How to Grind Wheat in a Blender

I mentioned on my Facebook page a couple weeks ago that I had made bread using wheat that I ground in the blender.  Some of you were curious to see how it turned out, so I thought I'd share the post that I wrote over on my other blog. 

As requested, here are the results of my experiment with grinding wheat in the blender.  I love cooking with whole foods, but I've never baked with freshly ground wheat before.  I don't have a wheat grinder, and I certainly didn't intend on spending the money for one if it were possible to grind it in a blender.

Step one: Get some wheat berries.  I ordered mine from Vitacost since you get a free $10 coupon when you create an account.  I didn't feel like spending good money on an experiment when I knew it might not work.

I used hard white wheat berries, but I wouldn't think it would make much difference what kind you use.

Step Two:  Get your blender ready to go.  Do not let the brand name of my blender fool you.  KitchenAid mixers are definitely 10 steps ahead of any other mixer, but their blenders?  Eh...not my favorite by any means.  All that to say - even if you have a cheap blender, it will probably work just fine.

Step 3:   Add the wheat berries and start grinding.  I only ground about a cup at a time.  The wheat berries jumped so high when I turned it on that I was afraid if I added any more the flour would start flying out the top of the blender.

Step four: I found that I needed to let it run on high for about 2 minutes. If I ground for less time it still had chunks. And if I ground for more time, it didn't seem to get any more fine, but the motor started heating up the flour.

Step five: Bake some bread or rolls using your favorite whole wheat bread recipe.  I actually made some of both.  My bread didn't turn out too pretty, but you get the idea.

My conclusion:  The blender definitely does not get the flour very fine.  The dough feels very gritty when you're working with it.  But as you can see from the pictures, it is still very useable.  (How pretty your bread turns out just depends on how good of a cook you are - which I'm obviously not the greatest!)


I'm very curious now to try out a recipe I saw for Blender Pancakes!  You grind the wheat in the blender along with the other pancake ingredients and then pour them onto the griddle!

Has anyone else ever tried grinding wheat in a blender?  How did yours turn out?

Guest Post on Stockpiling Kids' Clothes

Last week Money Saving Mom posted a reader tip on saving money by stockpiling kids' clothes.  I followed up the tip with some advice on how to go about finding the best deals on kids' clothes at yard sales.  Head over and take a look!

10 Creative and Affordable Vacation Ideas

Since we will be leaving in a few days for a trip to Wisconsin for a wedding, I have been brainstorming a lot about how to travel frugally. Gasoline, hotels, eating out - it all adds up so quickly! Here are 10 creative ways to save on those expenses.

1. Explore options other than hotels. Rather than paying nightly hotel charges, we have made arrangements to rent a time-share that is owned by a friend of the family. We will be paying just a little more for a full week's stay than we would have paid for one night at a hotel.

2. Purchase gift cards for gasoline and restaurants on ebay. Although gift cards usually aren't sold for much cheaper than the actual cost of the gift card, utilizing a cash back portal makes the total come out cheaper. For example, ebates gives between 1% and 3% cash back on ebay purchases. If I buy a $50 gift card for $49, I'll still have saved a tiny bit once I get my cash back in my ebates account. Occassionaly, you can get up to 20% cash back from Bing. Receiving 20% back is a significant savings.

3. Use accumulated points from Mypoints to pay for more restaurant gift cards. It was almost no effort to accumulate the points, and I'll be getting free gift cards out of it! (Read more about Mypoints here.)

4. Purchase Restaurant.com gift cards from my Swagbucks earnings. (Read more about Swagbucks here.)

5. Pack homemade snacks so we can get by with purchasing as little fast food as possible while we're on the road.

6. Opt for free activities. Go for a hike in the woods or a picnic in the park. Those activities provide quality family time and are just as much fun as expensive admission to amusement parks or other attractions.

7. Who needs souvenirs? Don't spend your money on souvenirs that will only collect dust until the next yard sale. Spend money only on what you need and skip the rest. If you must bring something home, buy something useful, such as an article of clothing, rather than a knick-knack.

8. Stop at the state's Welcome Center and pick up brochures. You'll often find coupons for local attractions and restaurants.

9. Cook your own meals. While I do enjoy eating out on vacation, it can be quite expensive to do so for every meal. If you stay in a cabin or a hotel with a kitchenette, you can cook your own meals and save a bundle.

10. When you do eat out, go during the lunch hour. Prices from the lunch menu can be almost 50% less than those from the dinner menu.


For more frugal travel ideas, check out the Twittermoms discussion here.

I wrote this blog post while participating in the Toyota Sienna and TwitterMoms blogging program for a chance to get a $30 gift card. For more information on how you can participate, click here.

Make Your Own Laundry and Dishwasher Detergent (Plus a Coupon!)

A couple days ago, I happened upon this video tutorial for homemade laundry detergent from Mummy Deals. I thought, "I really should try that, but I'm sure there aren't coupons for any of that stuff." The same day, one of my Facebook friends posted a link to a homemade dishwasher detergent tutorial. Homemade dishwasher detergent uses most of the same ingredients as homemade laundry detergent, one of which is 20 Mule Team Borax. I thought, "I really should try both of these ideas, but it would really be nice to have a coupon for the stuff to make it." This morning Amy posted a printable coupon for 20 Mule Team Borax! How can I not try this now! (By the way, she also posted links to her own tutorials for both laundry detergent and dishwasher detergent.) Let me know if any of you try making your own detergent and how it turns out!