Look at all of these uses for a coffee grinder

[angie_nrs]

I ran across this article and thought it was interesting.
https://keeperofthehome.org/11-alternative-uses-for-a-coffee-grinder/To paraphrase:
1. Coffee
2. Spices
3. Bread crumbs
4. Small amounts of flour
5. Dry herbs
6. Herbs for teas
7. Powdered sugar
8. Chopped nuts and seeds
9. Garnishes
10. Potpourri
11. Paper confetti

Here's another article
https://feelslikehomeblog.com/10-ways-to-use-a-coffee-grinder/
I don't have an electric coffee grinder, but it looks like it would be handy to have around, especially considering you can order one for less than $20. I have a vitamix blender, so I'm sure that would do anything that a coffee grinder would. I have a small electric chopper that would work too. I also have a vintage coffee grinder similar to the one pictured below that I've never used. I picked it up at a garage sale for $5 just b/c it looked cool.

Anyways, it's good to know that there are several uses for it.
In a situation where you have to make do with what you have on hand, knowing various ways to use something you already have could make a big difference in quality of life.

 

[Peanut]

I missed this lonely little thread somehow. Was going to post about spice grinders and found it on a forum search.

I’m curious as to the tools others use for grinding or cutting spices and herbs. There are a lot of tools for doing this. Some are good, some not so much in my experience. Like the scissors I bought with 10 blades, just about useless. I spend more time digging herbs from between the blades than cutting them up. Things like a Mezzaluna knife is handy if I have a lot of leafy plant material to process. My old meat shears are great for harvesting and processing tough stemmed plants like sida.

The Mr. Coffee works great for plants with tough fibers like usnea. And it offers some control of how finely things are ground. (Since I don’t drink coffee I don’t have to worry about things like cayenne ending up in my grounds. That’d wake you up in the morning.)

Mortar and pestles always work but they are slow. I tend to over grind with it, not a lot of precise control. I have a selection of small graters, each has a purpose. I also have some new hacksaw blades for hard roots. I wash the oil off them, rinse with rubbing alcohol and they are ready.

I have a very small black metal grinder. I think I used it a few times to crush pills for the dog. Wasn’t very good at that so I bought a regular plastic pill crusher.

I just found a new use for it though… makes great pepper flakes. The black grinder is machined, 4 parts, each is threaded to fit the other parts except the top piece which is magnetic. It stays put when in a drawer for storage. I can use it with or without the screen.

Also, I was looking at the stainless steel mortar/pestle. Sometimes I need to crush but not necessarily to grind. Seems it's be good for that. Has anyone used one?

 

[Haertig]

We have used a coffee grinder (the electric ones, with blades at the bottom of the bowl like a blender) to grind pills for the horses into a powder that we mix in with their food. Ever try to give a hand full of pills to a horse? That's even harder than trying to stuff them down a cat. We supplemented their hay with bagged pellets (alfalfa, etc.) You wet those in a bucket, let them sit for a bit until they get mushy, mix in the ground up pill powder, and the horses eat it just fine.

Our horses are all gone now. So no more pill grinding for us. Grinding doesn't work for our cat - it can smell a pill from miles away. And they have secret compartments in their mouths where they can hide a pill and spit it out months later. It would probably be more productive to grind the cat and feed it to the pills. For the cat, we get medications made up into a cream, that comes in a pre-measure syringe thingy that spits out exact doses that you rub into the inside of the cats ear. That works like a charm. A little more expensive than traditional medicines, but well worth it. I don't know if all cat medicines can be absorbed through the skin using this cream method, but the one we give our cat can.

 

[Peanut]

Many herbs can be absorbed through the skin. Poultices have been used for millennia. They sell them in drug stores, a bandaid or bigger. Just put your herbs on it and apply. For putting on a critter its best to mix your herbs in preparation-h. It's sticky, tastes bad and its drying. Very astringent like a green persimmon and it reduces inflammation.

I've been looking for a hand cranked coffee mill I can afford. Have one chosen for about $50, unsure of the quality. I have a grain mill but would like something just for medicines.

 

[LadyLocust]

I ran across this article and thought it was interesting.
https://keeperofthehome.org/11-alternative-uses-for-a-coffee-grinder/To paraphrase:
1. Coffee
2. Spices
3. Bread crumbs
4. Small amounts of flour
5. Dry herbs
6. Herbs for teas
7. Powdered sugar
8. Chopped nuts and seeds
9. Garnishes
10. Potpourri
11. Paper confetti

Here's another article
https://feelslikehomeblog.com/10-ways-to-use-a-coffee-grinder/
I don't have an electric coffee grinder, but it looks like it would be handy to have around, especially considering you can order one for less than $20. I have a vitamix blender, so I'm sure that would do anything that a coffee grinder would. I have a small electric chopper that would work too. I also have a vintage coffee grinder similar to the one pictured below that I've never used. I picked it up at a garage sale for $5 just b/c it looked cool.
View attachment 75383

Anyways, it's good to know that there are several uses for it.
In a situation where you have to make do with what you have on hand, knowing various ways to use something you already have could make a big difference in quality of life.

I have a small electric one I use for herbs and spices and a manual one similar to the second picture for grinding coffee only. I like both.

 

[LadyLocust]

Many herbs can be absorbed through the skin. Poultices have been used for millennia. They sell them in drug stores, a bandaid or bigger. Just put your herbs on it and apply. For putting on a critter its best to mix your herbs in preparation-h. It's sticky, tastes bad and its drying. Very astringent like a green persimmon and it reduces inflammation.

I've been looking for a hand cranked coffee mill I can afford. Have one chosen for about $50, unsure of the quality. I have a grain mill but would like something just for medicines.

If you get a new one, it shouldn't be a problem, but if you find a used one, be sure to turn the handle to make sure the gears aren't worn out.

 

[Cascadian]

We got coffee beans the other day as sort of a rare treat. I got up and ground enough for a pot. It took like 5 minutes with the manual grinder we got at an estate sale.

As we were drinking our coffee I said that was really too much work. I am going to buy an electric grinder. My wife said those are junk. I jokingly said fine I am gonna get some big ole thing and attach it to the kitchen aid mixer. Then we looked at each other. Hey we have that.

 

[Magus]

I have this same grinder! it works great!

 

[joel]

I ran across this article and thought it was interesting.
https://keeperofthehome.org/11-alternative-uses-for-a-coffee-grinder/To paraphrase:
1. Coffee
2. Spices
3. Bread crumbs
4. Small amounts of flour
5. Dry herbs
6. Herbs for teas
7. Powdered sugar
8. Chopped nuts and seeds
9. Garnishes
10. Potpourri
11. Paper confetti

Here's another article
https://feelslikehomeblog.com/10-ways-to-use-a-coffee-grinder/
I don't have an electric coffee grinder, but it looks like it would be handy to have around, especially considering you can order one for less than $20. I have a vitamix blender, so I'm sure that would do anything that a coffee grinder would. I have a small electric chopper that would work too. I also have a vintage coffee grinder similar to the one pictured below that I've never used. I picked it up at a garage sale for $5 just b/c it looked cool.
View attachment 75383

Anyways, it's good to know that there are several uses for it.
In a situation where you have to make do with what you have on hand, knowing various ways to use something you already have could make a big difference in quality of life.

I have used my Vita mix for many of these, but a coffee grinder will give you a fine grind, I have a cup grinder just for spices.
After using dried red pepper flakes, use flour & baking soda to clean the blade of the pepper, so not to mix it with other. spices.

 

[Caribou]

For pills, this is the pill crusher that I have. It will take the horse pills size. I mix the crushed pills into pudding for Mom. The coffee grinder is saved for coffee. Ten "Our Fathers" and ten "Hail Mary's" for using the coffee grinder for anything besides coffee.

 

[Weedygarden]

I have two of the newer small electric ones. One was a gift, the other was on a pile of free stuff on a curb at a house that was being cleared out. The first one has been used exclusively for coffee. The second one I have used for various other grinds. I recently got a Vitamix, so that would work for many other things.
In the article that was shared, there is a suggestion of grinding grains. I have often thought that one of the newer electric coffee grinders could be used to grind grains, but one of the old hand crank ones could be used to grind grains as well. I have been interested in the idea of using millet for a gluten free grain, and it is mentioned in that piece.