Jump to content

Menu

What foods do you buy


Recommended Posts

we bought containers to store food in and then bought rice and dried beans. We also buy fruit in bulk, canned goods we eat often, frozen meats, frozen veggies, sauces we use often.

 

But honestly, you should buy what you would eat. We rotate through our food so it's always fresh/in date. It's nice when you have less money one paycheck not to need to go grocery shopping except for milk :D

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Big bulk?

 

honey 5 gal

coconut oil 5 gal

various beans/legumes 25 lb

rice 20 lb

salt 20-50 lb

turbinado sugar 25 lb

gf oats 25-50 lb

gf hot cereal 25 lb

popcorn 25 lb

 

smaller bulk:

cocoa

coconut flour

almond flour

spices/herbs

 

Other pantry items I buy in 6-12 packs from Amazon. I stock up on a few canned goods from Aldi's buying and keeping several cases on hand.

 

Meat I buy by the halves or chickens I buy whole chickens a year worth at a time.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well, I don't really buy in 'bulk', but here are some things that I stock up on for the pantry when the go on sale/I have a coupon:

 

peanut butter

dry pasta

flour

canned veggies (I know, I know, fresh and frozen are better. But these are shelf stable.)

pasta sauce

cereal (dh insists we have cereal in the house at all times)

ketchup/mustard/bbq sauce (I swear condiments are a food group in our house, so I stock up when I can get a good price)

pretzels

coffee/tea

paper towel

bottled water

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I buy the things that are on sale that we use often. For example, during the summer months ketchup, mustard, salad dressing ect go on sale very inexpensively so I buy what we will use until next next summer (be sure and check expiration dates). These things go on sale in the winter but usually not at as low of a price.

 

Other things I stock up on when we have extra money are laundry soap, body soap, shampoo, tp and cleaners.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Where do you all get your bulk beans? It seems like I just can't find those.

 

We get:

 

bread flour

all purpose flour

rolled oats

rice

potatoes

strawberries, blueberries--fresh picked

20-50lb range

 

paper toweling

toilet paper

12+ rolls

 

side or whole pork/beef

whole chickens (10+)

 

To a lesser extent:

 

honey

sugar

brown sugar

cocoa powder

salt

pasta

canned tomatoes

black beans

lentils

cereal

wheat flour

almond flour

coconut flour

pecans

almonds

walnuts

butter

mozz cheese

canola oil

olive oil

 

Most of these are in the 5-15lb range.

 

I also have things I will occasionally stock up on because of price, things like bacon, peanut butter, salsa, coffee, hot dogs, soda.

 

Some of these things will be ridiculous for other families. We all have our own situations. Most of the time you learn what works for you through trial and error. For instance, I can buy a 50lb bag of flour because I bake and I know it will be gone within 6 months, easily. I can't buy a 50lb bag of oats/oatmeal. Oh, that was not a good experiment, no matter what good intentions I had of switching from store cereal to oatmeal every morning. I don't like to buy a lot of canned goods (unless they are extremely basic staples used every week) for that same reason. I don't want to deal with the extra fuss of switching stuff around or worrying that I've used things. When I started doing this I sat down and made a list of my most used things. Then I looked for the cheapest ways to get them. Stocking is one of those ways. I also worked to add staples to our diet (working from scratch, etc.) before I tried stocking up.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

25lb bags:

White and Whole Wheat flours

White and Brown Rice

Oats

Pinto beans

13 bean soup dried beans

granulated sugar

 

Other Sizes of Bulk:

Yeast

Coconut Flakes

Bobs Red Mill 7 grain pancake mix

Baking soda and powder

Brown Sugar

powdered sugar

cornmeal

sunflower seeds (to make sunnut butter for peanut allergic kiddo)

 

costco size bulk:

Tp

Paper Towels

garbage bags

laundry detergent

vitamins

toothpaste

applesauce

syrup

honey

cinnamon and various other spices

cheese

popcorn

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well, I don't really buy in 'bulk', but here are some things that I stock up on for the pantry when the go on sale/I have a coupon:

 

peanut butter

dry pasta

flour

canned veggies (I know, I know, fresh and frozen are better. But these are shelf stable.)

pasta sauce

cereal (dh insists we have cereal in the house at all times)

ketchup/mustard/bbq sauce (I swear condiments are a food group in our house, so I stock up when I can get a good price)

pretzels

coffee/tea

paper towel

bottled water

 

This is what I do. If chicken breasts are on sale one week that is where the bulk of my grocery $ that week will go. I will fill the freezer with several weeks worth, awaiting the next sale.

 

If peanut butter goes on sale and especially if I have coupons I will buy as many as I can for cheap with my coupons, etc.

 

Doing it this way, in any given week we need only to buy fresh fruits and milk (and we will buy what is on sale that week..) We end up with a well stocked kitchen and spend less.

 

Things that I keep stocked are dried beans, dried rice, flour, and sugar. Sugar especially goes on sale regularly so I will buy then. Occasionally I can get a sale or a coupon for rice, but flour and beans, I just keep stocked.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Butter (freezer)

Nut Butters

Tuna (can)

Salmon (can)

Coffee (can never have enough coffee!)

Mayo

Mustard

Ketchup

Salad Dressings

Canned beans

Dried beans

Cleaning supplies

Paper goods

HBA items

 

Just be sure to check expiration dates!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

For us, I look at things that are expensive but will still be usable in 6 months. That means olive oil, honey, dry milk, and meat - if the money is enough for meat. Other things that I buy in smaller quantities would be yeast, flour (stored in the freezer), butter (ditto), and special stuff like dried fruit or pickles that we can't always afford regularly. I love to hoard something in a secret place and then whip it out to everyone's amazement during a particularly hard week and watch their eyes brighten!

 

Mama Anna

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Shredded coconut - we buy the 22lb bags on Amazon when they're available for a reasonable price (ie. under $60), divide it up, and stick it in the freezer (it can develop toxic mold when exposed to air, so we only want to keep the amount that we use within a reasonable timeframe at room temp). We use this to make coconut milk, and make the resulting pulp into coconut flour. This is by far the cheapest way to get coconut-based products (assuming your area doesn't grow coconut trees!).

 

We buy 1/4-1/2 cows and pigs and store them in the freezer. This isn't the only meat we use, but we're able to wait for clearance prices for the rest of the meat.

 

Meats that go on ridiculous sale after big holidays (turkeys are often $0.50/lb or less after Thanksgiving). Or at any other time, for that matter.

 

When a particular type of produce is cheap we stock up and preserve them in whatever way is appropriate (most often lacto-fermentation, dehydration, or freezing). We do sauerkraut a lot. Last winter limes were ridiculously cheap for a while (something like 20/$1) - we zested the skins, juiced them, and then froze the juice and the zest. Unfortunately, the store which most often had really good deals on produce went away :( We do this with stuff from the garden too, but don't hesitate to take advantage of cheap prices at the store.

 

I want to get a good stock of beans. We don't have beans as a regular part of our diet, but I think they are wonderful for emergency food, inexpensive to buy in bulk, and keep for a very long time if properly stored so we can just store them without worrying about rotating frequently.

Edited by ocelotmom
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

 Share

×
×
  • Create New...