How to sprout your own seeds

Sprouting your own seeds and beans etc is really easy, not at all time consuming and takes up virtually no space in your home, and unless you grow some of your own fruits and veggies, sprouts will be the freshest nutrients you can get.  All you need is a sprouter, which usually look something like this:

It's just a stackable plastic goodie:

Sprouts: Day 1

You place a thin layer of your choice of beans and seeds (here I have alfalfa seeds and mung beans in the top row and dried chickpeas below).  Don't completely cover the bottom of the container with beans/seeds, because they will be expanding quite a bit, so leave some space like I've done.

Then all you do is re-stack your layers so that the perforated layer is on top and the un-perforated container is at the bottom to catch the water - each day pour 1/2 cup of clean water onto the top of the sprouter and it will pour down over all your beans/seeds.  Remember to empty the water from the bottom holder every few days so that it doesn't overflow.  Also, keep the sprouter out of direct sunlight - I just put mine in a corner on my kitchen counter where the sun doesn't reach.

I've started these sprouts today and will add some more photos to this post as the sprouts progress.  Within a few days you'll have deliciously fresh & crunchy sprouts. :)

My favourite way to eat sprouts is by adding them to salads.

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Sprouts: Day 2

 They look pretty much the same as yesterday, but have expanded some.

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Sprouts: Day 3

The top 2 have started sprouting.

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Sprouts: Day 4

The mung beans (bottom pic) are almost ready! Actually you can eat them already, but I like them sprouted a little more before I use them.

Anyhoo....Project Chickpea Sprouting has been terminated...they haven't succeeded in sprouting, and it may or may not have something to do with the fact that my dried chickpeas have expired.... :O  But nevermind, they work exactly the same as the ones above. :)

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And the sprouts are ready!  :D

Sprouts: Day 5

So how easy was that?!  Now I place them in a sealed container in the fridge where they'll still keep for a few days.  Just a note though, in my experience, the chickpeas don't keep as long as these other 2, so rather eat them sooner.