What items do you buy in bulk?

[rothnroll]

Greetings,
I am looking to buy  items that we use frequently in order to save money and trips to the supermarket.

I just purchased 6 Food Safe 5 Gallon Buckets with Omni Lids.
I also bought 16 Mason Jars for quick Kitchen storage of these items.
Here is what we have planned.

Bucket 1. Pinto Beans (love Mexican Food)
Bucket 2. Black Beans (umm. love Mexican Food and Chili)
Bucket 3. Flour   
We use white and whole wheat. I am undecided which one to store. Someone told me that Whole Wheat is not good to store because it becomes rancid after awhile.
Bucket 4. Steel Cut Oats - eat it every day.
Bucket 5. Rice- Undecided on Basamati - White or Wheat. We eat and love all three.
Bucket 6. ??

I have a few questions for you.
1. What items do you use for Bulk Storage? WHat do you find is convenient?
2. Which rice keeps better when buying bulk?
3. Which flour  (white, wheat).. etc keep longer when stored in bulk?

Thanks in advance!

[penguins4everyone!]

i keep my whole wheat flour in the freezer to keep it from going rancid, someone please pipe in if that's a terrible idea.  Unless had a chest freezer i probably wouldn't do larger amounts of bulk wheat flour.  I don't do more than 5lbs at a time in my lil freezer.

I also keep things like pine nuts and walnuts in mason jars in the fridge to avoid any rancid-ness.  Nuts are expensive, even in bulk so it's so sad when they go bad.

good luck, bulk food is fun. 

[Jakejake]

I've had whole wheat go rancid. I don't do that in bulk anymore (not enough freezer space to store it there). I do have some whole grains though that I grind myself (wheat and rye) and they seem to store better than way.

The weirdest thing my husband bought in bulk was mailboxes, after we had several wiped out by drunk drivers (we live on a curve on an unlit street).

[vagon]

We mostly buy non perishables like canned foods and household supplies. We do buy flour and nuts in bulk form though and as a rule I always freeze both for at least two days on purchase if not until consumption. Freezing usually kills any bugs that may be trying to ruin your party.

If your food is going rancid before you eat it, then you're buying too much - plain and simple. In those situations try sharing bulk amounts with like minded neighbours.

[kimmarg]

Rather than try to fill specific containers I would calculate out a 6month supply and aim for that. Usually you can take advantage of sales that way and not much goes bad in 6 months. Somethings I buy in 1 year supply, like berries from the pick your own place when they are ripe.  So how much is a question of what you use. For me a 5 gallon bucket of beans would be an Armageddon supply. Then again I have 35lbs of flour right now and that will be just about 4-5months. Point is buy what you use so you keep using it and it doesn't go bad.

[JLee]

It's not food, but...windshield wiper blades.  I get them from RockAuto, often on clearance, for $2-ish each and buy enough to last a couple of years.

[lil_miss_frugal]

We buy household items like toilet paper, paper towels, and Clorox/Lysol wipes. As far as food: I like to get juices that I pack with my lunch.

[Jeremy E.]

I have a Winco where I live, and it's great, I can buy stuff by the pound.
In bulk I buy
Almonds
Oats
Navy Beans
Whole Wheat Noodles
Quinoa (instead of rice)
Cereal
Granola
I also buy LED Light Bulbs in bulk.... even though they are supposed to last a long time
good luck!

[Exflyboy]

Weedkiller!

We live on almost 6 acres in Western Oregon.. Weeds and blackberry goes nuts this time of year so I always buy the 2.5 gallon jugs.

Oh in case your wondering.. Take the so called super concentrated Roundup in the 1 litre container and compare that to a generic glyphosphate 2.5 gallon jug at about $70.

The cost is 6.5 times as expensive in the smaller container!!!!!

This includes the fact that the 1 litre bottle is 18% concentration, but the 2.5 gallon jug is 49%.

[opnfld]

20-25 lb bags of chickpeas, pinto beans, black beans, brown rice, calrose rice, jasmine rice, basmati rice.  We just store the bags into a couple rubbermaid tubs in the basement.  They aren't airtight.  Fill 2 liter airtight glass jars in the pantry from the basement tubs and keep the bulk bags closed with twist ties.  Haven't lost anything to spoilage yet and don't notice any change in quality over time.  It's fun to finally empty a 25lb bag and think, "we ate all that?!"...sometimes it takes years.

Bought a small freezer last year for large buys from Costco (6lbs almonds, 3lbs walnuts, 10lbs chicken, etc.  nothing crazy)  I would consider whole wheat four in the freezer if I could find a reasonably priced 20lb bag.

[Gone Fishing]

Buying a gallon of mustard at Costco was a valuable learning experience!

I actually buy very little in what I would consider "bulk".  We shop at Aldi and I usually go for the largest size if the price dictates.  Their prices are consistant enough to where I don't usually feel the need to stock up unless it is something on clearance.  Ocassionally I will stock up on a loss leader from the grocery store, usually meat, but not often.

Be careful going large, I've noticed the per pound prices of some things actually being higher in large quantities.  I have observed this mostly at Wal-Mart, but I don't spend enough time anywhere else to know if it applies to other retailers as well.

[rothnroll]

Thanks guys. Is there any issues for storing brown Rice, like there is Whole Wheat Flour?

[PJ]

Hi rothnroll,

Yes, in theory, both brown rice and whole wheat flour can go rancid.  It's the oily bran layer that's the problem.  Unfortunately, having the grain "whole" is exactly what makes whole wheat flour and brown rice healthier choices. 

Anyway, it doesn't get rancid fast, but you are encouraged to consider storing brown rice in either fridge or freezer.

[jeromedawg]

Has anyone tried/used Zaycon before? I ordered chicken breasts from them over a year ago and just finished them up. Got another 40lb box recently and then just placed an order for another at the irresistable price of $1.69/lb
Sure beats looking for good prices in the ads anytime we're craving chicken. And I *think* it promotes a healthier diet for myself, although we do get lazy and tired of it at times.

[JLee]

Has anyone tried/used Zaycon before? I ordered chicken breasts from them over a year ago and just finished them up. Got another 40lb box recently and then just placed an order for another at the irresistable price of $1.69/lb
Sure beats looking for good prices in the ads anytime we're craving chicken. And I *think* it promotes a healthier diet for myself, although we do get lazy and tired of it at times.

Never heard of them - but chicken for $1.69/lb is enticing, and they have a location here! :D

[rothnroll]

I ended up buying 6 total of these
http://www.ebay.com/itm/140981534215?_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

and 6 gamma lids from here
http://www.ebay.com/itm/171094497687?_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2649&var=470276678840&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

It was much cheaper than the restaurant supply warehouses in the D.C. area.
The white buckets at Home Depot, did not say if they were Food Grade on them. I passed.
I also picked up a 50 pound sack of Pinto Beans and a 50 Pound Sack of Black Beans!
Ready to go...

[The_path_less_taken]

Prepper and Mormon sites have the best info on food storage.

I freeze:
flour
rice
nuts

Brown rice and flour go bad/rancid quicker than white.

Whole grains that you grind yourself (most blenders can handle small quantities, like for muffins or whatever) will last longer than pre ground flour.

I buy a ton of stuff in bulk though, since I'm a half hour from town and I'm not going to run out of one item. I shop Costco for a good many things, and unfi.com, and azurestandard.com (the last two are for organic/healthier stuff...kinda like what you'd get at Trader Joe's/Whole Food, but way cheaper).

[Goldielocks]

Weedkiller!

We live on almost 6 acres in Western Oregon.. Weeds and blackberry goes nuts this time of year so I always buy the 2.5 gallon jugs.

Oh in case your wondering.. Take the so called super concentrated Roundup in the 1 litre container and compare that to a generic glyphosphate 2.5 gallon jug at about $70.

The cost is 6.5 times as expensive in the smaller container!!!!!

This includes the fact that the 1 litre bottle is 18% concentration, but the 2.5 gallon jug is 49%.

How often or heavy do you apply to blackberries?  I have not had much success with roundup, but digging them out is three times a year, so I am missing doing it sometimes, and now have more than I did when I started 5 yrs ago..

Sorry to hijack..

I buy peanut butter in bulk, for the year supply on sale, then buy 50 lb veggies (potatoes, carrots, beets, onions and cabbage) in fall when super cheap and freeze or preserve.  They lasted about 4 months before we ate them all.  Big bag of oats, quinoa,   Sugar!  Raisins, nuts ( keep in freezer), chic chips in 5 lb bags.  Yeast in 1 lb qty in fzr ..good for 2years.. White flour, definitely, but the price doesn't drop much after the 25lb bag, and I get it on sale every 2 mos if needed...

Whole wheat or brown anything has oils that go rancid in less than 6 months.My mistake -I have way too much herbs and spices to use before going stale, so don't make my mistake!

I have bought beef and frozen chicken IQF in 10 to 50 lb qty.  Need to eat a lot, though.

Bulk grass seed lasts 2 years if generously applied.  I buy bulk compost and dirt when I get it. 


I don't use containers, but we rarely gave pantry pests in the north.  I like non zip freezer bags.  Keep foods in their original paper/ burlap bags.

[Goldielocks]

Thanks guys. Is there any issues for storing Whole Wheat Rice, like the is Whole Wheat Flour?

Lol!  Rice is not made with wheat...   You mean brown rice or whole rice or something!

My brown rice has not gone rancid yet, but in theory it should before white rice does.