Finance guru, Dave Ramsey, has branched out, it seems,
and he is now giving prepper advice.
Well, not exactly, but this recent article, claims Ramsey suggseted five items that consumers should not purchase at the bulk buying store.
- Fruits
- Vegetables
- Dairy
- Condiments
- Spices
The impetus behind his recommendation is that, because those items are perishable, they are likely to go bad before they can be used, and tossing food is a huge waste of money, but ...
Drying corn for popcorn
In the fall, when we have a glut of eggs, and the temperatures are starting to get wonky, but it's too early to fire up the woodstove, I like to bake. And sometimes I get a little carried away to the point that my family gets tired of having fresh cake every Monday. Did you know that cake freezes REALLY well? Yes, even cake that's been frosted!
So, I've found a way to preserve the excess of eggs that we were getting, and also to give us a treat (usually packed in a lunch) that we won't have as much of during the winter when the chickens stop laying as much.
I don't just use herbs and spices in preserving and baking, though. I use a lot of seasonings in my regular cooking, and I don't purchase spice mixes. I mix and match my spices myself, which means I need bulk quantities of all of the spices I use regularly. My favorites, and the ones I always try to keep on hand and purchased (or grown) in the largest quantities I can find, are: chili powder, garlic powder, onion powder, paprika, oregano, rosemary, dill, basil, thyme, sage, mint, pepper, salt, cinnamon, turmeric, curry powder, and tarragon.
Some of those are more expensive than others, but all of them are going to be overall less expensive when purchased in quantity.
But what really twisted my knickers when I saw the recommendation was the FACT that herbs and spices have a pretty long shelf life. According to this article, ground spices will last six months or longer, depending on the spice, and whole spices (like black peppercorns and cloves) last 10x as long. According to this article, herbs and spices can have a shelf life of one to five years. Salt will last indefinitely.
The recommendation to avoid purchasing bulk spices seems ... short-sighted, to me.
Likewise with condiments. I mean, sure, not buying a 40 oz jar of a very obscure condiment that most people may use once in a while, like curry paste, which I rarely use (but would use more often if we did more home cooking of Southeast Asian cuisine), but mayonnaise ...? I make all of my own salad dressings and dipping sauces, and most of the time it's a mayonnaise-based dressing, consisting of mayonnaise, half and half, vinegar, and seasonings (recipe to follow). I also like making my own honey mustard, and this article shares a basic recipe for a vinaigrette with variations, BUT all three types of vinaigrette in the article use Dijon mustard.
In this case, I am saving money both because I am making the dressings myself and because I save money by purchasing the ingredients in bulk. Saving a few dollars per jar for mustard and mayonnaise to have extra jars on hand is a GREAT idea! Just sayin'.
Also, I would like to point out that condiments, like ketchup, don't go bad fast. This article explains that, stored in the refrigerator, a bottle of ketchup (which is mostly vinegar anyway) can six months.
In addition, in a worst case scenario, ketchup might prove useful for more than just adding flavor to french fries. According to some accounts, during the Great Depression, it was a common practice to put ketchup in hot water for a poor man's version of tomato soup. I mean, it wouldn't be my first choice, but in a pinch, I'd probably eat it.
Personally, I recommend ignoring Mr. Ramsey and just buy the condiments and the spices.
As for dairy, for some items, I might agree. Others, not so much. Like, my family doesn't drink a lot of milk, and when we do, I prefer to get it from a local farm where I can get it raw. So, *I* wouldn't buy gallons of milk at the bulk buying store. Cheese, on the other hand ...., and I actually do purchase cheese in 2 lb blocks already. The key is to keep it in its original packaging, and like spices, unsliced cheese has a longer shelf life than sliced cheese. So, get the big block and slice off what you need, taking care to avoid touching the cheese as much as is possible (cross-contimination can really take the shelf life out of the cheese!).
And then, there's this - most of the dairy products that one finds in the bulk buying stores can be frozen. Freezing dairy extends the shelf-life to a couple of months, which is a very good argument FOR going ahead and snatching up that good deal on dairy at the bulk club.
As for fruits and vegetables ... well, you know what I'm going to say. Most fruits and vegetables can be canned, pickled, fermented, dehydrated, and/or frozen. Or, if properly stored in a root cellar or unheated garage, can be kept for MONTHS. I mean, isn't that exactly what our ancestors did with their excess produce? And by "excess", I mean what they weren't going to eat before it spoiled. Making pickles for winter storage was a thing for centuries before Vlasic put them on grocery store shelves.
Worstcase, those fruits and vegetables overripen, rot, or otherwise become inedible, but it's not garbage. It's COMPOST! Those fruits and vegetables have a life after shelf-life. So, while there may be perceived waste, because your family didn't eat it, it's not wasted if it makes compost for growing next year's vegetable garden.
Fruits and vegetables that don't get consumed by my family end up going out to the rabbits or chickens, and, well, then, they do, eventually, feed my family. So, there's that. And giving those spent vegetables to the chickens means I save money on feed. So, there's that, too.
In short, I can't really get behind ANY of Dave Ramsey's recommendations for things to skip at the bulk buying club.
Instead, let me give a few suggestions of things to avoid insetad.
1. Bulk packages of individually wrapped snacks.
Yes, buying them at the bulk store WILL save money, BUT not buying the individual portions at all and opting for the big bag of chips and repackaging them into smaller portions will save more money.
There's also the fact that making it will be cheaper, always. I did a cost analysis of an individually wrapped snack cake vs. my homemade cake. Homemade cake is cheaper.
2. Premade freezer meals.
I love having things in my freezer. It does save money in multiple ways: having a stocked freezer means it takes less energy to keep it cold; a well-stocked freezer means we're less likely to eat out, which saves money; depending on what it's stocked with, a well-stocked freezer can save time, which in some circles equates to money (i.e. time is money).
Those premade meals, however, are just not a good buy. Yes, they can save time, but wait. Do they really? Annie's frozen mac&cheese (arguably, yummy) cost $3.59 for a single serving. It takes 30 to 40 minutes in a preheated oven to cook it. Annie's shelf stable mac&cheese with the cheese sauce instead of the powder costs $4.49/box. It takes 7 to 9 minutes to cook in boiling water, and it serves 3 people. So, really, which costs less?
3. Pre-cooked rice in pouches.
Yes, it takes considerably less time to warm up pre-cooked rice, but come on. Boiling rice takes about a half hour, at most.
Two cups of uncooked rice will serve four people. One pound of uncooked rice is around 5 cups of rice. So, if rice is $2.50/lb, one can feed four people for around $1.25.
Compare that to the cost of an 8.8oz package of pre cooked Uncle Ben's rice, which is $2.33 and only feeds two people. Uncle Ben's precooked rice is 4x more expensive than just cooking the rice. Does saving 20 minutes really make up for the extra cost of the precooked rice?
4. Bottles of pre-brewed individual servings of tea.
A box of 100 tea bags costs $5 depending on the brand. A half gallon of tea uses four tea bags, which costs about $0.20, and is about three and half 18 oz servings, which works about to around $0.065 per serving. Compare that to an 18 oz bottle of pre-brewed tea, which is around $2, if one purchases twelve bottles at a time.
I mean .... Is there even a question as to which is more cost effective? But then, there's the plastic bottle to recycle or throw away. Put your home-brewed tea in a pint jar to travel, get more servings, save beaucoup d'argent, AND save the planet.
5. Clothes/books.
Maybe there's a cost savings over purchasing a new shirt at the department store, BUT getting it second hand at a thrift store will almost certainly cost less.
And books? Maybe books at the bulk buying store are cheaper than they are at a national chain bookstore, but my local new/used book store has a $0.50 book table, and have you heard of the library? Books there are FREE! It doesn't get cheaper than that.
I'm a little disappointed in the suggestion that we should skip buying perishables in bulk, based solely on the notion that we might end up throwing them in the trash. The reality is that IF we want to take advantage of bulk buying clubs to see a real cost savings, the best thing to do is to not be dazzled into buying sleek packages of uber convenient food. In the end, the cost will be a lot more than the price of that wilted lettuce, and the convenience won't really offset the overall cost, either.
What do you think about Dave Ramsey's recommendation? What would you avoid buying at a bulk buying club?
Basic Ranch-style Salad Dressing:
1 c mayonnaise
1/2 c half and half (or milk or cream)
2 TBS (or to taste) red wine vinegar (could substitute white wine vinegar)
2 tsp each garlic powder, onion powder, dried basil
1/2 tsp each salt and ground pepper
Mix well. Store in the refrigerator in a sealed jar.
Adjust the first two ingredients for thickness. More mayonnaise makes it more of a dipping sauce. More half and half makes it a more pourable dressing.
