Does anyone buy in bulk for their pantry?

WantToBeSE

I am moving to a new house in the next few weeks and one of the best things about the house is that it has a huge pantry!

I am thinking about doing a huge food shop every 3 months or so, to fill up the pantry with non-perishables like rice/pasta, flour etc and then just doing a fruit and veg shop once a week.

Does anyone else do this? Is there anything i need to think about when bulk storing food for this long? I was wondering about things like weevils in flour etc.

Also, does this save money? Or does anyone think it might save some money?

iammumtoone

I have a pantry, when I first moved in my intentions were much like yours

Now the pantry houses the hoover and ironing board, but mainly[STRIKE] junk[/STRIKE] treasures that I can't bear to part with

I hope you have more luck keeping yours for its intended purpose than I did

WantToBeSE

iammumtoone wrote: »

I have a pantry, when I first moved in my intentions were much like yours

Now the pantry houses the hoover and ironing board, but mainly[STRIKE] junk[/STRIKE] treasures that I can't bear to part with

I hope you have more luck keeping yours for its intended purpose than I did

Hahaha...luckily i have loads of storage throughout the house, so loads of space for other stuff too. Plus, the pantry is big enough for food and also cleaning stuff

jackyann

Think about turnover. A lot of foodstuffs are safe & OK after a few months, but aren't quite as nice (pulses for instances go hard, and aren't as tasty). It's also easy to suddenly find that you are eating less pasta or rice than before and you have a load to work through!

Having said that, it can be useful for things you KNOW you are going to get through, and for stocking up when special offers are on.

Make sure the pantry is both cool & dry, and the food is well packaged, then you shouldn't have any problems.

Tiddlywinks

I buy in bulk from Amazon and Costco plus take advantage of BOGOF offers for toiletries etc.

Flour - I keep about 1.5kg of each flour type in Lock & Lock boxes in the kitchen for daily cooking - I don't ever buy sacks of flour as I worry about creepy crawlies; I store spare bags of flour in zip lock bags to protect from moisture etc.

Rice - I buy 5kg plastic containers of rice and the screw top keeps it fresh enough.

Tins - I buy sweetcorn, canned pulses, corned beef (for my OH), baked beans, soups etc in bulk and rotate the stock by placing the new arrivals at the back. I use a chalk marker to show the month and year of expiry on the tops if expiring within 6 months.

I use Really Useful boxes to store irregular shaped stuff (like bags of Sosmix, textured veggie protein, packets of biscuits etc) - they are then easier to stack and can be labelled - again they are strong enough to keep out rodents.

http://www.reallyusefulstorageboxes.co.uk/?gclid=CPqOk5H40M0CFc0y0wodVrgMCA

I also use the 9 litre sized Really Useful boxes to store appliances like the pie maker, sandwich toaster, hand blender, processor attachments, cake pans etc.

So, essentially in my 'pantry' virtually everything in my kitchen is either in a Lock & Lock box, a Really Useful box or on a shelf. Everything is labelled with a chalk marker (because the ink can be removed with soapy water).

It does mean that everything is easy to find and the regular shapes and white colour of the boxes makes it look very neat and less 'busy'.

I've probably got a plastic storage box fetish to be honest .

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Edited to add - yes, buying in bulk definitely saves money... as long as you get the stock rotation right.

I also buy toilet and kitchen rolls in bulk and store the packs on top of a wardrobe in a spare bedroom.

milasavesmoney

Pantry items don't go off in three months. I, like Tiddlywinks, store many items in plastic containers. I also like to store in pretty shaped glass containers with screw-on lids. I can see my inventory easier that way.

I buy when there are sales. When I see my stash of say bread flour getting low, I start looking for sales.
I just try to keep in mind what I use a lot of and bulk buy when it's at sale price.

You will love having things on hand, but don't go crazy stocking up all at once. It takes a while to figure out how often you need to replenish.

Look at your go to meals that you cook over and over and start there. Happy new home!!!

Pollycat

I have shelves in my garage (accessible from the hallway) where I keet stuff that I've bought half price or BOGOF.

Mainly tins and jars - chopped & whole tomatoes, baked beans, tuna, corned beef, coffee etc.

I always have a spare jar of various mustards, horseradish etc and when the one in the fridge is finished I replace it with the one from the garage and make a note on my 'future' shopping list and replenish when it's on offer.

MandM90

The only things I buy in large sizes (i.e. 2kg or more, not super bulk) are rice and pulses, because nearly all of our meals are based around them.



With everything else I do it the old fashioned way and buy exactly what I need to prevent weevils, things going nasty, or just general clutter. Unless you're prepping for the end of the world I'm not sure I see why it would be a huge advantage as diets and tastes can change and I wouldn't want things to go too far past their best and potentially get wasted.

HappyMJ

Rice I buy in 10kg bags only because it seems the cheapest way of buying it and it lasts ages. I've never thrown any out. I buy a bag every 4 months....only ever on special under £1/kg.

Pasta I'll stock up on when it's on special. I never pay full price. It keeps quite a long time.

Flour doesn't tend to last very long and give a perfect result so I'll only buy that in 1.5kg bags and keep it for no more than 3 months before attempting to use the rest of it up. Plain flour lasts longer than self raising flour so if you don't use it often then just buy plain and add some baking powder.

The problem is if you do create a store of items then waste levels can increase. You've actually got to use the items that you've stored sooner rather than later or they go to waste.

I've had oils go rancid and had to dispose of them. I now only buy 1 litre bottles rather than the cheaper (per unit) 5 litre bottles that may not get used in time.

I don't use butter quick enough and even though I only buy 250 grams of it it goes rancid before it's all used. I no longer have any in stock. You can portion it and freeze it so it lasts longer.

If the end of the world happened right now and no more food was delivered to supermarkets we would have enough food to last for about 4 weeks. They wouldn't be balanced meals but it''s enough to get by with in the short term.

MallyGirl

I make my own low carb granola so I get through lots of seeds and coconut chips. I buy these in bulk for a fraction of the price per g that I would pay in a supermarket.

suki1964

I can't see the point of bulk buying food. It does perish and menus change

I have a larder where anything opened is kept, jars,,bread, flour , rice, pulses, spices etc

I then have a turntable cupboard for things like tinned toms, tinned veg, coffee , tea, sugar, unopened pasta etc are kept

So if it's open and in use in the larder I've a back up in the cupboard, or its on the list to buy next time it's on special

Largest bags I buy of anything is basmati rice, 5kg at a time which we soon go through as we eat more rice then spuds

Mum however seems to think we need a six pack of baked beans every two weeks or at least yet another tin of salmon. Those get stashed under the stairs. I had to pull out 3 cans of soup to throw out the other day. Nothing wrong with the sell by, but the tops of the cans were showing corrosion. Hopefully she will learn one day