September 3, 2010 - 10:41am
Honeyville Grain Company now offers $4.65 Flat Rate shipping on anything in the USA
Honeyville Grain Company now offers flat rate shipping on anything you want for just $4.65. I thought that was a great deal, so if you needed anything like unbleached flours, etc... now is a good time to buy. I like their California Best Bread Flour, which is unbleached (12.5% protein). For a 50lb bag @ $43.00, that's less than $1.00/lb.
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Make sure to sign up(on main page) for their email list. Usually once per month they send out a coupon for at least 10% off the price of your order. That would be an additional $4.30 off the example in op.
Occasionally, it will be 15% off. My last coupon just expired a few days ago.
Thanks for that! Do you buy your flour from there? Which do you like for bread flour? Just curious.
No, never made a purchase from there yet. If I did, it would probably be one of their specialty items like hi maize 260, cheese powder, etc. I still like to keep an eye out for what's available when I get their monthly coupon. I will eventually get something I need.
I'm in a large city(Atlanta) and ususally buy a large supply of flour when it goes on sale at one of the large grocers. For the past year or so, I've been able to stock up on name brand bread flours for 20 to 30 cents per pound(GM bread, White Lily bread). Seems like during the baking holidays(Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter) there is usually a great sale on flour somewhere.
Are those flours you buy in Atlanta, unbleached, unenriched?
I'm asking because I am having a really tough time locating natural unbleached flour for less than 80-90 cents a pound.
By comparison, I can buy 25 pounds of bleached enriched bread flour from Sams Club for around $5-6 bucks a bag, around 40 cents a pound.
BJ's wholesale club carries King Arthur Unbleached for around 80 cents a pound.
I just bought some unbleached Eagle brand from Costco for around 20-30 cents/pound, but it has some whole wheat in it, and I just made my first loaf today, and don't really care for it at all.
Gold Medal Better for Bread Flour and White Lily Bread Flour are both unbleached and unbromated, as is King Arthur All Purpose. They also both have very similar protein levels and almost identical ingredient listings as KAAP. White Lily adds ascorbic acid.
All three of these flours are enriched.
Both of these purchases were one time deals(almost). White Lily bread flour is rarely seen below the $2.24 for a 5# bag at Walmart. It was on sale last Thanksgiving thru Christmas for $1.49 for 5# at Kroger. Bought about 8 bags.
The Gold Medal is rarely lower than Walmart's $2.39(approx), though it only occasionally will run on sale at Publix and Kroger for $1.79. This past Easter period, it was on sale at Publix for $1.49 with an attached coupon for another .55 off. I bought 8 bags.
Hopefully, these sales will repeat this coming holiday period.
ronhol, when you say natural... do you mean freshly milled/ground like you would do for yourself at home? Or, are you talking about unbleached, without bromates?
Frost, we do get good prices on Gold Medal here, but you're right - they are even better on the holidays. I don't have access to White Lily, must be an Eastern brand of flour. BBB is a decent flour, but I just prefer Cal Bread flour over both BBB and KAF as it just performs better for me. Could be the climate, I don't know. I live in Phoenix, you'd think finding sales would be easier. I do stock up on the holidays as that's about the only time you see KAF on sale. I actually prefer their AP bread to their bread flour though.
I've thought many times of starting my own coop here. We don't have one and in the 5th largest city in america, we have only one baking store which carries overpriced whole grains because they are a dealer of grain mills. Ugh.
No good flour in southern arizona too! The whole wheat in stores seems to be rancid because of the heat. I've thought about going on Craigslist to bartar a loaf of desem if they grind me a couple cups fresh milled flour.
jkandall,
We're starting a bakers cooperative here in Arizona (Phoenix Valley). How often do you get to the valley and would it be worth it to join the co-op and get what you need? We will be negotiating pricing direct from the millers, and will buy only what is needed. We will use a wide variety of millers for various products.
Belles, I was referring to unbleached. Frost, thanks for the answer.
Thanks all for the feedback, I'm a new baker, (6 months) and I'm really beginning to notice what a difference your choice of flour has in the final product.
I have been using the 5 Minutes a Day Artisan book method, so my results are pretty consistant.
I started with a 25# bag of Sams Club Bleached, enriched bread flour, and although the results tasted better than my local, In-Store Bakery, Italian, they were somewhat of a letdown.
So then I picked up 10# of King Arthur unbleached enriched, and I was impressed, but became bored.
Now, I tried a blend of the two, and I'm really excitied about the results.
I made a Bagutte this morning, and I love it.
So, today we took a trip to Amish country, (an hour away) and I picked up a half dozen unbleached flours, all somewhat different, all enriched, all from 33 cents to 49 cents a pound.
I'm really looking forward to experimenting.
The best deal I found was a small bulk food store, run on an Amish homestead, and while I was there, there were other Amish buying there, so it was not really a tourist trap.
Most of her flours were about 33 cents, but she was off the main drag, and easy to miss.
I highly recommend a trip to Amish country, if you live nearby.
I have had a really difficult time finding a variety of flours in my local stores, and they are mostly all bleached.
ronhol, unfortunately, I live in Arizona - nowhere near the Amish, unless they have great tans and are hiding from me :) For those of us who do not live anywhere nearby, we have to buy our flour or grind it ourselves. Just as a sidenote, you may want to use a bit of caution buying from them. Someone here mentioned a report where the person bought whole wheat was rancid when they got it home. I don't know how strictly they regulate their quality, if at all.
I do hear what you're saying about BBB and KAF flours becoming boring. I won't, however, use bleached flour and there is a rather lively discussion here about bleached and bromated flours.
The reasons I bake are because it's what I love to do, but the nutrition factor is very important too. Otherwise, I could buy something off the shelf and why bother baking? I'm also not going to waste my time baking with bleached and bromated flours that are empty nutritionally-wise. It's not for me, but if others do, I totally understand the cost savings factor. For me, that's not an issue and even at a savings of .50 or even $1.00 a pound, I'd find some way to cut corners elsewhere if I had to. I want to use good flours, that are better for baking all around and ultimately, give me a better product.
This is why I posted the post.. so we could buy a wide variety for less than $5.00 in shipping. I'm wishing I had more local options too, but I don't. Lucky for you that you found the Amish. How far did you have to drive for that and would it become a more expensive option if you factored in the cost of getting there?
The Amish in our area have an impeccable reputation for quality and freshness, don't know what you might be referring to.
As far as the drive, as I mentioned in my comment , it's about an hour drive, but we like to go down, do some shopping, grab a meal or snack, and make an afternoon of it.
It's quite enjoyable for us, and judging by the traffic, for quite a few other city folk as well.
300 million Americans have somehow survived on that nasty bleached white flour, so I guess it can't be all bad.
I just bought 2 25# bags of bleached bread flour for my pantry, and emergency rations tonight, for $6 each.
I like to blend it with unbleached, makes a real nice bread.
Maybe you can find cactus flour, LOL
Well, if using, over-processed, bleached and chemically laden flours is a matter of survival as you said, thanks but I will pass. Chemicals and additives aside, buying cheap flours generally gives you a sub-par product and that's my personal opinion from experience. Should others choose to use it and crank out their loaves - go for it.
I'm not familiar with the quality of the Amish flour, nor do I know anything about "your area", all I know is there were warnings somewhere here or on another website about the rancidity of the flour from the Amish millers. Just tryin' to be nice here and give you a heads up.
But if it was on the internet, it must be so!
Smile.
Cheers!
Just trying to help. It was a report from an Indiana news article and a warning from a University extension office. Someone copied and posted it. It wasn't a rumor. Seriously, why the passive aggressive attitude? Just trying to be helpful, so if you don't appreciate it, you can choose to ignore the topic.
The topic at hand is about a special shipping discount for those interested in shopping at Honeyville. It's obvious you have nothing positive to add to it, and have your own source. Not everyone lives in Amish country, so we have to find other options.
Thanks
Another interesting comment belle.
I realize you started this thread, and I noticed it, since I am always seeking other sources for flour and baking products, tools etc.
It follows that others looking to save $$$ might be reading it as well.
Your topic was free/cheap shipping, so it appears you are seeking more economical sources as well.
I think that finding flour for $15.00 per 50 pounds, or $12.00 per 50 pounds (Sams bread flour), compared to Honeyvilles' $47.65 per 50 pounds, is quite a contribution, yet, your repeated comments about rumors you read somewhere, appear to be the passive/aggressive ones.
Although my sources may be impractical for you or others, let us remember, there are readers from all over the globe here, this is not a local board.
I am in awe as to how expensive flour is, on the net , typically $1.00 a pound. There seems to be no ryme or reason, other than someone is making serious profits from it.
Thanks for directing me to the unbleached thread as well, it also seems to temper the white flour, scourge of death, attitude as well.
I appreciate and respect those who seek whole grains, and are trying to improve their diets, but I'm not convinced white flour/sugar are the great health risks, that some others profess them to be.
In the end, readers will take what they want, and put the rest in it's proper perspective, so I consider your continued beating of the rancid flour rumor to be non productive at best.
I said, nothing POSITIVE to add. Please, stop misquoting only to create this drama. I stand by what I said.
So, this post was intended to be about flat rate shipping for Honeyville. It is a post for those interested in their flour. There is a large fan following of their flour here and if you've ever used it, you may understand why. It's $1.00 a pound - no one claimed it is the cheapest per pound nor was this post meant to send that message.
You buy Sam's club flour for .25 cents a pound. Great, glad you posted that info - and by the way, there are numerous discussions specifically about Sam's Club flour elsewhere on this site. I don't mind the mention of your cost savings, and other flours that people like, but enough already. We know that Honeyville costs more.. we accept that. I know there are other brands you can buy cheaper. Got it! Your point has been made awhile back.
If you choose to dismiss the Amish rancid flour article as a rumor, then go for it. But if anything, it was an "oh by the way" side mention and you act as if I was rude in mentioning it. Others may benefit even if you choose not to listen. But we've travelled this road too. You've made this and other points twice now - and it's obvious you're no closer to letting this discussion go than you were before.
If I could delete this entire post, I would. This is a nice community and I like being here. I only wanted to share some info to other Honeyville fans about flat shipping. Wow, thanks for taking away the focus of the post and continuing to dump on the topic.
I won't be posting replies to you on this topic any longer. It's not worth the hassle and disrupts the community, which is not my intent.
That has always been their standard shipping rate, and that's at least one of the reasons their flour is so expensive.
Shipping costs can be a big factor when ordering flour. I just checked for a comparable flour on King Arthur's website. To order a 5 lb bag of their unbleached bread flour is $4.50, but to get that shipped to me via UPS Ground, it's an additional $6.50. You are better off ordering 50 lbs of their flour and the shipping is reduced to $10.00 for that amount, which makes more sense if you can use that much flour. KAF is not my #1 choice, unless I can buy it on sale as MrFrost suggested at my local grocery store.
Our baking group here in Arizona prefers the performance of flour from Honeyville and Central Milling. We order both by bulk and don't really pay attention to the cost of shipping individual bags. I just happened to be on their site to get their phone number when I noticed they offered flat rate shipping for individuals and pricewise, for those who like the flour, it's less than $1.00 a pound, which to me is not expensive.
KA is available at the local BJ Wholesale Club, don't remember how much, but def less than $1.00/pound. It's been a month or longer when I bought it, but I think it was around 60-80 cents/pound.
I bought 2 10# bags.
Costco Wholesale has Eagle Mills All Natural unbleached. I bought 2 10# bags there for around 40 cents/pound, can't remember exactly.
Personally, I don't like the flavor, since it has some whole wheat added, and I'm not a fan of whole wheat.
I'll be either giving those two away, or throwing them out. (Eagle Mills)
Not everyone has those buying choices. I live in the 5th largest city in America and even I don't have those choices. There are no 10lb bags of KAF anywhere close by that I know of - and I have looked everywhere. BJ's must be a regional store, it's not here. The closest place I know of to buy the KAF AP in 10lb bags is Smart & Final and they are only worth buying unless I'm in that part of the city. Neither Costco here or Sams here sells Eagle Mills in 10 lb bags and none of what they do sell is natural. Ours sells ConAgra bleached in 25 lb bag sizes, both AP & Bread Flour. Actually, I'm lucky to find 10lb bags of Better for Bread. That too is usually sold in 5 lb bags. This is one reason the idea of a cooperative is so popular here.
There are really only two options, buy it on sale or buy it online. On sale will only get me KAF, not the flour of choice, but it comes a close second. My 50 lb bag arrived yesterday. I've already sold 4 10 lb bags to members of my cooperative, We all have the flour we love for less than a bag of KAF. Everyone is happy and everyone gets what they need and prefer for their baking.