Why use a grain flaker?
(also known as an oat roller or grain crusher)

• Freshly flaked grains retain their natural vitamins, enzymes, & oils.
• Freshly Flaked grains are naturally delicious and will be a big hit!
• Flaking your own grains is easy and economical.
• Kid’s love the job of being the family “oat roller.”
• Flake only what you need—stored grains stay fresh for years!
• Freshly flaked grains offer countless health benefits!

More about flaking your own grains...

“Since World War II, the food industry in the U.S. has gone a long way toward ensuring that their customers (just about all of America's children, as well as a good proportion of the adults) do not have to chew breakfast. The bleached, gassed, and colored remnants of the life-giving grains are roasted, toasted, frosted with sugar, embalmed with chemical preservatives, and stuffed into a box much larger than its contents. Fantastic amounts of energy are wasted by sales and advertising departments to sell these half-empty boxes of dead food—money back coupons, whistles and toy guns are needed to induce refined women to lift these half-empty boxes off supermarket shelves.” -William Dufty, Sugar Blues

Our family believes that breakfast is important, and my wife and I have always tried to put a healthy breakfast on the table every morning. One day while in for a routine check-up, I mentioned to my doctor that I hadn’t had a lot of energy. He asked me what I’d been eating.

Confidently, I informed him that I started my morning with a bowl of cold cereal…he stopped me right there. “If you want to have energy, you’ve got to eat real food,” he said. I was a bit confused…. It wasn’t like we were buying Frosted Flakes and Lucky Charms. We were buying the "healthy" cereals. We had even recently switched to the uber-expensive organic brands. “It’s still processed,” he reminded me, “which means it’s really no better than junk food.”

After doing a little research, we realized that our doctor was right. So if cold cereal is no good for us, what were we supposed to eat instead? We picked up a 25 lb. bag of rolled oats and started making oatmeal for breakfast. Sure, it wasn’t the tastiest breakfast, and we had to add a lot of sugar to make it palatable, but at least we were making an investment in our health…

Which made it all the more distressing to discover that store-bought rolled oats are not very good for you either. Crushed, steamed, and left to oxidize on store shelves, by the time they land in your shopping cart, the life-giving vitamins, enzymes, and oils these grains once possessed have long since disappeared.

That’s when we started flaking our own oats for our morning cereal. It’s easy to do and they taste great. And best of all, they make us feel better. Freshly flaked grains are loaded with real nutrition.

Join us in our campaign to put real food back on America’s breakfast tables.

What's wrong with the rolled oats from the store?

Besides the fact that they often taste like cardboard, the rolled oats you buy in the store are a far cry from the freshly rolled oats you can make with a grain flaker (also known as a grain roller, grain crusher, grain roller mill, oat groat roller, oat roller, or oat flaker).

Like all other grains, unprocessed oat groats come enclosed in nature's protective sheath, known as the bran. The bran locks in the grain's vitamins, minerals, enzymes, and oils, and is capable of preserving the grain for years.

As soon as the bran is cracked—either by flaking the grain or grinding it into flour—the grain's inner goodness immediately begins to oxidize. Within 72 hours, over 90% of the grain's value has vanished.

As if that weren't bad enough, rolled oats from the store have been steamed to destroy the very enzymes and oils that enable your body to digest the grain and absorb its nutrients. While steaming may make your oats last several months on the shelf, what's the point if it takes the grain’s nutrition with it?

Won't my family throw a fit when they realize I'm feeding them whole grains?

Think your family won't go for all this whole grainy stuff? Unlike their processed counterparts, freshly flaked whole grains are bursting with flavor.

Freshly rolled oatmeal, for example, is rich, creamy, and naturally sweet. We often make oatmeal when guests come to visit. Without fail, they always ask for our oatmeal recipe. The truth is that the secret isn't so much in the recipe as it is in the freshly rolled oats.

And our kids? Well, oatmeal just happens to be one of their favorite foods. Of course, the fact that they get to help flake it doesn't hurt either. They love to be our official oat rollers. The other day our three-year-old rolled the oat groats for the entire family's breakfast. Yep, it’s that easy.

Of course, oatmeal isn't the only thing you can make with your grain roller. It also flakes or grinds wheat, rye, barley, buckwheat, millet, beans, peas, alfalfa—and that’s just the beginning. Use it to make cream-of-wheat, muesli, granola, or whip together your own multi-grain masterpiece. Eat it plain or add some fruit, honey, and yogurt.

Try it and we're sure you'll agree—breakfast never tasted so good!

But what about the cost?

Purchasing a grain roller is an upfront investment, to be sure. But how much do you pay for a single box of cold cereal? Whole, unprocessed grains, on the other hand, cost pennies per serving.

Beyond that, what’s the cost of not feeding your family real food? Heart disease and cancer (among other horrible diseases) are becoming more and more commonplace as the American diet continues to deteriorate. These diseases destroy quality of life and wreak havoc on family finances.

Make an investment in your family’s health and future by feeding your family real food.

Okay, so what exactly is a grain flaker/oat roller/grain crusher, or whatever you call it?

Put very simply, a grain flaker squashes a grain between two grain rollers to make it flat. There are only a handful of grain flakers on the market. With the aim of making your venture into grain flaking a success, we’ve tried them all and picked the best. Fortunately, the best grain flaker also happens to be the most economical.

So what makes this grain flaker stand out from the other grain flakers on the market?

• It has a larger hopper and catching container—which means you won’t have to be constantly adding and removing grain as you flake.
• It is adjustable and creates flakes of different thicknesses. It can also be set to grind flour.
• It’s easier to turn than other grain flakers. Even a three-year-old can do it!
• It attaches securely. You don’t want to worry about your grain flaker coming loose while turning the crank. (This happened to us with a different model, and it sent flakes and grain flying everywhere!)
• Its grain rollers are made from highly tempered steel—NOT aluminum.
• It’s easy to clean. You never need to wash it with water, and it comes with a brush so that you can occasionally brush off the grain rollers. Also, the hopper and catching container are made of washable, food-grade plastic.

Please note: This grain flaker is essentially identical to the Marga Mulino Grain Flaker by Marcato. We had originally planned to carry the Marga Mulino, but then we learned that Marcato has switched their grain rollers from highly tempered steel to aluminum. Due to the health risks of aluminum traces in your food, we instead are offering the Norpro Grain Flaker. The Norpro Grain flaker also includes the bran sifter for free, which must be purchased separately when buying the Marga Mulino flaker.

Ready to become a DIY oat roller? This is one investment you won’t regret.