{"id":1165,"date":"2012-11-17T12:15:50","date_gmt":"2012-11-17T17:15:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/noelfigart.com\/blog\/?p=1165"},"modified":"2020-06-03T10:35:46","modified_gmt":"2020-06-03T14:35:46","slug":"warehouse-stores-and-cooking","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/noelfigart.com\/wordpress\/2012\/11\/17\/warehouse-stores-and-cooking\/","title":{"rendered":"Warehouse Stores and Cooking"},"content":{"rendered":"

I used to shop at warehouse stores more often than I do these days. I\u2019d let my membership lapse. But when I got into bulk cooking again, buying in bulk started to make more sense, so the family renewed the membership. I\u2019d gotten used to one-stop shopping for a lot of stuff, and there are things that warehouse stores are great for. Meat is usually multiple dollars a pound cheaper. That alone makes it worth it to me to have the membership, even if I don\u2019t buy anything else there.<\/span><\/p>\n

Of course, I do buy other things there, but it does drive me a little crazy that there are definitely things warehouse stores aren\u2019t good for at all. If you cook from scratch, eat anything even vaguely \u201cethnic\u201d, or don\u2019t eat a lot of junk food, you\u2019re not going to be able to do most of your shopping there!<\/p>\n

This is a list of things I regularly use that I can\u2019t<\/em>\/shouldn\u2019t<\/strong> get at my local warehouse store:<\/p>\n

Produce \u2013<\/strong> Now, I do eat a lot of produce. But my household only has<\/em> three people. Three pounds of grapes is going to go bad before we finish them. Ditto lettuce or any of the more fragile veggies. If we had more people in the house or more than one fruit addict, it would be different.<\/p>\n

Spices<\/em> \u2013 You\u2019d think things like spices would be an ideal thing for a warehouse store, but unless you can find it in an Italian mix, don\u2019t count on being able to find it there in my local store! I mean, nutmeg? They didn\u2019t have nutmeg<\/em>??? Honestly! I get that they might not have a good garam masala, but not nutmeg<\/em>? Psychos\u2026<\/p>\n

Pasta<\/strong> \u2013 Another thing you\u2019d think would be awesome for a warehouse store. It\u2019s $0.17\/lb more expensive in the warehouse store than it is in my local grocery store.<\/p>\n

International-type food<\/em> \u2013 Coconut milk? Green chilies? Refried beans? Forget it.<\/p>\n

Dry beans<\/em> \u2013 This is where I roll my eyes and say, \u201cCome on<\/em>, people!\u201d You\u2019d be hard put to find something more shelf stable that sells well in bulk. (Yes, yes, I know, convenience food makes more profit for them, and there are plenty of people who find cooking with dried beans too damn much trouble)<\/p>\n

Old-fashioned Oatmeal<\/em> \u2013 I think the instant stuff is nasty and mushy, but that\u2019s all they sell there, and even the oatmeal is hard to find.<\/p>\n

Seltzer water<\/strong> \u2013 Yes, yes, buying fizzy, flavored water isn\u2019t exactly frugal. But a majority of the household likes it better than soda. It was available in the warehouse store, but more expensive than we could get in the grocery store.<\/p>\n

Short grain rice<\/em> \u2013 I like rice you can use to make onigiri. Since even most grocery stores in my area only carry it as expensive \u201csushi rice\u201d, I don\u2019t sweat this much. There\u2019s a co-op that sells it in bulk and sells it as inexpensively as bulk rice is often sold in other stores. (Other forms of rice are quite a good deal, and their variety actually wasn\u2019t bad otherwise).<\/p>\n

Plain yogurt<\/em> \u2013 Everything they had was flavored and sported pink ribbons. \u2018Nuff said.<\/p>\n

Oddly enough, they do carry flour and even the brand of flour<\/a> I insist on using. They also carried the yeast I prefer. Canned goods were indeed cheaper, and though we don\u2019t use a lot of them, I do at least buy crushed tomatoes. Paper goods, plastic bags and many other things were also cheaper to get there, so we did.<\/p>\n

The point is that while you could argue that warehouse stores are awesome and cheaper than regular grocery store, it\u2019s easy to get caught up in the greed and buying in bulk. So, how do you work a warehouse store to truly save money?<\/p>\n