A new experience

As long time readers know, one way we can feed our family within our budget is to buy ingredients in bulk. For nearly twenty years my friends and I would order through a local(ish) farmer and make a day of it together going to pick up our pounds and pounds of food. My usual order included things such as wheat berries (to grind to make flour), oats, dried beans, popcorn (to grind and to pop), other bread baking ingredients, bulk spices, and dried milk (also for baking... and making hot chocolate mix). As people grew and moved out on their own, my need for such vast quantities of food went down some, but we currently still have nine people at home, so having large quantities is still really helpful. 

And then the farmer stopped doing the twice a year orders and I lost my ability to buy large amounts of wheat berries for a somewhat reasonable amount of money. We'd make bread occasionally, but recently we'd kind of fallen off the wagon, even though nearly everyone likes our homemade bread better than store bought. It had been a long time since I restocked our supplies, so figured they were getting low. 

When I was moaning about having no idea where to get wheat, the P. Family told me they had started using Azure Standard and had been happy with it. (I don't mean for this to sound like a commercial, but there's also no reason to be cryptic about it.) They carried 50# bags of both rolled oats and hard white wheat which is what I thought we were needing. 

So I put in an order. Now the thing is, there are drops to all parts of the country. You find a drop close to you and sign up for it, then place your order. Later you are told when the truck will be arriving and are instructed to meet it to help unload and get your order. In my case, it was in a parking lot of a business which didn't mind. It all felt a little... Sketchy? Haphazard? Vague? But the truck was arriving at 11:00 today, so off I went. 

As I was driving there, I wondered what kind of a crowd I was going to be a part of. I've learned over the years that people who want to buy large amounts of staples tend to be part of a certain demographic which often included Duggar family like beliefs. I've navigated being mistaken for that group for years, but current events do make me think twice. Was I going to be in a crowd of MAGA hat wearing people? 

I'm happy to report that everything worked as promised, people did all help out passing out people's orders, and it was one of the most diverse groups I've been in since moving. It made me remember that immigrants tend to be far more concerned with food quality and basic ingredients than a typical long-time US citizen. (It's one reason I loved my old grocery store, because it catered to a very large immigrant population. Yes, I'm still grieving that store.) It ended up being a far better experience than I was bracing myself for. I will probably order again the next time we need something I typically buy in bulk. 

Now about that needing something. This evening when I went to get out the food storage buckets we use to keep all these ingredients in, I realized something. While yes, there were a few that were empty, they weren't all empty. I need all the buckets nearly empty in order to fit 50# of food in them. So we got out the contractor grade garbage bags and put the oats and wheat in, hopefully keeping the mice away. Clearly I didn't check very carefully before I ordered. 

I will also admit that with the current state of the country, my inner prepper, who is just dying to come out, is rather pleased at the extra food I accidentally bought. 

[I rarely do any type of advertising promotions here, but if you were thinking about trying it because it would make your inner prepper happy, too, I'll put my referral code in the comments.]