Looking for good wheat prices on-line?

[MaxTheKnife]

We recently bought a Country Living grain mill and I've been looking for the best on-line whole grain prices since then. After looking till my eyes started to cross I found this site:

http://store.honeyvillegrain.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWCATS&Category=273

My biggest concern when ordering bulk grain on-line was the shipping charges. Well, Honeyville Grain has worked some kind of magic with UPS because the shipping for a 50 pound bag of wheat is only $4.49 to anywhere in the US!!! I don't know how they do it but if you're looking for a good deal on wheat or other grains you might want to give them a look. My total cost for a 50 pound bag of spring wheat came to $38.83, for a cost of 77:cent: per pound. I could buy hard red winter wheat for 69:cent: a pound locally, but the spring wheat comes from North Dakota where Monsanto is banned. That's important to me. I got the spring wheat because it's high in protein and gluten and should be the best all around wheat for bread when grinding your own flour. Of course I'll find out how true that is once I get my wheat.

 

[monkeyface]

You can get shipped any amount with your order from honeyville grains for a total of 4.95. So if you have a 100 dollar order, or a 500 dollar or any amount, it is still only 4.95 shipping for the total order.

 

[MaxTheKnife]

Yep, you're right monkey face. I should have said that but figured folks would find out for themselves if they were interested enough to click on the site. But thanks for taking the time to add that info. I still don't understand how they can ship heavy bulky stuff so cheap but I'm sure glad they do.

 

[Nana]

Thanks for this info Max. I spent a good deal of time yesterday researching grain mills. The Country Living Mill looks good. I just got home from checking the local food co-op for wheat. The clerk there couldn't tell me if the only wheat that they had was white or red. I wanted white. I thought it would maybe be cheaper to buy locally because of shipping. They are charging .91 cents a pound !! Thank you so much for posting this, I can order from this source, pay the shipping and still get it cheaper per pound. Thank you. Thank you.

 

[MaxTheKnife]

You're welcome Nana. Be sure and read the writeups on spring wheat versus white soft or hard wheat. White wheat seems to be best for flat breads and crackers and such. The spring wheat has more gluten, which will help make a superior loaf of home baked whole wheat bread. Spring wheat is also best for what they called 'hearth breads' which need to hold their shape. Anyway, I just wanted to mention that before you made your buying decision. Why did you want white wheat, in particular, if I may ask? I'm always hoping to learn something and want to be able to bake the best bread I can. I thought hard red winter wheat was best for that but now I'm not so sure. I know the hard red wheat stores better than the high moisture wheats, but I don't plan to store this spring wheat for more than a year while I'm using it for my bread baking. Any helpful hints?

 

[Nana]

I sure wish I could help. I'm just learning though. I had decided on hard white because I read that it is "sweeter" in flavor. I though that if I wanted to sprout it or use it for cooked wheat breakfast it might be better. I understood that it also makes good bread. I entered wheat in the search on the homesteading/homemaking subforum here. There's lots of good infor there.

I think I could live on bread and butter. When I was very very small, mom would place a dining room chair on the floor across the doorway to keep me out of the kitchen when she was churning butter. She said that I would stand there repeating over and over "bed and butty". Couldn't wait for a slice of homemade bread with fresh butter.

Have also read that the price of wheat most likely will go up quite a bit, so want to order asap.

 

[BREWER]

We recently bought a Country Living grain mill and I've been looking for the best on-line whole grain prices since then. After looking till my eyes started to cross I found this site:

http://store.honeyvillegrain.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWCATS&Category=273

My biggest concern when ordering bulk grain on-line was the shipping charges. Well, Honeyville Grain has worked some kind of magic with UPS because the shipping for a 50 pound bag of wheat is only $4.49 to anywhere in the US!!! I don't know how they do it but if you're looking for a good deal on wheat or other grains you might want to give them a look. My total cost for a 50 pound bag of spring wheat came to $38.83, for a cost of 77¢ per pound. I could buy hard red winter wheat for 69¢ a pound locally, but the spring wheat comes from North Dakota where Monsanto is banned. That's important to me. I got the spring wheat because it's high in protein and gluten and should be the best all around wheat for bread when grinding your own flour. Of course I'll find out how true that is once I get my wheat.

Max: I've ordered a bunch of items from these folks. $4.95...how do they do it? I think I'll take your suggestion and order in some of that spring wheat that Monsatan has not gotten its hooks into.

 

[spinner]

Max,

I use hard white spring wheat. It makes the best bread, I think. The gluten content is superior as well as the taste. I can't seem to get a proper loaf of bread from the hard red wheat any more. I have been baking great bread since the late '60's and thought I had lost my touch until I found the hard white spring wheat (Prairie Gold is the one I use). I don't know what the difference is between the wheat I bought in the '60's and '70's and most of the wheat available now, but at some point the wheat changed and I could not get a good loaf anymore. I don't like to add gluten and all kinds of aids to my bread. I didn't start out using them and don't see why it should be necessary now. The hard white spring wheat makes bread the way it used to be. I can get Prairie Gold fairly locally so I don't know about ordering it. Wheat Montana does not use GMO's and is certified chemical free. http://www.wheatmontana.com/faqs.php
I also use soft white wheat for pastry, cakes, quick breads, etc. The flavor is wonderful.

I have a Country Living mill and I LOVE it. I use it all of the time! It will make flour as fine as face powder for cakes and pastry. I also grind (organic) corn for the best cornbread you have ever eaten.

Have fun with your CL mill!!

spinner

 

[MaxTheKnife]

Well spinner, I still have about 15 pounds of hard red winter wheat and tomorrow is bread baking day. So I'll use the mill for the first time and see what I can see. I especially like cracked wheat bread so it should be interesting what kind of bread I come up with. I'm starting a new sourdough starter tomorrow and it'll be ready to use by this time next week. For now I'll use what yeast I have left over. After that it will be all sourdough. I can hardly wait to get that spring wheat so I can try it.