If you are not someone who enjoys physical labor at any great length or owns pounds of sophisticated kitchen machinery, where would you go to buy ground almonds or pistachios? I hear they are available for sale, but can't find them anywhere, and I rather enjoy the thought of someone thoughtful doing my nut-grinding for me.

So many responses come to mind, but the most appropriate is Trader Joe's.

The last time I was in the Bailey's Crossroads TJ's the ground almonds were with the baking goods rather than the intact nuts.

I would also suggest a Hallal or Indian market.

Surely you have a coffee/spice grinder? While not great for large quantities, it'll do the job.

I know you specifically asked for ways to avoid grinding your own nuts, but I find that a Ziploc baggie and a rolling pin work great in a pinch.

Click me.

At least his chances of contributing to the human gene pool has been lowered!

Almond meal is definitely available at Trader Joes, as well as Wegmann's and Whole Foods, with the baking supplies.

I've found almond flour in bulk at some old time health food stores, and King Arthur Flour sells almond flour, pecan meal, hazelnut flour, toasted almond flour and toasted hazelnut flour.

But never seen ground pistachios, only chopped.

Thanks, darlings, went to Whole Paycheck last lunch break and bought a bag of almond flour, thirteen sodding ninety-five a pound.

Almond meal is less expensive than almond flour, much less if you purchase it at Trader Joe's.

TJ, of course, packages it under the store brand, so none of the profit goes to either a distributor or an additional company like Red Mill.

However, almond meal is made from shelled, whole raw almonds, skins included.

Almond flour is much more expensive no matter where you buy it because it is made from shelled, blanched raw almonds. No skins. The process is more costly.* Since Whole Foods does not sell everything (t-g-) under its own brand, some of the cost goes to a company which, in the case of Red Mill, increases its profile since it used to be familiar only to shoppers who frequent small natural food stores or co-ops.

You have a superior product for baking cakes, cookies and pastries, especially. The flavor is cleaner and sweet and lends itself to lighter, moister if somewhat crumbly baked goods.

I bought some of TJ's almond meal for the holidays to cut costs, figuring it would be fine for very small cookies. It was, but the bitter taste of the skins was pronounced and the texture drier.

*If you have patience and a food processor, you can grind the flour yourself and save a lot. Blanching raw almonds takes a minute once you bring a pot of water to a boil. Drained, the nuts shed their skins quickly and it's kind of fun popping out the white, slick nuts. A bit like popping bubble wrap.

If I wasn't me, but instead was a different person who owns pounds of sophisticated kitchen machinery in form of food processor, and has patience to enjoy physical labor - why, I'd get to have all kinds of fun.

You know, whilst popping out white, slick nuts.

Until then, I get to give me money to King Arthur and Whole Foods.

A good nut grinding ain't cheap.

I'm going to have to disagree with you on this one, AB, since I am a bit mistrusting of such hard and fast labels. While almond flour is usually defined as being made from blanched almonds, there are instances of both it and almond meal being composed of blanched or unblanched almonds and sometimes even toasted almonds. I have bags of all three types in my freezer, all marked "almond flour" and I would be hesitant to purchase any flour/meal unless I could see for myself its color and consistency.

My opinion on which version is preferable is dependent on what you plan to do with your ground nuts. I find that skin-on ground almonds can add a desirable flavor component to some baked goods. For example, I usually make baklava with a mixture of ground walnuts and ground whole almonds because I think it makes it a bit lighter overall. And I like how the tannins from the nuts play off the cloying sweetness of the honey and add an overall complexity to the pastry.

For an extreme of using almond skins to achieve a certain flavor profile, I once made a cake that the recipe (looked for it, but could not locate it) called for a specific proportion of blanched almonds to whole almonds with skins. They were then ground together before proceding with the recipe (which I seem to recall also included chocolate).

So, while I would not use non-blanched almond meal/flour to make things like traditional macarons or a delicate sponge, in my kitchen, it still has its of uses.

And Ms. Nadya... what are your plans for the nuts?

Wow, Miss Baklava Maker. You are sophisticated beyond the limits of my imagination.

But the shopkeeper blood in me wonders - is there perhaps a market for ground almond SKINS? For, you know, recipes that call for exact proportion of blanched almonds to blanched almond skins or similar. I can probably have fun coming up with a name for that, after I'm done having fun popping out the white, slick nuts. Almond 4 Skins?

Not sophisticated, just overly fussy. Especially when it comes to one of my favorite desserts.

Let me know if you need a partner in your new business venture!

I defer to the consummate baker. My explanation was based on the use of "almond flour" in recipes such as the one I followed here: Sicilian cookie where Alberto of Il Forno uses flour made from blanched almonds.

Given all the chocolate, butter, tins I was buying instead of carrots and tofu during the holidays, I was taken aback by the price of a single bag from Bob's Red Mill ($13-14 at Yes, $10-12 at WFM) vs. less than $4 for the meal ground from whole almonds at TJs. I did not recall the fact that package of the former is labelled as both meal & flour and presumed there was a uniform distinction. I cut costs by picking up a bag at TJs.

I hope there was nonetheless virtue in my explanation of why one type of ground almond stuff is more expensive than another, though it looks as if Nadya bought something made with toasted whole nuts.

And Nadya, I don't own a microwave oven or a stand mixer, so I understand. I held out on the purchase of a food processor until the frustrations of using a blender to make falafel led me over the threshold of gadgetry temptation.