Wednesday, December 5, 2012

Musings of a Bulk Buying Mom

Various thoughts flying through the mind of this bulk buying mama.

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Oh darn! The 50 pound sack of sunflower seeds is all finished up! I can't believe it's finally all finished up... We've had that one for a while, I thought it would last forever...
I use those sunflowers instead of nuts in so many recipes, in cakes, in cookies, but my favorite thing to do with them is to make sunflower milk- the best tasting and most versatile of all the cheap non dairy milks...
I really need more sunflower seeds...
The timing really is terrible!

After finally figuring out how to get my order from the bulk foods supplier and ordering a bulk order (a friend who was driving there anyhow brought them over to my sister who lives near her, and now I'm just waiting for the food to make the last leg of the delivery this Sunday when my mom goes to visit my sister)... Now, of all times, my sunflower seeds finished up?
Why oh why did I not look at the state of my bulk sunflower seeds before making this last order?
I'm so annoyed at myself.
Because now, what am I supposed to do? Just do without sunflower seeds until I make my next order? Or do I just buy them at regular price?
If I just buy them at regular sale price instead of bulk pricing, ouch. It hurts to pay retail, even on sale retail price, when you're used to paying the wholesale prices you're able to get when bulk buying... Decisions decisions... Go without sunflower seeds if I don't have them in bulk? Or just buy them at their regular semi cheap price and use more sparingly than I would have otherwise?

But is it really so bad that the sunflower seeds are finished? Its actually a good thing, I think...
Because (stupid/lazy) me never got around to moving the sunflower seeds from the sack that they came in to a sealed container... and I was just waiting and waiting to discover that the sunflower seeds were bug infested. Especially since I've had things in sealed contaners become bug infested.
But I never got around to packing them properly, and I reached the bottom of the barrel (or shall I say bag?) without it becoming infested. Score! No wasted food!

There's also that strange coincidence that many times when I buy things in bulk, it is specifically those things that I discover are bad for me, and can no longer eat them.
Vital wheat gluten- case in point.
I bought 50 freakin pounds of wheat gluten. Pure wheat gluten. As in... the exact food that I strictly avoid now, because I discovered that it was the culprit behind my near constant stomach aches, brain fog, bloating, headaches, etc... not to mention my son's misbehavior and eczema... As in, the food that I make sure doesn't enter my home anymore, because even washing dishes that had gluten on them with the same sponge as I wash the rest of my dishes gets me sick... As in the food that if even a crumb of a crumb gets onto my food, I react badly to it... and I bought 50 freakin pounds of it!!!
(Which, I must stay, makes it hard for people to believe how sensitive I am to gluten, because, after all, I used to eat gluten straight out! But seitan always made me nauseous, I even admitted to myself then, though I didn't want to... But I digress...)
I'm still trying to get rid of my vital wheat gluten...
Of course, I also used to buy bulk whole wheat flour. But I finished that long before I discovered my gluten sensitivity...

And then there's the milk powder.
After buying 50 pounds of powdered milk, again, I discovered that I'm pretty sensitive to dairy. Gives me stomach aches and makes me feel like I'm going to throw up. Haha. At least I'm not so sensitive that I can't have it in the house- my husband and sons finished it off, so at least it didn't go to waste. But they are better off not eating dairy as well- dairy makes them phlegmy, plus I suspect gives my sons stomach issues...

And then there's the oats.
Again, 50 pounds. And I discovered midway through those 50 pounds that oats give me horrible stomach aches.
My husband and sons finished off those oats, in addition to me selling some off to other people.

And coconut. I bought 50 pounds of coconut, thinking that it would be great to have, now that I don't eat gluten or dairy... And discovered that too much coconut makes me feel gross. Especially if I eat it straight. At least I can still have coconut- provided I make it into coconut milk, and don't have too much at once...

And yes, then the sunflower seeds. Which I discovered if I ate them straight, also gave me stomach aches. (Though fortunately not terrible ones.) But making them into sunflower seed milk fortunately is fine with my stomach. I suspect because they're soaked, and I'd wanted to try to soak and roast my sunflower seeds, a la Nourishing Traditions to see if they bother my stomach that way... but I'm out of sunflower seeds... (How this whole thing began...)

The three other things that I bought in 50 pound sacks or other large quantities were baking soda, instant mashed potatoes, and coconut oil. Fortunately, fortunately, I don't react to those.
But yes, its strange.

Out of the 9 things I bought in bulk, 6 of them I have afterward discovered that I'm sensitive to, 4 of them very extremely sensitive. Its really, really strange.

Or maybe I became sensitive because I bought them in bulk, and therefore upped the frequency I was eating them?
Who knows...

But it gets me a little nervous.
I just bought at 50 pound sack of millet.
I really, really hope my theory doesn't prove right, and I won't discover suddenly that millet is yet another food I am sensitive to.

Keeping my fingers crossed.

Over and out!

What do you think? Could my buying things in bulk cause me to become sensitive to them? Or do you think its a complete coincidence that 6 out of the 9 things I bought in bulk, I later figured out I am sensitive to?
When you reach the "bottom of the barrel" of your bulk bought goods, what types of thoughts and feelings run through your head? Relief? Annoyance? Something else? 
Do you buy bulk? Why or why not?


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