One of the tips you’ll hear the most when trying to save money on food is to buy in bulk. As a rule purchasing in bulk is a good strategy for prepping on a budget, but you need to be careful and compare per ounce prices. You can beef up your savings when prepping on a budget by putting together group co-ops.
How to use Group Co-ops when Prepping on a Budget
Now when I mention group co-ops people think of already existing group co-ops like Azure Standard or something along those lines. I’ve ran many a co-op in my time, and truth be known, co-ops come in all shapes and sizes.
Recently a friend of mine contacted a local nut company and asked how big of an order was required to get their discount price. A discount price is often not as low as a wholesale/resale price because a company requires a wholesale business number to sell at that price. But a discount price is much lower than a sale price and makes it worth the time to co-ordinate orders with a group of other like minded people.
You can run group co-ops for all sorts of things from food to tangibles like grain grinders, water purifiers, etc. It’s not hard. Just give a company a call, ask if they would be willing to participate in your co-op. Many grocery stores are willing to order in larger quantities of items for discount prices.
Where to find Group Co-Op Opportunities when Prepping on a Budget
Local suppliers of fruits, veggies, nuts, etc.
Local health food stores.
Local grocery stores.
The worst that can happen is for someone to tell you no. Big deal. Scratch them off your list and move on to the next name.
Back to our local nut co-op. I purchased about 50 pounds of different kinds of nuts and seeds. All at about a 30-40% discount. It was awesome. And easy. And totally worth the time to bag up all those orders.
How to Store Nuts When Prepping on a Budget
I used to pour them in Mason jars and then stick ’em in my freezer. But that didn’t leave a lot of room for great stock up deals on meat and the like.
Using my FoodSaver to vacuum seal nuts in Mason jars allows the nuts to last without having to take up precious freezer space, makes life so much easier! I have almonds I purchased and vacuumed sealed two years ago that are still fresh! Just make sure the tops stay sealed. If one top comes unsealed, simply vacuum seal it again. No biggie.
Food Savers Make Prepping on a Budget Super Easy!
It’s super easy! Looking at the picture above, you can see that I have the wide mouth jar sealer on my wide mouth jar, on which I’ve already placed a wide mouth lid. No ring needed right now. Just the jar and the lid.
Then I pulled out the accessory tubing from my FoodSaver and connected it to the top of the wide mouth jar sealer. I pressed the button that starts the vacuum sealing process. It stops on it’s own when it’s done!
FoodSaver gives you the option of using regular mouth sized jars too. Just make sure you have the sealer for the regular mouth jars. Personally, I prefer the wide mouth jars, but the instructions will remain the same.
According to the manufacturer, the FM5000 Series of FoodSavers is compatible with jar sealers and any other FoodSaver container or accessory.
You will also need the regular and wide mouth FoodSaver jar sealers.
Prepping on a Budget using Mason Jars!
When you vacuum seal in mason jars, you can use any size from pint to quart to (my favorite!) half gallon jars! And, you can open and reseal them as many times as you would like. Score!
Vacuum Sealing is an excellent way to store legumes, rices, grains, raisins, and….well, the sky is kind of the limit here!
Anyone else prepping on a budget and using group co-ops to increase their purchasing power? I’d love to hear about your experiences!