A box of snacks from the bulk food warehouse, can have fifty individual packets inside one large box. A package of hamburger meat can be 4-6lbs worth. Face it, bulk is bulky, it is large, it is plentiful and it is darn difficult to store. So, how and where do you store all these bulk food purchases?
Let’s begin with the how:
The key to being able to store such large items, is to break it down if possible. Most items that are purchased from a bulk warehouse, can be re-packaged or broken down and stored in a different manner.
For instance, lets say that you purchase a package of meat in bulk. It really does not matter if it is stew meat, hamburger meat, or even pork steaks. There are probably much to much in that package to make for one meal. When you get your purchase home, grab a couple of freezer bags and break it up. Split hamburger meat into three or four meals. Do the same with chicken breasts, stew meat, and anything else you purchase bulk. Then get all the air out of the freezer bag, and lie the bags flat, stacked in your freezer or freezer chest.
If you purchase something like a large box of oatmeal packets, sometimes inside the large box are several small boxes. If you can find room in your pantry to store these smaller boxes, then go for it, but remove the smaller boxes from the large box. If you wind up opening a large bulk box, and discover that it is full of smaller packets of oatmeal, or even snack crackers or something to that extent, purchase a smaller plastic container for your pantry (like one of those .99 plastic shoe boxes or another type of container on sale) and place the packets into the container. It will save space and you can put the lid on and stack items. You can do this with the large boxes too, except its a real pain having to lift those large boxes out every time you want something. Another frugal method is to reuse something you already have.
An example of what we do: We purchase granola bars and snack bars in bulk from our bulk food warehouse. They come in gigantic boxes. We have an old container from a bulk purchase of licorice we bought last year. We place two large handfuls of each kind of bar we purchased into the former licorice container and mix it all up. The kids can grab a snack easily from there, and we store the large box containing the rest on a shelf in the basement. We replenish as needed. It’s easy and it saves tons of storage space.
Watch tomorrow for an article on Where to Frugally Store Your Bulk Food Purchases.
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