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Flour, grains and bread on a counter.

19 November by Melissa Norris

Where to Buy Grains in Bulk – My Favorite Sources

Frugal Living, Homestead-Life, Preparedness/Survival

Some of the links below are affiliate links, which means I will earn a commission at no additional cost to you, if you click through and make a purchase. Regardless, I only link to products we use on our homestead or believe in.

I've been grinding my own flour and stocking grains in bulk for almost 10 years now and am sharing my favorite sources with you in this post (check out the video on buying and storing grains embedded in this post). A homesteader prides themselves on having a well-stocked pantry and when you're making almost all your items from scratch and grinding your own flour, you need to know where to buy grains in bulk and which ones are the most versatile.

In today's episode of the Pioneering Today Podcast (episode #239), I'm discussing where to buy grains in bulk, as well as which grains I buy in bulk and which grains I buy in smaller quantities and why.

Why I Love Buying Grains in Bulk

Knowing where to buy grains in bulk is especially helpful if you are:

  • wanting to build up your food storage
  • considering grinding your own flour
  • thinking about buying a home flour mill
  • looking for the best prices of bulk grains

This has been one question that I am frequently asked. If you've listened to my podcast or visited the blog before, you may know I'm a huge advocate of my home grain mill. So today its time to discuss where to buy grains in bulk.

I have several different sources on where I buy my wheat berries and grains in bulk depending on the type of grain.

I do like to buy locally when I can, but I have to be honest that price does become a consideration for me as well and I try to buy when the price is right. Sometimes I can’t find specific items in bulk locally, so I'm forced to look elsewhere. It's good to have options, especially with ongoing supply-chain issues and the fluctuating economy.

[adthrive-in-post-video-player video-id=”n4qKMAd9″ upload-date=”2022-04-15T18:48:51.000Z” name=”Stock up NOW _ Buying Grains in Bulk & How to Store Them.mp4″ description=”Where to buy grain in bulk to save money. What grains are good for long-term storage, and how to store them properly.” player-type=”default” override-embed=”default”]

Where to Buy Whole Grains in Bulk

When I am purchasing my grains in bulk, I usually buy them in 25-50lb bags. You can get smaller quantities, and I would recommend this if it's a grain that's new for you, before investing in a larger size.

I do have another blog post on deciding which grain is best for baking (it's also my home baker's flour guide!). That post will help you decide which types of grains are best for what baked goods. It's extremely helpful if you're wanting to build up your food supply, but just don't know where to start.

I purchase the wheat berries and the grains I know I use a lot of in bulk, but for grains we use sparingly, I may buy smaller quantities.

Grains on a wooden counter.

Where to Buy Wheat Grain

I will list all my recommendations below in order of first choice to last choice. Choose which option is available and works best for you:

  1. Azure Standard – If organic is important to you, like it is me, you'll definitely want to check out this option for your organic whole grains. Azure Standard is an online co-op where you can get a lot of items in bulk. Simply pop in your zip code to see where they deliver in your area. They use what they call your drop zone where everything is delivered in one area in your location. They offer once a month (or every two weeks, depending on your area) drop-offs, so you have to plan and order ahead. You can find out if you have a drop zone in your area by going to their website and researching your zip code. You may even want to consider being a drop zone for your area and community. I plan on getting most of my wheat berries from them from here on out.
  2. Locally – Normally a local store would be my first recommendation for products, but sometimes, as a homesteader, you have to go with the best price, especially when it comes to buying large quantities of something. But, if you still like supporting local farms, and you live in my area, Skagit County in Washington State, Fair Haven Flour is a great place to buy wheat grain. They have an organic flour mill and you can also buy local flour and wheat berries. Update: Since I first published this blog post, they now sell their products online and can be shipped right to your home! You can place an order online.
  3. Palouse Grains are grown in Washington state and they ship online, they're non-GMO verified but not organic.
  4. Amazon – If you are an Amazon Prime member, they have a local granary from my area that is available on Amazon. They are non-GMO project verified, 100% non-radiated certified kosher, but they are not organic. The prices are decent. Here's the Palouse brand that is based out of Palouse, Washington for Hard White Wheat
  5. Costco or grocery stores with a bulk food area often carry wheat berries and other grains.
Various grains in a collage.

Grains I Purchase in Bulk

Hard White Wheat

First on my list is the hard white wheat. Hard white wheat is what I use and grind up for all of my bread baking. I also use this for the majority of my sourdough such as making a sourdough starter, rehydrating a sourdough starter, baking sandwich bread, artisan loaves, french bread, sourdough chocolate bread, etc. I do like to purchase organic wheat whenever possible.

In the past, I have used my local co-op, and they would let me purchase large bags at a discount. I would call them and order ahead of time, and I would give me 10% off. It's worth a shot to call up any local stores near you to see if they'll offer the same kind of discount.

Since not all of you will have this option available, I have a couple of online options as well. Honestly, I have been doing more online purchasing of bulk items lately because of the convenience.

For the best price and organic options, again I recommend Azure Standard. If you don't care about organic, Palouse is a local farm and has excellent prices from their website.

Snag my favorite Honey Whole Wheat Bread Recipe made with fresh-milled hard white wheat grains.

Spelt berries and ground flour on a counter.

Spelt

The berry I buy in bulk is Spelt. Spelt is an ancient grain, and it works wonderfully in pastry flour. This is what I use when I am baking cookies or muffins or cakes or those delicate baked goods. I got my most recent bag of Spelt from Azure Standard.

Spelt has a lower gluten content than most grains and is my preferred go-to as my home-milled pastry flour, it's less expensive than Einkorn and you don't have to adapt your recipes as much as you do for Einkorn. But no worries, Einkorn does have its place in my kitchen, as well. Keep reading for my Einkorn tips.

A loaf of einkorn bread sliced on a wooden cutting board.

Einkorn

Einkorn is another ancient grain, and I have learned to love it. There is a learning curve when baking with Einkorn, yet it has so many great health benefits. It is, however, typically more expensive than Spelt.

With Einkorn, I use it the same as I would with pastry flour and I also use it occasionally for bread baking and sourdough.

Many people that have a lot of gut problems, digestive issues, leaky gut, or gluten sensitivities find they can consume Einkorn without issue, even though it does still contain gluten.

I get my Einkorn wheat berries from Einkorn.com They are a family farm located in Idaho. 

Want more info on Einkorn? Read my Ancient Grain Einkorn- Health and Baking Guide.

A jar of oats tipped over onto a wooden counter.

Other Grains

I do stock other organic grains that I grind into flour, like brown rice, buckwheat, and oats. Those are primarily the ones I use as flour types. I didn't use to stock them in bulk, but with rising food prices, I have started getting my oats in larger amounts.

I buy the organic rolled oats (old-fashioned) from Azure Standard in the 25 lb bag.

White rice is better for long-term storage if bought in bulk.

Don't forget corn, both popcorn and dent corn for cornmeal.

How to Store Grains

Knowing how to properly store grains for long-term food storage is important if you want the items to be edible when you need them.

For short-term storage (three to six months) storing in a glass jar with a lid and band is absolutely fine. If the bag they come in is lined and rolled tight, you can store it in the bag for up to six months.

The most important aspect is away from heat, light, and moisture. Ideally store grains in temperatures between 45 and 65 degrees F.

For long-term storage, you need to keep out the oxygen. This can be done in 5-gallon food-grade storage buckets with gamma lids and oxygen absorbers. For a 5-gallon bucket, five 300cc size oxygen absorbers are sufficient.

Wheat berries stored in ideal conditions will last for 20+ years.

If you're not using oxygen absorbers then it's recommended to freeze your whole grains when you get them to kill any insects and insect eggs.

Freeze them for 2 days (48 hours) then thaw. Many people suggest waiting thirty days and then freezing again to make sure you've caught all cycles of insects and eggs.

Mockmill grain mill grinding grain into a white bowl.

How to Turn Grains into Flour

If you want to save even more money, buy your grains in their whole state, also called “berries”. However, you're going to need a way to grind them up into flour (though you can cook wheat berries like oatmeal into hot cereal or people will add them to soups).

But if you're wanting flour from your grains, you need a home grain mill. My favorite mill, hands down (and I've tried three different mills over the decade I've been milling), is the Mockmill. If you're in the market for a grain mill, use this link to get an additional 5% off your purchase (it shows up automatically when you add it to the cart).

Find out why I love the Mockmill here.

Want to learn more? Join my academy for all my best resources and step-by-step instructions to growing your own food, preserving and cooking it. We only open the doors a few times a year, so get on the waitlist for the Pioneering Today Academy today and I'll notify you when we're accepting new enrollment.

koa wooden dough scraper making pastry shells

More Posts You May Enjoy

  • Must-Have Homestead Kitchen Tools for Better From-Scratch Cooking
  • Where to Buy Grains in Bulk – My Favorite Sources
  • 10 Time-Saving Hacks Using a Bench Knife
  • Easy No-Knead Artisan Bread
  • How to Store Homemade Bread
  • Grandma's Easy Homemade Dinner Rolls
  • How to Use Homesteading Skills to Make Money (Especially During the Holidays)

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Filed Under: Frugal Living, Homestead-Life, Preparedness/Survival Tagged With: bulk food, where to buy grain

Melissa Norris

Melissa K. Norris inspires people's faith and pioneer roots with her books, podcast, and blog. Melissa lives with her husband and two children in their own little house in the big woods in the foothills of the North Cascade Mountains. When she's not wrangling chickens and cattle, you can find her stuffing Mason jars with homegrown food and playing with flour and sugar in the kitchen.

Read more about Melissa

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Comments:

  1. Desiree Barton

    February 13, 2020 at 3:25 am

    What grain is the closest to the white flour you get at the store?

    Reply
    • Melissa Norris

      February 13, 2020 at 3:47 am

      There really isn’t one close to all-purpose as they’ve blended different grains together usually to get it and removed parts of the wheat berry. Hard white wheat is closest to bread flour. This post explains the flour types to give a better understanding https://melissaknorris.com/best-flours-for-baking-flour-guide-101/

      Reply
  2. Debbie

    February 16, 2020 at 1:22 am

    I have not used Einkorn, but it is on my list. :). The LDS Church has Home Storage Center locations all over the country. One does not have to be LDS to buy bulk food in the centers. They have good prices and you can sometimes reserve their kitchens for canning parties of your own homegrown. One can purchase 25 lb. bags of hard white and hard red wheat berries, oats, white flour and white rice at the centers, however I cannot find whether any is organic.

    Reply
    • Melissa Norris

      3 years ago

      Organic is harder to find, which is important to me and why I use these sources 🙂

      Reply
  3. keith parr

    3 years ago

    Melissa
    Very interesting, where do you buy your bulk spices? Keith

    Reply
  4. Laura Gohl

    3 years ago

    Hi Melissa! Can I use spelt grain to make all purpose flour, or does it have to be berries? I’m having a hard time locating berries in stock. TY!

    Reply
    • Melissa Norris

      3 years ago

      Spelt grain and berries are the same, berries is what the hard dried kernels are referred to prior to being ground.

      Reply
  5. STEVEN A WHALLEY

    3 years ago

    FANTASTIC INFORMATION! WE’VE ALWAYS STORED AND CANNED A LOT OF FOODS. WITH THE VIRUS HOWEVER, WE DID WHAT YOU DID AND MADE SURE OUR SUPPLIES WERE IN ORDER, THIS DID INCLUDE GETTING OUR FIRST GRAIN MILL AND GRAINS,STARTING OFF WITH SMALLER QUANTITIES OF BERRIES UNTIL WE GET A FEEL FOR IT. THANKS SO MUCH FOR THE INFORMATION YOU HAVE GIVEN FOR DIFFERENT GRAINS! I THINK TODAY’S THE FIRST DAY OF MY NEW BAKING FUTURE!

    Reply
  6. Tolly

    3 years ago

    I have been on the fence for YEARS about purchasing a grain mill. Now that we are in the middle of all this craziness, I have been researching, one again, grain mills. I’m so glad I saw your YouTube video and then navigated to your web site. I just purchased the mock mill with your discount code (thank you so much) and placed my first order with azure! I took the leap! Thank you for sharing all this great info!

    Reply
    • Melissa Norris

      3 years ago

      So excited for your adventure into home milling! Hope you enjoy it. Make sure you checkout the resources on baking/cooking with fresh ground flour for best results (I have a few recipes here on the blog and this article https://melissaknorris.com/grinding-flour-6-fresh-flour-baking-tips/

      Reply
  7. oscar martinez

    3 years ago

    I need to buy grain to cultivate for my use I own 5ac

    Reply
  8. carol m lincoln

    October 8, 2020 at 8:14 am

    have you ever used a gluten free flour? if you have can u recommend the best organic GF flour that i can purchase online.

    Reply
  9. Amanda D.

    2 years ago

    How do you store your whole grains? I’ve heard that freezing is best first to kill any larvae and prevent bug hatchlings. But not sure I have space for two 25-pound bags. And can I freeze the grains right in the azure standard bags? Thanks!

    Reply
  10. Geanine Hodges

    2 years ago

    I love this site. Thank you. I just bought a grinder (I had one in the 70’s and made my own bread 12 loaves at a time, to save instant consumption…lol. But, gave away when we moved to CA) and now searching for best sources of grains. Have Gluten free family, son and grand, that I share duplex with, so trying to learn how to make decent bread, that will hold together. Not an easy task.

    Reply
  11. Geanine Hodges

    2 years ago

    In my search, I found one site that had a fertilizer type that replenished a natural fungus in the soil. Now cannot find that site. (They were out of stock of most products I wanted, so I moved on.) Do you know what that product is?

    Reply
  12. Geanine Hodges

    January 3, 2021 at 12:04 am

    I just signed up, and tried to log in, and it would accept email and password. Maybe did not get entered right. Anyway, I found the site, with the seed food…fungus type of treatment. Sp something on this site. https://www.wheatandgrain.com/

    Reply
  13. Helene Berg

    February 22, 2021 at 8:36 am

    I have been looking for cracked rye berries for 10 years and have found no site (not even Amazon) who carry this. Any advice?

    Reply
  14. Sandy Brown

    1 year ago

    Wow! I am thrilled I found your site! Thank you for being here!!

    Reply
  15. Sandra

    March 22, 2022 at 3:03 am

    What suggestions do you have for storage of whole grains before and after milling?

    Reply
  16. Amy

    April 14, 2022 at 6:41 am

    Are the oxygen absorbers in the 5 gallon bucket as effective when you are opening it to refill your smaller containers? I was under the impression that oxygen absorbers were better in a mylar sealed bag and that once it’s opened they are no longer effective (ie there’s too much oxygen to absorb)

    Thanks for the reminder that you can do more with wheat berries than just grind them to make bread! “Multipurpose” in the homestead kitchen is always a bonus!

    Reply
    • sandy J

      2 months ago

      Sounds like they are not good at replies… You shouldn’t use those oxygen absorbers again. You can get them on Amazon, a new one for replacing those worn out ones.

      Reply
  17. David

    April 15, 2022 at 6:58 am

    thanks for the news letter

    Reply
  18. Vanessa Hetmansky

    11 months ago

    Your site was referred to me by a friend. I am beginning to learn about food storage and trying to get info on buying food in bulk and long term storage. So I am interested in learning what you have to say about this. I feel like a fish out of water since this is all out of my comfort zone!

    Reply
  19. Nicole

    11 months ago

    Hi Melissa! I have a Mockmill and have tried to grind soft/hard white wheat berries but every time I use the flour it has a gritty sand crunch in the bread I make with it. I have sifted it after milling but wondering what else I’m doing wrong? Is there a way to mill the berries and get rid of that ‘sand crunch’ in the flour?? Thanks!! 🙂

    Reply
  20. Sherry Vittutow

    June 29, 2022 at 5:28 am

    Thank you I’m a bread baker always learning!

    Reply
  21. Krvin

    7 months ago

    Where is a good place to order bulk (50 lb bag) of red or blue whole corn kernels? (Preferably organic)? Thanks.

    Reply
  22. Chuck

    September 17, 2022 at 11:26 am

    Hi. We just harvested some hard red spring wheat. It has nice red color and high protein. We clean it at our own facility which is certified organic. We can package it in 50 lb bags for home use or ship larger quantities as well.

    Reply
  23. Trevor Baker

    October 17, 2022 at 8:49 am

    Hi sales,

    We here by request for bulk purchase of the following listed items below ,please kindly check from your products link or sales team to let us know the possibility of sourcing any of these items mentioned below and the availability.
    1.Refine sugar,powder milk , fresh milk and flour grains. ————————–1,500 case.

    2.Spaghetti , noodles and corn flaskes.————-1,500 cases.

    Note: Mode of payment is Net 15 -30 days payment terms from date of supply wwith the supplier’s invoice.

    Yours Sincerely,
    Trevor Baker
    Purchasing Manager, Hall Telecommunications Supply Ltd
    Email:[email protected]
    Phone: 519 962 8876 Fax: 519 966 8872
    Address:5477 RR.5 Hwy #6 North Guelph, Ontario N1H 6J2,Canada.

    Reply
  24. Christine Kvarnlov

    January 26, 2023 at 9:28 am

    I’m new here and am interested in making the most of my property.

    Reply
  25. Drew

    2 months ago

    I live on the Palouse and I know grains— non-gmo verified cereal grain means literally nothing as there are no gmo cereal varieties currently grown or available in us markets. Palouse Brand grains are conventionally produced varieties managed with regular herbicides and synthetic fertilizers.

    Reply
  26. Peter Mueller

    March 23, 2023 at 8:42 am

    Hello,

    Our Company is interested in the purchase of the item below.

    Bakery flour 50kg

    kindly contact me for the necessary company documents to proceed with credit Net30 Terms.

    We look forward to hearing from you.

    Best Regards

    Reply

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