Buying and Trading Bulk Food
for Self Sufficeincy

Although buying bulk food might not strictly be considered a self sufficiency skill, the reality is that VERY few people can grow EVERYTHING that they need to feed their families. So, when you do have to buy food products, why not get the most bang for your buck?

Here are some general rules to consider if you're looking to buy food in bulk:

1 - The more you buy at one time, the less it should cost per unit of measurement.

2 - The less processed the food is the less it should cost. For example - 25 pounds of hard red wheat vs. 25 pounds of bleached white flour. In addition, less processed generally means higher nutritional value.

3 - The closer to your home the food product was grown, the less expensive it should be. No added shipping, handling, or packaging costs. The added benefit to buying locally being that you are supporting your local economy.

4 - Do you have the right tools and equipment to process your purchase for use and preserve it for long term storage?

5 - Buying bulk food may be less expensive per unit of weight, but a big volume purchase still has a big price tag when you DO buy (even if it is only once a year!). Be sure to budget enough to be able to make these kind of purchases.

There are an incredible number of ways that you can buy food in bulk. From something as simple as buying sale items at the local grocery or big box store to as advanced as buying a hog or steer from a local farmer and having it butchered, packaged and frozen for long term use.

Buying food in bulk means being able to preserve and your purchase so you can actually enjoy it over a long period of time. If you buy food in bulk, it's no bargain if you wind up throwing most of it away because it spoiled, so we'll also touch on bulk food storage and preservation.

Bulk Food - Fresh Fruit and vegetables

Fruits and vegetables purchased at the local grocery stores or superstores are often shipped in from far away commercial farms. There are a couple of problems with that.

First shipped in fresh foods generally have to be harvested before they reach their peak in ripeness, which means that the true flavors (and nutrients) don't get a chance to fully develop.

Second shipping them in naturally means that the additional cost of shipping, handling and packaging gets added into the price you have to pay.

A great alternative is to buy fresh fruits and vegetables locally. We have purchased apples and peaches from local orchards, blueberries and strawberries from U-pick berry farms, and all kinds of locally grown produce from farmer's markets and roadside stands. An afternoon at an orchard or u-pick farm is not only a good way to buy in bulk, it can also be a fun family outing.

In almost every case the food we have purchased from a local grower has been better quality, fully ripe and less expensive than if we had purchased from a grocery store. A bushel of green beans, or peaches, or apples or tomatoes, can easily be taken home and canned, or frozen , or processed into something else (apple butter or pasta sauce) for your family to enjoy all year round.

Arkansas:

Greenbrier Super Center, 116 S Broadview, Greenbrier, AR 72058
(501) 679-4005

Texas:

Canino Produce2520 Airline Dr. Houston, TX 77009
www.caninoproduce.com

Bulk Food - Meats & Seafood

There are several options for purchasing meats in bulk. From as simple as watching the grocery store circulars for really good sales and stocking up, to advanced as having a steer or hog butchered at a local meat locker or butcher shop. Depending on where you live, fresh seafood could be a great and relatively inexpensive option for bulk purchase and storage.

Buying bulk meats doesn't necessarily mean buying the whole cow...It can be done at that level, and lots of people do just that, but you have smaller scale options too.

Often times grocery stores around our home will great deals on larger quantities of meats. One of our favorites is chicken leg quarters. They can occasionally be found on sale really cheap - like $0.29 a pound - but they limit you to a 10 pound purchase.

If you come across this kind of deal, nothing stops you from buying the maximum amount, and then going back later for more, or taking a friend or family member along and having them buy 10 pounds too.

Meats and seafood that are bought in bulk usually need a bit more cleaning after you get them home, so while you're cleaning, you can package in individual meal size packages and freeze for later use.

Bulk Food - Dry Goods

Dry goods lend themselves very well to bulk purchases. What I classify as dry goods are things like; flour, cornmeal, sugar, salt, spices, coffees, teas, nuts, dried beans, rice, popcorn and whole grains. I would also classify not so dry things like oils, honey or molasses, and vinegar.

some dry good can be purchased in bulk at super stores or wholesale clubs. You have to be careful though. Take a calculator with you, figure out how much the item costs per ounce, or pound or whatever unit of measure they use, and compare it to the smaller package.

Sometimes the bigger package is not necessarily the bargain.

Another local source for bulk dry goods is a bulk food store. Google "bulk food stores" and the name of your home town. You'll probably be surprised to find that there's one fairly close to you.

Whole grains, dry beans, rolled grain cereals can also be purchased on line from a surprising number of sources. Type in bulk whole grains or bulk beans.

Most dry goods can be kept for long periods (almost indefinitely) of time if you keep them cool, dry and dark.

Vacuum packaging will also extend the shelf life of nearly any dry good. It is also helpful to store these items with an oxygen absorbing chemical packet.

You can even buy food grade buckets to store your dry goods in. One company has invented a really well designed lid for buckets called a Gamma Seal Lid.

It comes in two pieces. One is a ring that seals down over the rim of the bucket and the other is a threaded center that screws down and seals to the ring making an airtight seal. These things makes bulk food storage and accessing stored foods a breeze.

Bulk Food - Canned Goods

Watch the circulars for your local grocery stores and buy in bulk when your favorite canned food are on sale. This means that you have to know up front how much the canned goods normally cost to know if it is really a good deal, or just a a meaningless advertisement.

Wholesale clubs are also good sources to find canned goods in bulk - but you need to carry a calculator with you to see if the price per can or price per ounce is REALLY cheaper than you would normally pay per single can. Be careful. Those wholesale clubs can be tricky.

If you have a salvage store or closeout/overstock store like Big Lots in your area, you can get some really good deals on canned food, providing you're more concerned with what's in the can than you are about the name brand on the label.

My attitude is stock the shelves and save the money any way you can.

Bulk Food - Trading Surplus Produce

I have on occasion simply had more green beans, tomatoes, or squash than my family could possible eat, freeze or can. We have many friends that also garden and have similar experiences.

Fortunately, not everybody's garden or orchard overproduces the same thing at the same time. So we keep in touch with our gardening friends, and when harvest time comes, we will do some trading. A bushel of green beans for a bushel of cucumbers, corn for tomatoes, pumpkins for apples. You get the idea.

Develop a network of friends and acquaintances who you can work swaps with. It's so much better than just throwing the surplus on your compost pile, and provides your family with some variety that you night not have.

Trading or swapping saves you and your trading partners money by not having to buy what you have traded for. It can also prevent valuable locally grown surplus food from going to the compost pile.


Buying bulk food and preserving it for long term storage can be a very effective way to lower your food bills and increase your overall level of self sufficiency. Buying food in bulk can also let you buy more locally grown foods, which can mean (in addition to less expensive) fresher, tastier, and healthier food.

As much as you may want to try, you can't grow everything yourself. There are time, space and environmental limitations that won't allow it. In addition to the financial and health benefits to you, buying locally and in bulk can help support your local economy.

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