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Friday, August 27, 2010

Buying in Bulk PART TWO

So now you have the prices of what you want. You need to work out whats cheaper and in what sizes, then its a fairly simple case of buying :)
To work out how much you go through in what amount of time write down the date you open each pack then the date you finish it. Some things you'll go through faster, some slower. You'll be able to work out how to make things stretch abit more as you go along.

Here are some of the suppliers I found while searching :

Toops Wholesalers - servicing the Lower North Island
Gilmours Wholesalers  - servicing the Upper North Island
Trents Wholesalers - servicing the South Island
The Trade Cellar - wine for those who like it
Woolworths - great to check supermarket prices ONLINE

Bidvest - throughout NZ

Davis Trading - Auckland, Palmerston North, Wellington, Christchurch. Stocks good range of Asian foods too.
First Foods - Throughout NZ, scroll down linked page to find your closest supplier.
Chantal Organics - Delivers throughout NZ (Organic/Wholefoods).
Bin Inn - Various locations throughout NZ.
Huckleberry Farms - Delivers throughout NZ (Wholefoods).
Piko Wholefoods - Christchurch local vegetarian wholefoods co-op.
Steves Bulk Barn  - Palmerston North (Wholefoods/Organic).

For bulk baking soda and washing soda (or soda ash) for your cleaners : 

Wonder Products Eltham 06 764 8088       0800 100 350

Aakland Chemicals Christchurch 03 341 8490


I hope this helps you get off to a good start :) since we eat a wholefoods, non-processed, living diet alot of these places provide organic/gluten-free/whole foods. While we're on a strict budget I firmly believe that you get far more bang for your buck by buying the least processed foods you can. You'll find you need less to eat, you and your family are healthier and you all have more energy.



Check out these books at your local library for more info on eating like we're supposed to -








8 comments:

Jakes Mama said...

Sorry bout the wonky layout - Blogger is being a PITA!

Kathleen said...

Great list! Can I add one?

http://www.finda.co.nz/business/listing/5gnr/big-als-bulk-barn/

Big Al's bulk barn in Gisborne :) We used to have a Gilmours, but sadly it closed down earlier this year. Grrrr.

Linzy said...

Thanks heaps for the list of suppliers, when I googled I didn't find any of those :0( Will check them out

Lindsey said...

Well I have looked into bulk buying, created a huge spreadsheet based on ideas from your blog nto calculate quantities, sat and thought through what we would need..... and it is NOT cheaper :0(
It seems that bulk buying in Auckland is not cheaper than good ol' Pak n Save. Part of it I think is because the wholesaler sells brand products such as Weetbix whereas I always buy the Pam's version at the supermarket, therefore the wholesaler is more expensive.

Oh well I can say I tried and maybe my spreadsheet will help me reduce my monthly shop instead

Jakes Mama said...

So the idea is to buy weetbix in bulk from the supermarket hun. You buy from whereever the cheaper deal is! I got all my tinned tomatoes in 2.2kg tins from countdown since they were almost $1 cheaper per tin than anywhere else and I just brought as many tins as I needed for 6 months/1 year. BTW I've always found the homebrand wheat biscuits from countdown cheapest ;)

Lindsey said...

The wholesaler was actually more expensive on alot of items so by the time I got there (other side of Auckland) or paid for freight and then had to go to the supermarket as well it wouldn't have been cheaper. It was actually quite disappointing as I really liked the concept.
All the spreadsheets, thinking etc that I did do for it though will help alot with my monthly shopping and I think I will be more likely to keep that under/within budget.

Jakes Mama said...

Keep in mind you'd be making one round trip going to all the shops you need to and picking up everything you need for a long period of time which would cut down on the smaller, more regular trips you make. I tend to balance any freight cost against what my time is worth so tends to work out alot cheaper overall for me. Also don't forget that you can order from other wholesalers round the country and get your order delivered. Another product/time/cost saving thing I do is work out what can be substituted for what so I buy oats and make muesli out of that as well, cutting down on my shopping list, and so on.

I hope your spreadsheet does help though and I'm sorry bulk buying isn't looking like a viable option at this point :)

lorettainnz said...

I grew my own tomatoes from self sown tomato plants. there were 5 of them, ate lots and then froze what was left them in bag lots and saved on buying tinned tomatoes at all.

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