Where to Buy Bulk Foods

Where to Buy Bulk Foods 

by JohnyMac

I read The Gray Man’s excellent article here on American Partisan titled STORING PINTO BEANS, LONG TERM and wanted to take a minute to address where is the safest and best place to acquire the beans, rice, wheat, et cetera you wish to store. This is always the number one question I am asked when facilitating a preparedness class. Let’s look at the options available with some cautions for each.

The internet is a natural place to go to buy your bulk items. Buying bulk items from the internet is easy and if you belong to a program like Amazon’s Prime, shipping for most orders will be free. If you buy bulk items from the internet or a company that specializes in emergency food like My Patriot Supply, the bulk items come ready to put onto your shelf – No buckets, Mylar bags, or oxygen absorbers to buy.

Then there is your local feed store. Wheat (hard & red) along with barley, corn, and other grains are readily available. When we first started putting up bulk items, I went to my local Agway store. Before I started putting bags of grain on my cart, I spoke to the store manager about what I was doing. Her suggestion was not buying any grain sold in their store for human consumption. The reason was their bulk grains were for animals only. Apparently when packaged for the store the quality control was minimal so there will be gravel mixed in with the grain along with different levels of poisons to control bugs and rodents. With this written, if you know a farmer that grows feed for sale, I am sure they could accommodate your needs.

Big Box Wholesale stores can be a good place to start however what they carry in bulk items depends on what part of the country they are located in. If your wholesale store is located in a more rural setting, you will see more bulk items like, salt, sugar, rice, et cetera then if your store is located in an urban location. Our Sams Club is in the latter; Consequently, we only buy coffee beans at this store.

One of my favorite places to buy bulk items is your local restaurant supply warehouse. Your local restaurants buy most of their goods from these warehouses. Prices are good and it is where we buy items to fill in the blanks like; gallon cans of olive oil, dark chocolate by the pound, and baking supplies like, baking soda, baking powder and yeast.

Last and one of my favorite places to buy bulk items are the many Bishop warehouses maintained by the Church of Later-Day Saints (LDS) located around the country and Canada. The Bishop warehouses are open to church members and gentiles alike. Even though many accept credit cards, I always paid cash. Back in 2011 when buying a large order for neighbors and myself the director of the warehouse and I had a long discussion on several topics of preparedness. He shared with me that earlier in the week, two FBI agents were in his warehouse asking if there were any folks – not church members – that were buying large amounts of bulk food. He replied negatively and the two men gave him their business cards and requested if it did happen to save any credit card documentation and give them a call.

For comparing purposes, I picked out five items that would be part of everyone’s basic food preps as listed below. All prices are by the pound.

All Prices By Pounds Red Wheat Rice Salt Sugar Powdered Milk
Internet $1.15 $1.71 $1.12 $1.72 $5.54
Feed Store 33¢ N/A 20¢ N/A N/A
Big Box $1.15 $2.05 32¢ 55¢ $4.10
Restaurant Supply N/A 37¢ 39¢ 52¢ $4.37
LDS Bishop House    40¢ 79¢ N/A   88¢ $2.57

 

Again, this is just a small selection of bulk items that you may put up. You can see that the best deal would be LDS Bishop warehouses as long as one is close to your AO. Also, if you bring up the list of what the LDS Bishop warehouses carry, that list is the basic year-round inventory. Most carry a lot more items in bulk. As an example, the warehouse near me carried salt in 25-pound bags while it is not listed on their standard inventory list.

Again, as mentioned earlier, the internet offers items already packaged and ready for the shelf; Consequently, you will save money on gas, Mylar bags, buckets and oxygen absorbers. For MrsMac and I, we preferred doing it ourselves and the little bit of travel we had to do was not an issue.

A few closing comments…If you are going to put wheat up make sure you buy a good quality food mill like the Country Living Hand Grill Mill. DO NOT use oxygen absorbers with salt and sugar. You will be able to use those items, but they will be like a brick and you will have to chip away at the block to use. Make a list of what you need keeping into account calories and carbohydrates for what an active person will use in a grid down situation. Typically, 3,000 or so calories for a male and 2,500 calories for a woman. Your bulk preps should include; wheat, rice, dried beans, sugar, salt, oil (we like olive oil), baking soda, baking powder, both white & apple vinegar, dark chocolate, coffee, tea, and canned protein – Meat for you Marianne Williamson supporters. As we closed up each bucket, we threw in a handful of hard candies on top of the sealed Mylar bags as a surprise when we or someone else opened the bucket.

Since we are in the beginning of the Fourth Turning again, you need to plan for the worse and pray for the best. Do not put off till tomorrow what you can do today.

Freedom Through Self-Reliance®

 

 

 

  

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16 Comments

  1. tropicthunder81 September 9, 2019 at 07:02

    The LDS stores consistently have the best selection, prices, and packaging in our area. Phones in the faraday bag and cash for payment is how we roll.

    • johnyMac September 9, 2019 at 20:42

      Yeah Brother tropicthunder81!

      Anymore with the DOJ recently asking for information from Google, Apple, and Amazon; cash is how we roll for pretty much anything that falls into “this kind of category”.

      Thx for reading and commenting Sir!

  2. Warpig September 9, 2019 at 08:40

    Some readers may want to checkout the Grain Mill (https://grainmill.coop/) locations in PA and central NC. They ship, but its probably more economical to pickup, even at long distances.

    Re: FBI snooping above. Can’t even buy bulk food without big brother watching.

    • johnyMac September 9, 2019 at 20:39

      Yeah Warpig…FBI snooping above. Can’t even buy bulk food without big brother watching.

      At first i didn’t believe the warehouse manager and gave him a good ribbing. He smiled at me and went over to the office trash and retrieved two Boston based FBI business cards. Mmmmmm?

      Thanks for the suggestion on the PA and NC connection. \”/

      73 & God Bless Brother.
      JMc

  3. Jennifer September 9, 2019 at 10:32

    I would just add a little clarification. The “Bishops warehouses” are actually called “bishops storehouses” and they are strictly for supplying food and a few other commodities for those who have fallen into financial difficulty. Any items obtained there must be approved by the local bishop. There are a lot more food items available there and the hours are different from the Home Storage Centers, which is what preparedness-minded individuals are interested in. The link at the “bishops warehouses” above is correct–it goes straight to the Home Storage Center form. The Home Storage Centers are usually open two days per week for a limited number of hours. It is best to call ahead to make sure the hours posted on the internet are correct.

    • johnyMac September 9, 2019 at 20:36

      Thank you Jennifer for the clarification.

      The bishops storehouses we went too in XXXX. MA. at first only allowed us to buy from the warehouse’s inventory of bulk items. The front – non warehouse area – was as you wrote “commodities for those who have fallen into financial difficulty”. With that written, often the warehouse manager would invite us into the other section of the warehouse and suggest that MrsMac try Mr. So & So’s honey, or Mrs. So & so’s preserves. We would often try these delicacies and leave the Church a donation that we gave the warehouse manager.

      MrsMac became good friends of some of the ladies in that section of the warehouse. I was to involved talking politics and preparedness with the manager. ;-)

      On the other hand…I never lifted a bag of staples to put in my truck. There was always young folks there to pack it. Once I started to help the helpers and was scolded by the warehouse manager. He pulled me aside and told me that, “this is what they are there for. They are giving back to the Church and community.”

      Peace to you Sister!
      JMc

  4. Matt in Oklahoma September 9, 2019 at 12:18

    The LDS is a good source and our local one was very helpful. Our group even did a canning party there where they showed us the “how to” but we did the work.

    • johnyMac September 9, 2019 at 20:24

      Matt in OK,

      Yupper, the one we bought bulk food from did canning classes using #10 cans.

      I am not LDS and at first I was a bit hesitant going there. But like anything in this world you get out of it what you put into it. Within a short time the warehouse manager, MrsMac and I, got off handsomely. Every time we came back for another truck load, we were met with a hearty, “Hey JohnyMac. Just wait till I tell you about….”

      Not only did we meet some fun folks that eventually became good friends, I learned a “shit-ton” (Financial term) from some of the members of the church.

      Thx for reading Brother!

  5. Anonymous September 9, 2019 at 14:33

    5

  6. John Ward September 12, 2019 at 00:19

    Are Restaurant Supply stores generally open to the public? All the stores I’ve looked at say they require a business license.

    • johnyMac September 12, 2019 at 05:57

      Mr. Ward,
      The ones I go to are for the most part. Go in and tell them, “I have a hunting cabin that I want to stock for the winter”. If they blow ya’ off go to the next one. DO NOT CALL ON THE PHONE. Walk in with a list and they see $$$$$.

      When living in RI we used Toppas. Now we use Maines.

      Good luck Brother!

  7. vyt1az September 21, 2019 at 23:24

    Nice article with some very helpful ideas.

    Another resource for those that have them nearby, are Indian groceries. They’ve got a ton of grain/bean/lentil varieties that aren’t easily found in other places and are fairly inexpensive. It adds some meaningful variety and flavor if you’re willing to learn how to cook them.

    Along those same lines, another option for oil that can last a long time before going rancid is Ghee (clarified butter). Some of the first test batches I made myself lasted about 3yrs before going rancid, but that was without being stored in a vacuum. I’ve talked to some Indian co-workers that say it can store even longer, in warm climates, if prepared properly.

    Just out of curiosity how long are you estimating your coffee and chocolate will last before oxidizing and tasting nasty? For example: I’ve vacuum sealed roasted coffee beans, kept them in the freezer, and they tasted surprisingly fresh even after 6 months. With that being said, the same brand of roasted whole beans, on a shelf at room temperature, in their standard sealed bags, starts tasting unpleasant to me somewhere between 3-6 months.

    • johnyMac September 22, 2019 at 12:32

      vytlaz, Ghee is AWESOME and thanks for suggesting it.

      Just before Christmas one year our local grocery store had butter on sale at $1.99 a pound. MrsMac and I bought a lot and threw in the freezer. Not long after I read an article on Ghee and decided to make some with that inexpensive butter. We ended up putting 5-pounds of unsalted butter into a slow cooker and did the necessary skimming & such one snowy weekday. Bottled the clarified butter in pint canning bottles and pressure canned them at 11# for 60-minutes. If I remember correctly we got 6 to 7-pint jars from the 5-pounds of butter. We kept the butter in our root cellar and we ran out in just less of 2-years. The last jar was as good as the first. We used the butter primarily for searing meat because of the higher cooking temp ghee or clarified butter can give you.

      An example is…In the winter we fry a steak in a cast iron pan on our stove. I typically start with a dash of olive oil and some ghee. Fry the steak to rare and then trow in a good dollop of the ghee with some fresh thyme if I have it or dried thyme if I do not. I then spoon the ghee/thyme mixture over the steak for a minute then flip the steak over and do the same for another minute. Pull the steak and let it rest covered for 5-minutes. Viola, we end up with a Medium-rare steak that is crispy on the outside. I put the left over juices in a cup and pour over the steak or dribble over some hash browns. YUM!

      Sorry vyt1az I got carried away. Coffee… We buy whole beans at Sam’s club. We are on a Sumatra kick now. I vacuum seal the beans and throw them into the freezer dated. Once we get down to about half used we go back to Sam’s and start the process all over again. I have not detected a deterioration of the taste at all BUT, the beans are never in the freezer more than 2-3 months to be honest about 14 to 15 one pound bags at a time to be honest. With that written, if we start to see bank lines, one of my first stops will be to buy a shit-ton (Accounting term) of beans I can assure you.

      Thanks brother for the suggestions!

  8. Gray Man September 25, 2019 at 16:53

    Good on reemphasizing not using O2 absorbers on salt and sugar. It’s too easy for people to lose focus an drop those in there, turning that stuff into a brick they’ll have to scrape at.

    Very ominous that we’ve got FBI agents interested in who’s buying food…

    • johnyMac September 25, 2019 at 18:19

      Keep in mind that the FBI was looking under rocks in the 2011-2012 timeline. I doubt they are focused there now.

      At the time TGM, it did freak us out.

      Thanks Brother!

  9. Anonymous December 3, 2019 at 10:51

    4.5

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