Post by our blog team member, Kiran. To learn more about Kiran, check out our team page!
I remember being a kid and loving to make mixed bags of candy from the bulk bins at our grocery store. Times sure have changed for me, and desires have too, but the bulk bins have a new importance in my weekly shopping.
I love buying products in bulk. In fact, I will purposely head to our local Earth Fare or Whole Foods so that I can stock up on certain items. If you aren’t shopping from bulk bins or don’t frequent them, I encourage you to do so. And below I’ve shared my reasons why.
Desired Quantity
Perhaps the biggest reason why I buy in bulk is that it allows me to buy exactly how much of the item I want. How many times have you needed just a little bit of a certain ingredient, but you end up buying the whole darn package only to be left with lots of leftovers?
Take pine nuts (for making pesto) for example. You can get fresh ones and only purchase the necessary three tablespoons instead of a big bag. Or way back when, I had never tried baking with almond flour. I didn’t want to get a whole bag of it, so I bought exactly what I needed for one particular recipe. It’s a great way to avoid waste (and clutter in your pantry, for that matter).
Cost
Not far behind in my reasons why I buy in bulk is simple: it’s cheaper. I actually put this notion to the test by visiting both my local Earth Fare and Whole Foods stores. See the chart below, which illustrates it all:
Food Item | Earth Fare | Whole Foods | Packaged Goods |
| Rolled Oats | $1.49/lb | $1.59/lb | $4.29 for Bob’s Red Mill 32 oz. package = $2.14/lb |
| Black Beans (dry, organic) | $1.67/lb | $1.99/lb | $3.99 for Eden’s Organic 16 oz. package = $3.99/lb |
| Almonds | $11.48/lb (raw organic) | $12.99/lb | $6.99 for 12 oz. package = $9.32/lb |
| Cashews | $13.00/lb (raw organic) | $10.99/lb | $8.99 for 12 oz. package = $11.99/lb |
| Almond Flour | $6.99/lb | $8.99/lb | $11.99 for Bob’s Red Mill 16 oz. package = $11.99/lb |
| Rice (Long grain organic) | $1.99/lb | $1.79/lb | $4.99 for Texas Best 32 oz. package = $2.49/lb |
| Quinoa | $5.99/lb | $6.99/lb | $6.49/lb for Earthly Choice 14 oz. package = $8.65/lb |
| Organic Coffee | $12.99/lb | $9.99 – $11.99/lb | $9.99 – $11.99 for 12 oz package = $13.32 – $15.99/lb |
All of the items (except for the nuts) offered significant savings – over 20%, actually!
Reduced Waste
I admit it, I’m a jar junkie. I’m constantly cleaning out jars and reusing them. At first, I drove my husband crazy. Now he admits that it makes our pantry look so much neater and cleaner (win!). Jars are also free when they come from a packaged product (think jars of unsweetened applesauce or spaghetti sauce) – double win! Anyhow, I now purchase and store nuts, rice, dates, oats, and so much more in easy-to-see jars. Sometimes I just sit and linger at my pretties in my pantry. Okay, okay. Maybe I’m going too far with that, but I really have a slight obsession :). You don’t have to become a jar junkie like me (by the way, Lisa loves using jars for storage, too!), but know that you’re significantly reducing packaging waste by buying in bulk.
Freshness
Even though many packaged products provide “best by” dates on them, don’t you sometimes look at bags/boxes of items and wonder just how fresh they really are? With the bulk bins, because they are constantly being refilled, we can hope that the items within are fairly fresh. If nothing else, you can see up close and personal what you are buying, unlike foods in packages. If you’ve ever shopped the bulk bins, you know that they are diligent about making sure the offerings are up to par. In fact, we talked to a staff member at Earth Fare who spends a good bit of his time at work cleaning, filling, and maintaining the bins, which makes me feel pretty good about it.
Personally speaking, I’ll refill my jars of nuts, etc. and wait until that jar is completely empty before washing the jar and refilling with fresh nuts. Also it goes back to quantity—you only buy what you need so you know those foods are fresh and the rest is not going to sit and get stale.
Remove the Middle Man
This ties together cost and reducing waste. For products to be packaged, it requires fancy packaging and higher overhead for shelf space in retail stores, and let’s not forget transportation to get it all to the stores as well (bulk can be packed tighter than packaged foods in shipping) and the marketing dollars built into the cost.
So there you have it – those are the many reasons I’m a big fan of buying in bulk! Do you agree? Why or why not?
Southern Potato Salad (without mayo!)
I like how you reuse jars so you can have a place to put your bulk foods. I want to reduce my waste, and I’ve thought about buying bulk grains so I don’t have to go to the store as often. If I do, I’ll remember to start reusing jars as well.
It’s so awsome way to buy their foodstuff in bulk! As a result you avoid plastic material or package. In a supermarket, so many products, especially foodstuffs have unnecessary package like diverse special types of coffee, different types of nuts, almonds and anymore foods.
Finally, you can save some valuable resources of our earth and contribute to your environment!
I very thankful for this post!!
Does earth fare allow you to rate/zero out jars? Or do you have to use the provided plastic bags to buy in bulk there?
(I also have a jar obsession and likewise find myself lovingly gazing and my pretty pantry!)
Hi Page,
If you take the containers to the register before filling them, they will give you the tare rate. Glad you can appreciate my love of jars! :)
~Kiran
Hi Lisa,
I love buying in bulk, but sometime my local WF (in Boston) charges more for bulk than packaged stuffs (flour and rice)! :(
Today I went looking for “granola”……….My wife has looked on line, and found lots of places to buy bulk, but, the prices were really high and the more locations you look at the more difference you see in the prices. It’s like each company tries to greed more money out of each item they offer. I don’t think they even look on these pages to see what other companies are asking. I mean differences of $10-15 a pound !!! Ridiculous……
I love bulk bins! I love trying out new spices – the bulk bins allow me to only buy a couple of tablespoons at a time! ;-) However, you do need to be careful with prices – I shop at Winco, and their bulk bins are sometimes MORE expensive than buying a package. Case in point – the last time I was there, I compared the price of a 5 lb. package of Bob’s Red Mill whole wheat flour – the bag was 20-cents cheaper *per pound* than buying it in bulk. It was even cheaper than buying the giant 25 lb. bag they have for survival fanatics! lol It doesn’t make sense to me. The moral of the story is to keep your brain turned on and keep checking prices to make sure you are getting the best deal. Cheers!
Any suggestions for buying in bulk online? We do not have a grocery store that carries bulk items.
Hi Tracy. Many readers use Azure Standard and Amazon carries a lot of bulk items, too.
Come to Canada! We have a chain of stores called Bulk Barn…it’s my happy place. They sell spices in bulk too so I only get enough to fill my container
My bulk purchases have dwindled down to almost nothing now that my son’s preschool has a strict no-nut policy. Every bulk bin has the disclaimer that the product may have touched a nut. Boo! I love bulk buying!
The only that bothers me about bulk is price. I’ve always tho’t bulk products were cheaper but have found that, like so many other things, once people caught on to using them more, the price went up.
I agree with all other points. I love my jars in my pantry. :)
I don’t generally buy from the bulk bins because I a) buy local where possible, and b) buy in greater quantities so it’s more cost effective. For example, I buy my whole-wheat flour in 50-lb bags from a mill that buys direct from the farmers that grow it. They are within 100 miles of me. I buy dried beans from the family that grows them in 5lb bags. I buy oats from a distributor that gets from from the farmers. i buy my brown rice in 50lb bags as well though those aren’t local.
Hi Christa,
I’m not sure where you live, but I’m in South Jersey (the busy part) and well, I’d love more information on how I can start buying more directly from the farmers in Jersey and/or PA. Where can I start to look? If you have any great tips or website, please share them!
Thank you,
~Jill
With bulk beans and other items you will be cooking, there shouldn’t be a problem with germs. Living in small towns for many years, I found the local health food store was the place to buy all my spices. Whole Foods no longer has many bulk spices and, if you replace them every 6 months, this is a good option. They move pretty fast here so freshness isn’t a problem. Not having cooking instructions isn’t much of a problem if you use the Internet.
I hope those that are and continuing to buy in bulk are using reusable bulk bags and not the plastic bags provided on the roll in the store… Amazon sells lots of options, sew your own from used t-shirts, etc…Just take them to the customer service to be tared and write the numbers of the items on a piece of paper, your phone notepad, your grocery list, etc…
I can tell you a friend of mine works at Hy-Vee and told me to never buy from their bins because I have a child with a nut allergy. She said that the workers she has witnessed have no care about over spill or mixing items by mistake or taking on scoop from one bin and putting it in another bin. She said you really would not believe how little time and care they take into putting those items in the bin so for me, sorry I am out!
Not to be a “negative-Nelly”, but I once read an article that said we shouldn’t buy from bulk bins… because (the reason is gross) of all the things they found inside the bins, other than what they were trying to sell. Non-food products left by shoppers.
When I have looked at buying bulk in those stores and others like them, they have been way more expensive. So I didn’t …
I bought my first items from the bulk bins this week! I’m so proud of myself. I bought steel cut oats to try for my granola bars and popcorn kernels that were cheaper than the bags.
Good for you, Abby! Thanks for sharing! :)
While I am starting to buy a few items from bulk bins if i just need a small amount but I am concerned about contamination also. I have SEEM people stick their hands in the bin! and how often do those scoops land back in the bin with the handles touching the food. I even saw a woman count out cinnamon sticks once and after she weighed them she put some of them BACK! UGHHH I got a clerk but he did nothing so i went and got the manager.. she removed the jar… but for how long i wonder??
I understand how it may not be nice to view people handling your food, but honestly how do you think it got from the farm to the bulk bin? Hint – it wasn’t a sanitary lab. :)
I’m not sure if this has been addressed, too many comments to read through. But, I do not buy from bulk bins due to cross contamination concerns. I have a gluten sensitive, peanut allergic toddler and I can never trust that these items have not been in the bin recently. I also am a little, not overly, concerned about all the handsies in and out of the bin. If I think about it too much it kind of grosses me out.
I LOVE bulk bins! Unfortunately, I live in an area where bulk bins are not available in stores (yet). I drive 45 minutes – 1 hour to Earth Fare and other natural foods stores to stock my pantry. I am a jar collector, too. Don’t even get me started about the excitement of the blue and green Ball jars! Which looks better in blue? Black beans or white rice? I’ve tried both. :-) The trip is worth it to me, I buy enough for a month or two, I get organic foods for a fraction of the price (organic is pricey in this area), and I have my organized jar pantry. Triple-win!
Steph – you are so cute. Glad I’m not the only one who gets excited about the jars! At first my husband was so over it, but I’m happy to report that he now thinks it looks so organized. Woo-hoo! Thanks for making me smile with your comment;).