Many of you know that we have been growing and eating a significant amount of sprouts. Except for shredded carrots, shredded goat cheese, and rice cake crumbles (used as croutons), our salads for the last three months have been exclusively composed of home-grown sprouts.
I have been growing these sprouts: lentil; mung bean; radish; and a sprouting mix of alfalfa, red clover and fenugreek. Occasionally, I will add broccoli sprouts, but I haven’t yet achieved good results consistently with those.
Here’s my sprout corner, kept to the side of the sink.
I will share more about the hows of sprouting and things I’ve learned at another time. But generally, you can see I have 7 Sproutmaster trays that are each filled with the sprouting mix at different stages of growth. The 1/2 gallon mason jars grow the lentil, mung bean and radish sprouts, separately. The picture doesn’t show that I normally prop the jars up on the edge of the baking sheet (which is holding the trays), to slightly elevate them and allow for water to drip out.
Over the last three months, I have kept a sprout log, to keep track of our usage. It is a simple Excel worksheet that allows me to list the details of each new batch of sprouts. It looks much like this:
| START DATE* | SEED/BEAN | QUANTITY** |
| 12/12/07 | MUNG | 1.5 |
| 12/12/07 | LENTIL | 1.5 |
| 12/12/07 | MIX | .25 |
| 12/12/07 | RADISH | .5 |
The START DATE is when the seeds begin soaking and the QUANTITY is in cups.
These records have helped me keep track of exactly how many cups of each seed/bean we use each month. For instance, this is last month’s usage of each seed/bean:
- Mung Beans –> 19.89 cups
- Lentils –> 20.75 cups
- Radish –> 3.5 cups
- Sprouting Mix –> 5 cups
My postal scale told me how many ounces are in each 1 cup of each of the above seeds/beans. I used those values (how many cups used and how many ounces per cup), along with the price per pound (or 16 ounces) of each of the seeds/beans, to calculate how much we’re spending each month on sprouting. And my totals are:
- Mung Beans –> $11.74 per month
- Lentils –> $13.42 per month
- Radish –> $4.11 per month
- Sprouting Mix –> $9.76 per month
This gives me a grand total of $39.04 spent per month, or about $10 per week, on sprouts. I used to spend about $40 per week on salad ingredients. This is a savings of $30 per week, or $120 per month.
You may be wondering how in the world we can enjoy a salad of sprouts. The key is variety! With a bowl full of a minimum of 6 different types of sprouts, each with different flavors, textures and nutritional components, the yum factor is high. (At least for us.)
I layer the different types of sprouts in each salad bowl, top it all with shredded goat cheddar, shredded carrots, and crumbled rice cakes. To that, I add salt, pepper, garlic powder (for a couple of us who can eat it), dried dill, extra virgin olive oil, and balsamic vinegar.
I love your new blog! My husband just bought us our own domain name today. So, my blog may move, too, but only because of that.
You did a super super job on this, (((Wardeh)))
Hugs, Robin
Hi Wardeh,
Do you live on sprouts in the summer as well, or do you plant a garden?
Tiffany, we only began sprouting this winter, but I intend to keep it up. We have yet to have a summer garden because our garden spot is not ready. We have much land-shaping to do before putting in the garden. When we do have a garden, I’ll back off on the sprouting. I think the best for nutrition is to do both. Since I can’t do the garden now, sprouting is our best option. Does that answer your question?
Love the blog.
Thanks so much for the info on sprouts. I need to get back to that myself. Are you enjoying the Sproutmasters? I am thinking of getting a couple more. The problem here, is my husband and I will be the only ones eating them.
Yes, we do enjoy the Sproutmaster trays. They work great! For beans and grains, though, I prefer the jars.
I forgot to say that I had Adzuki (sp?) bean for along time. I had to throw them out two weeks ago, because they would no longer sprout.
I like sprouted Adzuki beans. One of my favorites.
I have never sprouted Adzuki beans. I don’t think I’ve ever had Adzuki beans period. If I can find some I’ll try sprouting them!
Wardeh, I have a question. How long do beans last in storage? I have mung beans and I have had them a long time. They do sprout, but I think they should sprout more than they do.
Michelle,
Is your concern that some of the beans are not sprouting at all? Or that the beans don’t sprout well?
If they are not sprouting, or a significant amount of them, I’d investigate getting some new beans.
If they aren’t sprouting well, it could be other things — like not enough aeration, not enough warms, too much water, not enough rinsing…
I found that 1/2 gallon mason jars keep the mung beans nice and warm, which I think they like. This is as opposed to an open air container like the Sproutmaster, which keeps them on the cool side and they didn’t grow as well for me. Now one thing I didn’t do is put the lid on the Sproutmaster to see if that would help; you could try that.
For you to compare potential growth of beans, I put 1-1/2 cups mung beans in a 1/2 gallon mason. After 2 days of sprouting, the jar is full to bursting, and I consider them done (for our taste). That’s when we prefer to eat them, when the purplish leaves are just popping out. If they go longer, they get a little more bitter and I still enjoy eating them raw, but I do prefer to cook them at that stage.
I hope I’ve helped, but if you have further questions, please ask!
Thanks Wardeh, I am going to soak some mungs tonight and I’ll get back to you on what happens.
I am pretty sure they are too old. Guess I’ll need to take a trip to the health food store. What a shame. LOL thanks for all the help!!