Where do you get your bulk foods?

garage sales,farm auctions,craigslist. I buy bulk lids,by the "sleeve" at the Mennonite store. The one I go to has every item one needs for canning and cooking for large groupes/for sale.

Lots of good info offered above as far as online purchases. I will be honest, I have not been able to find better prices online than I have been able to locally, due mainly to the additional shipping cost when it comes to food items. Yes, the online prices are cheaper in some instances, but once I add in shipping it negates the savings in most cases. Your best bet is to find some place local. I am not sure of your exact location, but even with a short drive to somewhere if it is planned and you are buying in bulk anyway, you will probably find this to be the most economic. Now supplies, such as food grinders and manufactured items such as that is a different deal, you will most likely find some savings on those items online.

Bi-Mart here has canning supplies and jars, Great end of season sales. Ware-mart is where we buy the little bulk we buy. Spices, sea salt and some bulk foods. We buy in the same bags as they put out in their bulk foods area but 20% cheaper. Anything we don't grow but can U-pick and store, dehydrate or can, we do that. Grains are gotten directly from local producers, both food grade and animal feed....James

I've been looking for "frozen" goods that are shipped in bulk. Anyone with experience in this produce?

__________________
I am what I am! Acknowledging this is the beginning; and my growth is yet to end. http://motdaugrnds.com/farmsales ~~~~~ http://motdaugrnds.com

That's one reason we like bulkfoods.com, they have $5 shipping on orders over $75. We usually wait until we have enough to meet their minimum.

__________________
http://www.ozarktubs.com
"The Big Load Washtub"

A little note for your amusment, I wanted to buy wholemeal flour it's not avaliable finely milled in Denmark, only coarse, (like coarse beach sand) So I ordered it from the UK via the internet. 50lb and shipping was cheaper than buying it here, depressing! So my answer is, the internets! It's fast becoming the answer to everything.

We buy most of ours from the local Amish store.

When I live the NW.. I used Azure standard.

They have wonderful organic flour and so on. Loved using them... even when they some times ran out of things.

Haven't found anything like Azure's set up here in VA.

So I still order from Azure, but can only get what I can afford UPS shipping for.

__________________
Shari

We buy our spices from Atlantic Spice Co. I just looked at one of the links posted earlier to compare prices and it had a pound of Allspice for $11.95. A pound at Atlantic is $6.95. We always order enough to qualify for free shipping ($50 worth) so I'm not sure what their shipping fees are for smaller orders. We vacuum seal everthing in quart jars and have had really good shelf life for several years now.

http://www.atlanticspice.com/store/S...oreResults.asp

Big Lots used to sell canning jars cheap. I'm trying to remember the name of the spaghetti sauce that sells in in 24 ounce canning jars- my coworkers used to save them for me, and I imagine you could ask your church family to save for you also. Or put up a notice at the recycling center.

feed store, Big Lots, Aldi, online from a few places when shipping makes it make sense still

__________________
http://www.powerplucker.com drill powered chicken pluckers, metal restraining cones. Produced on our homestead in Southwest MO. HT members PM me for 10% discount code

Bring your sacks out to my farm and I'll fill all the 50lb bags of oats you want this winter! There isn't much of a market for oats around here, so none of the dealers here will take it.

In all seriousness, most farmers wouldn't mind selling a little grain off the combine, so to speak, but you do have to remember that it takes a lot more time to bag 50 bushel of grain than it does to dump 50 bushel on the truck, and so the farmer will want a high enough price to pay for that time.

Is that the one in Kingston 7th Swan?

If you want a true co-op try www.unfi.com go to the bottom and click on"contact us" and email your inquirey. There are groups all over the country. I have a local group that orders every other month. The selection is gigundous! The shipping charges are small, if at all. Everything from frozen goods to bulk grains. Most is organic. Some items I have never heard of before. Plus, the I have met some super nice people. Price eise I usualy cannot beat Unfi either. Sometimes in a pinch Vitacost can also be an ok source.
As to jars, I pay about ten dollars a dozen at the Mennonite store. Lids too. I also get lids online from www.mulberrylanefarm.com I think she is a member here. The prices are fair and she is fast!

__________________
tab

I love our Mennonite store but they are definitely not cheaper on many of their items even if they are sold bulk. Having said that they have things I can't easily find elsewhere around here so they are good for specialty things. They do have a really nice deli there also and usually have several types of lunchmeat and cheese at great prices (and I'm crazy about their horseradish cheese!) My brother farms so I can get corn, oats and wheat from him in bulk.

Outside of some internet places the problem I have found with bulk items is this. There are places around that sell bulk and sometimes the prices are not too bad. never the "Real Good Deal" like driving to a farm somewhere and buying directly, but doable. The problem I have always run into when trying to drive somewhere where things are much cheaper is the transportation cost. I may buy the product at a cheaper price, but if I am honest about the fuel time etc. to go get it, I usually do not save much, even buying large quantities.

Take for instance what BRF mentioned above. I have truck and trailer and could take bulk bags and drive to Nebraska and bring back tons of grain, but in all honesty once I figure fuel cost, unless it was almost free, I would still be no better off from a stickily $$$ point of view, than buying locally the prepackaged 50# bags.

What is the break even point? 50 miles, 150 miles?? IDK, I guess it all depends on what it is, price and how much you intend to buy. Now, if you are making a trip anyway to a far away place for something else and can pick it up on the way, that is something worth looking into.

That is how we do things Muleman, if we make a trip we try and get as much as we can out of it.
Only exception is something that is hard to find or will not last long.
Other wise we piggy back as many things as we can.
Our route usually is a big loop, hiting this town and that then the City and then a few other towns along the way back.
We are only 40-60 mins from several citys with a lot of small villages and larger towns in between.
We are also not far from the Interstate.