Eat healthy on a budget.

[docscience]

I saw the price of organic oatmeal at my local food store was #2.50/lb. regular oatmeal is half that.
I found one of the farmers, who sell the organic oats to the processor, and am able to buy the same organic oats for $0.30/lb. directly from the farmer. I had to buy it in 88lb bags, but it is worth it. I buy the oats in whole oat form, which keeps "forever" in reasonable storage buckets. I only grind up what I will use for a day or the week.

[Pickaflower]

Nice! I wish I could find a deal like that.

[docscience]

It was not easy. I had to contact growers associations, department of agriculture, checked sellers of straw on kijijij because some sell straw because they grow oats, and wheat and grain crops. Local feed mills. I would ask for leads of other people to contact. No one seemed to have the answers I wanted, until I hit the correct person.

[Werner1950]

How do you grind it up?

[Ltldogg]

I can buy Whole Regular Oats (5 minute cooking time) that are not organic for about $0.60 per pound and organic for about $1.20 per pound, here in Phoenix, AZ at WINCOs. WINCOs by far has the best bin prices and puts to shame Sprouts and Whole Foods.

[docscience]

I found that my normal electric food processor / chopper did not work well.
I use my electric coffee grinder (was $10. from Walmart) and works very well. People say it will wear it out fast, and so I have ordered a hand crank victorio grain grinder from amazon for $70. which has stainless steel cutting surface.
I will need this anyway, since I also found a supplier of milling grade wheat
(directly from another farmer) for $0.15 /lb.
Both grains when ground up into small bits, boil in water, into oat meal and wheat meal almost as fast as quick oats.
I find they also have more taste, as they are fresher.
I can use the wheat for both wheat porridge or flour.
.

Since I am buying in 88lb. bags anyway, by spending $60.00 will get me a quarter ton of milling grade wheat in whole kernel form, which will keep almost forever in 5 gal buckets. That will give me cheap food plus an emergency food supply, for the next 10 years, if I don't have anyone else to split it with. Most people spend more than $60.00 on food in one week. Since I discovered this, I have been collecting free food grade 4 to 5 gallon buckets with lids, at local restaurants, who throw them out.
I tell them that I need the lids also, I say keep the lids, please keep the lids. But they still sometimes throw out the lids.
.

[Werner1950]

Does anyone in Ontario know where I can get whole oats in bulk?

[docscience]

You need to go to the farmers directly. To find the farmer , check what I wrote above, and also phone any grain mills to 1st ask what grains they sell.
Next ask what farmers grow those grains that you want to get. Several grain mills will want to sell you grains in bulk, but at a higher to much higher price.

[Pumpkin Pete]

Hi Docscience,
That's a lot of oatmeal! How long will it take you to get through the 88 lbs?
I eat rolled oats most days of the week so I estimate it would take me about 16 months to consume 88 lbs. If I had so much on hand I would make a dedicated effort to consume more of it in place of some other whole grain so maybe I could shorten the period by a few months.
At my local Aldi they sell rolled oats at $1.05 for 750 grams (1.65 lbs). That works out at 0.63 cents a pound.
I can live with that! The name brand sells for $5.50 for a kg however I can't discern any difference in quality, just in price. I would think the oats are processed at the same facility.

[vgpedlr]

I get oats from the bulk bin for a dollar a pound. I will gladly pay someone else to store them. I do not want 88 pounds of anything to store.

[arugula]

i get old-fashioned conventional oats for $0.69 in the bulk bin. organic is more expensive, and whole oat groats, my favorite, are even more than that.

i would be wary of buying excessively large quantities of whole grains. they would go rancid before i could finish them, even with my three large dogs. but when i find prepackaged for cheap, i buy bunches.

[docscience]

whole grains. they would go rancid before i could finish them,

This is not true. Whole grains in the whole kernel form, stored properly, will store for several decades.
Whole grains are one of the easiest methods to make a long term emergency economical food supply. Everyone should have a few months supply, of something that can provide a bulk of calories. If a severe food shortage happens in North America, soon, do not expect the government, or anyone else to help. Just remember Catrina, because very little help came there when needed. Those who know, are telling us that a severe food shortage is going to happen soon.

[arugula]

i've encountered a lot of brown rice that has gone off. it has a shelf life of about six months.

http://thinkrice.com/recipes-tips/storage/

[calvin]

I've been buying, storing, and eating popcorn, rice (brown and white), groats, millet, and all manner of beans by the 50lbs or 25lbs bag for years. I keep them dry (to protect from humidity) and covered (to protect from bugs) in generic plastic 5gallon buckets covered with Gamma Seal Lids (you can google them, very user friendly). There is not enough fat in these products for rancidity to be an issue. Moisture of course is an issue, hence keep them dry. The rice is the only item that will be attractive to bugs (little moth-like creatures), hence another reason to keep rice sealed up. Buying in bulk sometimes gets me a 10% discount on top of waiting for a sale price. This practice helps keep my daily food cost near or below $5/day here in SoCal as long as i avoid packaged, canned, processed products and minimize high fat products (plant milks, nuts, seeds, avocadoes, olives) which are all relatively high priced. It also prepares for disasters which might jeapardize food availability.

I once brought home a 50lb bag of popcorn from Smart & Final and the popped corn tasted off; it was because somewhere along the way from field to grocer, the popcorn had been exposed to moisture and had become mildewed. I was allowed to exchange it. Actually the popcorn is sometimes too dry and the quality of the popped product can be improved by putting an open container of water in the storage bin where it is slowly taken up by osmosis...fluffier popcorn.

Regarding food expence, you have to remember that i am relatively healthy, not poor, have a home with kitchen, gas, electricity, water, cooking tools, and live in CA which is not only the what?, maybe something like the 6th or 7th largest economy in the world (yes, a state economically bigger than most whole countries) but also the breadbasket (vegie garden) to this nation and so all things healthy and unhealthy are readily available here. So when you hear about someone selling an "Eat On $4 Per Day" book, think about the context and the choir they're preaching to. Life can change in a heartbeat but for now I'm in the right place at the right time with the right Doctor* living like a King, but without the gout. If there were anything to the whole karma belief system, i would have to have been an angel in a previous lifetime.

*In light of yesterday's webinar, I will think of him as Dr. Starch.

[Grammy Ginger]

I've been eating bulk grains and beans for decades. It's true that they will store for years if properly stored. However, sometimes it This practice helped me afford to feed my large family.


Be kind...


Grammy Ginger eats no fat,
And refuses time of plenty lean.
So God's creatures live in peace,
As she dines on beans and greens.
(and oats and rice and potatoes and veggies and fruit...mmm)