Benefit of Bulk
I’ve been thinking more and more about how my household can reduce the waste that leaves on the truck, headed for a landfill, every Thursday morning at 730am. If you take a walk down any grocery store aisle, they are packed with products that are packages within packages. Not only that, but the serving size of these items are small, and are most likely to be used up in one or two uses. So, ideas?
The single serving products are handy, but what about households such as mine that hold around six people, with friends and family coming to dinner almost nightly? The answer here: buying in bulk. Large “family size” containers of things, such as rice, pasta or granola, require less packaging. Not only that, but, in general, will save you money.
Buying in bulk has really started to work in our house. We figure out how much we think that we will consume within a month, factor in space, and buy a variety of things by pound. Of course, we make sure the bulk items we buy have a good shelf life, like dried beans, spices, tofu and rice. What we don’t buy in bulk we buy fresh, such as fruits and vegetables. We generally aim for items that are unpackaged or things that we can buy in concentrate, such as juice. There are some stores, such as MOMs, that offers discounts on certain bulk purchases. It’s worth looking into.
The next time you are making a grocery shopping list, think about the things that you buy week after week and look into purchasing these things in bulk. Not only will it save you a trip to the store, but it will also save you money and space in a landfill.
September 11th, 2006 at 10:57 pm
I’d like to add that fall is a particularly good time to buy in bulk, which is when I buy enough bulk stuff to get me through to spring.
The commodities (such as rice, raisins, beans, etc.) are fresh since they are harvested this time of year. Most are stored in warehouses throughout the winter, so why not just store them in your house? Also, with the weather cooling down, they keep very well in my garage… as long as I keep them in airtight containers.
I usually buy rice, barley (we make lots of soup in our house!), flour, raisins, and granola in October and they usually last us just in time for the weather change in spring (which is usually when our diets tend to change as well).