Letter Re: Check Prices When Buying Storage Foods!

Mr. Rawles:
I had a shock when I went to the supermarket the other day. I had gotten into a habit of buying beans and lentils in the little one pound clear plastic bags. I had also bought a lot of white rice in two pound bags, just one [bag] at a time. That was convenient, but I wasn’t paying attention to the price tags. When I went to stock up, I found that the difference in price [per ounce] just between the 1 pound bags and the 10 pounds sack was huge. They charge like three times as much [per ounce], in the small packages. But even in the bigger packages, it seemed expensive. So my question is: when I go to mega stock up, to fill all those five gallon [HDPE food grade] plastic pails I’ve been saving, where should I buy in bulk? (The supermarkets are a rip-off!) Cheers, – Andy B.

JWR Replies: As I describe in the “Rawles Gets You Ready” preparedness course, the best place for most folks to to buy food in bulk is Big Box stores, like COSTCO and Sam’s Club. The preparedness course includes a lot of details on the selection and buying strategies that you should use at these stores. I should mention that the current sale price on the preparedness course ends in less than a week, so order soon! Regarding rice, another thing that I mention in the course is buying your rice at Asian and Hispanic ethnic markets, where available. These tend to have the best prices on rice, and because of their large turnover of inventory, they also keep freshest inventory that will provide maximum shelf life.