About this time last year I started building our pantry back up after our big cross county move from West Virginia. It was the first time in a few years that I had access to Azure Standard again for bulk buying, we had our first Sam’s club membership, and I could order Bountiful Baskets again and get bulk produce from them. We moved very little food with us so we had to build our pantry from the ground up again. We have always bought bulk to some degree but we did more this last year than we ever have. A bigger family, access to bulk groceries, a very rural location with a long ways to the store, and things being out of stock often led me to buy more than usual in bulk. We also had a big garden, foraged, and hunted. All in all, we put up a LOT of food!
I’ve learned a lot this year and have been tracking it long enough to see exactly what we use and what is worth buying in bulk and what isn’t for us. This will obviously be different for every family and how you eat.
What is worth buying in bulk for us:
Flour
Sugar
Rice
Oats
Brown Sugar
Cocoa powder
Powdered Sugar
Coffee Beans
Peanut Butter
Butter
Some Spices
Household & Hygiene
Honey
Molasses
Oils
I’m sure I’m missing some but I think that’s the main ones.
Things that aren’t worth it for us:
Some spices
Dry Beans
Cornmeal
Things I Learned:
Some spices are worth buying in bulk and some are not. The ones you use often are nice to have on hand in bigger quantities. Those for us are black pepper, salt, garlic powder, etc. I ordered 1lb of oregano and have hardly used out of it. Oregano is very light so it takes a lot to equal 1 lb which means I have a gallon of oregano still in my pantry. I’ll have to find friends to give some away to because there is no way I can use all that up! I also have tons of baking soda and baking powder left. I do enjoy having those in bulk though, next time I might order them in slightly smaller amounts.
Hygiene and Household products are really nice to have in bulk! I loved having a big box of toilet paper, napkins, trash bags, laundry soap, extra soap bars, tooth paste, razors, and deodorant. I only buy what I know we will use and then I don’t purchase more until we are almost out.
As far as canning:
I would not can grapes again, I don’t think. They turned out well, we just don’t use them a lot.
I wouldn’t can as much pineapple. We do use it though and it’s been so nice to have! It goes well in smoothies, on pizza, in baking, etc. I wasn’t sure how much we would use for a year so I just estimated and I definitely got more than we needed.
I don’t think I’ll can pickles again this year. They just aren’t something we eat a lot of but they have been really handy for making relish, cream of tarter and salad dressings! They definitely won’t go to waste but I don’t think they are worth doing again for us.
We didn’t end up liking the watermelon jam or the peach peel jam. The watermelon never set up and the peach peel just tasted like lemon juice with very little peach flavor. You live and learn. We did, however, LOVE the chokecherry jam we made from foraged berries. I’d never had it before and never made it but it is by far our favorite jam now! We have eaten so many jars of it this year, and given them away as gifts, too. I really hope I can find a place to pick some more this year.
We love having homemade apple sauce and peaches and pears on hand and I hope I can make more this year. We also loved having fresh grape juice as well. I’m not sure if I will make it again because of the amount of work involved for such a small amount but it was fun to do!
I have loved having deer meat canned and on hand! I will definitely do that again. I hope to do some more with hamburger, too.
I like having canned carrots on hand but I would do a fraction of them next time. I did about 100lbs of carrots and it was an astronomical amount. We just don’t use canned carrots that much.
I would not buy 50lbs of cornmeal next time. We just don’t use it a ton. I think 10lbs would be plenty for us. Same for bulk beans. 25lbs are too much. They are nice to have on hand but we don’t eat a ton of beans. I plan to pressure can some dry beans to have some on hand and I think we will use more of them that way.
Overall, I have really enjoyed having so much on hand to use from. I’m so thankful for all the food we put up and it is so nice to use out of our pantry and freezers from all our hard work. I’ll tweak it a bit going forward now that I know exactly what we actually use. Some things I’ll replace in bulk and others I won’t. Some of our diet is changing now that I have some more money to spend on food and my access to things have changed since our move. We also don’t have as much storage space for canned goods here, although we have plenty and I’m so thankful for that!
All in all, I’ve learned a lot and had a blast along the way! I look forward to this next garden season and all that it brings with it. We are just doing two small raised beds this year but I’m very excited.
A Sam's Club membership has been worth its weight in gold for us. There are two membership types and we got the one for $100 that includes free shipping. I live 5 hours from the closest Sam's so the free shipping is very nice as I don't go in person very often. You can add a friend or family member for free. I gifted my extra membership to a dear friend who went above and beyond helping us move out of our house in February. I have found Sam's to be great for any snacks or cereals we would like to have on hand, some baking supplies, condiments, coffee, and household items. I buy baggies, cling wrap, aluminum foil, razors, soap, toothpaste, trash bags, condiments, chips - really anything that can be shipped and doesn't need refrigeration. The only draw back is that you can only ship shelf stable things from them. I'd love to take advantage of their meat and other things that need refrigeration but I live too far away for that. Their prices are considerable cheaper than even Walmart on most things I buy. I really enjoy having it! Also, I have been able to find some good deals on other household items through them that I really enjoyed. This summer I bought sandals for the boys from Sam's, too. Sometimes I will just search to see what they have before looking elsewhere because sometimes it's surprising that things they have available. You just have to check, they have really great stuff!
I no longer have an Azure drop in my town but there is one 25 mins away. I haven't ordered yet since we moved. But I enjoyed buying butter, flour, sugar, spices, oats, etc from them. I think I will use them less going forward than I did last year simply because I won't be replenishing things that I purchased from them for a while. They have great quality stuff and I anticipate using them for bulk things occasionally in the future as I need to replace things, I just doubt I will order from them every month like before.
I no longer have a Bountiful Baskets drop close by. The closest one is over an hour away so I doubt I will be doing that very often either which is a bummer. I loved getting to have that much produce that cheap and also the bulk produce. I may see about getting bulk fruit from them over the summer and just making a run over there once a month or so but we shall see how it works out. I'm still figuring how to source our food here and what lines up with our priorities and budget currently as well as what I've learned over the last year. It will probably take me awhile to tweak it and get into a good system here again but I'm sure I will!
Please let me know if this was helpful at all for you. I'd love to hear if or how your grocery purchasing/budget has changed over the last year, too!