I think it wasn’t until I’d purchased my eighth bucket of wheat that it suddenly dawned on me that I had no way to grind it. Buying the wheat was the easy part! Figuring out what to do next, well, that took a little more thought. I knew I wanted a manual mill but wasn’t sure which brand to buy. I knew what I was looking for, though: a sturdy mill and one that produces the maximum amount of flour with the minimum amount of work! I found the perfect combination with The Wondermill Junior.
Grinding wheat is hard work, both on the person as well as the mill. I’d used a lesser quality mill before and always worried it would fall apart from all the jiggling. The Wondermill Junior, in comparison, is built like a tank. Even when my son had worked up a sweat grinding a cup or two of wheat and said, “My arms are going to fall off, Mom”, that solid piece of machinery just sat there and snickered. Its double clamp system secures it to any table or counter-top; it’s not going anywhere.
The mill is small enough to be portable, and its extra-long arm allows for a comfortable cranking motion. Everyone in my family gave it a try, and all of us were able to produce finely ground flour within a few minutes. The Wondermill Junior Deluxe comes with both steel and stone burr heads to provide versatility and customized results.
Now, not all grain mills can grind things other than wheat, but here is where the Wondermill Junior really shines. It can grind herbs, rice, corn, coffee, spices, beans, and more. In fact, it can be used to make nut butters. The versatility of this mill will help make the most of foods typically found in food storage pantries.
I have the Deluxe model and recommend it over the Basic model because it includes the Double Clamp Table Mount. That feature, alone, is worth quite a few extra dollars. Additionally, you receive the Stainless Steel Burrs as an option to the stone burrs, a Flour Guide that helps direct the ground food into a container, and a cleaning brush.
The Wondermill Junior is in the low $200 price range, placing it quite a bit above budget hand mills, but this is a purchase for the long haul. One you’ll be glad to have on hand in a crisis. I highly recommend it as the hand grain mill of choice.
We just bought a Country Living Grain Mill and love it! It too is rock solid and withstand the apocalypse! We use a ton of flour, so it was time to invest in something heavy duty when our little starter mill wore out. How awesome that yours will make nut butters though!
I've watched the videos where the mill makes nut butters. Has anyone actually used it for that? I want to know from someone who isn't selling something that it actually works before shelling out all that money!
Steph, I\’m not selling the Wondermill Junior and will make a batch of peanut or almond butter in the next week or so and post the results.
Fantastic. Looking forward to hearing about it! Thanks for all you do 😀
This is the one I picked out prior to my SO buying me a Retsel, which I also love, and got the crank for power down situations, but at 37lbs it is not portable. I think I still need a Wondermill Junior
Can't remember the name of my grain mill, but picked mine out because I could hand crank it or use the adaptor and hook it up to my KitchenAid mixer. Call me lazy, but I'm not cranking by hand until I absolutely have to! 😉
It might be The Family Grain Mill – I have one, and I have the Kitchenaid Adapter. I grind 10 pounds of Rye a week for my husband who uses it in bread dough for his restaurant.
Pingback: Get a Wondermill Junior | Sensible Preps
We have the Delux Wonder Mill Jr. and my husband and I love it. We have ground hard wheat and the Ezekiel bread mix with the beans and grains in it, and it did a wonderful job. Would highly recomend to anyone looking for a hand crank mill. We plan on grinding corn soon for corn bread when I can find a good recipe. If anyone has a recipe to share I would greatly appreciate it.
My friend Jennifer shared this recipe with me a few years ago & now it is the ONLY Cornbread recipe I would use!
1 c cornmeal
1 c self-rising flour (if using all purpose, still 1 c, but add 4 t baking powder)
1 t salt
1 c milk
1 egg (or equivalent egg replacer)
1/2 stick melted butter for the mix (or 1/4 cup vegetable oil/melted shortening)
1/2 stick butter in cast iron skillet to melt when preheating
Preheat oven to 425 degrees pop in the cast iron to preheat/melt butter
mix all ingredients above
pour into hot skillet & into the oven until golden brown & edges look crispy but not too dark 🙂
in my oven it's about 25-30 minutes
remove from oven & flip pan over cooling rack to release the cornbread, don't leave in the cast iron as it will continue to "cook it" while it's cooling & besides you would never slice with a knife in your precious cast iron!
That's it! It may sound like alot, but Jennifer & I can crank these out when we are cooking together.
Hope you like it!
Use popcorn kernels to make the corn meal, it taste much better than the other dry corns I have tried
They are coming out with an adapter so you can use it with a 1/2 inch, 9 volt drill.
The drill bit attachment has been available for a while now. You can see a video on youtube, just search youtube for the words "drill bit attachment wonder junior".
Wondering how the nut butters turned out and if you are still satisfied with the WonderMill Jr.as you were almost a year ago?
My Wondermill came in yesterday, I can’t wait to use!! Just not sure what I want to grind first.
Great tip! I’ve been looking for a handcrank mill for some time now. The only good one I found so far, costs about �650,- (I live in the Netherlands- Europe). The mill you are talking about Lisa, can be bought and shipped etc. for �223,- So I believe this is a real option. That means I can cross off one of my items of my to buy list. 🙂
Hi nicki,
Living in the Netherlands you should make sure you but from the uk/euro wondermill site as the warranties are done for each region. if you buy from the States then you have to return it to the States if you have any problems. UK/Euro purchase prices are much higher but it works out similar to the shipping cost form the US plus the customs tax, and it will be covered under a European warranty.
Does anyone know if the Wondermill is sold in South Africa. I’m very interested.
Hello Friends,
We recently bought a wonder junior deluxe. The first time I used it, I had flour all over the counter.I found a coffee can lid (plastic) that fits tight enough to not fall off (walmart great value). I cut a pie shape notch about 30 degrees, that clears the center knob. Now all the flour goes into a bowl. I didn’t like the long handle for cranking. When I received my mill, the store had included the drill attachment. I cut the tang off the attachment, welded a 1/4 X 1 X 6 inch steel bar to the socket. Then drilled a clearance hole for mounting, and drilled and tapped a hole on the other end for a handle. For most things, the 5 inch handle works just fine for me.I can crank it about 3 or 4 times as fast as the long handle. If it’s not powerful enough, I swap to the long handle. The only other modification I would like to see is for the manufacture to change their steel burrs. Make one with the six grooves and the other with five or seven grooves. That will make it much easier to crank as the grooves will not be engaging all at the same time. I won’t use the stone burrs as they are made with aluminum. Al2 O3. Aluminum causes altzheimers!
Just my two cents
Yitz’ach
I was pondering the idea of adapting a grain mill like this one to work off the PTO receptacle on the front of a kitchenaid tabletop mixer. I think that might be more stable than using a drill motor to drive the grinder, and it has ten speeds to choose from.
Pingback: Must-Haves for Off-the-Grid Living | Michigan Standard
Pingback: 3 Other Ways to Use Wheat Besides Bread - Preparedness AdvicePreparedness Advice
I’m new to handmilling, started 7 months ago. I bought the Wondermill Junior Deluxe Plus hand crank…it was initially there for power outages, but I fell in love with it and with sourdough…so I was milling daily, a minimum of 600g flour a day, but usually more… The stones did not last 2 months… Need new burrs… As someone on Disability this is not a recurring purchase I can handle…
I’m sorry to hear that, Amanda. You might consider reaching out to the Wondermill folks about the short life of your stones, because from everything I’m seeing, they should have lasted much, much longer. Perhaps they can suggest something.