Thursday, November 22, 2007

Cost and Storage Benefits to Milling Whole Grains at Home

Cost and Storage Benefits to Milling Whole Grains at Home
by Donna Miller

Tip #1 - "You do WHAT? Why bother?" - Part Two

If you already read Part One of this tip, you may still need more explanation for those curious as to why you're even thinking of or currently milling grains at home.

The following tip to answering the questions of why you bother to mill at home is the benefits of cost and storage. Sure, we can buy 'whole wheat bread' at the store. Sure, 'dead bagged flour' lasts for a good while. Are these reasons to reject home milling all together? Hardly! In fact, look closer and you can see why milling at home is better.

Health benefits aside, which is the MOST vital one in my opinion, storage and cost come up on the convenience end of considering milling at home. The 'whole wheat' loaf of bread we can buy in the store is not only made of old, processed whole wheat, but by the government regulations only has to be at least 51% - or mostly whole wheat - to be labeled as such. I digress, this is also a health reason. The cost of said loaf is approximately $2.29. A home milled, fresh WHOLE GRAIN flour, loaf of bread costs me approximately $.75 to make and that is using all organic (a bit pricier) grains and sugar. Also, I know for certain what is in that loaf!

Storage is another thought. Admittedly, my fresh baked loaf does NOT last as long, not due to shelf-life but that we polish it off so fast (no one in the house can resist slicing into a warm loaf when they smell it), but the grains last for years! Either mites, weevils or simply staleness can cause 'dead bagged flour' to be no good in only a few months. The Lord made a great protection for that grain, the husk. There have been grains found in pyramids that were over 4000 years old but when planted, they grew just as they were created to. How's that for storage? Just keep the grains in a sound container and from getting moist and you can store them for years. I don't think you will be needing them in 4000 years though.




About The Author

Donna Miller is a wife, mother and stay-at-home working parent. After years of study in the areas of nutrition, homemaking and back-to-basics living, Donna is delighted to share her trials and triumphs of learning to mill and cook with whole grains. The Millers own and operate Millers Grain House, an online Organic and Chemical-free Whole Grain store. Visit their whole grain blog at http://wheatgrainguy.blogspot.com



Source: www.articlecity.com

No comments: