t measure by weight, we measure by volume. In the case of volume, a cup of wheat berries is not equal to a cup of flour. The exact conversion from wheat berries to flour varies widely. Some sources state that 1 cup of wheat berries makes as little as 1 1/3 cups of flour. While others state that 1 cup of wheat berries makes as much as 1 3/4 cups of flour.

A side by side comparison. 1 cup of hard white wheat berries on the left. 1 cup of ground hard white wheat berries on the right.

For myself, I need easy figuring. I stick to the general rule that 1 cup of wheat berries equals 1 1/2 cups of flour.  I grind just a bit more than I need to make sure I have enough. Any extra, I store it in the refrigerator, or freezer which slows the oxidation process. The extra is always useful for making a quick roux, or feeding my sourdough starter!

Cost Break Down for 5 Pounds of Fresh Ground Flour

While wheat berries can be purchased from a variety of sources, I purchase my organic wheat berries from Azure Standard. Currently, at the time of the publishing of this post, 50 pounds of organic hard white wheat berries is $64.52. Which is $1.28 a pound for wheat berries. 

To make a realistic comparison, we need to compare apples to apples. Let&#;s break this down per 5 pounds of flour. 

• Five pounds of commercial flour contains approximately 18 cups of flour. Based on my 1 1/2 cups of flour per cup of wheat berries, we need 12 cups of wheat berries per 5 pounds of flour. (18 divided by 1.5=12)

• There are 2 1/2 cups of wheat berries in every pound so 12 cups of wheat berries is 4.8 pounds of wheat berries. (12 divided by 2.5= 4.8) Are you still with me? 

• This gives me a cost per 5 pounds of fresh ground, whole wheat flour to be $6.14. (4.8 x $1.28=$6.14)

The Cost of Whole Wheat Flour

Remember, we need to compare apples to apples.  A 5-pound bag of organic whole white wheat flour from Azure Standard is $9.95 a bag ($1.99 a pound).  For giggles, I searched organic whole wheat flour prices on Amazon and got a range of prices, King Arthur Organic Whole Wheat Flour is $19.81 for a 5-pound bag! Bob&#;s Red Mill Organic Whole Wheat Flour is $16.98 for a 5-pound bag. 

Places like Azure Standard sell ground flour in bulk. A 50-pound bag of organic whole white wheat flour is $75.95 ($1.52 per pound). However, this goes back to the nutrients lost, even if you properly store the flour in the freezer, the natural vitamins were lost 72 hours after it was ground long before you purchased it. 

One of the best perks of grinding your own flour is the variety of grains you can use. Experiment with ancient grains or mixing grains to produce different flavor profiles.  Consider grinding gluten-free flours, the sky is the limit!

Additional Cost of Using Fresh Ground Flour

While we can see that in an apples-to-apples comparison, the savings per bag of flour is certainly significant, grinding your flour at home has additional expenses. The biggest expense is a home flour mill.  There are many options on the market for an electric mill. I love my Nutrimill Harvest Grain Mill! My grain mill is a stone burr mill. Not only can I grind fine flour, but I also have the option to change the settings to grind more coarse grains for things like cream of wheat, grits, or cornmeal. Some may even prefer using a manual grain mill in case of power outages.

Nutrimill Harvest Grain Mill

Use my code KMBAKERS20 to get $20 off! (Can not be combined with other offers).

Buy Now

Depending on your family size, a large family may need an impact mill that can grind larger amounts of fine flour much faster. However, impact mills are more limited if you want to grind more than just flour.  They are not as adjustable as a burr mill. Read more about grain mills in this post. 

Grain mills range in price from $250 to $ depending on the features that are most important to you. While a grain mill is a significant investment, it is a one-time purchase. Some people use a coffee grinder, food processor, or high-powered blender with varied success. While all of these options will grind the wheat berries to coarse flour, the extra cost of a wheat mill can make a huge difference when it comes to making fine homemade flour. This could have a significant impact on your success rate and satisfaction level of your baked goods.

Shipping Cost

One of the biggest considerations regarding wheat berries is shipping costs. When I first began to mill my own flour, I ordered my grains from Amazon to take advantage of free shipping options. Buying clubs can be a good option if you can find the wheat berries.  Bread Becker Coop was a more cost-efficient shipping option for me when I lived close to a drop location. When we moved I made the switch to Azure Standard. While both have a similar selection of grains, the more frequent drops made it easier to budget my grains rather than having to place a large order all at once. Both Bread Becker Coop and Azure Standard have very low shipping costs which makes them the best option for me. 

&#;Time and Energy Necessary for Fresh Ground Flour

The other consideration is your own time and energy costs.  Grinding flour in itself just takes a few minutes and uses a minimal amount of power.  However, I found the learning curve regarding using fresh ground flour to be more significant than I anticipated. As an experienced baker for almost four decades, it&#;s like learning an entire new skill! Baking with fresh flour can&#;t be compared to baking with white flour. They aren&#;t the same product and it can be challenging to get used to the differences. My husband has eaten his share of heavy, dense breads and flat cookies! Still, once you get the hang of it, the taste and smell of homemade bread can&#;t be beat! 

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Consider Your Why

If you are considering a grain mill, think about the main reasons you want to mill your own flour. My main reason for getting a grain mill was from a preparedness standpoint. Whole wheat berries are the best option for long-term storage. was the first time in my life I had ever seen empty grocery store shelves. Should that ever happen again, I wanted to be ready! 

I was a single mom for 13 years raising three kids. I completely understand living on a tight budget and not having options.  As a young mom, I had friends who ground flour.  But considering I could buy flour with the traditional blue and gold label for a much cheaper price, I just couldn&#;t justify the added expense. Even today, that same blue and gold-labeled flour is about $3.99 for a 5-pound bag of flour. Sometimes, getting food on the table means I do the best I can with what I have and I honestly didn&#;t realize the significant difference in the quality of the foods I baked. I thought that fresh bread made with any kind of flour was good enough, which sadly is not the case at all.    

When you Know Better, Do Better!

The good news is you know better! While it&#;s a good idea to buy new when you can, a good option to consider is a refurbished mill. You may even get lucky and find a used one as a much cheaper option. Possibly it&#;s a goal you have to aim for. Choose the best grain mill you can afford and save your hard-earned dough for it (pun intended). Fresh ground flour is the cheapest option when compared to quality whole wheat flour and is significantly better for you. The equipment and time invested is worth the sacrifice for you and your family.

Not convinced? This is a good read to learn more.

About the Author: Barbra-Sue Kowalski grew up on a small hobby farm. She was always drawn to farm life, however, she was stuck in an urban life far from her roots. Barbra-Sue was a single mom for 13 years, raising her 3 children on her own. She met Philip in and they married in . Between the two of them, they have 5 grown children and 5 grandchildren. These empty nesters are following their dreams! As they both turn 50, they are building their off-grid homestead to live the life that they dream about. Learn more about Philip and Barbra-Sue here. Contact them here. To leave a comment on this post, please scroll down.

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