Shopping for healthy food can be pretty expensive – fresh, nutritious and natural foods are always going to be more expensive than mass produced artificial ones. But there are some things that you can do to make it cheaper and more convenient (always a bonus!). In today’s blog, we’re taking a look at the benefits of buying cupboard ingredients in bulk.
Affordability
If you’re shopping for specialist and cupboard ingredients alongside your favourite proteins, fruits and vegetables (think oats, rice, cacao powder, chia seeds, tinned tomatoes and coconut oil), it can be pretty painful to watch the total adding up at the checkout. So instead of buying these ingredients from the supermarket – buy them online! It may seem a little strange, but you can actually get much better prices this way, and the gap between non-organic and organic versions of the same foods is much smaller.
For instance, at Sainsbury’s 100g of Cacao Powder (a delicious superfood packed with antioxidants) will cost you £4. On Amazon, though, you can buy this version (raw and organic – so the health benefits are optimal) at £8.99 for 500g (to compare the two, this is £1.79 for 100g, so really quite the saving!).
For a more commonly used ingredient thanks to their tiny size and amazing health benefits, Chia Seeds from Sainsbury’s will cost you a whopping £5 for just 150g, whereas from Real Foods (my favourite bulk-buying website for healthy food), the same amount would cost you £1.40 (although if you buy it buy the kilo at £9.35, it’ll cost a measly 93p per 100g) – it’s a no-brainer, really!
Convenience
When the prices are so high for such foods at the supermarket, you can find yourself shopping around to try and find the best price, only to find that they’re extortionate pretty much everywhere. By doing it all online, the products come to you (and since we’ve given you the best sites to get them at – Amazon and Real Foods – the leg-work has all been done!).
I like to do one big online shop every month, so that I can keep an eye on what foods I’m running low on and ensure I keep them topped up. What’s more, if you buy a kilo of oats and a kilo of chia seeds one month, it’s unlikely that you’ll need any more next time, so the orders get smaller and smaller as you go on. It also helps that you rarely run out of anything!
Broader range of products
Where else would you be able to find spirulina, a range of protein powders, chopped tomatoes, coconut oil, toiletries, chocolate and more, all in one place?! Very few places, we’d imagine (although if you know of any, please do send us in the right direction!). Shopping for cupboard groceries in bulk means that you get to explore so many great products at once, discovering new superfoods to throw into your smoothies and so much more.
Environmentally friendly
By buying your products by the kilo or 500g instead of 100g, you reduce the amount of packaging required to get you your ingredients by up to ten times. This means that there will be less need for the production of such packaging (and while you doing this only makes a small change, it’s a change nonetheless). As well, you also reduce the carbon emissions required – if you need to top up your ingredients on a regular basis, you’ll spend more time in the car going to and from the supermarket, and suppliers will have an increased demand for such products, meaning they’ll transport more into the shops. Instead, by utilising a pre-existing postal service, the emissions will be substantially lower.
There are so many reasons to buy in bulk – it’s more affordable, convenient, varied and environmentally friendly. It’s also a great excuse to create a nifty-looking pantry with attractive glass jars and rustic wooden shelves, but we’re not sure that can be listed as a key benefit…
Do you buy your food in bulk? We’d love to hear where you find the best prices – like, share and comment below!
Sources/references/media
HAFFY Fitness 