Bulk buying seems like such a good idea, you might think thrifty folk like ourselves shop this way regularly. But we don’t do it. Why not? Well, for two main reasons. Firstly, buying in bulk is only of use if you have the capacity to correctly store items for the long term. Secondly, bulk prices don’t always beat the smaller quantities in the per unit price.
We don’t recommend bulk purchases for most perishable items. Many foods are susceptible to a variety of calamities from mold, to vermin, to going stale. If you aren’t armed with the correct storage solutions for all your foods, you’ll end up tossing bulk items before you get to eat them.
Our fruits and vegetables are purchased either fresh or frozen. We typically buy only enough for a short period of time. We like to keep our grains, nuts and beans in the kitchen, so we can be aware of what’s on hand. Therefore, we purchase what will fit in our storage jars that we can easily stash in the cabinets.
We only buy food in bulk when we are certain that we’ll use the items up in a few weeks. For instance, we’ll buy bigger bags of flour and sugar around the holidays as we have a good idea about how many cookies we’ll make over a span of five or six weeks.
We have discovered that the safest bet for bulk purchasing is non-food items. Cleaning supplies don’t expire; so feel free to fill a closet with them!