Buying in Bulk Reduces Waste

 Fall is the time that not only do we put up hundreds of pounds of produce from the garden but we also make a little trip to pick up a half a beef and grain for the year.

  We made that trip not long ago and came home with a van and trailer full of food. I was also hauling some for both sets of grandparents so that made it even fuller.

  Our beef does come in packaging but when we get it from the farmer and then processed at a butcher it isn't packaged in all the plastic and Styrofoam and I appreciate that. It is in paper that I can stick in the stove or the compost afterwards.

Our wheat, oatmeal, brown rice and rye come in either 50 or 60 lb bags. Mostly the bags are either reusable or recycle-able (or fine for fire starter). As far as the Zero Waste movement is concerned anyway - even if I do have to deal with a little bit of waste that those that just buy in bulk bins don't we are still creating the same amount of waste by buying these products. Bulk bins are going to be filled with bags just like these. I just prefer to buy the large amount all at once and have it done with.

  Some of the reasons I like to buy in bulk:

• It saves me a large amount of money. (Just for interest sake - I paid $9 for 60 lbs of wheat, $8 for 60 lbs of rye, $25 for 50 lbs of Oatmeal and the same for the brown rice. None of them are organic. That would be nice but it isn't in the budget right now. The beef is grass fed and finished with no hormones or antibiotics but it isn't super cheap either - but neither is meat at the store. I don't know the exact price per pound on that. )
• It saves me time as now I just have those things on hand for the year and don't need to shop for them again until next year.
• It saves a lot on packaging. To keep them free from bugs or potentially mice I do store them in 5 gallon buckets, ice cream buckets or stick the bags in a clean metal trash can that seals well.
• I like to have some food security. Certainly anything could happen and if our house should burn down pretty much all of our stored food would go with it. However if we get into extreme financial troubles - we already have a lot of food. If we have a bad snow storm (We already started getting snow today!!!) and can't get out for a month we will have plenty of food anyway. 😊 

Do you like to buy food in bulk? Do you stock up for the winter?