12 Ways to Preserve Apples at Home

October 28, 2021 by Melissa Norris 42 Comments

Learn all the fantastic ways to preserve apples at home, including fresh storage, freezing, canning, dehydrating, and more! Here are my favorite 12 ways to preserve apples at home.

Red apples in a wooden crate with more crates stacked behind it.

We've all heard the saying an apple a day keeps the doctor away, but my apples don't grow all year round. My goal is to put up as much food as possible when it's in season to keep our food bill down by increasing our food storage.

It's apple season ya'll (When I get excited a little bit of southern kicks in, it's just how I roll) and I happen to have almost 75 pounds of apples sitting in my kitchen waiting to be preserved into something glorious.

Preserving apples in jars (and having multiple ways to do so) makes my Mason jar loving heart very happy. You ready?

What Can I Do With a Lot of Apples?

Learning how to preserve apples at home is a great, frugal skill to undertake. Anytime you can either harvest, or even buy, food when it's in season, you're getting it at the lowest cost, and when you can learn how to preserve it for the full year – without using icky ingredients – it's a major score!

While most folks think of making applesauce (and applesauce is delicious), there are many more ways to preserve those apples for use all year long. I’m going to share with you how to make apple preserves, apple pie filling, dehydrated cinnamon apples, apple pectin, apple cider vinegar, and more!

What Are the Best Apples to Preserve?

There are so many varieties of apples, it can be difficult to choose. When canning, preserving or freezing apples, it is best to pick a crisp, firm variety that is both sweet and tart.

The most popular varieties are:

Jonagold
Braeburn
McIntosh
Golden Delicious
Pink Lady

You can even combine apples of different varieties to create a unique, dynamic flavor.

How to Preserve Apples

My top 11 ways (plus a BONUS) to preserve apples are:

Apple Pie Filling
Dehydrated Apples
Homemade Apple Cider Vinegar
Apple Butter
Homemade Apple Pie Jam
Apple Jelly
Homemade Pectin
Apple Fruit Leather
Storing Fresh Apples (for Long-Term)
Canned Apple Sauce
Freezing Apples
BONUS: Homemade Apple Cider

Apple Pie Filling

Canning apples for pie when I'm short on time (or when apple prices are sky-high) is one of my favorite home-canned apple items to have in the pantry.

Is there anything better than lovely jars of home-canned apple pie filling? Yes, there is, diving headfirst into said jar with a spoon… or no spoon.

Ever notice how apple prices go up during the holidays? Preserving apple pie filling ahead of time saves so much time when I'm busy with Thanksgiving and Christmas. I can bake a homemade pie by just popping open a jar of this filling and pulling out the best flaky pie crust from the freezer…

Here's how to safely can apple apples for pie with my Homemade Apple Pie Filling Tutorial and Recipe.

Dehydrated Apple Chips

Want to know how to preserve apple slices? My favorite way is to make cinnamon apple chips. Apples lend themselves well to dehydrating and they're a great addition to a hike or to take on the go for a quick snack.

Simply peel and slice your apples, taking care to cut them relatively the same size and thickness for even drying. The beauty of preserving your apples this way is the cinnamon gives them a brown color so no need to worry about spraying them with lemon juice or citric acid to keep them from browning.

Place prepared apple slices in a container with a lid or a plastic ziptop bag. Sprinkle 1 to 2 Tablespoons of ground cinnamon on top (or to taste), close the container, and shake to evenly coat the apple slices.

Place on dehydrator trays, taking care to leave space around each apple slice for proper airflow. (I've had this dehydrator for years now and feel you can fit more on these square trays.) Set dehydrator to 135 degrees F and dehydrate until fully dry.

Depending upon how thick you cut your apples and the water content, this can be anywhere from 6 to 24 hours, it's best to check on them after 6 hours, then every hour until completely dry.

How Do You Know When Apples Are Completely Dry?

The best way to determine if your apples are fully dry is by weight. Weigh your empty trays and then weigh your trays when they are full of prepared fruit. Subtract the empty tray weight from the full tray weight to find the weight of your prepared fruit.

Follow this ratio: 20 pounds of prepared apples should dry to 6.5 pounds. Put dehydrated cinnamon apple slices in a sealed container and enjoy!

For long-term food storage, use an oxygen absorber or a vacuum seal attachment on a Mason jar and store in a cool dark area of your home.

Homemade Apple Cider Vinegar

Did you know you can make homemade apple cider vinegar? Yep, and the bonus is it will be fermented with “the Mother”, just like the good stuff from the grocery store!

The perk of learning how to make homemade fruit vinegar (with any kind of fruit) is that you generally can use the fruit scraps. So for apple cider, you can use the skins and apple cores to make something from a byproduct that may have ended up in the compost pile.

You won't believe how incredibly easy it is. Check out this tutorial with photos and a video on how to make raw apple cider vinegar.

Then put that ACV to work in recipes (like this amazing old-fashioned vinegar pie), catching fruit flies, and for delicious and tangy salad dressings.

Apple Butter

Fruit butter, how I love you. You're thick and spread so nicely on homemade buttermilk biscuits and pancakes.

This recipe uses a special ingredient for a delightful flavor… get your homemade apple butter recipe right here, complete with canning instructions for long-term storage.

Homemade Apple Pie Jam (Low-Sugar Recipe)

Oh yes, apple pie in a mason jar ready to smear on your favorite biscuit, sandwich, cornbread, in between cakes… or, let's be honest, just by the spoonful!

Learn how to make easy apple pie jam.

Apple Jelly

Apple jelly not only looks pretty in jars (especially as gifts around the holidays), but it also only uses two ingredients to make! I'm a fan of simplicity and the fewer ingredients the better.

Check out this great apple jelly recipe and tutorial from my girl Laurie over at Common Sense Homesteading.

A woman crouched down next to an established fruit tree with mountains in the background.

Homemade Apple Pectin

Did you know apples are high in pectin? In fact, my grandmother never used store-bought pectin, she just grated a green apple into her jam or jelly. But you can make and can or freeze apple pectin for use in all your jam and jelly recipes.

Apple fruit leather rolled up and piled on a white plate.

Homemade Fruit Leather

Have you checked out the ingredients in store-bought fruit leather? Yeah, not happening in my house. This one has only 3 ingredients (are you noticing a theme?) and is easy and straightforward to make.

Here's how to make apple and cinnamon fruit leather. But if you're looking for that store-bought thick and chewy consistency (rather than the oftentimes tough and even crispy fruit leather), check out my friend Carolyn's tip (from Homesteading Family) on making homemade fruit leather with a secret ingredient!

Storing Fresh Apples (Long-Term Storage)

Apples are one of the cool fruits that can be stored for a long time with very little effort. Have you ever heard the saying one bad apple spoiled the barrel? It's true, and it dates back to when people used root cellars a lot more than they do today.

There are many tips for storing apples for long-term storage. This post by Living Homegrown discusses which varieties store best, how to harvest apples so they last the longest (and which apples should be eaten sooner), and she even covers how to store apples if you don't have a root cellar (she's speaking my language here!).

Here's the low down on storing apples for long-term storage.

Homemade applesauce in a swing top jar with apples around it.

Homemade Applesauce (Plus Canning Instructions)

My tip for applesauce is to not bother cutting or peeling beforehand. I steam my apples whole and then put them through the sieve to catch the seeds and peelings. Easy peasy and a lot less work.

Though Lauren over at Tastes Better From Scratch uses a different method, her tutorial is spot on for learning how to can applesauce.

Freezing Apples

It is handy to have fresh frozen apple slices on hand, especially around the holidays. Freezing apple slices allows you to store apples in the freezer until you are ready to bake them into a delicious apple pie, or maybe a cobbler.

First wash, peel, and core your apples. Then cut the apples into slices that are relatively the same size and thickness.

Blanching the apples will preserve the quality and allow you to keep your apples in the freezer for up to a year.

To blanch apples, bring a large pot of water to a boil and prepare a large bowl with cold water plus 1 to 2 cups of ice. Put the apple slices in the boiling water for two minutes. Immediately transfer the apples to the ice water to cool completely.

When you remove the apple slices from the cold water, let them drain. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a Silpat mat and arrange the apple slices on it so that they are not touching. Let them freeze for several hours or overnight in a single layer.

In the morning, take the apples and seal them in freezer bags. Keep them in the freezer until you are ready to bake with them.

Hot Apple Cider

Bonus! Don't you love a bonus? I do. Like when you put on a pair of pants you haven't worn in a long time and not only do they still fit but you find a $20 in the pocket!

How could I have forgotten to add this one with the original 11? I blame it on the 12 jars of tomato sauce I made and canned today, but really, homemade apple cider is a must. Would someone please bring me a cup and we'll toast to the loveliness of fall and apples?

How do you preserve apples at home?

Canned pumpkin in quart sized Mason jars with a large pumpkin in the background.

8 Tips for Bulk Food Storage

September 8, 2015 by Melissa Norris 25 Comments

Where do I keep my food storage? Many of you are like me and don't have a ton of space for long term food storage. Even though we live on a fifteen acre homestead, I actually have very little storage space. We don't have a barn, we don't have a garage, we don't have a basement, nor do we have a crawl space or an attic.

Want to build up a food storage but don't have the space? Learn how to store food in bulk even if you don't have a garage, barn, basement or attic. Great tips no matter what your house size because everyone should have some sort of food storage.

Our home isn't huge by any means. So if you're like me, you might be thinking there's no way you can store a few months worth of food, let alone up to six months or a year.

Let me assure you, it's possible and with less space than you think.

The 2 most important things in choosing your food storage location

For the majority of our long term food storage and pantry, we converted a coat/broom closet into a walk in pantry. We used plain metal shelf brackets and sheets of plywood (we did a quick paint job with white pain) and installed shelving along the back and sides of the closet. I still hang my broom and mop on the wall, and we put a hanger that goes over top of the door to hang our coats from.

1. Our coat closet turned food storage pantry is at the farthest end of the house from our wood stove and is against an exterior wall. Food will store and last much longer when kept cool.

2. No windows. Light will degrade your food and significantly shorten its shelf life.

I store the majority of our bulk food in the closet pantry. You can see in the photo the 30 pounds of organic evaporated cane juice (our sugar source) and 40 pounds of organic unbleached all-purpose flour fits on one shelf. Anything that has an expiration date on it, I stack with the expiration date facing outwards. We used pretty good bracing as you can imagine. My coconut oil sits beneath that with some of our salt and buckwheat.

The floor houses our dried beans, rice, and 50 pound bags of wheat berries. Normally, I store our 25 pound of brown sugar in a plastic 5 gallon bucket with lid, but my bucket got swiped for another use on the homestead and I have to replace it.

The other majority of space is for all of my home canned goods. I'm still canning as the garden is producing, so it's not quite full yet.

You can tell by looking at the photos, probably two thirds of our bulk and home food storage comes from our home canned goods. From those home canned goods, we grow almost all of it ourselves, making it virtually free. Even if you don't grow it, preserving it yourself is both frugal and a step towards self-sufficiency. I've got a complete FREE Ultimate Home Food Preservation Guide just for you!

Grab your free copy of the Ultimate Home Food Preservation Guide

Want to build up your food pantry with home food preservation? sign up here!

How to Re-Package Bulk Food for Food Storage

I repackage a lot of our bulk food storage into glass containers and keep them directly in the kitchen. I prefer glass as it's much harder for pests to get through it or for it to rip, like said plastic bags. Plus, I'm a sucker for anything in a Mason jar and consider it part of my decor.

Labeling is important, as you might think you'll remember when you canned it, or which type of wheat it is, but trust me, you're likely to forget a year from now. I'll write with a permanent marker on old canning lids, but I adore these chalkboard labels for prettier use and it makes it easier when going at a glance then having to look at the top of each jar or container. I use them on my spice jars, different wheat berry varieties and just about anything else that stands still in the kitchen.

Small jelly jars work well for re-packaging herbs and spices.

Pint size jars for things like dill weed and chili powder, which I tend to use more of.

Quart size jars are what I use for my garlic and onion powder. I also keep popping corn and wheat berries in my quart sized jars. Wide mouth jars work best for re-packaging and a canning funnel works well if you're pouring things from one container to another.

Half gallon jars work well for dried beans. I re-use my used canning lids on my dry good storage. Old peanut butter jar lids work well as well. You can grab a case of these for less than $15.

I adore the gallon size Ball jars with a rubber seal. Note: they're not for canning, but they work very well for things like oatmeal, flour, and sugar. However, these gallon jars are half the price.

Keeping food in an air tight environment also helps with the shelf life. You can use the attachment on a vacuum sealer or check out this tutorial on using a non-electric Mason jar vacuum sealer.

http://foodstorageandsurvival.com/hiding-the-food-storage-behind-the-couch/

Here is my in the kitchen home food storage area. The top open shelf is home canned goods that need to be used first. I practice my rotation by placing the newly canned items in the back closet and bringing out the older stuff to the kitchen to make sure I don't “loose” track of things.

Need to get even more creative with your storage?

Creative Food Storage Ideas

Some folks will slide things in underneath their bed. Just make sure you keep notes of what you have and practice rotation. Another creative idea is from my friend Angela over at Food Storage and Survival and she shares how she stores food behind her couch.

Daisy has some great ideas for storage spots, plus grouping items together in her 6 OCD hacks for to organize stock piles.

The Magazine holder in this post is a great idea!

Love this post from Common Sense Homesteading, her shelf idea is great, not to mention the corner and small area ideas.

What creative spaces have you used for food storage?

6 Tips on Buying Food in Bulk

September 6, 2015 by Melissa Norris 8 Comments

One of the first rules of food storage is to purchase in bulk. Actually, that might be one of the first rules of frugal grocery shopping, but it also applies to food storage.

3 Rules for Food Storage

I have a hard and fast rule in regards to food storage. Never purchase things you won’t eat in regular life. I believe it is a waste of money to purchase emergency food you won’t use in your ever day life.

I have this rule for two reasons. One, what if the emergency never comes? And I seriously hope and pray that it never does. But if you’re investing a bunch of money into food you’ll only use in an emergency, then you might be banking your money on something that doesn’t happen.

Second part of the rule, if you’re not using your emergency or food storage food on a regular basis, you’re going to have enough things to deal with when an emergency happens and learning how to cook said emergency food is not going to be another stress you want to add on.

And third part of this rule (boy, I sound bossy, don’t I? Let’s say it’s the mother in me coming out… because that sounds way nicer than bossy), if you have children and a spouse, getting them to eat something they don’t normally eat can sometimes be a huge issue.

Whew, glad we got that part covered. Now onto the fun stuff.

Normally, purchasing in bulk will save you money. Happy dance, like full on grooving over here. And this is good news any time of the day, but especially when you’re building up your food storage.

If you’re not sure what items to begin with in your food storage, I’ve got ya covered in my 8 Foods Everyone Should Store and How. Check out some of the wise wisdom in the comment section, too.

Fresh fruits and vegetables are not a storage item, unless you preserve them for use later. This is where my Ultimate Home Food Preservation Guide comes in. All of my recipes, tutorials, and how-to’s, plus a ton of others from folks I trust and follow to cover all aspects of home food preservation. Because preserving your own fresh fruits, vegetables, and meat is a very important part of any food storage plan. Specifically, because this an area you can replenish every year.

A major part of some food storage advice I see has a flaw, because there is no way to replenish it without the stores. You may not be able to grow everything yourself, but finding a local source will mean you can still purchase or barter if transportation was shut down. And I much prefer helping out a neighbor and keeping small family businesses going with my money when possible.

That being said, I don’t have a local source for all items in my food storage, and that’s where this buying in bulk guide comes in.

The items I keep in my food storage and I buy in bulk are items of what you’d typically see the pioneers purchase when they went into town. Think Little House Laura Ingall’s living.

Places to purchase food in bulk

Costco
Amazon
Azure Standard
Local Co-op
Local Farmers
Mormon Church Store House (no, you don't have to be a member, because I'm not and never have been, and I double checked, it's open to the public but you do have to call for hours, though some folks say you need to go in with a member, here's a map where you can find a location near you if you're interested)

Tips to Buying Food in Bulk

1. Wheat berries. I buy my wheat berries in 50 pound bags. I purchase these about twice a year. When I open my last bag, I purchase another. This way, I’m never almost out and have a buffer. Because if I wait until I’m out, then if I don’t get my order in or to the store before an emergency happens, I’m left with a whole in my food storage. This also ensures I’m practicing proper rotation with our food.

I’ve purchased my wheat berries from a few different sources. The best deal I’ve found for organic hard white wheat has been from our local co-op. If I order a bag in bulk, then I get 10% off. However, their organic spelt berries are much more expensive than ordering online.

This is the best price I've found for Spelt Berries. If it’s just a small dollar amount difference, then I’ll still purchase local, but if it’s a large amount then I purchase on-line. If you don’t have a co-op, then this is a local brand to my area and they also have really good prices.

I've seen some people say wheat berries isn't a good food storage for the fact you have to have a grinder. My answer, it's much healthier to grind your own flour than said flour from the store (read all those facts on why you should be grinding your own flour) and you should start now! My goal is to be living the healthiest I can now, and simply swapping out my flour is an easy way to do that. Plus, it adds to my preparedness skills and isn't something I'll have to deal with later.

2. Sugar is another item I store in bulk. I usually keep 25 pounds of brown sugar on hand and 25 pounds of organic evaporated cane juice. I don’t use nearly as much sugar as I used to in my baking, but I do use it for our homemade jam/jelly and in some baking.

I purchase my sugar in bulk from Costco primarily. It’s a better price than the regular grocery store. Many people like to buy in bulk from Azure Standard, but we don’t have a drop zone in our area, so it’s now an option for me. I’ve also purchased from the bulk bin at our local co-op, especially things like coconut palm sugar and other speciality sweeteners, but Costco has the best deal and beings they’re carrying a lot more organic items now, I check there.

3. Dried beans. We grow enough shelled beans to almost get us through the year, but I do supplement with a 25 pounds bag from Costco of pinto beans. One thing to keep in mind is if you’re eating strictly from your food storage, as in emergency type conditions, then you’re going to go through it faster than you think. I keep a buffer of dried beans on hand for this reason, beyond what we grown and dry ourselves. Remember, dried beans are good for about 2 years before they begin to get too hard when cooked. And once they're too old, it doesn't matter how you cook them, they'll still be hard and tough.

Most of us still end up supplementing some of our food from the store, eating out, etc. even if we feel we’re eating mostly from our food storage or pantry at home.

4. Rice. I purchase rice in bulk. It’s much cheaper and can be cooked in such a variety of ways. You can add it to soups, stuff it in a tortilla, eat it all by its lonesome, and also make puddings out of it. There are lots of options for rice. Remember, brown rice will go rancid quicker than white. I personally love wild rice, so I try to stock a blend. Costco has a 25 pound of Jasmine rice that I use for our bulk, and then I mix it in with quinoa or other rice to make my own mix.

5. Spices. Trust me, spices go along long way to making plain old beans and rice palatable and down right delicious. Seriously. My kids beg me to make homemade refried beans all the time. It’s one of their favorites. Now, spices in the store can get expensive. Those little glass bottle add up quick and if you’re cooking a lot from scratch, you’re going to go through them quick.

Mountain Rose Herbs. A herbs, health and harmony c

I purchase my spices and seasonings (herbs and teas, too) from Mountain Rose Herbs. They’re a pretty awesome company out of Oregon. You can choose what amount to buy your spices and they give discounts for bulk orders.

I recommend going in with some friends if your order isn’t large enough for the bulk discount if possible. I often combine my mom’s order with mine. Chili powder is one I use a lot of, because I make all my own seasonings for tacos, chili, stews, and other dishes. Their prices have far beat out the stores, plus, they’re usually organic, Non-GMO, and when harvested wild, harvested responsibly so as not to deplete an entire area. That is some awesome sauce right there.

Grab my Spice Storage Cheat Sheet and see which spices I store and how much for the year.

6. Salt. I keep all kinds of salt on hand. I use canning salt for canning and keep at least a box on hand. (Canning salt means no iodine or other additives so it won't discolor or taste funny in your home canned foods) My sea salt I found at a discount store, but I keep at least five pounds of sea salt on hand for every day use, cooking, baking, fermenting, you name it going on in the kitchen. If you want to cure meat with salt, then you need some curing salt which has nitrates in it.

If you have the extra money or room in your grocery budget, I'd purchase these items in bulk now. But I know not everyone can afford to do all of it at once. I would buy one item a week in bulk. The beans and rice were both just under $10, making them fairly easy to slide in on our budget.

Don't go into debt to build up a food storage, but add in items as you're able. We'll be talking about how to store these items, and getting creative with storage space, in 8 Tips for Bulk Food Storage.

8 Foods You Should Be Storing and How

September 1, 2014 by Melissa Norris 78 Comments

Everyone knows we should be storing some kind of food in our home pantries for both emergencies and preparedness. But how do you know where to start or which foods to store? I see lots of lists on foods folks think you should be storing for your long term food storage. Some of them I agree with, but a lot of them, they're not practical.

I don't believe in storing food you don't use in your regular life. Why would you invest money and storage on something you're not using? That makes no sense to me. Plus, if an emergency does hit, you don't want to be adding to the stress of the situation by trying to figure out how to cook and use something you've never used before.

[Read more…]

8 Tips for Survival, Preparedness, & Food Storage

August 21, 2013 by Melissa Norris 5 Comments

How long could you survive without electricity and a trip to the grocery store? Sadly, most of us very dependent on “the grid.” The longest we went without electricity at our home was 10 days four winters ago. A mudslide took out the power and highway.

8 Tips for Food Storage, Preparedness, and Survival www.melissaknorris.com Pioneering Today

That was a natural disaster that was short lived, but what if some kind of catastrophe, either nature or man invoked, happened on a large scale. Would you and your family be prepared? After living through almost 2 weeks without power, I decided I'd be better prepared if it happened again.

Here are my tips for being prepared.

[Read more…]

How to Choose the Best Grain Mill & Grind Flour at Home

May 4, 2013 by Melissa Norris 85 Comments

How to choose the best grain mill to grind your own flour at home, because really, every home and kitchen should be experiencing the benefits of grinding your own flour. And to do that, you need to make sure you're choosing the best flour mill for your house.

Flour milled at home is healthier and fresher, plus it makes me feel like a true pioneer woman.

Do you ever wonder about the flour you purchase from the store? While I've been baking our own bread for almost a year and a half now, I've been using store bought flour. I know our bread is now preservative free, but what about the flour, the main ingredient.

Tune in to the Pioneering Today Podcast! I post new episodes every Friday morning. You can subscribe via RSS and receive every episode for free. Or subscribe via Itunes

My desire is to be as self-sustainable as possible. I also believe it's the healthiest way to live. I started researching the benefits of grinding your own flour at home and let me tell ya, there's a ton of nutrition we're missing out on (won't even mention the flavor) by not grinding our own flour.

How to Choose the Best Grain Mill

When you grind it at home, you're leaving in all the nutrition. It will store for one to two weeks, or you can store the ground flour in the freezer. I borrowed a friend's electric Blendtec mill to try out for myself this week.

When you grind a whole wheat berry (it looks like a piece of grain, not a berry), you are grinding the bran and germ into your flour. Because the germ has oil in it, the flour can turn rancid, so it's removed in commercial flour. But most of your fiber, vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants are in the bran and germ.

Disclosure: I received my Wondermill and Mockmill for free, regardless, this is my honest opinion of both mills.

Resources for How to Choose the Best Grain Mill

Best manual grain mill for ease of use and output plus upping your preparedness level–> Wondermill Deluxe Hand Grain Mill

Best back up manual grain mill when using an electric mill as a primary–> Victorio Hand Operated Mill

Best electric grain mill. I used a Wondermill for years, but I had the chance to try a new mill by Wolfgand Mock, a stone burr Mockmill 100 and you guys, I can't believe the difference. It's sooo much quieter, no parts to hook together, and the ability to adjust the grind goes beyond any mill I've seen.

Best electric stone grain mill- Not only can you grind flour, but you can grind all your gluten-free flours, vegetables (yes, vegetables into powders), spices and more. With one mill! Plus, it makes the finest whole wheat pastry flour and for a limited time, they're giving free shipping and I'm throwing in over $60 of free bonuses when you purchase your Mockmill here.

Free guide on learning how to bake with fresh flour –> 6 Tips for Baking with Freshly Milled Flour

How to Choose the Best Home Grain Mill for You

Manual Grain Mills

From my research, this mill Wonder Junior Deluxe Hand Grain / Flour Mill by Wondermill is the best manual grain mill according to many customer reviews and users.

Pros

1. No electricity. You won't be using any electricity or upping your power bill. If the power goes out due to a storm or unforeseen major catastrophe, you can still grind your own flour.

2. Toned arms. Turning the handle creates a toned upper body. I'm a girl who likes to multitask. How about you?

3. Ability to grind oily products. A manual mill allows you to grind oily grains, nuts, and seeds. Homemade peanut or almond butter?

4. Nostalgia. I love vintage and antique things in my home. A hand turned flour mill definitely says homesteading.

Cons

1. Mounting to a solid surface. A manual grain mill must be mounted to a table or counter top.

2. Time. It takes much longer to grind up your flour with a manual mill than an electric one, especially if you need to grind up a large amount at one sitting.

3. Weight. Some manual grain mills weigh up to 20 pounds. Moving around a piece of equipment at that weight may become cumbersome.

Update: I purchased this manual wheat grinder to have on hand for emergency situations, power outages, etc. I did a lot of research on reviews, as I wanted something that would work well when I needed to use it, so there were a few others that were cheaper, but I wanted quality as well. This manual mill from our affiliate partner Amazon a Victorio Hand Operated Grain Mill is still on the less expensive side, as it's not the one I use daily, but keep in reserve. I'd go with the WonderMill Manual if you're wanting it to be your exclusive grinder.

Electric Grain Mills

Pros

1. Ease of use. You simple plug it in, flip the switch, and pour in your wheat berries. No clamping down to anything.

2. Fast. I ground up 6 and 1/2 cups of fresh flour in less than 3 minutes.

3. Adjusting the grind. Adjusting the grind on an electric grain mill is as simple as turning a switch. The grinder I borrowed had 5 different settings for setting the fineness of the grind. The Mockmill has the ability to adjust the grind with over 20 setting.

Cons

1. Noisy. It sounds like a vacuum cleaner.

2. Dependency on electricity. It does require a power source.

Freshly ground hard wheat flour www.melissaknorris.com

3. No oily products. You can't put anything oily through electric grinders. It gums them up and will make them useless.

I'm going to be ordering an electric grain mill. While I love the idea of the manual grinder, I don't have the counter space or a good spot to clamp it down, nor do I have the time to use it. I need at least 10 to 14 cups of flour every week and time is of the essence.

UPDATE: I'm now the proud owner of a MockMill100. It's much quieter than both the Blendtech and the Wondermill, nor does it jump around the counter while it's grinding, plus it's a tabletop stone grain mill for home use.

The initial price of a home flour mill isn't cheap, but I'm viewing it as an investment. I'll use it every week and it's hard to put a price on something that improves the health of your family. Second, I'm guessing it will almost pay for itself in a year. Third, I can store the wheat berries much longer than bags of flour, increasing our food storage. I purchased organic red hard wheat berries for just $.85 a pound at our local co-op. I used 4 and 1/2 cups of wheat berries and got 6 and 1/2 cups of flour.

I now prefer hard white wheat for bread baking, it's not quite as dense as the red. For delicate or baked items, Spelt is a wonderful flour. It has a higher protein count, but lower gluten, and it is a primitive non-hybridized wheat. I use it for cakes, muffins, cookies, and pie crusts.

Which is right for you? Do you use a flour mill or grind your own flour? Do you have any recommendations on which flour mill is the best?

Be sure to check out our 6 Tips to Baking with Fresh Flour.

Grinding your own flour plus fresh flour baking tips. It took me 5 weeks to figure out how to use fresh flour. Excellent tips for altering your regular recipes to using fresh flour and which kinds of wheat berries are best for baking and where to get them. If you've ever wanted to grind and use your own flour, you need to read this now!

This is where the Mockmill is different than most electric home grain mills, you can easily take it apart and clean the burrs. Most other electric grain mills require you to ship them out, you cannot take them apart.

Why a stone mill is better

The burrs (what the food is ground against to become flour) are probably the most important part of your mill.

There are 3 different types of burrs on the market, steel, cast iron and stone.

Steel and cast iron burrs which do a decent job (this is what my old Wondermill had) but you can't get as fine as grind and they heat up, causing the flour to come out hot (which some believe impacts the nutrition value).

How to Grind Flour at Home

The Mockmill really makes this quick work. You simply flip the switch, pour your grains into the hopper, and watch it shoot out into the bowl. Literally, it only takes a minute or two. Easy, peasy.

What really set the Mockmill apart for me was the ability to adjust the grain to the exact setting I want and need. The other mills I use only have three settings. With the Mockmill I can adjust it to exatly what I need and want, from course for cracked grains to very fine pastry flour, with up to 20 different settings if need be. (I confess, I've mainly been using it on super fine for baking, but a girl wants options)

Where to Buy Your Grain Mill

I don't know about you, but I've never seen a grain mill sitting on the shelves next to the slow cookers (let's hope that changes, and you and I, we're the ones leading the much needed change, woot, woot!)

For a limited time, you can order the Mockmill and get FREE shipping, plus some special bonus offers. You get two guides from Mockmill, the first is the Farm Directly and Milling Guide that contains easy links to the websites and Amazon.com listings of small family farmers who will gratefully ship their grains direct to your door.

The second is the Mockmill Recipe Guide, filled with time-saving central bank of recipes from every corner of online universe, The Mockmill® Recipe Guide is a lovingly curated plethora of baking ideas for new bakers, expert bakers, and anyone and everyone inbetween, including sourdough!

Get ready to discover flavor-filled favorites from some of today’s top food and healthy-eating bloggers… all the way through to professional artisan chefs who’ve discovered the taste-infusion fresh flour makes to breads and baked goods.

Hold up, I know that when you first start baking with fresh ground flour, you've got to make some adjustments to your favorite recipes. If you've been using store bought flour, you can't just take 1 cup of fresh ground flour and use it in place of all-purpose flour and get the same bread or cookies.

There's a learning curve… ask me how many loaves of bread turned out rock hard when I first started. But you my friend, you don't have to suffer through those mistakes, because I'm sharing the tips I've learned to use fresh ground flour to convert your favorite recipes and get delicious food, every time.

And when you purchase the Mockmill, I'm giving you access to my mini e-course Baking with Fresh Ground Flour and my e-book Fresh Ground Flour Baking Guide & Favorite Recipes, valued at over $60!

You can have home milled flour in your kitchen and the bonuses with these 3 easy steps.

How to Order and Claim Your Bonuses

Order your Mockmill here to get free shipping & 5% OFF, the Farm Directly and Milling Guide and the Mockmill Recipe Guide.
Have your Mockmill Receipt number and fill out this form to get special access to my Fresh Ground Flour mini e-course and Fresh Ground Flour Baking Guide & Favorite Recipes.
Begin creating the freshest flour you've ever had to bake wonderful foods for your family.

There you have it, how to choose the best grain mill to grind your own flour at home. Which one did you go with?