I’ll help you get started step by step. First you need to buy some whole grain flour to see if you like the taste and texture before investing in your own grain mill. My Dad is a Wonder Bread man and always will be. But chances are that even if you don’t like whole grain flours, you could substitute some white flour with whole wheat flour, even if it’s only half or less.
The best way to be sure you’re eating whole grains is to make your own, where you can control the fat, sugar, and salt and don’t have to worry about all the industrial chemicals added to flour and bread products.
It’s fast!
It only takes a minute to grind enough flour for a loaf of bread, and the nutrition can’t be beaten since freshness is one of the most crucial factors in making food healthy.
Cost
A whole grain mill will cost at least $70 (manual), but it will pay for itself quickly when you make your own cereal, bread, muffins, crackers, and so on. And the cost of what you’ll save in health care costs and general well-being can’t be calculated, but it could be a lot more than what you save buying food at the store. Plus you’ll feel better and probably live longer. If you can’t afford a grain mill, get a micro-loan from family or a good friend and pay them back with freshly baked goods.
If you can afford a grain mill but don’t have the time to bake yeast bread, make quick or flat breads and other fast goodies. Or buy a mill for a nearby friend or neighbor who likes to bake, especially someone out-of-work, and get them to pay you back with free, fresh bread until the mill has been paid off. With so many people out of work, this could help them out with a new small business or something to barter.
Home-milled flour and flakes are more nutritious than commercial products
Your home mill grinds at much lower temperatures than a nutrition-destroying hot commercial mill, and it’s far fresher.
Save Money
The more bread, cereal, cookies, chips, crackers, muffins, and so on you bake at home rather than buy, the sooner your mill will pay for itself. For example, according to Common Cause, it’s not uncommon for cereal to cost 16 times or more the price of the raw ingredients inside (Baldwin).
Freshness matters – store bought flour is old
Wheat and other whole grains are alive – if you plant them they’ll grow in your back yard. Fresh food has ephemeral nutrients that don’t last long. Flour milled at home has far more nutrition than store-bought flour, which may have been sitting on a shelf over a year, possible because of chemicals you probably would rather not be eating…
References
Baldwin, Deborah. Summer 1993. “The cornflake cartel: ever wonder why cereal costs so much?” Common Cause Magazine.
