The biggest challenge with saving money by buying bulk items is storage. To avoid waste, contamination, and spoilage containers are a must. Where would you store 25 pounds of flour at your residence?
.40
In 5 gallon food grade buckets with a lid, < $5.00 at Home Depot. In the fruit cellar in the basement. (I've used bay leaves to keep the moths away, and I hear but have not tried diatomatious earth as a second way to keep bugs away)(ADDED: Also freezing will kill the larvae but I find this difficult with large amounts, trying to fit them in the freezer when it is full.)
Saving money--provide homemade food, less processing = better nutrition, = less salt, = less additives, =less watered down, by making it from unprocessed ingredients (garden produce can be organic, lean meats/fish/poultry). The density in nutrition/calories of homemade homegrown foods is most likely higher than processed foods and the fillers that are used. Hence more nutrition/calories (nutrition=vitamins, minerals, calories=well, you know what those are) than buying premade items.
3 bags of groceries of produce/meat/fish/poultry/fruits/grain/cheeses
> (is greater than--in my humble opinion)
3 bags of groceries of frozen lasagna (that tastes like tomato soup with noodles) canned soups, dehydrated potatoes, chips, processed cheese spread, white bread, ho-ho's/twinkies, chocolate milk, bag of snickers (yum), cocokrispies cereal and instant tea powder. They may even cost the same in $$ upfront not including your health.
I'm not saying I never purchase anything on the second list, just rarely, and it's usually a disappointment to me (DARN, eating snickers, I forgot it wasn't on my healthy diet!). Even canned soups when I get them for free I dilute them with real produce.
I have a little story: I was among 4 women and 5 men at a family gathering a number of years back. We were 'schooled' (scolded) from the elderly heavy woman (not that I haven't gained any weight in past years--but still within good norms), that we should provide fake butter, fake sour cream, bread with wood fiber, any number of sugar substitutes to provide a similar diet to hers especially when she came to visit. Now, I'm a firm believer that eating good nutritious unprocessed food (or at least home processed) in moderation will be better than all of this fake stuff. As I looked at the Thanksgiving pictures I realized I was at least 100 lbs under the weight of anyone elses weight. I'm not sure she should have been the one to provide all the advice for nutrition at that point. She was spending twice as much to get half the nutrition.
Enough of my stories! It just makes me chuckle.
Lastly, to keep track of food prices, just write them down in a little notebook kept with your checkbook, price/lb or price/ounce and location, then you'll know when something is a good deal, a sale price is not always a good deal, nor is a bigger container if it costs more per ounce.
Do you have a story, how do you save money?
