Learn all about where to buy wheat berries and other bulk grains so you can mill your own flour right at home.
I absolutely love purchasing grains in bulk and have been milling my own flour for over 12 years now.
Not only is this a great way to save money, but you are also getting a fresher, more quality product compared to flour that has been sitting on the store shelf for months and months.
I started with a Nutrimill flour mill and then recently switched over to the Mockmill. You can see a comparison between these two mills here.
So today, I wanted to share with you where to buy wheat berries (and other bulk grains), the benefits, how to store them for short term and long term storage, and how to store fresh flour.
There truly is a grain revolution going on and I love serving my family healthy fresh grain products to help fill their bellies.
Benefits Of Buying Wheat Berries:
Store for a long time. It is best to use wheat berries within 3 years, but properly stored wheat can last decades.
Healthier. Grains lose their nutritional value pretty quickly after milling. And since flour at the store needs to be able to sit on the shelves for long periods of time, the healthy parts of the grain are removed during processing. So by milling them yourself, you not only get super fresh flour it also contains more nutrients.
Can be cheaper. I find this especially true for organic grains and more specialty grains.
Preparedness: Since grains can store for a long time, you can easily store a lot of grains for your food storage. It is a great way to build up a pantry.
Variety: You may be able to find a greater variety of wheat berries like spelt, einkorn, etc, than you may be able to find in already ground flour.
This post contains affiliate links, which means I make a small commission at no extra cost to you. See my full disclosure here.
FAQ:
Does Costco sell wheat berries?
Currently Costco doesn’t sell wheat berries (this also may be local Costco specific). Some stores do offer a really great deal on organic flour though.
Is buying wheat berries cheaper than flour?
Buying wheat berries in bulk can be cheaper than flour. I find this particularly true with organic grains.
Where to buy wheat berries?
There are multiple places online and local that you can find wheat berries to purchase.
Mockmill:
Great variety of grains and specialty wheat berries, but shipping isn’t free and can actually be pretty expensive. You can get 5% off here.
Azure Standard
Probably one of my favorite places to shop all things bulk food! Wheat berries are no exception. Not only do they offer a great variety of grains, but they have the cheapest price and free shipping.
The only caveat is that you have to pick it up at a drop site. The day and time is already coordinated and you’ll have to pick it up at that time. Sometimes, the drop coordinator is able to hold items if you cannot make a drop. This will have to be communicated with each individual person.
Country Life Natural Foods
I’ve purchased through Country Life Organics many times. You can get free shipping on all orders over $99. Currently, hard white wheat is $1.24 per pound for a 25 pound bag.
Jovial
Jovial currently only sells einkorn wheat berries for $33.99 for a 10 pound bag. Free shipping for all orders over $99. This comes out to be slightly cheaper than purchasing flour.
Amazon:
Surprisingly, but also not really that surprising…. Amazon offers wheat berries in bulk. Their prices are slightly more expensive than some other places, but most of the brands I saw did offer free shipping.
Local Natural Grocery Stores
While ordering online can be a great and convenient option, I love shopping locally whenever possible. Sometimes local grocery stores offer a great bulk section where you can buy bulk grains from a bin or even ask them and they may be able to order larger quantities at a great price.
Amish Stores:
Another place I’ve had great success has been from local Amish stores. We used to have ond about 30 minutes away, and twice a year I would head over to purchase many bulk items like raw honey, grains, and raw butter.
My Favorite Grains To Purchase:
Soft White Wheat – Good for cookies, cakes, muffins, and quick breads. It is a little softer and has less gluten than hard wheat.
Hard White Wheat – This type of wheat is good for breads. It is due to a greater amount of gluten giving bread more structure.
Einkorn – This is my go to for a recipe that I’m not going to ferment. Einkorn flour is one of the oldest heirloom varieties of wheat and it contains less gluten than a more modern wheat. This makes it much easier to digest, so it is typically what I use for quicker recipes. Find my einkorn recipes here.
Spelt – Another heirloom wheat that I’ve been loving lately. Check out the most delicious spelt sourdough bread here.
Kamut – Is non-hybridized, non-GMO flour that is grown organically and full of vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants.
Oats – A breakfast staple that I also love to buy in bulk. It can be really really inexpensive when purchasing in bulk. The cheapest I’ve found is at Azure standard. A 50 pound bag of organic rolled oats comes out to $1.17 per pound.
Popcorn: Not only do we use this to make popcorn, but I have also mill it to make cornmeal to make homemade cornbread.
Rye: Rich in fiber, lower on the glycemic index, and less gluten than regular flour, rye is a great choice for bread making.
How To Store Bulk Grains
Depending on how long it will take you to go through the grains or if you are wanting to have it as part of your bulk emergency food storage will change how you store the grains.
Short term storage: If storing for up to 6 months, wheat berries can just be stored in a glass container, or plastic bucket with a tight lid preferably in a cool (40-60 degrees F) dark place out of direct sunlight.
I like to keep them in 5 gallon buckets with a gamma lid (these lids are much easier to open than the lids that 5 gallon buckets come with). This is airtight and will keep them fresh for a long time.
Long term storage: If you are wanting to keep them fresh for a long period of time, think 30 years, then I would suggest adding five 300cc oxygen absorbers to your 5 gallon bucket. They can also be stored in mylar bags. Add one 300 cc oxygen absorber per gallon mylar bag.
Oxygen absorbers help keep the environment in an unfavorable condition for any bugs. You can also freeze the grain for a 3-5 days and then thaw to kill bugs. Some suggest doing this another time 30 days later to kill any bugs in a later cycle.
Storing Freshly Milled Flour:
Learn how to mill your own flour here.
Once wheat berries have been milled into flour, the flour only stays fresh for up to a week. This is because when milling at home the bran, germ, and endosperm are still intact and contain oils which will go rancid fairly quickly.
Keep fresh flour in a container (preferably glass or plastic) at room temperature for about 3 days, in the refrigerator for up to a week, or in the freezer for up to 6 months.
A good indicator if the flour is still good is by smell. If it smells off then toss it.
Are all your recipes with freshly milled grain? I just bought a grain mill and non of my old recipes are working
Many are, yes! It can definitely take some adjusting when using fresh grains.
If you are on the West Coast, Palouse is a great option for grains as well
https://www.palouseheritage.com/palouse-heritage-grains
Thank you for sharing!
I have the mockmill attachment to my kitchaid. I am having an issue with the grind (at it’s finest setting) being so course as to impact the density of my bread. All my loaves (sourdough) so far, have been very dense. Thoughts?
I’ve never used the kitchenaid attachment, so I’m not sure! Sorry.
Hi Lisa,
This post is so well written and it does a great job of sharing about the various ways to acquire grains for more reasonable prices.I enjoyed the info on how to store grains long and short term. Thank you.
I have a couple of thoughts to add.
1. The Mockmill does a great job of milling gluten free grains.
2. Azure also sells gluten free grains at a better price than most places.
3. I have one other thought from my experience with Azure Standard.They charge an additional percentage onto your bill when they ship in the truck to a drop spot.It is a bit over 8 pct per order. I just received an order and there was a shipping charge added to the bill.
Kate
I love this Kate! Thanks for sharing. I love milling gluten free grains as well. I find they have the best price for Bob Redmill GF one to one flour by far. About #3. I don’t see that charge on mine. I wonder if it is location dependent? Good to know though!
When I make your sourdough bread using store-bought flour and sourdough starter, I digest it wonderfully but I am ravenously hungry afterwards. Do you have any theories as to why this might be and do you think that killing my own flour to use in the bread might solve this problem? It doesn’t happen when I eat anything else.
That should say milling not killing. 🙂
Oh that is strange. My only thought is that most store-bought flours remove all the good fiber of the grain to allow it to last longer on the store shelves. Milling your own flour has more fiber in it and could help slow down digesting and keep you full longer.
Emily, when you say you are ravenously hungry, what are your symptoms exactly? I have food allergies and sometimes the symptom from it is feeling like I need to eat, feeling as if my stomach is gnawing on itself as if I am very hungry. This usually happens shortly after I eat. The cause, for me, is food allergies. It is possible that there is something in the non-sourdough bread that isn’t in the sourdough, or the sourdough has had a chemical change that stops it from affecting you (if it is a food allergy). I would check your recipes and see if this is a possibility. Worth checking out. Hope this helps.
Great article! I just got a nutrimill and am loving it! I got a massive bag of red fife Hard wheat. I am just curious, the breads that I have made so far with it, are pretty dry and crumbly (delicious fresh out of the oven but by the next day) should I be mixing flours, like is 100% whole wheat too much?
thanks so much
100% whole wheat flours can be dryer than say mixed. Usually, if taking a recipe that uses all-purpose flour and converting it to whole wheat, it is suggested to use 50% whole wheat. I like to use white hard wheat for baking breads because you still get whole wheat but it is a little softer than red. Hope that helps.
I just got a grain mill for Christmas so this post is perfectly timed!! Such great information, thank you!!
I’m wondering if you have an estimate of how many cups of flour you typically get per pound of grain berries as I choose which bulk option is best for our family! Thanks so much!
Great timing! A pound of wheat berries makes about 2.5-3 cups of flour!
Thank you,I was wondering the same!
And, thank you for sharing your knowledge, it is definitely making our world better informed!
Kathy Langham
Thank you Kathy, you are very kind!
There are many stone-ground mills where you can buy either organic flour or berries. I like Barton Springs Mill in Dripping Springs, Texas. They have many different varieties of grains. There are many more stone-ground mills across the country. You don’t have to go to a big corporate store like Jovial or Amazon. Stone ground flours have the entire grain in them and are therefore much more nutritious than conventional roller-milled grains.
Yes there are! That is very true. There are so many mills around. Thanks for sharing.
Good morning! Thank you for sharing. My family only likes white all purpose flour. Would I purchase the soft white wheat to get closest to all purpose? Do you add anything to the floors once ground or are they ready to use?
They are ready to use right after you grind them. No need to add anything. Hard white would be the closest thing to all-purpose. You can sift it if you would like to make it more like all-purpose. I don’t do this though.
I moved my family to whole grain by adding a small amount to the AP flour and gradually increasing the percentage. I now use at least half whole wheat flour in every recipe with no complaints. I use hard white wheat berries.
Love that! That is a great way to do it.
I also have bought wheat and other grain berries in bulk and a few additional sources for me include: food coops that allow for bulk purchases, like Weavers Way in Philadelphia can be a good option. Also Pleasant Hill Grain is another mail order option.
I also have gotten grains from a local mill I. Pennsylvania, Castle Valley Mill.
I’ve since moved away from there and am re-learning options in Massachusetts…. And making sure I have space to stock up during trips back to familiar grounds for holidays!
Deborah
Thank you for sharing all of those ideas! It’s always hard moving to a new area and having to find replacements for favorite stores.