When do you break even on milling grain?

[Bruenor]

For those of you who have decided to mill your own grain, when did you find that you broke even? Part of what's hold me back from buying a hand mill is the start-up price, but if I'll recover that cost pretty quickly it will help in my decision.

I haven't found a local supplier of fresh grain, so I suppose I'll go check out Wal-Mart tonight and see what they have. That will get me started on the price/benefit comparison.

Thanks in advance for any comments.

[Shamrock1121]

For those of you who have decided to mill your own grain, when did you find that you broke even? *Part of what's hold me back from buying a hand mill is the start-up price, but if I'll recover that cost pretty quickly it will help in my decision.

I haven't found a local supplier of fresh grain, so I suppose I'll go check out Wal-Mart tonight and see what they have. *That will get me started on the price/benefit comparison.

Thanks in advance for any comments.

I have no idea when "breaking even" happened, nor did I care, but with the heavy use I have gotten out of the old Whisper Mill for the last decade plus, it happened a long time ago.

Sometimes we purchase kitchen tools (or garage tools) because we can and want to. They make the job easier or better - we don't necessarily "break even" on the purchase. I bought my husband a really nice framing hammer years ago. We've gotten a lot of use out of it, but I doubt that we ever worried that we "broke even" from the purchase. We had a perfectly good miter box with a nice back saw, but oh, boy, could we cut trim with an electric compound-miter chop saw a whole lot better and faster, but I doubt we ever broke even because we bought it. I could name a L-O-N-G list of things in the workshop and the kitchen that we've never broke even on ;).

I started milling wheat because it's the only way to get 100% of the nutrition from the freshly-milled flour - and for no other reason than that. You can't get 100% of the nutrition with commercial flour - even if it's whole grain - it's too old by the time you get it from the store and much of the nutrients have degraded and the germ oil is already rancid from storage. It doesn't have to smell rancid to BE rancid - and if the flour has been at room temperature for over 3 hours, it's started to oxidize and will soon be rancid. Much of the commercial whole wheat flour is nothing more than white flour with some of the bran raked back into it to make it "look" brown.

Factor into that speciality flours from grains like spelt, kamut, rye, barley, triticale, etc. I would spend a fortune trying to get them already milled (if I could even find them), so I mill them myself from the whole grains. Always remembering, FRESH IS BEST.

1. How often will you use the mill? I use mine 1-3 times a week. I mill ALL our flour; especially now that commercial flour has gone up so high in price. I also still have cheap wheat in storage, and not-so-cheap wheat, and an assortment of other grains/seeds/beans that I mill.

2. How often will you be baking and using the freshly milled flour? I use it for ALL our baked goods, not just bread. If it's got flour in it, I've milled it and I make all our baked goods. I bake once or twice a week. I don't purchase any commercial baked goods.

I haven't seen any Wheat Montana wheat in Wal-Mart for quite awhile now, and not all stores ever carried it. It happened to be some of my most expensive wheat, although it's the best wheat.

The demand for wheat has been VERY high and most places won't have anything for shipping until after harvest. Anything you purchase before harvest is sure to be some of the most expensive. I was shocked to find wheat at Wal-Mart in the first place... :o

So I'll ask you, do you bake? Have you ever used wholegrain flour/s?

I'd also say, find a source for wheat first, then get a mill. If you are going to purchase a piece-of-crap mill, then don't bother, you'll never use it and it will be a waste of time and money. My first 2 mills were in the piece-of-crap line, and used very little.

I'll also say milling grains into flour isn't the only way to use them for food. I also make my own cracked wheat, bulgur, flakes and farina for cooked cereal.

-Karen

[Bruenor]

Karen,

First off, thanks for the reply. I always learn a lot by reading what you say. I see your point on not worrying about breaking even.

I just started learning to bake, and my wife bakes as well. We're not all that good at it, but I did buy some "wheat" flower from Wal-Mart, used the recipe on the bag, and made a very tasty loaf of bread.

I've noticed over the last couple of months that the price of bread from the stores is increasing in price, and I only see it going up. I've also noticed that when I eat store bread I feel....well, I'm not sure how to describe it. I feel that bread should be more than just the top and the bottom of a sandwich, and that's all I feel with store bought bread. So, for the value, the nutrition, and the cost, I think that over time milling my own grain would be better.

The other side of this is that my parents own about 8 acres of land. In about a year or two I'm hoping that we'll take maybe two acres of that and plant our own wheat, and hand harvest it. It would be a lot of work, but I think it's a good idea.

For the mill, I've been looking at either a Family Grain Mill or a Nutrimill (things I've learned from reading your posts). I like the Family mill because you can use it manually, but from what I've read it doesn't make as fine of flour, so maybe I'll get the Nutrimill. I've learned my lessons in the past about buying cheap products, and I won't do it again. I'll pay the money up front to get something better.

Anyway, thanks again for your post. I look forward to reading more of your words of advice.

- Jason -