When you say you buy in bulk..

[Kama82]

In all of the saving money on food threads I have ever read everyone recommends buying stables in bulk like rice,beans,flour ect. Is this really cheaper? How much do you expect to pay per pound for these things? Where do you buy them in bulk that you save that much money?

Where do you store them in your home and what in? I have a mental image of storage rooms filled with big bins of dry goods but I am wondering how much you really save by keeping things in that huge of quantities and how long it would keep.

[counterGOPI]

:

[MamaChel]

I don't buy much in bulk. I buy beans by the pound and often have at least 2-3 pounds of 3-4 different varieties of bean (not counting lentils) on hand. Lentils are bought by 2 pounds, with at least one in back up. So I have around 10-20 pounds of beans on hand at any given time. They are stored in a box in my pantry. I but Basmati rice in 10 pound bags, stored in a tub in my pantry with a variety of nuts (bought in 5 pound bags), sugar (bought in 25 pound bags), flour (again 25 pound bags), raisins, I think these are 5 pounds too, and oats (in 3 pound bags). I also buy honey by the gallon and store what's not being used in the bucket.

My stock is completely rotated out within about 8 months for the most part. I repackage the larger quantities into smaller bags b/c I have my "working stash" in easy to use containers on the shelf. Each bag is enough to fill one of my containers. The rice stays in the original bag and I just get out what I need. All my bulk goods are stored in 2 plastic tubs stacked in my pantry and the beans are stored in a box in the pantry. I also have powdered milk on hand, it comes from a commodity program and we were getting ~3 pounds/month.

I have not had anything go bad on me yet, but it will depend on your local weather conditions and the item. Things like nuts don't last more than a month or so in my house so there is less a chance of them turning rancid. All in all a very tiny part of my tiny pantry is dedicated to bulk purchases. Now there are other things we do buy in quantity when they are on sale like pasta sauces, cake mixes, canned fruit, cereal, etc. Those take up most of the rest of the pantry. I don't stock anything we don't use. That helps cut the waste. I'm looking for our next personal lean time, not hedging against a future emergency. (Though I do usually have several days worth of water on hand too, we don't drink the tap water here our well tastes funny)

[Usually Curious]

I buy 25lb to 50lb at a time usually. I keep my grains in the freezer (I have a chest freezer just for them) and I keep gallon jars of each in the pantry for immediate needs.

It is amazing how quickly our family of 8 goes through things. For instance, we have used 1/2 GALLON of mayo in the last five weeks. I use it for homemade dressings, sandwiches for two of us and tuna salad. I won't even mess with the small jars of mayo/mustard or ketchup. Same for oatmeal, cereal, flour, sugar, rice, pasta.

I think if there are only 3 or 4 of you, you need to be more mindful of long-term storage. Use mylar bags in 5 gallon buckets or vac seal in jars.

[EmsMom]

I buy beans and flour in bulk, the beans in 5 lb bags and the flour usually in 25 lb bags (for bread making). Oatmeal I also buy in 25 lb bags because it gets used fast. It certainly saves me some money, but truthfully I do it mostly for convenience instead. I hate running out of this stuff and because I buy organic, it is not easily replaced at the supermarket when I do run out. If you don't eat things like beans regularly, though, it certainly won't help the budget. We can eat through 5 lbs of beans in a month. However, I save huge sums of money by buying things that are deeply discounted at the supermarkets. For example, toilet paper I basically only buy when the recycled brand I like goes on sale and then I buy a large amount, hopefully enough to get us through to the next sale. Same thing for staples like tea, coffee, etc. I only buy what we definitely eat and I don't generally stockpile things that go stale quickly. But when something like organic butter is on sale, I might buy 10 lbs and freeze it. So there are different ways of buying in bulk.

[Norasmomma]

I do a similar thing to EmsMom, when there are the things we use on sale I buy extra, I don't have bins of flour and beans. I do have a large assortment of foods because I hate to run out of things. I buy canned tomato products when they are on sale, I also stock up when my local store has their case goods sale 2x's a year. My house is well stocked, my freezer is pretty much full.

I tend to think that if you figure out the things that you use and need by all means have them and keep them around. I live 20 miles r/t from town and I don't like having to go there more than maybe 1-2x's a week, so I just don't. I plan around what we have already and make it work. Buying in bulk means different things to different families, not all families have 4 gallons of milk at any time like mine, or 10 lbs. of butter in the freezer like I do, I also don't have 20 lbs of beans, but I do have 5. Just keep track of what you use and go through and you can see a pattern, then you can plan accordingly.

Oh and I buy a large amount of my bigger bulk stuff at Costco, depending on what it is you can save lots of $$$.

[JTA Mom]

I do the same thing everyone else has said.

By bulk, I mean the larger packages in the grocery store. So I buy 10+lbs of flour or sugar, etc, at a time because its 1) cheaper (based on unit price) and 2) for dry goods that keep well, it keeps me from running out anytime soon.

Just buy bigger packages or more individual ones of items you normally use. We go through at least 4 cans of refried beans a month, so whenever there's a sale, we get lots of cans. Same with pasta. I buy several pounds of it when it goes on sale, and eat from the stash. When it runs low (say, I can only make one or two more meals from my stash) I will look to buy more, and so on.

Ami

[Ruthiegirl]

I buy all of my grains, beans, and flour in bulk through a food co-op. I usually buy 25-50 pounds at a time. Yes, it saves me money and we go through this stuff pretty fast. I keep everything in the bags and put the bags in plastic bins that seal (not gamma seals, just regular plastic bins from Target). I have never had anything go bad, but then again, we use this stuff up within a few months.

What we buy 'in bulk':

red lentils
brown lentils
black beans
pinto beans
brown rice
basmati rice
whole wheat flour
white bread flour
oatmeal


I also buy all of my spices in 1 pound bags. Cheap, cheap, cheap! I repackage the spices into empty jelly jars and store them for a few months. We go through a lot of spices eating all those rice and beans.

I love this way of shopping. I do quick shopping trips for eggs, milk, fresh veggies and fruit to supplement our meals and we all seem to be healthy and eating well.

And really, all of this food fits in three storage bins on a shelf in the basement. So, it doesn't feel like we have a ton of stuff stored.

[ShaggyDaddy]

we cook rice almost every day (it is my "snack", my lunch, and/or part of dinner) we buy 25lb bags (last one was like 10-12 bucks, but prices have gone up so I am not sure).

I dunno about prices recently (I know they have gone up) but the last time we bought rice, the 25lb bag was $.50 per pound and the 2lb bag was something like 1.50/lb... 3x as much... since we eat lots of it, that $1.00/lb savings can really add up... especially when you consider that is just 1 item.