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Spring of 2020 was a crazy time. Well, actually, 2020 itself was a mess. But spring, in particular, had me on edge.
Utah had several minor earthquakes. The Covid pandemic resulted in a lot of panic shopping, so certain basic items were scarce. And the stock market crashed. Although the crash, didn’t affect my family directly, it did contribute to the overall air of unease. It made me worried about the economy and if our finances would be able to absorb the hit.
And then the stimulus checks came.
Like many other families, my husband and I used the money to cover expenses. We paid some of our credit card debt. We stocked up on essential food items. And we put some money into savings in case my husband lost his job.
But with some of the extra money, I also bought an at-home mill, more specifically a Wondermill Grain Grinder. I figured the mill would come in handy for a variety of reasons.
Before I delve too deep into the nitty gritty of grinding wheat, I want you to know that a mill isn’t the right solution for everyone. Mills can be expensive, noisy, and messy. Some mills have a learning curve. Home-ground flours don’t have the same consistency as store-bought flours. Depending on where you live, wheat berries and other grains may be more difficult to purchase, and therefore, more expensive.
However, if you still wonder whether you should mill your own flour, here are a few pros to consider.
During the first few weeks of the pandemic, many store shelves ran out of flour. Although Walmart and Smith’s tried to stay on top of stocking supplies, panic buyers kept clearing them out again.
Fortunately, my local Costco also had several buckets of wheat. I bought a 45 lb. bucket of hard white wheat for about $15. With my newly purchased mill, I could make my own wheat flour even when the stores had run out.
Better still, I didn’t have to mill all my wheat at once. I only had to mill what I needed for the next few weeks and store the rest. According to the container, the wheat berries could last 30 years if stored in a cool, dry place.
Now, I can make flour at my leisure, and during an emergency, I can skip going to the store. If you like to feel prepared, you should mill your own flour.
I’m going to be up front about myself right now: I’m cheap.
For most of my day-to-day baking, I stock up on Great Value’s All-Purpose Flour. It’s easy to buy in bulk, and most of the time, it’s available for only $0.22 a pound. It might not be flashy, but it gets the job done and keeps my family fed.
However, like so many other store-brand flours, Great Value’s all-purpose flour comes “enriched” and “bleached.”
While these additives are harmless, they can affect the flavor and smell of the flour. You can bake the flour to improve the odor, but if you want a better flavor experience, you’ll need a higher quality flour. And higher quality costs money.
Or you can skip the additives and mill your own flour.
When you mill your own flour, you use the entire berry or grain, so none of the nutrition is lost. Additionally, you don’t need to make your flour look blindingly white through bleaching agents. You have great tasting flour from start to finish. Better still, you don’t have to worry about what manufacturers have done to keep it on the shelf longer.
My local Walmart has a limited variety of flour. I can choose between all-purpose or whole wheat. Occasionally, I’ll see some bread flour or some cake flour, but they often cost more than I’m willing to pay.
If I feel like making one of my rye bread recipes, I’d have to go to a specialty store. If I need rice flour to keep dough from sticking or to make gluten-free bread, I’m out of luck. I could buy barley flour or spelt flour from Amazon, but, as I mentioned earlier, I’m cheap. Specialty flours cost two to three times as much as simple flours. Even worse, I’d have to cover the cost of shipping them to my house as well.
But with a mill, I have a much wider variety of flours (and subsequently, flavors) to use in my baking.
If I ship from Amazon, a bag of rye flour can cost $0.37 an ounce whereas a bag of rye berries only costs $0.14 an ounce, so milling my own flour cuts the cost to a more reasonable amount. Similarly, a bag of barley flour can cost about $0.54 an ounce, while a bag of pearl barley costs about $0.23 an ounce.
With grains and berries at half the price of their corresponding flours, I feel much more comfortable mixing, matching, blending, and experimenting with my bread recipes. And I can do it while staying within my budget.
If you like to experiment with flavor profiles, you should mill your own flour.
I’m all about saving money wherever I can, and I’m going to answer this question as thoroughly and honestly as I can.
If you want the short answer: yes, you can save money.
Want the longer answer? You can save money, but it will take a while to break even, and you’ll need to think carefully about what you buy.
If you mill your own flour, you’ll need to keep in mind the following:
You may also want to consider storage space, how often you bake bread, and how much time and energy you want to use when you mill your own flour.
First, let’s take a look at some of the more popular mills on the market.
Of course, there are a lot more mills available than these three. Feel free to shop around and see what’s out there.
I am am Amazon associate, so I do earn money from affiliate links. However, I don’t earn money for my opinions, and I only list this product here as an example of a popular mill.
If you want the cheapest option possible, you can buy a generic brand manual grain grinder from Walmart or from Amazon or from a similar store near you. A manual grain grinder is a good option if you want to have a way to grind wheat during an emergency and you don’t have access to electricity. It takes up little space, and you can just clamp it onto your table top and get to work.
But a manual grain grinder doesn’t make fine flour. You may run your wheat through the grinder multiple times and will still end up with some crunchier bits that will affect the texture of your bread. Additionally, manual grain grinders take a lot of muscle power. You may mill your own flour at your own speed, but you’ll wear yourself out for a few cups of gritty flour.
If you want the next cheapest option, you can buy a wheat grinder attachment for $150 at multiple locations. I’ve seen these in several stores, and they’re all about the same price. You can attach the grinder to the front of your KitchenAid mixer and work from there. It’s also fairly small, and it has multiple settings so you can choose how fine you want your flour.
However, this attachment only works if you already have a powerful KitchenAid mixer, which can cost $250 or more. If you don’t already have a KitchenAid, you’re looking at a $400+ purchase altogether, making it the most expensive option. Additionally, many KitchenAid attachment users warn that the attachment shouldn’t pair with the smaller artisan mixers, as it could blow out the motor. The attachment gets hot after use, so if you plan to make more than 10 cups of flour at a time, you might need a more efficient option.
And now a look at the third option, the Wondermill. This is the mill I chose as an amateur baker. It was available at a few smaller sites, and those sites did run out of stock about the same time flour became scarce during the pandemic. However, they did a great job restocking, and it’s available again. The mill itself works quickly. It can easily grind 12 cups of flour in a matter of minutes, and the flour goes into a covered bowl attachment to keep messes minimal.
But you should know the mill only has three milling options for flour: coarse, bread, and pastry. And I have noticed that if you don’t completely lock the lid into place on the flour bowl that flour will poof out into a powdery mess during milling. The mill handles a variety of grains fine, including rice, wheat, and rye. However, do not try to make almond flour with the mill, as the oils will gunk up the system.
Additionally, advertisers claim you can store your freshly milled flour in the covered container, but there is an open hole where it attaches to the mill. If you have a problem with insects in your house, you’ll want an alternative storage solution for when you mill your own flour.
Of course, these are just a few popular milling options. You might find a better deal elsewhere, but be sure to read reviews and thoroughly understand the pros and cons of each before you invest.
This is the part where I do math. I’m not great at mathematics, so feel free to correct me or point out any errors in my reasoning here. However, I think it’s important to crunch some numbers before giving a hard and fast “yes” on whether you should mill your own flour.
If you read my “experiment with grains section earlier”, you’d see that you can save about $0.23 an ounce if you buy rye berries rather than rye flour. And you can save about $0.31 an ounce if you buy pearl barley rather than barley flour.
But let’s take a look at regular wheat flour, the cheapest and most common flour to mill.
I purchased a 45 lb. bucket of hard white wheat for $15 at Costco. At that price, wheat totals about $0.33 a pound or $0.02 an ounce. I understand that in some locations, you might not find wheat in bulk for that price, but I’m working with what I have access to right now.
Additionally, a cup of wheat berries actually makes more than a cup of wheat flour. In general, a cup of wheat berries makes closer to a cup and a half of wheat flour, taking the price per ounce down even further.
To break it down, 45 pounds = 720 ounces. A cup of wheat berries weighs 6.3 ounces, which means a Costco bucket holds about 114 cups of wheat berries. If a cup of wheat berries makes a cup and a half of flour, then a bucket makes 171 cups cups of wheat flour (plus a little extra).
A cup of flour weighs 4.5 ounces, so a bucket would make about 771 ounces of flour for $15, bringing the price to about $0.31 a pound or $0.019 an ounce.
Keep in mind that this is for pure whole wheat flour, not all-purpose flour (which requires additional sifting to imitate). I have yet to see a Great Value brand whole wheat flour, so let’s compare it with the Wheat Montana Bronze Chief Whole Wheat flour, as that is the current budget pick at $0.05 an ounce.
If you mill your own whole wheat flour, you’d save $0.03 an ounce or $0.49 a pound. Note that this does NOT include the cost of shipping, taxes, or electricity, which I have no idea how to calculate at this point.
To continue my hypothetical, you’d have to mill 530 pounds of flour to break even (if you purchased the Wondermill at $260). Assuming my math is still in the right ball park at this point, you’d need to mill 1,886 cups of flour.
I know bread recipes and amounts vary widely, but let’s assume that the average loaf of whole wheat bread contains about 3.5 cups of flour. You’d need to make 539 loaves of bread before you recoup the cost of your mill.
If you only made about a loaf of whole wheat bread a week, it would take you 10 years to break even. So, not exactly promising if you are a casual baker.
However, I tend to make at least two loaves a week (more if I’m trying to master a recipe or if I’m feeling generous and want to gift bread to friends). At two loaves a week, I’ll still need 5 years of casual baking before I start to save money on flour, not including the cost of shipping, taxes, and electricity. According to the manufacturers, the Wondermill has a lifetime warranty on milling heads and only a 6 year warranty on everything else.
I understand that this has been a lengthy post, and I totally get it if you’d rather not read everything in depth. So here’s a quick recap.
If you want to mill your own flour, you have a mix of pros and the cons. In favor of milling, you can make flour at your own leisure, enjoy better flavor and nutrition from your flours, and experiment with a variety of grain. Ounce to ounce, home-milled flour tends to be cheaper than store-bought flour, so you have the potential to save money.
However, don’t forget that mills can cost quite a lot. If you are a casual baker on a tight budget, you’ll need to carefully consider whether you can foot the bill upfront and whether you want to wait five years (or more) before you see any real savings. In some locations, finding flour on the shelves may actually be cheaper than shipping grains to your home or buying them at a specialty store.
Despite the cons, I love milling my own flour at home, and I think the purchase was a good investment for me personally. But be sure to weigh all the pros and cons before you purchase a mill to mill your own flour.
Last Updated on April 19, 2024 by Michelle
Bill and I pictured ourselves milling our own flour when we were newlyweds. Then we priced the grains and researched the giant, awkward mill options and realized it was too costly and cumbersome for our small kitchen and smaller budget.
Wow, how things have changed!
Yes, we have a bigger kitchen these days.
But what’s really changed?
Why Do I Mill My Own Flour?
I mill my own flour for 4 reasons really:
Nutrition…
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Since the wheat berries you use to grind flour at home haven’t been processed yet, the berries retain all of the grain’s vitamins, minerals, and nutrients, which makes fresh flour so much more nutritious for you and your family than commercially-ground flours. Those were ground long before they reached your kitchen, stripped of all the really good-for-your stuff, and then left to sit on a store shelf for months.
Variety…If your family uses alternative flours, having a grain mill at home can be helpful to grind rye, corn, rice, barley, oats, buckwheat, millet, lentils, and more, which can save tons of money over purchasing non-wheat flours at the store.
Cost…Milling your own flour can be cheaper than purchasing flour at the store. Obviously, this depends on what kind of wheat you purchase, where you live, and what flour you normally purchase, but for our family, we’ve done the math, and it’s cheaper for us to grind our own flour at home than it is for us to purchase flour at our local supermarket. (See the breakdown of my cost benefit analysis below.)
Taste…Fresh flour just tastes better. Freshly ground wheat takes on amazing variety of flavor, based on what wheat berries you choose… the flour is a little sweeter, or maybe little nuttier, like the flavor profile of these delicious chocolate chip cookies made with fresh flour… it’s hard to describe, but it’s always a richer flavor when the flour is fresh.
What are Wheat Berries & Why are They Good for You?
Wheat berries are hard kernels of wheat. In each little berry, there are 3 parts:
When you purchase flour at the store, the only part of the wheat berry that remains is the endosperm, or lots of starch. That’s it. And that’s why flour companies have to add back in good stuff and call it “enriched.”
The germ and bran parts of the wheat berry are removed from commercial flours because they’re oily and turn rancid quickly, making fresh flour not shelf stable.
But wheat berries? They last (pretty much) forever. And since you’re grinding in the germ and the bran, which flour companies have to strip away, freshly ground flour is a much more nutritious option than even the best flours you can buy.
Added bonus? Wheat berries aren’t just for making fresh flour! If you want some inspiration on ways to cook and eat wheat berries you’ll find that right here.
Bread Making Tips if You’re Milling Your Own Flour
I’m still learning all the ways I want to incorporate fresh milled flour into our kitchen, but here are a few tips I’ve figured out along the way.
Is it Expensive to Mill Your Own Flour?
I was so pleased when I sat down to do a cost-benefit analysis of freshly milled flour versus what I buy in the store. I mean, after all, the healthier option is always more expensive, right? Well this is one instance where I discovered I’m actually saving money by going with the healthiest option.
What I’m saving on flour will eventually pay for my mill!
Here’s how the numbers break down for me:
So I’m keeping $1.63 in my pocket for every 5 pounds of flour!
Given that a large family can use up to 240 bags of flour in a year, you can save $391.20/year guys!
So my mill was paid off in about 9 months time, and every year thereafter I can save as much $400 while feeding my family the most nutritious flour option!
Now here’s where I’m totally transparent and fess up that I still use a combination of King Arthur flour and fresh milled. So in reality I probably only save a few hundred dollars, but hey, I’ll take it!
That’s a win-win squared, or something like that. 😉
How much fresh flour will 5 pounds of wheat berries make?The pounds of wheat berries you grind should translate to the same poundage of flour. Although grinding the wheat aerates it and creates much more volume, 5 pounds of wheat berries should make 5 pounds of flour.
In terms of measurement, I’ve found that grinding about half the amount of wheat berries compared to the amount of flour I need does the trick. So if a recipe calls for 2 cups of flour, I’ll need to grind about 1 cup of wheat berries.
Where Do You Get Wheat Berries?I found the best option for me is Azure Standard. Here’s the wheat berries I use for bread making. And here is a finder to let you know if Azure has a delivery drop near you. (I was elated when they recently expanded their reach into our area of New England.)
But I’ve also ordered a 35-pound bucket of these wheat berries and been very pleased.
If you can find a local farmer who grows and sells wheat berries that would be the best option.
What Alternative Grains Can You Mill at Home?My Nutrimill Harvest Mill can grind all of these grain options:
hard wheat, soft wheat, spelt, kamut, rye, barley, einkorn, farro, quinoa, millet, amaranth, sorghum, brown rice, wild rice, oat, dried corn, buckwheat, soy beans, lima beans, black beans, pinto beans, lentils, chickpeas, and more.
But each mill has different alternative grains that it can process into flour. Watch here for many alternative grains that I ground into flour in a Mockmill Lino 100.
There are many options for grain mills. These are the 3 I recommend: The Classic Nutrimill does a great job, at the lowest price point. The Harvest Mill wins for most beautiful to sit on your counter. And the Mockmill is a beautiful workhorse that wins for best engineered, best at milling alternative grains, and finest flour, but it also sits at the highest price point.
I talk about my grain mill, as well as the 11 other kitchen tools I seriously would hate to be without in this episode of my podcast:
Talk to me!
If you have any questions, leave a comment below. And please tag me on ig to inspire me with what you’re baking @souly.rested.
More Fresh Flour Recipes:Sourdough Bread, Without Wasted Discard
The Secret to a Perfect Giant Cookie
Tortillas Made with Fresh Flour
Chocolate Chip Cookies Made with Fresh Flour
Learn All About Fresh Flour in my free e-course
My people shall be satisfied with my goodness, declares the Lord. Jeremiah 31:14
For more information, please visit wheat processing equipment.