sort of spin off...eating for less.

I have found that buying the building blocks of many different creations has saved us a TON of money.

instead of buying separate ready made mixes (ie baking and spices) I buy the individual item and rock out from there.

so, instead of buying a box of cake mix, a box of pancake mix, frozen waffles, a box of choco chip cookies, and a container of muffins. I buy a 5lb bag of flour, a 5lb bag of sugar, salt, baking power/soda, and always have milk, vanilla extract, eggs, butter, and oil on hand (these are stables of so many other things anyway)

it really makes a huge difference. and it's so much more versatile.

spice mixes and rubs I do the same thing....I make my own bbq rub, blackening season, chili and taco conconctions from the same stuff I have and can use indiviudally. you can also control taste as well as cost.

the price of everything is continuously rising. switching to this bare bones method has really done a lot to help my pocket!!!!

just putting it out there.

Re: sort of spin off...eating for less.

I have been doing this as well, though I don't buy as big of bulk as you do. I started making almost everything from scratch. No more mixes or kits. It's cheaper and with no much practice becomes easier to put together quickly and so much more healthy since I know exactly what I'm putting into whatever I am making. My biggest issue is finding bulk in organic items. Rice, beans, sugar can find, but I haven't found bulk organic flour. Heck I just found out yesterday the Target sells a five pound bag of organic flour, which is nice to know since I have been buying it in two pound packages.