Bulk Up! Week 4 of the 10-week series 10 Easy Way to Living Affordably Organic

And we're baaaaack.... Week 5 of the 10-week series, 10 Easy Ways to Living Affordably Organic!

Sorry for the break in posts, folks. My family got laid out with a nasty bug and we're just now resurfacing.  Thanks for hanging in there.  Let's get on with the good stuff... :) 

One of the essential keys to living Affordably Organic is thinking BIG.  That means buying and cooking in large quantities. 

First, let’s talk BUYING big.  The three top places we buy in bulk are:

1) warehouse store

2) grocery

3) local farm or farmers market 

Warehouse Store

One of the easiest and most popular ways to buy in bulk is to shop a local warehouse store. Here's our fave:

We have an Executive membership at Costco that pays for itself. It may seem a little costly at $100./year but we get 1% back on all our purchases, which pay for the membership fee and then some. We make sure that we shop there as often as appropriate - we don’t shop there for the sake of racking up that 1%. Costco offers more than great deals on food and household goods. They also have lower than usual gasoline prices, which helps us get more cash back at the end of the year. I’ve found that Costco carries more organics than the other warehouse clubs in our area (Sam’s and BJ’s) and has a wider variety of things we like. Organics that we routinely buy at Costco are: brown rice, quinoa, tomato sauce and paste, peanut butter, low-sugar jam, chicken, beef, coffee, salad mix (when it’s out of season or I don’t have any growing in the garden), carrots (same), frozen broccoli (ditto), frozen veggie mixes and olive oil. They also offer a wide variety of nuts and dried fruit, although most of the latter have added sugar so you need to read the labels carefully.

Here’s some good examples of foods you should BUY in bulk at your local warehouse store:

Rice

Grains

Nuts

Dried Fruit

Nut butters

Canned goods

Cereal (such as oats and granola)

Grocery Store

Another place we routinely buy in bulk is our local grocery store. I keep a keen look-out for rock-bottom deals (especially on items that I use regularly) and buy the place out when I find an especially good bargain. For example, last month my local grocery was phasing out nearly all it’s organic butter – about 14 lbs. worth at an average of $2./lb. (Regularly priced at $6./lb. Whoa!) I bought all of it and stuck it in the freezer. I saved over $56. on organic butter because I was willing to buy in bulk and freeze for future use.  

Here's my freezer door:

Not a very good picture but you get idea...  That's a lotta buttah!

Farmer Surplus

The 3^rd “buy in bulk” option involves your local farmer. Consider buying end-of-season farmer surplus at GREAT prices and freeze, can or ferment for future use. 

Strawberry season has begun! And I'll be buying these babies in bulk at the end of the season...

Items include nearly all veggies and fruits especially tomatoes, peppers, peaches, cucumbers (make relish), apples, strawberries, citrus (freeze the juice!), basil (freeze after emulsifying in olive oil), root veggies and much more. Forge a relationship with a favorite seller at your local farmers market and offer to buy end-of-season surplus at super low prices. I scored bushels (and I mean BUSHELS) of peaches for pennies on the dollar at the end of last season. We cut into cubes and froze for future use in smoothies, pies, cobblers and jam. The farmer was thrilled that his surplus wouldn't end up as waste and I was thrilled to be eating peach cobbler at Christmas.  

Next up:  COOK in bulk.  I’ll include some easy recipes, plus storage methods that work for my family.

Organically yours,

Minde

Where's your fave spot to buy in bulk?  Where do you get the biggest bang for your bulk-buying buck?

Thanks to greenwenvy08 and ianmalcm for the awesome pics!