What do you buy bulk?

[newtomotherhood]

I have started buying things at the bulk foods store and was wondering what sort of things you all buy bulk and also hoping to get some ideas of what all could be purchased bulk!

So far I buy dried fruit, pasta, and muffin mix! I plan to buy more once we run out of our regular boxed stuff!

and also how do you store your bulk foods?

And by bulk I mean not prepackaged but in the bins where you scoop it out yourself!

[Chamomile Girl]

I store most of my bulk items in glass jars. I use both Bell canning jars and larger jars (from artichoke hearts I buy at Costco). For flour and oatmeal I have a set of old tupperware bins that are awesome.

I buy:

Dried fruit (raisins, cranberries, apricots)
Dried coconut
Nuts & Seeds (almonds, cashews, sunflower, pumpkin, sesame, walnuts, peanuts)
Beans (black, white, garbanzo)
Rice (brown jasmine is my fave)
Flour and oatmeal
Sugar and salt
Sometimes coffee and tea if the store has a fresh selection. The stores near where I currently live do not. Same with herbs and spices.

However! I have discovered that sometimes certain stores (*cough* WFM *cough*) actually charge more for stuff in the bulk asile than a similar pre-packaged product. This is egregious IMO, but there ya go. I'm also discovered that buying prepackaged at Trader Joes is usually cheaper (and fresher) for most of this stuff...so sadly that is what I now usually do. I wish I lived closer to a store with a decent bulk aisle (like Rainbow Grocery ). Until I do (or until I can get this stuff more reliably at the farmer's market) TJ's it is.

[Callimom]

Most baking supplies - flours, sugars, baking soda etc
grains for baking (oat, barley, wheat and rye flakes)
nuts, seeds, and dried fruit,
stuff for cleaning supplies,
peanut butter and local honey,
rice, pasta/couscous, quinoa and bulgur
popcorn,
some spices
dried beans/legumes

My bulk store also has bulk but pre-packaged options for things like nutritional yeast, wheat germ, flax seed etc.

[Ruthiegirl]

We buy most everything bulk and often store it in the bags it comes in. Spices I put in jars for convenience. The flax/nuts/dried fruit I keep in the freezer since I have had these turn on me. But rice, beans, oats, salt, sugar are very stable and keep fine in the paper bags.


We live in a small, rural town and lack a decent health foods store. We joined a food buying co-op (an hour's drive) and order 4 times a year.



1 pound sacks:

spices -- cumin, cinnamon, chili powder, whole nutmeg, tumeric, etc, etc, etc


5 pound sacks:

dried fruit
walnuts
quinoa
flax seeds
popcorn


25 pound sacks:

black beans
pinto beans
red lentils
split peas
basmati rice
short grain brown rice
sugar
salt
g/f flour
almonds


50 pound sacks:

rolled oats


Those are our basics.

[velochic]

Originally Posted by newtomotherhood

And by bulk I mean not prepackaged but in the bins where you scoop it out yourself!

Nothing. I don't have that option. I buy things like rice, beans, sugar, wheat berries, dehydrated vegetables, flour, etc. but they are all packaged.

[jimblejamble]

Oats
Beans
Rice
Nuts (almonds, walnuts, cashews, pistachios)
Hemp seeds
Hemp powder
Flax seeds
Shredded unsweetened coconut
Carob powder
Cartons of rice milk

[zinemama]

I've just started ordering through Azure Standard. I buy organic raisins, sesame seeds, sunflower seeds, Biokleen laundry soap and Amy's refried beans.

[annethcz]

I agree with the advice to check the pricing- buying bulk out of bins sometimes isn't cheaper than buying pre-packaged. I buy very little out of bulk bins these days, because I find that the prices are higher than many pre-packaged items.

[newtomotherhood]

Thanks for all the suggestions, I will have to keep an eye on the prices! I am going to have to invest in some jars for storage, I hate it when you open a cupboard and stuff falls on you!

I also need to go through our pantry and see what we are low on before my next trip, that way I am less likely to buy stuff we don't need and forget the stuff we do need, like I did the last time I went shopping!

[lmonter]

Well, I do buy sugar in bulk, but more in the six 25-lb bags of sugar kind of bulk... Would be a pain to scoop all that out. I do a lot of canning. And flour, we go through that. And chocolate chips (but that's more a once-a-year sale kind of buying in bulk). I'm always doing a cost comparison thing though, in bulk bins or not. I don't buy cinnamon from the bulk foods section at Fred Meyer or Winco, I spend $3 at Costco for the giant container that lasts a while. Same with sea salts and such.

During harvest season here I buy boxes of peaches and pears and apples for canning (and dehydrating), like hundreds and hundreds of pounds... When oatmeal's on sale and there's a good coupon out, I scare folks with my cart full... Sorry, I'm weird.