Bulk Food Supplies?

DellaMyDarling

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Do you have a bulk supplier you order staples such as flour and dry beans from?

I can't seem to find one!

I do not appear to have any grain mills in my region.

In our mission to be more self sufficient, we now make our own bread. I'm a terrible cook but trying hard to learn scratch cooking. We manage to go through a minimum of 5lbs of flour per week. Bulk would be a nicer buy! Working on building the upstairs pantry (suggestions for easy access flour, sugar, etc storage would be great) but I can also purchase 5gal buckets and sealing lids to store excess bulk in basement. That appears to be the easy part, finding the goods doesn't seem to be.
 

frustratedearthmother

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Our local Wal-Mart has bulk size on a few staples like rice, flour and beans. Might have to check out some online sources for other things.
 

baymule

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I ordered whole grains here, whole grains store well.

https://www.montanaflour.com/

I went to the local donut shop for food grade buckets with lids, got 'em for $2. I made long bags with my food saver, filled them up and vacuum sealed them. It is easier to fill the bags IN the bucket, BTW. LOL

I have a Family Grain Mill with a motor (electric grind) and a hand crank option (for if there is no electricity)

https://pleasanthillgrain.com/shop-by/brand/family_grain_mill/
 

wyoDreamer

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Just a word of advice - It is better to store the grain and grind it as you need it; rather than storing flour. Once ground, the flour will go rancid over time. If sealed properly, grain will last over 25 years. We store in 5 gallon buckets but actually sealed the grain into mylar bags with oxygen absorbers that will basically vacuum seal it. Once opened, we change the bucket lid out for a gamma lid - to give us easy access to the contents.
 

Beekissed

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Just a word of advice - It is better to store the grain and grind it as you need it; rather than storing flour. Once ground, the flour will go rancid over time. If sealed properly, grain will last over 25 years. We store in 5 gallon buckets but actually sealed the grain into mylar bags with oxygen absorbers that will basically vacuum seal it. Once opened, we change the bucket lid out for a gamma lid - to give us easy access to the contents.

Or more! I'm using grain right now that was sealed up in 1973 and it's as fresh a daisy.
 

DellaMyDarling

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We have available to us BJ and Costco, but the hour+ drive never made the membership worth it for us.
There's a Whole Foods and a local owned co-op, but I'm presuming the cost will be way higher for their fancy pantsy stuff than buying 10lb flour bags at grocery store. I do intend to actually go price it out, but I'm also uncertain they could beat the cost on that Montana flour link above.


I really could use a grain mill, because that opens up options for foods, sources, and you're right of course on preservation.
Cost is scaring me lol. It almost seems cheaper to find a vintage hand grinder of some sort, but worried I wouldn't know what to look for. I scored a beautiful flywheel style coffee grinder at an antique shop for $15. Researched it later to find it's vintage, maybe 70's, and considered the best manual grinder one can buy (for $300!) Not sure I should be putting other things through it though!
I do have a Kitchen Aid, but that doesn't help when we lose power. Big consideration there, but maybe not as important as I'm thinking it to be.
I gotta study that link above to the grinders more. First glance was overwhelming, so many attachments!
 

Lazy Gardener

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I am also facing similar decisions. Knowing that I WANT to use up current stores of flour, then convert to home ground. Which necessitates buying a grinder. I'd like to have one that could be hand grind OR electrical. I also have a Kitchen Aid, and could go that route. I don't bake much at all. Again... that may change as I move forward. Would like to work with sour dough. But, I can buy bread products very economically at local day old bakery.
 

wyoDreamer

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We ordered a bunch of stuff off the BePrepared.com website. Strawberries, raspberries, hash browns, powdered shortening, butter powder, ghee, broccoli, mashed potatoes, and such. The prices are pretty good for the #10 cans of dehydrated and Freeze Dried foods. They have a lot of items to help you get self-sufficient, most at good prices.

We bought the Country Living Grain Mill at the pleasant hill grain site that is listed above. We got it with te motor - but it came with the handle for the flywheel if we ever lose power. Hand cranking for grinding flour is long and tedious work...

One of our neighbors drove to the local feed mill and bought about #350 of wheat - it was locally grown, basically straight from the field. By that I mean it had to be cleaned of weed seeds and chaff still.
He just took a bunch of big plastic bins with lids and just had them fill the bins up. He sold us about 150 pounds that he didn't want, we then cleaned it and sealed in mylar bags.
 

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