Pasta & rice stockpile question

**greekislandgirl** · 05-09-2011, 04:02 AM

We eat a lot of pasta, as it's relatively versatile and I can usually get a lot of vegetables into it, and we like it. I want to have a lot in my stockpile but I have a bit of a dilemma.

Here in Greece it is still the case (as it was in the US up until relatively recently) that the only kind of pasta that is available in the cheap store brand is white pasta. Whole wheat pasta here is only available in 3 brands (Barilla, and two Greek brands that are no cheaper than Barilla). 500g (about a pound) of whole wheat pasta is never cheaper than €1.12, and is excluded from sales on their pastas. 1000g of whole wheat flour is never cheaper than €1.97, so if I made whole wheat pasta from scratch, the cheapest I could get it for would be €0.96 for 500g.

White pasta, on the other hand, in addition to being available in very inexpensive store brands (as low as €0.20 for 500g) also goes on sale, or is bundled so if you buy 3 packages you get the 4th free, or you get something free with it (like a pasta bowl or a mug).

We prefer whole wheat because it tastes better and it's healthier. But when you compare a basic staple food at €0.20 vs. €0.96 per 500g, I am really torn.

We can tolerate white pasta as long as it's boiled for a very short time. I don't think DH would mind having white pasta more often, I would miss whole wheat for sure, but I am mostly concerned about the health aspects. I no longer buy whole wheat flour because it's €1.97 vs. €0.60 per kilogram for white and I find that white is just easier to use and I can get away with less yeast as well. (Unmilled wheat is about the same price as whole wheat flour.) So I have already stopped using whole wheat flour to make things like bread, pizza dough, crackers, etc.

Pretty much the only whole grain we get anymore is the whole wheat pasta and rice. (I eat oats but DH doesn't like them.) We only eat vegetables, root vegetables, legumes, rice, wheat products as above, low-fat dairy, and bare minimum of fruit (1 piece per week per person - awful, but it's so expensive here). We get no poultry, meat, fish, or "fancy" grains. I want to make the right choice for our health and our budget. Money is obviously SUPER tight. What would you do? How important is whole wheat in a diet that has a lot of vegetables and beans?

And then, the entire above question, same exact thing, but about rice. Brown rice = €1.71 for 500g, only available in expensive brands, excluded from sales. White rice = €0.49 for 500g, available in bulk or store brand. So far, I've only been buying brown rice but I could get more than 3x as much for the price if I bought white. Obviously we prefer the taste of brown and the healthy qualities but we can tolerate white.

What would you do?

**joyofsix** · 05-09-2011, 06:09 AM

We have faced the same dilemma. From a health and taste perspective I would prefer ww but we eat white unless I find a great sale. The same applies to my baking flour. Not much I can do about it now so I focus on what I can do-veggies, exercise, drinking water, etc. Hugs to you and that is terrible about the fruit.

**Judi Dial** · 05-09-2011, 06:26 AM

About the only real practical solution I can see is to maybe every now and then buy some WW flour and use some of it to make ww pasta? You'd end up with both, you can add it as a line item to your budget and at least around here, ww flour is far more affordable here than ww pasta!

Here's a recipe for ww pasta that doesn't require a pasta machine:
Homemade Wheat Pasta (Without a Machine!) | Sugarlaws

Judi

**greekislandgirl** · 05-09-2011, 07:06 AM

Hi Judi, yes you're right, 0.96/500g for wh wh flour is much better than 1.12/500g for wh wh pasta. (For some reason white pasta is actually cheaper per gram than white flour.)

If I could dry the pasta very well I could store it - rather than having to make it every time I wanted it. I've made pasta before but have never tried to store it - I'm not sure if drying it in the sun would be sufficient to store it, not sure how the companies that make it do it. It's very time consuming and I've found that it works best if the dough is allowed to rest an hour or two in the fridge, then allowed to dry out in the sun before and after rolling and again after cutting - and that's just to make it fresh. To make it for drying I don't know what else I would have to do.

Thanks for the recipe - I love the Sugarlaws site! I can't open it right now because my connection is SUUUUPER slow but I've bookmarked it anyway.

**Judi Dial** · 05-09-2011, 09:57 AM

Wheat berries are usually cheaper than flour too, but I don't know if you have a suitable mill. And, I've never done it, so I hesitated to suggest it!

Judi

**greekislandgirl** · 05-09-2011, 10:45 AM

I don't have a mill now but my mom is sending me hers in the fall (I think it's a Lehman's one) so I will have one. I'm looking forward to trying it...

**shoiji** · 05-09-2011, 01:46 PM

I would say stick with the whole wheat pasta. It is to easy to get used to eating white pasta but it can cause problems health wise especially with weight.

Have you thought about making gnocchi's? Using potato and flour? They are very filling and I would think inexpensive. Would be a great alternative to noodles.

**sunshine** · 05-09-2011, 02:26 PM

My dd can't have wheat at all -- we do corn, rice, oats instead. . . I use a regular noodle recipe and just substitute corn/rice/buckwheat, etc. for the flour.

**greekislandgirl** · 05-09-2011, 02:56 PM

Is semolina any better for you than white flour? Surprisingly semolina is considerably cheaper than whole wheat flour here, and I know that "proper" pasta is supposed to be made with at least some semolina.

**Judi Dial** · 05-09-2011, 05:23 PM

It's a kind of wheat. Here's the wiki article about it:
[ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semolina"]Semolina - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia@@AMEPARAM@@/wiki/File:Mergefrom.svg" class="image"><img alt="Mergefrom.svg" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/0f/Mergefrom.svg/50px-Mergefrom.svg.png"@@AMEPARAM@@commons/thumb/0/0f/Mergefrom.svg/50px-Mergefrom.svg.png[/ame]

Judi

**2ndGenGranola** · 05-10-2011, 06:46 AM

Originally Posted by Judi Dial

Wheat berries are usually cheaper than flour too, but I don't know if you have a suitable mill. And, I've never done it, so I hesitated to suggest it!

MMmmmmmmmm. You've given me an idea for supper this week!! I love my homemade noodles. My guys love it when I keep them a little thick and chewy -- not quite a dumpling but thicker than a regular noodle. It reminds me of the texture of gnocchi but all wheat. IMO the taste and texture of fresh ground wheat is far superior to the store bought whole wheat flours. I can taste the rancidity of the storebought. I buy my berries from a local healthfood store by the 50# bag and they give me a bulk discount making it a lovely deal.

**shoiji** · 05-15-2011, 01:40 PM

I would try a small package of the semolina to see if you like it. There are probably lots of different types of recipes you could use the flour in. Since it is less expensive it would probably help you with your budget.

**mndtrp** · 05-18-2011, 03:45 AM

This is one of those cases where I would choose the least expensive choice of the better item. For example, I would look for the best price on the wheat noodles. Sometimes the cheapest choice isn't necessarily the best choice, especially when it comes to long term health.

My mom sometimes makes homemade noodles, and lays them out on a sheet to dry. Occasionally, she'll use a fan to speed the process. Once dried, she freezes in plastic bags. I've made noodles from scratch a few times, but the time involved didn't make it worth the cost savings. Homemade noodles, mashed potatoes and beef gravy is awesome, though.