Sprout Seeds For Less and Eat Healthy

Why buy alfalfa sprouts at $2 a pint when you can grow your own for pennies? Growing sprouts is healthier for you and is a more cost effective way of eating. You are helping cut down on pollution when you grow sprouts from seed. Those little plastic pint containers can add up to lots of waste, and the energy that it takes to makes them commercially. When you buy sprouts in the store you need to use them within 2 days or they spoil because they have been sitting around during their journey from the manufacturer. If you do buy them from a store do not ever eat sprouts that are moldy, slimy or smelly because it could be toxic and cause food poisoning. Please don't be afraid of growing sprouts I have never had bad sprouts because I follow the sprout growing guidelines below.

How to I grow seed sprouts?

First you need to pick out your seeds. There are many kinds of seeds that you can use for sprouting, alfalfa is the most popular but to name a few more there are barley, broccoli, buckwheat, cabbage, garbanzo, lentils, mung beans, radish, red clover, wheat, soy beans, peas and sunflower seeds. Once you purchase seeds they will last about a year or more in a glass jar with a lid stored it in a cool, dry, dark, cupboard. Fresh grown sprouts will keep for about a weeks in the refrigerator if you rinse them every 1 - 2 days.

Always use seeds packaged for sprouting, bulk seeds or grains may seem cheaper but they do not have a high germination rate and half of the seeds ferment and spoil the rest and you have to throw all of them away. Do not use packaged seeds intended for planting outdoors as they may contain pesticides and other toxic chemicals.

If this is your first time sprouting seeds then it is easiest to buy only a small amount of a couple varieties of seed so you can try a few flavors because they do taste different. Go to your local natural food store or co-op for a good selection of seeds or larger supermarkets carry sprouting seeds as well. If you have grown before then I would suggest that you buy sprouting seeds in bulk, current prices are about $5 for a 16 oz bag of regular sprouting seeds and $5 for a 8 oz bag of certified organic sprouting seeds. You may have to shop around to get the best prices on sprouting seeds.

There are several different types of containers that sprouting seeds are grown in. There are glass jars, plastic jars, plastic trays with lids and sprout bags which come in handy for travelers. My favorite is a three tier sprouter because it makes three different kinds of sprouts at once. I like the trays because they are nesting and have a drip hole at the bottom of each one. You water it from the top tray and it drips through to the other trays and finally drains to a collection tray at the bottom. It's the easiest seed sprouter I've found. Just spread out your seeds and fill up the top with water, walk away, come back later and dump the water. Most seeds need to be watered twice a day to rinse them and encourage sprouting. I recommend he Biosta Three-Tier Sprouter for about $30. I've had mine for years and it is the best seed sprouter I have found.

Amazon.com Widgets