For bulk barns, I generally avoid them.I ended up picking up a 20 pound bag of flour for 7.35 at Food Basics yesterday. Well 2 actually. If I head to the local bulk barn the cost is .65 a pound. For 20 pounds of flour it would end up costing a small fortune.

It think it might also have to do with location as well. In Canada, even with the food production to the world, food in general is insanely overpriced. If I drive over the border for example, I can usually find a nice sized turkey for under ten bucks. Here a ten pound bird runs in the 35 buck range. If picking up stuff on US shopping runs I can usually pick up eight bags of food stuffs for the $25 versus 3 in Canada. Plus milk, is around 65% cheaper across the border. Milk is a big no-no btw, border services don’t like people buying milk over the border. I think people get into less trouble for smuggling crack.
.-= Chris lynn´s last blog ..Making Pita Bread…or any bread for that matter. =-.

And yes, I have checked the prices on many of the items, including chick peas. They easily beat Walmart when I checked. Some of items were about a penny more than at Sam’s Club. However, that was comparing to, say, 20 pound bags of sugar and flour. At that size, the storage and quality issues outweigh the itty bitty savings.

But of course, your mileage may vary.

But even IF it was more expensive, I also value the reduction in packaging, both from an environmental perspective and from a “I like paying for the smallest/cheapest garbage can I can get from the city and still not having to bother taking it out except every other week” perspective. Also, my family is trying to avoid BPA as much as possible and that’s used in can liners. So, I prefer not to buy a lot of canned stuff. And, if that wasn’t enough, my husband and I actually prefer the taste and texture of beans that we cook versus canned. In other words, bulk bins rock my world.

Additionally if taking into considering the real cost versus use, most people tend to let “rot” as it were. Again going back to the little packages of silicate by products used to preserve rice, beans, grains, flour, peas. Understanding that the food being used is probably around 1 year to 4 year old, people don’t store it properly and sitting around in an publicly open barrel doesn’t help any either. The goods themselves are intended to be stored with silicate gel packs. Most people just leave them in the bags with twist ties.

The bulk food industry is a commodity just like any food industry. It’s marketed, packaged and sold just like a can of coke. Unless you are growing your own beans/peas/rice or buying directly from the grower, it’s more than likely the total savings is roughly 10-15% of off shelf price mainly due to the lack of a box or a bottle.

Strange thing is most Walmarts now carry a large assortment of gluten free, allergy sensitive, sugarless/free foods for around 5% less than bulk food shops because Walmart operates like a hammer fist in the retail space in pricing and they sincerely want your money in their publicly traded market equities. I know it’s a dirty word, Walmart that is, but it’s pretty hard to find a can of Chick peas over .79 at a Walmart. If I did the same thing at a dry weight (bulk) store, in wet weight, I’ve found I’m paying more.

Try an experiment with me. Cheapest at Walmart of typical dry weight goods dry reconstituted back into wet and the weight of the goods in the can. You’ll find a can is handier to store, use than soaking dry weight overnight.

Quickest way I have found to make affordable meals is to just get up earlier. It’s pretty hard to make money from nothing, making time is a lot easier. That and freezing dough on sunday during the cook up day for the week. A pita takes 10 minutes in the oven to make.
.-= Chris lynn´s last blog ..Making Pita Bread…or any bread for that matter. =-.

which freezes very well in individual containers. Apples are very versatile and keep

better than most other fruits. My second go to frugal food is home made bread. Amy

of the Tight Wad Gazette said any humble meal can be made special when served with home made bread. Using 5 # of King Authur flour and yeast from the bulk

food store I can make 4 large loaves of the best tasting bread for about $1.00 a loaf. So get out those bread makers and bake your little heart out.

Couscous is just a kind of pasta, so it’s processed wheat. Not the healthiest thing, but not the worst, either.

What I prefer is quinoa. It’s actually small seeds that are treated a bit like grains and it’s almost always a great substitute for couscous. It has a slightly more complex taste, imho, and it’s much healthier. Very good source of protein, among other things. Only takes about 15-20 minutes to cook, too.

It does tend to be a bit pricier, but if you can find some place that sells it in a bulk bin then it’s very reasonable.

My husband and I add it to a lot of our meals. We use it by itself (sometimes sweetened like we make our oatmeal, sometimes seasoned with veggie broth or even just ketchup), we add it to pasta, we add it to our vegan BBQ mix, we eat it with stir-fried veggies, we add it to salads…it’s VERY versatile!

We also like to always have apples and bananas. I know of no cheaper fruit, and they’re the ultimate convenience foods.
.-= AMD @ Make Do, LIve Well´s last blog ..Desk Lamp =-.

Something I’m still working on is meat. I’ve been vegetarian for nearly 25 years, so I’m used to eating REALLY cheap. My new hubby eats meat, and I love cooking it for him (I’m a cooking geek, so it’s a new adventure for me). My go-to meat dishes so far are whole roast chicken and pork tenderloin. He has a bit of a steak habit but is happy with cheaper cuts (like sirloin tip) that I marinate. I would really really like to splurge on animals raised in a more humane and ecological way, but we’re not quite there yet.

A key to inexpensive food, for me, if getting familiar with the seasoning profiles of many world cuisines. Using dried spices bought in bulk makes it very cheap to turn out a wide variety without spending a lot of money.