Buying in bulk

[norteen]

i suspect that everyone is a bit too geographically spread out for this,but...we are part of a wholefood co-op.
twice a year we order aprox £2-4,000 of whole foods from Suma in elland...(don`t know if i can post links..just google them)...this has always been a huge saving on the retail price.

When i had more family at home,i would buy sacks of rice,lentils,oats,pulses,bread flour etc.

when the goods arrive..on two pallets,a couple of members dole it out into bins,in a barn that we have use of. Then other members come to pick up their order.

we take a small levy of 1% off each members order to have money for admin,bins, etc...however,we have so much unused money banked,for the last few orders no levy has been required.

When i lived in a city,we also had a fruit and veg co-op...it was fun going to the wholesalers and bargaining with them..... whenever it was your turn on the rota,you made additional choices to the basics...unfortunately we did have one member who had an avocado fixation...but its all part of the fun!

[the-gnole]

Sounds a good way to do the shopping

We have a Bookers card for somethings, a friend with a Costco card for other stuff, but have found that supermarkets are often cheaper for stuff.

We buy sugar in 25Kg sacks and then put it in a mylar bag inside a 30ltr clamp-top barrel. This is cheaper than buying it in 1Kg bags, usually it is the equivalent of getting 9Kg free.

[Technik]

That's quite a lot of food for £2-4k. I usually get that kind of food from realfoods.co.uk because they sell organic food.

[norteen]

What`s a bookers card ?

yes certainly,if I want bread flour now,its cheaper from a supermarket,than in bulk.

again,when I was south,Asia supermarkets were the best place for bulk pulses and rice.

Where are you getting 25kg sacks of sugar from?

[norteen]

Suma do organic too,its just we have a good relationship with them after many years.

That amount is spread between aprox 25 families.

Some are veggie,some are vegan...and some macrobiotic...so they will spend a lot,as there is only one retail shop here selling what they want,and its very expensive...thats why we started in fact.

[itsybitsy]

I think that sounds wonderful. I would love to take advantage of something like that, but I don't think there is anything of that nature where I am, unfortunately.

[the-gnole]

What`s a bookers card ?

yes certainly,if I want bread flour now,its cheaper from a supermarket,than in bulk.

again,when I was south,Asia supermarkets were the best place for bulk pulses and rice.

Where are you getting 25kg sacks of sugar from?

Bookers is a "Cash & carry" has the big bulky stuff like 25Kg bags of sugar. Also has huge bars of chocolate

http://www.booker.co.uk/home.aspx

[maxilaura]

do you have to have a catering business or something to get a Booker card or can anyone get it?

[TomW]

You need to be a business or organisation of some kind to qualify. They require 'evidence' so you cant just say you run a restaurant. You could of course start a business to qualify even if you never traded

If you do not yet have a Booker account and would like one you can click here to select your local branch and register to be a Booker customer. Once you have your customer number you will need to take two proofs of business to your local branch so that they can discuss your individual requirements with you and set up your account.

Full T&C's

Worth while if you can spend the time to register. Doesn't necessarily save you a lot but it does make it easier to bulk buy things. Aspirin and paracetemol for one. Where most shops have a limit of two boxes that would be kinda impractical for a shop to stock up You also avoid the odd looks when youa sk for the whole case of matches not just the one pack

[maxilaura]

thanks for the info Tom