Cutting costs: Veg. staples in bulk?

Okay, I won't get into it here, but we are having a financial crisis and need to seriously tighten our belts for a while! Problem is, they're as tight as can be in some areas... and in others, we are unwilling to make compromises.

DH and I are both vegan. We don't eat MUCH in the way of processed-soy-meat-dairy-sub stuff, but the amount that we do eat is automatically the first thing to go. I can utilize dry beans, whole grains, etc. to amply supply our protein for much less $. We spend more on fresh produce than anything, and I'm hoping that burden will be less in a couple of months if we stay on top of things in our garden and shop the farmer's markets as soon as they open.

From what I figure, our next biggest grocery expense is dry staples and grains - rice, flour/cornmeal, sugar, and coffee. We have no place in town that sells bulk bags of any of these. I'm wondering if anyone has any ideas of somewhere online where I can get that stuff in more quantity? Especially the rice and sugar - we eat a lot of brown rice and it adds up, and veg. sugar is expensive! Any suggestions are appreciated.

I already cook most everything from raw or dry ingredients, so it's hard to find places to cut back.

 

Thanks so much for the links mama! Sprouts hadn't even occurred to me -- that's definitely something I want to do this year.

Unfortunately, my other plans have been put on hold for the time being, for two reasons: space (we don't have much of it) and the lack of 10-20 pound bags of anything. I can't seem to find, even non-organic, bags of rice/flour/beans/sugar or anything at anyplace within reach to us. Next time we make a trip into the city I might hit up a friend for a stop @ Sam's club to see if they have anything, but even that seems doubtful. The "bulk" places online that I've found usually seem to just sell multiple packages of the same stuff at our local grocery, at not much discount.

I guess we'll be tightening our belts the old-fashioned way: starving! lol, I'm mostly kidding... we'll just have to think of creative new ways to cut costs.

 

Thanks mama. I won't give up. Even if I could just find rice, that'd make a big difference.

I can't believe sprouts never occurred to me before. Not just that, but different kinds of sprouts hadn't occurred to me. I had only just been thinking about seed sprouts for sandwiches and salads. I'm asking Ian to buy cheesecloth @ work today, and I can start out using some old PB jars I always save, (glass, around 12-oz liquid size, wide mouth) and/or possibly some small mason jars, because with them I can just screw the rings over the cheesecloth.

Any recommendations on places to get seed? I was thinking if I had at least 3 different kinds of sprouts it would be great - that way it wouldn't get totally monotonous and I could use them in different types of meals. There's a place in town, where I can get a bag (I think it's about a pound) of either just alfalfa, or a "green sprouting mix" for about $6. But it seems like that price could be beat.

 

Have you tried local food banks? Explain your diet, most will be happy to help you if they can.


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Actually, I have tried that. The local food banks will only help people with an official reference (on paper) from DHS. So it requires not only the hours of waiting and paperwork at the food bank location, but also at the closest DHS office (which isn't close)... On top of that the place is primarily full of powdered milk, expired energy bars, beef stew in cans, etc. No matter what my diet they wouldn't let me take home more than a small bag or two of rice or beans or anything.

Sometimes shit is just hard, I know... and right now shit is hard all over, so I'm trying not to wallow or bitch and just go with it - do what I can. But if something positive doesn't occur in my life soon I think I may explode.

 

Church based food banks should have fewer restrictions.

Maybe its time to be innovative, like starting a gleaner's union or something?


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