Sprouting Resources Recommended by Stocking My Pantry

Sprouting is one of the best ways to grow food indoors. It requires very few resources and takes up very little space. Even if you live in a tiny apartment, with absolutely no natural light, you can grow sprouts!

Sprouts grow super-fast and because of that, it’s easy to grow a good amount of food in a short period of time. You can use sprouts in smoothies, on sandwiches, in salads, and even as garnishes for soup and other foods.

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Recommended Sprouting Suppliers

I buy all of my sprouting seeds and supplies from True Leaf Market. I’ve been a True Leaf Market customer for over four years now, and have always been happy with the quality of their seeds, other products, and customer service.

Of course, if you prefer, you can also buy sprouting seeds and supplies from Amazon, if you prefer to shop that way. But my personal experience is with True Leaf Market, and I kind of like supporting the little guy instead of a larger company. But the bottom line is to do whatever works for you!

Sprouters

There are a few different types of sprouters. The two most common types are jar sprouters, and stackable tray sprouters. Both work well. I recommend experimenting with both types to see what you enjoy using the most. You may find that you like using jar sprouters for some types of seeds and tray sprouters for other types of seeds.

Here are my favorite sprouters.

My Favorite Stackable Sprouter

If you’re only going to buy one sprouter I recommend the Sprout Garden, which you can get from True Leaf Market or Amazon.

The reason that I love this sprouter so much is that it stacks, so you can grow a lot in a small space. In fact, you can buy two kits, and have 6 trays going all at once, without taking any more counterspace than a single tray would take.

If you’re going this route, I recommend starting a new tray of sprouts each day. Since sprouts take 5-6 days to mature, you can harvest a new tray of sprouts every single day! That’s what I personally do, and I use the daily sprout harvest in our morning smoothies.

Get this sprouter from True Leaf Market or Amazon.

My Favorite Jar Sprouters

Growing sprouts in mason jars has been around for a very long time and is one of the most popular ways of growing sprouts.

If you want to get started with sprouting in mason jars and don’t already have a bunch of mason jars sitting around, I recommend picking up one of these kits from True Leaf Market. It has everything you need including the jar, lid, and sprouting seeds. Note that there are different sizes (quart or half gallon) and different types of lids (plastic or stainless steel).

Growing Sprouts in Mason Jars – the DIY Approach

To sprout seeds in a mason jar, you can use some type of mesh screen, such as window screen, and a mason jar ring. The biggest problem with this is that the mason jar rings tend to rust over time, so if you want to go this route, be sure to pick up some stainless-steel mason jar rings such as these, from True Leaf Market.

Buy some window screen from your local Walmart or hardware store. For sprouting larger seeds such as radish seeds, these silicone dehydrator sheets that you can pick up on Amazon, work great. Just cut them in a square that is a couple of inches larger than the jar opening, place them over the top of the jar, and secure with the stainless-steel canning rings that I linked to above.

The Best Sprouting Lids

If you already have mason jars, you can also buy sprouting lids rather than going the DIY route. They are reasonably priced, and are built to las. The sprouting lids I recommend come in stainless steel and plastic.

If you want to buy things that last forever, stainless steel sprouting lids such as these, last pretty much forever. I’ve had good success with these lids even with small seeds, such as alfalfa and clover. You can buy the lids with or without the stand, but I recommend the stand because it makes it easier to drain the water from the jars.

If you’re on a budget, the Handy Pantry plastic sprouting lids that you can get from True Leaf Market or Amazon work well. Note that there are other companies selling plastic sprouting lids on Amazon, that I don’t recommend for two reasons. The first is that the quality isn’t as good with some of these knock-off lids. In addition to that, the holes are larger on the lids of some of the other brands, which makes them harder to use with smaller seeds.

The Easy Sprout Sprouter

The Easy Sprout Sprouter is technically not a jar sprouter, but I decided to include it here because it works in a similar fashion. I actually like the Easy Sprout Sprouter better than the mason jar options. It drains really well and has an insert that you can use for smaller seeds. What’s good about this is that if you don’t put the insert in, it drains larger sprouting seeds better than the typical mason jar sprouters. With the insert, you can successfully sprout even small sprouting seeds such as clover and alfalfa sprouts.

Pick up the Easy Sprout Sprouter from True Leaf Market or Amazon.

Sprouting Seeds

I buy all of my sprouting seeds from True Leaf Market. They have a wide variety of single seed sprouting seeds. My favorites are broccoli, alfalfa, clover, and radish. Alfalfa and clover are very mild, and great for any use such as salads, sandwiches, and even sweet, fruity smoothies.

Broccoli is a bit more pungent, but not too strong for most tastes.

Radish sprouts are definitely more peppery, so may bit a bit much for smoothies or for children. However, I love radish sprouts for salads, wraps, sandwiches and as soup garnishes. They are more sturdy and grow large, super-fast, so I definitely recommend them since they produce a lot and are much more substantial than the other sprouting seeds.

If you prefer to buy your products, including sprouting seeds on Amazon, I recommend sticking with Handy Pantry sprouting seeds, since that’s the brand of sprouting seeds that I buy at True Leaf Market, and have had good success with.

Sprouting Seed Assortments

When I first started sprouting, I didn’t know what seeds I wanted to start with. I had no idea which sprouts I’d like, so I decided to buy this assortment of seeds. Since it’s 12 pounds of seeds, it lasts a long time, and is a great way to try out the different options. If it’s a bit too pricey for your budget, then I recommend the Super Sampler. Since the packages are only 4 ounces each, it’s a lot cheaper way to start.

Buying in Bulk for Food Storage

If, like me, you like to buy seeds in bulk as part of your food storage plan, then I recommend buying either the 5 lb cans of seeds or even the larger bucket of seeds. I personally buy 5 lb cans of the following types of sprouting seeds:

While I use most of the sprouts that I grow in smoothies, salads, and sandwiches, I like using mung bean sprouts in stir fries.

If you want to go all out with buying sprouting seeds for food storage, this food storage sprouting kit is the way to go. It has everything you need from the sprouter, sprouting lids, sprouting seeds, and a book on how to sprout, all in a 5-gallon bucket. This is best for those of you who want to be able to sprout in case of emergency, rather than sprouting in the here and now.

Sprouting Books

Sprouting is super easy to do, but when first starting out, it makes a lot of sense to read a book or two on the topic. Here are the ones that I personally recommend, that you can pick up on Amazon.

Ann Wigmore is the best-known expert when it comes to sprouting. Her book is a great place to start, but I also really love the book by Jim Beerstecher. Jim had serious health issues, all solved by sprouting – without spending a ton of money. Jim’s book is a bit rougher around the edges, but he’s certainly passionate about the topic and has some unique tips that you don’t find elsewhere, such as repurposing a dehydrator as a sprouter!

There are certainly other good sprouting books on the market, but these two will give you all you need to gain both the motivation and how-to instructions to get started sprouting.