Alright, so we went over yesterday why buying in bulk in awesome. Now let's put our knowledge into practice; this is a "to keep on-hand" type of shopping list, so it's pretty basic and the stuff on it will last you a while. Again, this can be tailored to your household's specific needs-- I, for instance, live alone and cook only for myself, so I may only need, say, 3/4 of a pound of rice per month... you may have 3 kids, however, so you may need to do a pound and a half or 2.
I am a firm believer in brown rice; white rice may look pretty or whatever, but the natural vitamins, minerals and other good stuff in brown rice has not been ripped out as is the case with white rice. As for the grain, that depends on your personal preference and what you plan on using the rice for. Making beans and rice? I use long-grain. Making sushi? Short-grain. Making risotto? Arborio (that's a specific style; a very starchy short-grain rice that thickens the liquid you cook it in, making a sort of sauce for itself).
List Item #1: Medium- or long-grain brown rice, probably a half-pound to a full pound. The stuff expands to something like 4 times its original grain size, so don't buy (or cook!) too much at once. We'll talk about the cooking later.
Eat quinoa until it comes out of your ears; we already talked about that. ^_^ (And it's on sale at the Honest Weight Food Co-op in Albany this month for $2.99/pound!)
List Item #2: Whole Quinoa (preferably organic, but don't spend twice as much for it), also a half-pound to a full pound. It doesn't expand quite as much as rice, but since it absorbs the liquid you cook it in, it does expand some-- probably twice or 3 times the original size.
OKAY, so now we shall address the issue of dried vs. canned beans. There really isn't much difference nutritionally between the two, really the only issue is sodium (and, potentially, sugar or lard or other stuff added to the beans during the cooking/canning process). Plain canned beans can be rinsed before use, however, which cuts down on the excess sodium. In addition, Goya makes 29-oz cans of any given bean... if you have a decent-sized household, you should almost NEVER buy the little 15-oz cans of anything. It's a waste of money. If you're on your own like me, you still shouldn't; you should buy and cook in big batches and preserve your food (something we'll talk about later on). So my point is basically this: buy bigger units, whatever form the units may take, whenever possible.
List Item #3: Lots of beans. Since this is going for a once-monthly thing, if you buy cans buy 4 or 5; and vary the kinds of beans you get. There are SO many delicious varieties out there: cannelini (white kidney) beans, chick peas (ie., garbanzo beans), pink beans, black beans, red or pink kidney beans, navy beans, pigeon peas, pinto beans... you get the idea. If you buy dried, get about 4 pounds total, again, varying the types you buy.
Pasta, flour, sugar, salt, cereal, and cooking oil are other good things to buy in bulk; you know how at the supermarket they have the big bags of egg noodles and whatnots on the bottom shelves in the pasta aisle? Yeah, those are just the beginning. If you go to any health food co-op you will find a more-than-adequate selection of pastas and other goodies-- or even Hannaford, whose Nature's Place section does have a good number of bulk items. The Honest Weight Food Co-op in Albany has a HUUUUGE bulk department. (Thank you Billy Fuccillo; I will never quote you again.) You can get just about any pasta your heart desires: spaghetti/angel hair, shells, twists, wagon wheels, bowties, orzo, elbows, and various Asian noodles as well... you name it. The flour selection is almost ridiculous... several different types and styles of wheat; barley, corn, rye, spelt; quinoa; various types and styles of rice; and CHICK PEA flour! Or garbanzo bean, whatever you prefer. Chick pea flour is used to make the original Italian polenta (chestnut flour can be used as well), which is a VERY useful and simple bread you can make in a pan on the stove. It's sooooo good, and yes, I will post a recipe soon. :-D
List Item #4: Pasta. The amount can vary greatly depending on household size and, obviously, how much pasta y'all want to eat. Being Italian, I could live on pasta-- so when I buy, I buy big. It usually ends up being along the lines of: 3/4 pound of shells, 1/2 pound of wagon wheels (I love them for mac and cheese!!), 3/4 pound of soba noodles (these are excellent noodles to put in soup or a stir fry), 3/4 pound of spaghetti/angel hair/linguine/fettuccine... basically any one of the long-and-thin pastas. Honest Weight has an amazing spinach fettuccine that I adore, so once in a while I treat myself with that.
Bulk aisles are also amazing for nuts, seeds, and dried fruits. Moms, if you're worried about your kids developing an addiction to sugary fruit snacks (you should be), dried fruits such as cranberries and blueberries offer a yummy, tangy-and-sweet, healthy alternative to Gushers, Sharks and junk like that. Plus, they're packed with totally excellent andtioxidants and phytonutrients (which I will discuss another time... just trust me, they're something you want). Nuts can be used for almost anything; they can be added to salads, they can be toasted and salted/sweetened/spiced and made into an awesome snack, they can be put in cereal, muffins, coffee cakes, homemade energy bars, they can be pureed/smooshed into delicious butters and pastes... you can do so much with nuts, it's silly to not look at them when shopping. My favorite nuts to buy are raw pecans, sliced almonds, PISTACHIOS (my first love), and there are some nice mixed nuts that you can grab as well. Seeds go along with nuts... growing up, I would've eaten nothing but sunflower seeds if my mom had let me. They are SO good. Pumpkin seeds are great too.
List Item #5: Nuts and dried fruit. Don't be afraid to ask someone working in the bulk section for samples if you're not sure about something!! Feel free to take some of my suggestions, but be adventurous. Try things you've never heard of before; food is an adventure.
Alright kids, time for me to sign off for the day. Back next time with the second portion of your essentials shopping list!
Ciao!
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