Hard Red Wheat
I am working right now in lowering my food budget. Not always an easy thing when you have high standards for your food quality and food prices rising. So I try to keep an eye out for good deals on organic grains. One of the biggest ways I save on grain is by buying in bulk. I am able to buy wheat berries in 25-50 pound bags for half the price it costs in the bulk section at my health food store. That adds up to big savings!
But recently, I have been able to buy some organic grains in bulk for much cheaper than hard wheat berries, which saved me a considerable amount of money. I thought I would share what I have found and hopefully pass long some of the savings to you as well!
(Note: I do grind my own grains, but that doesn’t mean those without a grinder can’t benefit from these prices as well. Some of the grains can be used whole in many dishes. But you can also use Sue Gregg’s method of grinding your grains in a blender for muffins, pancakes, etc).
Soft Wheat Berries 
I order many of my grains through Azurestandared.com. I am close enough to one of their drop points that I don’t have to pay shipping, but they now do offer UPS shipping. If you can’t find something local, you can try to figure out how much shipping would cost, because with these prices, it still may save you a pretty penny.
As I was getting my order together this last time, I noticed that their organic soft wheat berries were significantly cheaper than their organic hard wheat berries. The hard wheat berries were a little over thirty eight dollars for 50 pounds, while the soft wheat berries only cost a little over 24 dollars! That’s a significantly savings for me! I did buy 25 pounds of organic hard wheat from a local mill, but I bought 50 pounds of the soft wheat from Azure. The hard wheat will be used to make homemade bread (you need the protein and higher gluten content for bread making), while the soft wheat will make much better, softer, sourdough pancakes, quick breads, Irish Soda Bread, and muffins. I love that I get to save money using a better flour for these projects!
Hulled Barley 
I also noticed that their organic hulled barley is a great deal right now! It’s only $11.40 for 25 pounds. My husband has always told me that he liked barley, so he has been greatly enjoying having it recently. I have been experimenting with grinding some to add to my whole wheat bread ( it adds a nice sweetness), putting it in soups ( a favorite), and making a barley and white bean salad (very good!). I have also found that it tastes wonderful just cooked up whole and served with some maple syrup for a snack or breakfast. By the way, don’t get the pearled variety of barley, because it has had some of the nutritional outer layer taken off of the grain.
Buckwheat
Buckwheat, while not as popular in my family as the barley, is also a nice, highly nutritious grain for a good price from Azure. It is also gluten free for those who need gluten free options. It’s only $3.35 for 5 pounds, $16 for 25 pounds, and $25.60 for 50 pounds of organic buckwheat. Although I haven’t experimented as much with Buckwheat, we have found several recipes that we really enjoy. We have greatly enjoyed simple Russian Kasha made from Buckwheat and We also like buckwheat crepes.
(Buckwheat, by the way, is not related to wheat)
Other Tips
Another great grain to look out for is millet. It is often at a great price (although not super cheap right now fromAzure). It is fairly easy to find non-organic sources for millet for around 60 cents a pound, or less. It can be used for part of the flour in quick breads and muffins, etc and adds a nice light texture. We have also enjoyed it in whole form in many dishes.
Most of all, I would just keep a watch on prices. You may be surprised at some great deals you find. Don’t get stuck in thinking prices stay the same, because they do change. Try to buy grains that are cheaper at the time you are buying. It’s also fun because you get to experiment with different grains. I wouldn’t have bought the barley, except that it was so inexpensive. But we enjoy it so much, I think it’s going to become a mainstay!
This Post is part of Frugal Friday!
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Oh how I wish I had my own grain mill! Seeing those prices made we wish it even more. 🙂 Flour is becoming ridiculous to buy around here at over a dollar a pound for anything better than all-purpose. I’ll have to look into Azure one of these days, I hear about them all over.
OH! You can’t forget SPELT. It’s my all time favorite. It’s easy to digest and because it has gluten, it can be used as you would wheat flour.
Babsi
I have often thought of grinding my own grain as I hear the taste is so much better. I need to get a grain mill first though. Thank you for the info on the grains! 😀
How do you store all those grains once you have them? That is a lot of grains and I have always wondering how everyone keeps them.
We also buy our grains in bulk from Azure, and it is definitely the best deal out there that we’ve found.
I usually buy spelt berries, as we don’t eat wheat. Unfortunately, they are very expensive right now- the last time I bought they had practically doubled in price! Ouch!
Other than spelt, I buy oat groats and steel cut oats, barley, millet, quinoa, sometimes kamut, and hulled buckwheat, all in bulk. I love to have a good variety and change things up, and if I buy in bulk it’s not too expensive to keep my pantry well stocked.
Would you mind sharing how you store your bulk grains, since you are buying such large quantities? I have nearly always bought my grains in bulk but I have had problems in the past with them going rancid or … er, this is gross … having insect larva hatch out of them. I’ve since learned to freeze them for at least 24 hours to take care of the latter problem, but I don’t have the storage space in my freezer to keep ALL my grains in there, so I still have trouble with them going rancid unless I just buy smaller quantities more frequently. I would really appreciate any storage tips you have!
Great tips! I also grind my own wheat. We use mostly Wheat Montana Prairie Gold Hard White Wheat berries. I also make an 8 grain mix with 3 kinds of wheat, millet, barley, oat groats, Rye berries & spelt kernels. We are able to purchase all of our grains, as well as other natural foods through a co-op that we have here. It usually saves us at least 1/3 to 1/2 off of the grocery store prices. I'm currently writing a post about co-ops that I hope to have finished for next Frugal Friday.
Great post Kimi! It makes me wish that I had a bigger place, with room for a freezer to store more grains and a grain mill! 🙂
When you make quick breads, do you sprout the wheat berries and then grind them into flour (to make them more digestible) or do you just simply use them ground, without soaking? Just curious . . .
Thanks and have a great day!
Sarah
Babsie,
I personally love spelt, but it is really not very cheap right now, so I am afraid it didn’t make the cut for this “frugal” post! 😉
Badger and Lynn,
I store my grains in big plastic buckets with lids. As far as them keeping well, Badger, I think the number one thing is to buy them somewhere you can get them fresh. You don’t want grains that have been sitting around a long while in the store already! It is probably the very best to have them in your freezer/fridge, but I have never had a problem storing them in my cool pantry, tightly covered. Growing up my mom did the same thing, and we never had it go rancid. When you grind it, it should smell fresh and lovely. 🙂 But I should note that it depends on your climate. Hotter places wouldn’t treat grains so kindly. You may have to be more careful in the summer as well.
I had forgotten about that 24 freezer tip (I have never had bug problems either), but maybe it would be a good thing to do “just in case!” 🙂
I really wish I had a grain mill. Since becoming gluten-free, our budget has really taken a hit with buying different flours. (Plus, I usually can’t buy from the bulk bins due to cross-contamination.)
Great post! Thanks!
Blessings,
Michele
Badger,
I forgot to say that I use my grains pretty quickly as well. I make everything from scratch right now, pasta, breads, muffins, cookies, etc, so it doesn’t take too long to get through. You could also check out which grains are more perishable, and put those in the freezer/fridge and leave the less perishable ones out, in the coolest, darkest place in your house, tightly covered. But it’s obviously not worth buying bulk if half of it goes bad!
Sarah,
I always soak my quick bread batter. You can check out some of my muffin recipes, or my soda bread recipe to see how I do it. I find that not only do I appreciate the health benefits, but it has a nicer texture and taste as well! 🙂
I’m not sure how the cost compares but I just want to mention QUINOA! For it’s protein content it might be worth a higher price, plus I just love it. I also buy whole oat groats like they’re going out of style…my favorite for breakfast! Have never tried grinding my own grains but that sounds like an excellent idea for the future. Great post, thanks!
Michelle,
I also love quinoa! It’s a wonderful grain. It’s not the cheapest thing out there, though I have found organic quinoa in the bulk section at Winco’s for a good price! I think it’s also significantly cheaper through Azure. I particularly love mixing red quinoa with regular quinoa.
what is your preferred method of grinding grains without an actual grinder? i never thought of grinding my own grains. can you use any of what you grind as a flour in baked goods?
thanks!!
My Year Without,
My preferred method of grinding grains without a grinder is Sue Gregg’s method of using your blender with some of the wet ingredients. This only works for certain recipes, like muffins, quick breads, pancakes, waffles. But it works well! We used to use that method even though we owned a grinder. Her cookbooks were written in the low fat era of health food, and she didn’t soak her grains. But she has recently revised her recipes to include a soaking method. I would check out her website and try some of her free recipes out, and see how it works for you! http://www.suegregg.com/teaching/WholeFoodsCookingLessons.htm
Just click on the pictures to go to the recipe. If you like it, you could certainly adapt your own recipes to that method.
You can also use a small coffee blender for small amounts, but it would take along time for large amounts. My friend has a larger coffee grinder, and she told me that she has had really good results grinding flour in it from whole grain. 🙂
Anyone else have any suggestions?
Great Post! Thanks!
I live in GA and we don’t have access to Azure. We love fresh grains and get ours through either Wheat Montana and/or Walton Feed. We only went to WM when WF’s selection on wheat was either limited or non existent. Thanks for telling me about the differences though. We LOVE millet. I love to put it in my granola and muffins.
Storage: When we got our shipment from WM, I asked them for the pallatte. I have heard that it is best for you to keep it at around 55 degrees, but I live in Ga. I keep my grains, stacked on the pallatte, in my basement. The stuff I use regularly, is either in the house or in the garage. Also ask around restaraunts or Azure. I buy 6 gallon food grade buckets for about $4.00/pc. The lids with rubber seals are about $1.20/each. They are SO worth it. Because of prices, we bought ALOT of grains and it has done well. I also store things like beans, etc. The only thing that doesn’t do well in storage is Rice. I store it in ziplocs in the freezer.
For the poster who asked about bugs in grain — to keep bugs and larvae from infesting stored grain, sprinkle some food-grade diatomaceous earth on it. Completely safe for human consumption because it’s amorphous silica (it’s in fact really good for humans), but still hurts the bugs!
HTH.
Wow, thanks so much for all the tips! I do think part of my problem is buying grains that aren’t as fresh as they could be. And also, I live in Texas, with no basement! So it’s hard to find someplace cool enough to keep things. Hmm, might be time to clean out the freezer and see if I can buy some containers that will stack well and make good use of the space!
I live in Capitan, NM. That is the south east portion of the state. Would anyone know of a supplier that is local to my area for purchasing whole grains and a manual grinder for whole grains, corn and coffee beans?
Hi.
I wanted to mention that if you sprout your grains it allows the toxins in the outer shell to neutralize. That way when you eat the grains with the un-neutralized shell (the part that is toxic to bugs- that keeps the bugs out of the grain) it chelates (blocks) vitamins and mineral absorption. Google sprouting your grains and see what you come up with. Thank you for all the information about the savings! I’m all new to this and have only been doing research.