# Where to buy bulk food for storage?



## nj_m715

Any suggestions for a place to buy some bulk beans? I found wheat for $8.50 per 50lb bag and rice for $14, but only found small bags of beans. I like the northern beans, but I am open to something else ( as long as I don't hate them). 

I would like to find something local and save the shipping. 

This should probably be a new thread, but are there any good ways to save potatoes. I checked our local South American/Spanish store for beans, they only had bulk rice but had prices as good as sam's club. I did find 50lb bags of potatoes for $8. Kinda makes me feel like I'm wasting my time growing potatoes for that price. They also have a great selection of powders and sauces for flavoring rice or beans. I need to try some different ones and seal up a bunch.


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## goose

If you have an Aldi near you, check out their beans. They're not bulk, but you can cut the bags and empty them.  That's what I'm doing. 

And the price is excellent.


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## UncleJoe

Here's 1 place I have bookmarked for bulk foods. 
I don't know if it's a great deal but Great Northern comes in a 10lb bag for $15.50. It seems to me they aren't much more in the 1lb bags you find at the store. :dunno:

http://www.azurestandard.com/product.php?id=BE098


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## nj_m715

I have one and I did check. I will get the small bags if I have to, but They are much more money. For exapmle acme has a 5lb bag of acme brand rice for $3.50. The Spanish store has a 20lb bag for $7.50 and Sam's has 50lbs for $14. So acme's sale price is about double the bulk prices and beans were more than rice. After reading One second after I'm going to add some dog food. It's something I never thought about. I'm going to use mylar, just a couple buckets with good lids and maybe some bayleaves for the heck of it. The kicker is with Sam's prices I can feed the dog rice cheeper than I can feed him dogfood. Go figure.


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## nj_m715

Is there any reason why you couldn't soak and cook these?
https://www.mvseeds.com/cgi-bin/mvs_catdisp.cgi?cid=2887
They are about 1/2 the price of acme 1lb bags

UncleJoe your right that's the same price for 1lb at acme. Acme is even a couple pennies cheaper for 1lb. 
I'm not an acme nut, I'm just using their online prices to compare. Maybe I'll ask around at a couple diners. They must buy in bulk.


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## allen_idaho

If you have a local farmer's market, that might be a good place to start. You can usually get some great deals.


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## nj_m715

I should be able to find something local at an affordable price. I am in the middle of the Garden State after all.


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## nj_m715

OK, I gave my search and settled on walmart beans. They've got pinto's and white's for 98 cents per pound. Problem is they only have 10-15 in stock at a time so I just grab when ever I'm there.


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## Emerald

nj_m715 said:


> Is there any reason why you couldn't soak and cook these?
> https://www.mvseeds.com/cgi-bin/mvs_catdisp.cgi?cid=2887
> They are about 1/2 the price of acme 1lb bags
> 
> UncleJoe your right that's the same price for 1lb at acme. Acme is even a couple pennies cheaper for 1lb.
> I'm not an acme nut, I'm just using their online prices to compare. Maybe I'll ask around at a couple diners. They must buy in bulk.


I couldn't log in, but if those are seeds for growing, you might end up with poison in your dinner- not all, but some companies will spray their seeds with fungicides to keep them from rotting in the ground.
I grow heirlooms and OP so I keep my own seeds and know that I have safe seed that if in an emergency I could eat some if I had to.


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## nj_m715

I figured as much, that why I asked. Like the crap they spray on potatoes to keep them from growing. It burns me up to pay about each for an undersized seed potatoe, but now that I have some I can can just keep 'em going.


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## Emerald

Just glad I could help.:flower:


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## lotsoflead

nj_m715 said:


> OK, I gave my search and settled on walmart beans. They've got pinto's and white's for 98 cents per pound. Problem is they only have 10-15 in stock at a time so I just grab when ever I'm there.


 i get them from Honeyville grain in 25 or 50 pound bags.
http://store.honeyvillegrain.com/beansandpeas.aspx


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## nj_m715

WOW!, I think I'll stick with walmart.


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## Geo7770

Hey M715 Thanks, Question does that M715 mean you have one? I do! Geo7


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## nj_m715

I do or did depending on how you look at it. I have a few pics of what she used to look like on my blog. I've been parting it out for about a year and much of it is gone. 

BTW I found a better deal for beans at aldi's for $.65/lb. Walmart is up over $1/lb now, but they still have cane sugar for $12/25lb. Aldi's also has can goods for $.45/ea and oatmeal for for $.75/lb.


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## Linda61

I just got a 25 lb bag of pinto beans for 9.99 at Costco


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## JayJay

nj_m715 said:


> I do or did depending on how you look at it. I have a few pics of what she used to look like on my blog. I've been parting it out for about a year and much of it is gone.
> 
> BTW I found a better deal for beans at aldi's for $.65/lb. Walmart is up over $1/lb now, but they still have cane sugar for $12/25lb. Aldi's also has can goods for $.45/ea and oatmeal for for $.75/lb.


Aldi's is my choice most ...I like their prices..chinamart isn't the wisest lots of times. I find better prices at Aldi's than Sam's sometimes too.

If you're going for the bargain...heck, I want a bargain..at cases and cases of veggies, the savings do add up.


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## Kimba

You need to find a grower or a grower's coop to buy your grain and beans from- much, much, much cheaper than buying retail. I don't know how you would go about finding someplace like that in NJ, but maybe start by calling your county's agricultural extension service. Or, maybe the Dept of Ag. You could also try an online search for "organic feed mill". That's how we found our source- it is a feed mill but they also process grain and legumes for human consumption, and, they know everyone around our part of the state that grows crops for humans as well as livestock. You could try posting an ad on craigslist.com too. You want to get as close to the producer as you can in order to save $$$ and get the best and freshest products possible. 

As for potatoes- you could dehydrate them; you could can them; or you could grate them up (think hash browns) and freeze them. 

But, having said that, I would keep growing my own simply for insurance purposes. Sure, they're cheap now, but if TSHTF you may not be able to buy them at any price. And right now, after reading about the nuclear explosion in Japan, on top of the earthquake and the tsunami, plus drought in Argentina, plus plus plus.........I think we may be facing at least a "mini" SHTF as far as the food supply is concerned. This is the time I would be ramping up my own food production efforts. You can only store so much, and eventually it will be gone. We are producing everything we can, now, and using the $$$ savings to purchase things we can't grow here in our cold climate short growing season.


Kimba


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## nj_m715

I didn't say I was stopping, just that other than using it as a learning experience (which could be priceless) it's not worth growing them right now.

Already one step ahead of ya


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## jimLE

nj..that slicer is similar to the one i have..in which i can adjust the blade setting on it,for diff thickness's.it sure has come in handy a few times..and all i've done with mine so far.is for potato chips,(deep fried)..and scaloped potatoes..


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