Bulk Food Shopping

For years and it still hold true if you want to save money especially on the pantry staples, buy in bulk.  In general this means buying dried beans, pastas, grains, flours, dried herbs and spices, coffee beans, sugars, loose tea, baking needs, nuts and similar types of foods.  The best prices of course will be found if you go directly to the source.  For example, buying flours from the flour mill will be cheaper than in the stores.  It may not always be possible to go directly to the source.  It may be possible to order in bulk through co-ops.  There are specialty stores that sell a variety of foods in bulk and now it is possible to order online.

One specialty bulk food store I enjoy shopping at is the Bulk Barn.  Pictured is one aisle of one of the Bulk Barns I shop at.  The majority of foods are in bins.  Plastic bags are available at regular intervals.  You simply scoop out what you want into a plastic bag, secure it with a tie and write the item number on the white tag.  This is the same type of set-up most specialty stores selling foods in bulk use.  The Bulk Barn has the largest selection but other specialty bulk food stores while having a smaller selection may offer better prices.

This style of shopping can save money in two ways.  First, many foods available in the Bulk Barn and similar specialty stores are a lower price per unit because packaging has been greatly reduced.  Second, this style of shopping allows you to buy just the amount of an item that you need.  Let's say you want to make a dish that calls for 1 tsp of paprika yet you don't use paprika for any other cooking.  If you buy paprika in the grocery store you will pay at least $3 for a small glass container only to use 1 tsp.  However, at the bulk food store you can scoop out 1 tsp of paprika if desired which would cost you less than 5¢.

While shopping in the specialty bulk food stores can save you a significant amount of money they can also cost you more than what you would normally pay.  The first problem is there really is no way to tell how much you are buying.  Scooping the item really is all guestimation so there is the tendency to spend a bit more than anticipated.  The second problem is the temptation to buy certain items you normally would not (eg. bulk candies).  The third problem is some foods are not cheaper in the bulk food stores.  In particular I noticed dried bean prices during my last trip to the Bulk Barn.  A 500 g (1.02 lb) bag of roman beans cost $1.89 at No Frills and at the Bulk Barn they were $1.79 so 10¢ per lb cheaper but black eyed at No Frills were $2.19 for a 900 g (1.98 lb bag) or $1.10 per lb while they were $1.79 per lb at the Bulk Barn or 69¢ per lb more.  This really becomes a case of knowing unit prices in the grocery stores to be sure you are actually getting the item cheaper at the bulk food store.  The easiest way to do this is use a price book so you can easily check to be sure you are buying at the cheapest source.

Our Bulk Beef Purchase for 2010

We picked up our bulk beef purchase from the beef purchased on the hoof last year.  Each year we buy a calf then a friend of ours raises it for us.  When the cow reaches a certain weight it is ready for the abattoir's.  We usually split the cow with 3 other couples with each getting a quarter but this year decided to keep half for ourselves.  Going to pick up the meat is always a pleasant drive through the beautiful countryside.  You would think I would tire of traveling through the countryside  since we live in a rural area but I don't.  Ontario has some of the prettiest country roads you will ever see!

We try to arrange to pick the meat up on a cooler spring day because the abattoir's is about a 45 minute drive from us and we don't want any thawing problems on the way home.  Before we left to pick up the beef we cleaned out the larger freezer moving everything to the smaller freezer. 

We ended up with 340 lb of dressed beef.  The beef came cut to our specifications then wrapped in butter's wrap and frozen ready for the freezer.  Most of the meat fit in the larger freezer, filling it to the brim to the point one of the baskets won't fit in!

The remainder of the beef went into the smaller freezer that really does need to have the frost removed from the sides.  The smaller freezer is also stuffed leaving little room for any extra but it is a bit deceiving as there are two turkeys and two hams that are taking up a fair amount of room.  There's also two bags of cheese sticks that will be used for entertaining this Saturday. 

This may seem like a lot of meat but it isn't for our family.  Most meals are home cooked from scratch, do a fair amount of entertaining, and our kids are home a couple of weekends each month.   Our family is not getting any smaller.  The only problems with getting this much meat at one time is I have little freezer room to take advantage of any good sales and there isn't the room for the pig we were going to buy so that will have to wait until later in the year.  At any rate we are well stocked for meat!

Pork Loin (4) - Freezer Packages

Continuing with the pork loin purchase and how I used it, this post will show how I put some up for future use.  Part of my pantry/freezer management style is to view those resources as being a bank.  That means constant small deposits that add up for those times when I need a larger withdrawl.  When I come across a good sale such as this pork loin, some will be used immediately while the rest will go into the freezer or even be canned.

This was a good sized pork loin at 8.57 lb.  While it would have been easy enough to use up this piece of meat over a one week period I chose to cure 2 lb of it for use the following week and use up about 2 lb for fresh eating leaving the remainder for the freezer.  I cut the loin into six 1-inch loin chops which gave seven nice pieces including the end piece.  I cut the end piece into cubes knowing this would be just the right amount to add to vegetables as a pasta or rice topping.  The end result was enough for four meals for two people.  In total about 4 lbs of the pork loin or half of it went into the freezer.

I prefer using a FoodSaver vacuum sealer for sealing any meats or other foods I put into the freezer for longer term storage.  I do not use the brand name bags though.  Rather I buy mine online at a fraction of the cost for what I feel is better quality bags.  I am not affiliated with this source but you can email me for details where to buy. 

Vacuum sealing prevents freezer burn and allows the food to be kept for a longer period of time.  It is possible to vacuum seal meats in a marinade so when they are thawed they are ready for cooking.  In most cases I vacuum seal without a marinade to give myself more options when the meat is thawed.

Freezer Pickles, Plum Sauce and Chocolate Raspberry Sauce

Continuing on with preserving all the great produce I bought on my foodie road trip Sunday was a very busy morning to late evening processing day. The end result was a lot of great food put up. I actually started the canning day with the Black Cherry jams and ended with the freezer pickles so there was a lot of produce processed.

The Goodies

Raspberries are one of my favourite fruits! I stop at the raspberry U-pick a couple of times a week while they are running. This raspberry U-pick has both early and late raspberries. I usually only get 4 pints at a time because they are quite delicate and won't keep in the refrigerator very long.

My garden was delayed getting planting this year as we are still in the massive rip out mode. I feel very lucky to have any kind of vegetable garden this year other than containers. So I had to buy pickling cucumbers this year. Still the price wasn't bad and they were quite lovely looking.

I don't have a plum tree but am considering planting one or more fruit trees as part of my big garden plans so I might possibly have a plum tree next year. For now I have to buy plums. Usually the price is quite good so I don't mind. These plums were smaller but quite tasty!

Pictured from left to right: freezer pickles, plum sauce and chocolate raspberry sauce. One of the nicest things about home food preservation is you can make various products you won't be able to find in the regular grocery stores. Two examples here are the freezer pickles and chocolate raspberry sauce.

Freezer pickles are about the easiest and tastiest pickles you can make. I use 2 of the 4 quarts of pickling cucumbers to make the pickles. After their brining period I ladled the pickles into mason jars leaving 1-inch headspace then filled with brine leaving 1-inch headspace. I then wiped the rims and capped with 2 piece lids. This is one instant where you can re-use lids because these pickles are not canned. Then I popped the filled jars on to the freezer shelves. Note: While the pickles are in mason jars they are not shelf stable and must be frozen for storage. Cost per 500 ml jar was 80¢ each with no electricity costs for prep and re-using lids.

Plums are not only great for snacking on they make a wonderful dipping sauce. I set aside a few of the plums for fresh eating then made a half sized batch of plum sauce. The yield was 4 - 250 ml (half pint) jars so I will have to pick up more plums to have enough plum sauce to last a year. The recipe called for 4 lb of plums so a half batch is 2 lb of plums. If you don't have a kitchen scale 4 quarts of plums is approximately 2 lb. Be warned that this sauce smells ever so yummy when it is simmering down! Cost per jar including lids and electricity was $1.22.

Plum Sauce
modified from: Alltrista Corporation, Ball Blue Book, 2001. Pp. 80.

2 lb plums
1 c brown sugar
½ c organic granulated sugar
½ medium onion, chopped
1 tbsp mustard seed
1 tbsp jalapeno pepper, chopped
pinch powdered ginger
½ tbsp sea salt
½ clove garlic, minced
½ c cider vinegar

Wash, stem and pit the plums. Cut into quarters then rough chop in food processor. Set aside. Combine the other ingredients in a large saucepan. Mix well. Bring to a boil and reduce heat to simmer. Stir in the plums. Cook until thick and syrupy while stirring often. Remove from heat. Ladle into prepared jars ¼ - inch headspace. Wipe rims. Adjust 2 piece lids. Process 20 minutes in BWB at altitudes below 1,000 ft above sea level. At higher altitudes refer to the processing times on the altitude adjustment chart.


I was browsing through one of my favourite blogs, Canning Jars Etc. when I spotted a recipe for Chocolate Raspberry Sauce. Her chocolate raspberry sauce recipe was modified from the Ball Complete Guide to Home Canning. Well I just had to make this sauce but I decided to modify the recipe as well to make it low sugar. Recipes are just starting points! A canning recipe can be modified providing you do not change it enough to go from high acid to low acid which would change the processing method. Any food with a pH higher than 4.6 is considered low acid so must be processed using a pressure canner. I used 3 of the 4 pints of raspberries. The resulting sauce was quite tasty and it did smelly quite yummy while cooking. I can't wait to try in on some homemade vanilla icecream! Cost per jar including electricity and lids was $2.40.

Low Sugar Chocolate Raspberry Sauce
source: my creation

3 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
2½ c crushed raspberries
2 tbsp lemon juice
1½ tsp Pomona's pectin
1½ c organic granulated sugar
2½ tsp calcium water

Wash the raspberries. Place in large saucepan and crush. Stir in lemon juice and calcium water. Mix cocoa powder, pectin and sugar in separate bowl. Bring the berries to a boil. Stir in sugar mixture. Return to a boil. Remove from heat. Ladle into prepared jars ¼ - inch headspace. Wipe rims. Adjust 2 piece lids. Process 10 minutes in BWB at altitudes below 1,000 ft above sea level. At higher altitudes refer to the processing times on the altitude adjustment chart.

Come on a Food Road Trip With Me in Southwestern Ontario

Friday I decided to do a larger produce run to one of my favourite produce hot spots following the Talbot Trail along the shores of Lake Erie. This scenic historical route was completed in 1820 overseen by Colonel Thomas Talbot. It stretches almost 500 km (300 miles) between Amherstberg, Ontario and the Niagra region. You would be hard press not to find good produce in this area rich in orchards, commercial green houses, smaller agriculture and even wineries.

My first stop was a resale shop where I picked up 20 canning jars for 75¢. She said they get one or two boxes of canning jars a week so I told her I would take all she could get so she is setting them aside for me. My husband iss going to stop next week to see what she has. Onto the day long shopping trip. I carried along my digital camera, lots of water and a homemade lunch. It was a hot, humid day so I decided against doing any actual picking although I knew there would be ample opportunity. All the produce purchased was locally grown.

I dropped off my husband then set off stopping at a nursery where they had flats of greenhouse plants on for $10. I bought a flat of impatiens (not shown) then stopped just a couple of block away to pick up pickling cucumbers, beets, radishes and mini zucchini (1). I headed west to a small greenhouse operation but they were closed. By then it was obvious the day was going to heat up a bit more than expected so I decided to take my purchases home so I could change. On the way home I stopped at my favourite raspberry U-pick (2). This U-pick is practically within walking distance of our house so I stop there quite often. I bought 4 pints of ready picked knowing that I would not be able to fit picking into my day's plans. This bit of backtracking cost me a bit in both time and kilometers but in the end it was a good decision.

On the way to my destination I stopped at Bulk Barn (4) where I picked up white chocolate chips, white Belgian chocolate, loose leaf tea, xanthum gum, sunflower seeds, organic pastas, 2 small bags of candy (5). Then I headed out into the bliss of a beautiful drive in the country.

Orchard stores are unpretentious and wonderful to shop in. My first orchard stop on the Talbot Trail was Greenview Orchards in Cedar Springs, Ontario (6). This is a lovely orchard that offers the produce they grow ready picked in a great little store at very reasonable prices. They also offer U-pick for some of their produce. I bought 11 qt sweet cherries, 4 qt blueberries, 4 qt new red potatoes, 2 qt green beans and 3 qt yellow plums (7).

With my purchases safely tucked in the car I headed south of the Talbot Trail towards Lake Erie (8) to enjoy a bit of photo opportunities. Lake Erie like all the Great Lakes is just pure eye candy! I drove along into Erie Beach enjoying the peaceful drive then backtracked to Talbot Trail where I stopped at Delhaven Orchards (9) where I picked up 4 qt yellow string beans, 3 beefsteak tomatoes (10).

I just love the scenic drive along the Talbot Trail! On both sides of the highway there are rows and rows of fruit trees (11) with the lake peaking through to the south and an endless expanse of farmland to the north. The highway is well maintained with wide shoulders that makes it quite easy to pull over to enjoy the view and take pictures.

Less than about a kilometer I stopped at Pardo's (12) another orchard with U-pick. They were extremely busy with people coming to pick raspberries. I didn't buy anything but took a few pictures. Along the Talbot Trail there are orchards after orchards and farms after farms with many of them offering U-pick (13). The pick your own opportunities are practically endless in this area!

The next stop was at the mushroom farm where I bought 15 lb white mushrooms (14). There are at least 3 large commercial mushroom farms in this area all with excellent prices if you buy directly from them. On the way home I stopped to pick up 2 bags potting soil and the most amazing cherry pitter I've ever seen (15)!

I hope you enjoyed coming on a food road trip with me. I'm tired but content so canning began tonight. The bean have already been canned. So stay tuned the next few days as I do a few things you've already ready about on this blog but also a few new things.

Bulk Beef - On the Hoof

Black Angus Cows
July 2, 2009

Sadly in today's times of mega supermarkets many people are quite distanced from where their food actually comes from. Some of our friends and family who are elementary school teachers (JK, primary) have told me that many of their students when questioned about food think that their food simply comes from the grocery store rather than farms and orchards. Most people have become accustomed to buying whatever produce and meats they want regardless of the season without considering the distance the food has travelled. The average food travels 1,500 miles from the farmer to your table. This is not eco-friendly at all! Compounding the problem is the recent surge in food contaminated with pathogens like Listeria monocytogenes, E. coli O157:H7 and Salmonella as well as the use of hormones when raising meats. More so now than ever it is important to get to know your food source by purchasing locally within a 100 mile radius of your home. Doing so not only supports local farmers but ensures you a real connection and greater appreciation of food.

I have often mentioned purchasing meat in bulk on the hoof on this blog. This is a term widely used in rural areas but people living in urban areas, purchasing all their meats in handy ready-to-use packages often as what buying on the hoof is. Pictured above is the small herd of Black Angus cattle (5 cows) our friend is raising. Aren't they gorgeous? We have already spoken for two cows that will be ready in spring 2010 so it is bought on the hoof while the cow is still alive. These Black Angus are pasture fed spring to early fall then supplemented with hay and corn in the winter months. They are raised hormone free using excellent animal husbandry skills which very important to us!

We along with three other couples pay for the cow(s) in late winter. The meat is divided equally amongst the couples. The cow is taken to an abattoir for slaughter, hanging and cutting. The cow hangs in a controlled temperature cooler for two weeks before it can be cut. Hanging ages the beef which causes tenderization of the meat through the release of enzymes in the muscles that cause a further breakdown of the connective tissue. The aged meat is then cut to our specifications, packaged and froze ready for the freezer. This spring we had the cow cut front to back then divided into quarters so we ended up with cuts from both the front and hind quarter. We paid $2.35/lb across all cuts for 220 lb of beef which works out to enough beef to serve 1.3 lb per day for 6 full months for our family. We of course do not eat beef daily so this is just to illustrate how long this beef would last.

Bulk Meat Purchases

I have mentioned several times on this blog that we buy beef and pork on the hoof. This means we buy the cow or pig usually when young from one of the farmer's we know. When the cow or pig is mature enough for slaughtering the farmer transports it to an abattoir. There are several advantages to buying meat this way. One of the biggest ones is a cost savings. Last year we paid a total of $2.49/lb; this year we paid total of $2.35/lb. Meat prices always fluctuate but what this means is instead of paying $4.99/lb or more for certain cuts of beef we paid $2.35. but cutting and packaging was 15¢ per pound cheaper so that was the real difference. I've noticed that lean ground beef is now going for about $2/lb so our ground beef is just a little higher but overall buying beef this way is considerably cheaper than even buying beef on sale in the grocery store. The second biggest advantage is knowing exactly where the beef/pork comes from and the farmer's animal husbandry practices. In short we know the farmer so we are assured of getting meat raised humanely that is hormone free! At the same time we are supporting our community by buying locally.

The Beef

Pictured is the quarter of beef we took down to the kids. We split the cow into quarters between 4 of us but this time instead of splitting into front and back we split into sides from front to back. Then we divided the halves so each person received a bit of the front quarter and a bit of the back quarter. Last year we ended up with 205 lb but this year the cow was a bit smaller so only got 175 lb each.

We have always dealt with the same abattoir with the exception of the last bulk beef purchase. Our relationship with them goes back to just after we were newlyweds. They know exactly how we want the meat cut and packaged. This just takes a lot headaches away from buying meat in bulk. What this kind of buying falls under is good will and trust.

The Abattoir

It is very important to both know and trust your abattoir and butcher shop! I love going to both because there is always great deals on fresh meats! An abattoir differs from a butcher shop in that they slaughter and dress the meat. However, most abattoirs also sell meat packages or meat per pound much like a butcher shop. Most abattoirs have at least one refrigerated counter where you can buy what you want (lower left). Larger abattoirs and that is rather an oxymoron because abattoirs tend to be small scale operations tend to have a bank or two of freezer cabinets (upper left). Here you can pick and choose what you want.

Abattoirs are the perfect source for meat per pound and cured meats (far right). Meats are cured on site so you are assured of fresh sausages and hams. The price per pound is generally cheaper than a butcher shop or the grocery store. While they do have pre-cut meats they will also custom cut meats for you much like a butcher shop.

Pork Chops

We normally buy a whole pig but with little room left in the freezer decided to wait until later in the season. Our kids asked us to pick up a bit of pork for them when we picked up their portion of the beef. Just take a look at these pork chops! The cost was $2.50/lb so just pricing in at $52 but look at how low fat they are. Any extra fat has been trimmed away resulting in a nice lean pork chop. They are cut to 1-inch thick but there is a reason for this. First one chop will feed two people and second the chop stays nice and moist when cooking because of the thickness. Second, these chops can be cured much the same as pea meal bacon. Once cured you can barbeque the chops for a culinary delight!

Bulk Barn (Mississauga, Ontario)

Today is Earth Day 2009 so I thought it would be appropriate to share a bit more about one source for bulk food purchasing, the Bulk Barn®. If you recall I spoke of this bulk food store in a Frugal Kitchens 101 post recently (Buying in Bulk). During my recent visit to the we stopped at a Bulk Barn located at 3035 Argentia Road in Mississauga, ON on one of our morning shopping excursions. Trust me I don't need an excuse to shop at a Bulk Barn!

Bulk Barn

Bulk Barn is a chain of 120 stores across select Canadian provinces (ON, NB, NS, PE, NL, MB, QC, SK) that sells over 4,000 products. The stores are quite visible with their bright yellow and red signage. This colour scheme continues throughout the store interior. The vast majority of the foods sold in the Bulk Barn are in covered bins that the consumer scoops out the desired amount with provided scoops, ladles or tongs. Thin plastic bags, smaller spice bags and food grade plastic tubs with lids are available for your selections. Unfortunately you cannot bring in your own containers to put the food in due to health and safety issues but you can bring cloth shopping bags to carry your purchases home rather than using the heavy plastic grocery bags provided. Small white bread clip style tags are provided along with pencils to mark your purchases. This is important when you get your purchase home as some of the products such as flours look very similar. In addition to food, the Bulk Barn offers an extensive line of dietary supplements, packaged teas, organic boxed foods, bird seed, limited pet foods, non-toxic household cleaners and all natural bar soaps. They are also the place to shop for cake and candy supplies.

My Purchases

The Bulk Barn saves you money in three ways. The stores are smaller, compact stores with lower overhead. I don't think I've ever seen more than 3 or 4 employees at any given time in any of the stores I've been in. The vast majority of foods aren't packaged so you aren't paying for that either. Finally and most importantly you are buying what you need, not some pre-determined amount. For example you need ½ tsp of a particular spice for a dish you are trying. If you bought this spice in a regular grocery store you would be forced to buy it in an expensive glass bottle paying upwards of $4 for about 30 - 40 g depending on the spice. If you are buying for this reason and you don't know if you will ever use that spice again, it becomes a waste of money. If you buy 1 tsp of the same spice at Bulk Barn you will pay a few pennies and have enough to make 2 of the dishes allowing you to experiment with the flavour.

My purchases are pictured. Surprisingly I did not buy all that much other than a few herbs and spices I needed to restock a bit. My total bill came to $21.47 and while it doesn't look like I got a lot, I did. I'll go through what I bought and what I paid so you can compare these prices to what you would pay in a regular grocery store.

Receipt

I apologize that the receipt image is a bit small. I'm going to explain the receipt as item, (price per kg), amount bought and total price paid. On the receipt you will notice that 66¢ was paid between GST and PST, something residents of Ontario pay on most purchases. Of my purchases one was a spur of the moment mini Easter cookie cutter set. These adorable little cookie cutters will be used to make homemade animal style crackers for the grandkids and for cutting vegetable/cheese garnishes.

Here's what I bought:

• ground mace ($33.39/kg), 0.065 kg, $2.17
• ground allspice ($18.85/kg), 0.030 kg, $0.57
• ground thyme ($9.45/kg), 0.065 kg, $0.61
• ground oregano ($12.45/kg) 0.055 kg, $0.68
• ground sage ($14.97/kg) 0.065, $0.97
• ground nutmeg ($21.80/kg), 0.055, $1.20
• Merckens light moulding chocolate ($8.62/kg), 0.55 kg, $4,74
  
• Easter mini cookie cutters $3.99
• vanilla beans $4.79
• sesame smaps (3/$1.09), $1.09

You will notice I bought some ground herbs I also grow however, if you have been following this blog you will know I've been in the process of re-establishing our herb garden after our move here. To give you a rough idea of how much of each herb or spice I bought, it was about a 1 cup each. To give you a comparison this would be about the equivalent of 2 to 3 glass bottle containers depending on the spice in the grocery store. So if you consider I spent $6.20 on bulk herbs and spices. Had I bought the same amount in the grocery store at an average of $3 per bottle I would have spent* $36 to $54 if not a bit more total. That is a considerable savings! At the same time I reduced packaging by not buying something packaged in little glass jars or little metal tins. True in many areas these are recyclable but in a lot of areas they aren't so they end up in landfills. Reducing packaging is an eco-friendly thing to do that save both money and the environment. Savings can be found on a lot of the bulk products sold at the Bulk Barn but again you do need to know your prices. What is nice is they do carry a lot of dried products (specialty flours, snacks and etc) that a lot of regular grocery stores do not carry.

You really do need to prepare for a shopping trip to the Bulk Barn. Like any shopping trip you really will want some kind of a list but with the savings give yourself a bit of leeway to try a couple of new things as well. For example what I saved on the herbs and spices was more than enough to splurge on a couple of extras like the vanilla beans and cookie cutters.

* calculation - 6 kinds of hers/spices x number of bottles x average price per bottle

Frugal Kitchens 101 - General Bulk Buying Tips

Last week I discussed how bulk buying could save you money as well as the types of places to shop at for your bulk food purchases. Today I will share some general bulk food buying tips to help make your experience enjoyable.

1. plan ahead - Quite often you will have to drive out of your way to get to a good bulk food source. If you are planning on going to a poultry processing plant factory outlet find out their hours ahead of time and plot the trip to maximize the trip to include other bulk food sources stops on your route. Print out a map with the route clearly marked along with each stop. Don't forget to bring a list of what you want at each stop. Plan so frozen foods are picked up on your last stop if possible.
2. containers - When picking up meat from abattoirs and butcher shops bring sturdy cardboard boxes or re-usable plastic bins. If you are bringing large quantities of frozen meats home in warmer months bring an old heavy comforter to cover the boxes of meat. This will act as an insulator. When shopping farmer's markets, farm stands and U-picks bring your own bags. When shopping U-picks bring your own picking containers. They will weigh the container before picking then again after picking. I find a heavy plastic food grade pail is good for this purpose.
3. miscellaneous supplies - I have been known to entirely fill the back seat, the trunk, the back floor, the passenger floor and passenger seat when making a bulk shopping trip on my own especially if I make a stop at a nursery or two. That means seat and floor protection is a must! I use old blankets, towels and large yard rubbish bags to protect both the seats and floor inside the car.
4. personal prep - You will likely be getting in and out of your vehicle several times in one bulk food gathering trip. Wear comfortable clothing you don't mind getting soiled. Trust me tomato hamper are not clean and you can't lift one without getting dirty. If going to a U-pick use sun block and cover your arms and legs with long, light fabric clothing to protect against sun and insects. Bring a large brimmed hat. Shoes should be comfortable running shoes (sneakers) not sandles for these types of trips. Bring two or three bottles of water in refillable water bottles and a lunch if you will be most of the day.
5. timing - Try to time things so you are picking up frozen foods last and do any U-pick before adding any fresh plants to your purchases. Remember all that food has to be put away when you get home so do make your return so late that you are exhausted. When you get home try to work in an organized fashion. Put freezer and perishables away first but remember you can likely put them away as is then divide down or process later.

Maple Lodge Farms (Brampton, Ontario)

In the last Frugal Kitchens 101 (here) I mentioned buying poultry in bulk at a poultry processing plant in their factory outlet store. While I was visiting the kids waiting the arrival of newest grandbaby, we went to Maple Lodge Farms located at 8301 Winston Churchill Blvd in Brampton, Ontario. This processing plant specializes in chicken products including fresh, frozen and processed chicken products. Buying chicken this way is a totally different shopping experience.

The entire perimeter of Maple Lodge Farms is fenced with the exception of the guarded entrance. The security guard hand you a current flyer of the prices and from there you proceed to the small parking lot just in front of the large Maple Lodge Farms building. The building as pictured is impressive in size. Attached to the building just barely visible (white lean to) is the entry point for the live chickens. Immediately upon opening your vehicle doors you will be hit with a strangely sicky, sweet smell that only a poultry processing plant has. It is a mixture of the smell of live chickens, freshly processed chickens and almost a hint of barbeque sauce. It can be a borderline offensive smell so be prepared. Just to the left of the lowest window starting at the lower level (barely visible) is the entrance to where you order the poultry you want. Go through the entrance and straight up the long flight of stairs. Note: where you order is not wheelchair accessible.

The ordering desk consists of one long wall to the left with information on Maple Lodge Farms nicely presented in a glass display case (1). To the right is a refrigerated meat counter about 10 feet long displaying smaller packaged foods you can also purchase (2). At the end is a glass door not accessible to the public that lists any specials of the day (3). The entire aisle space is about 4 foot by 13 foot so there isn't a lot of room but it is efficient. Behind the counter are staff ready to take your order. It really is handy to know what you want before you get to this point. After you give your order from the flyer, door specials and make any purchases from the display counter, you pay for your purchases then make your way back down the long staircase and wait beside your car for a employee to bring your purchases to you. Chicken other than that from the display case comes in sealed cardboard boxes. The employee will wheel them to your car and load them for you. It's that easy!

While you are waiting for your order, it is quite likely you will see one or more truck loads of fresh chickens entering the plant for processing (5). These are large tractor trails with the trailer filled end to end and bottom to top with chickens. The trailers are ventilated on the sides and roof including fans that operate when the trailer is not in motion. Pull down tarps protect the chickens from inclimate weather and during transport during winter months. Each load transports about 12,200 birds. That's a lot of chicken!

The Maple Lodge Farms trucks (6) can't be missed on the highways and you may even see them delivering to your favourite grocery store. Visiting a facility like Maple Lodge Farms really reinforces just how far our food travels. It is important to understand that any food product travels an average 2414 km (1,500 miles) from farmer to table. Quite often this means ground travel by large trucks but other forms of transport including rail, plane, cargo ships and fishing boats are also used depending on the food. The trucks may pick up their load directly at the farm or at a holding yard where the animals or produce have been trucked to. Once processed the meat, poultry, fish or produce is then transported to either a food distribution centre where it will be further ditributed or directly to various grocery stores. From there this food will then be transported by the consumer to their home. All this travel has an impact on the cost of the food which is one reason buying locally produced food is the cheapest solution. However, buying directly from a factory outlet store such as Maple Lodge Farms still saves you money even though the chickens were trucked into the processing plant.

The cost to get the product from the plant to the grocery store is eliminated so that is reflected in the price per kilogram (pound). Packaging costs are reduced because you are buying larger quantities packaged in one large plastic bag inside a plain (aka inexpensive) cardboard box. Again the reduced packaging costs is reflected in the cost per kilogram (pound). Finally, you are eliminating any overhead costs the grocery store charges to cover the normal operation of the store while making a profit over cost of product. Essentially you are cutting out the middleman so that in itself saves you a considerable amount of money.