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All Bulked Up

Look to bulk foods for tasty eats that won't take a bite out of your wallet.

Friday Mar 28, 2008.     By K. Tighe

Food Feed

It's not as simple as buying "healthy food" anymore. These days, you have to take into account how your food was farmed, where it came from, which major food company is lurking in the shadows, how sustainably it was packaged and whether any farmers were slighted in the process. Most of us spend more time reading labels at the supermarket than we do actually eating our grub.

Turns out, there's an easier way: buying in bulk. Aside from the environmental benefits to minimal packaging, bulk products let you choose how much to buy, meaning you only pay for what you need. Most bulk foods also tend to be whole, putting an end to your routine label-scanning for MSG, excess sugar and preservatives. And, you can be sure your bulk dollars go right back into the local economy by shopping at these businesses. Now that's nothing to balk at.

Java-junkie overdose at Coffee & Tea Exchange
Coffee & Tea Exchange roasts its beans at a Grand Avenue warehouse and then trucks the goods across town to its Lakeview outlet, where they're loaded into barrels. As if it wasn't hard enough to choose from the espresso and dark roasts, you'll also have your pick of specialty blends and a selection of flavored coffees: Amaretto, cinnamon and vanilla are some of the more predictable ones, while adventurous types will go straight for coconut, orange, chocolate-raspberry or chocolate-mint.

Most cost $8-$11 per pound. While canned coffee might be a tad on the cheaper side, the huge jump in quality, freshness and ethical business practices makes Coffee & Tea Exchange the better value by far. Be sure to check out the wall of bulk teas and spices before leaving.

Aspiring gourmets can't get enough of Treasure Island Foods
On the scant list of situations that would make a foodie break out into a happy dance in the middle of a grocery store, stumbling upon a bulk selection of fancy dried mushrooms is right at the top. The blink-and-you miss-it display sits between the olive bar and cheese cooler in Treasure Island's deli section. Ten glass jugs showcase all of the shitake, morel and trumpets you need to really get a sauce going. The damage will run you $2.98 per ounce of the lowly—but tasty—cloud ear funghi to $14.98 per ounce for the mighty morel.

Before you hightail it back to the kitchen, swing by the olive oil aisle for a tin of Filippo Berio; if you cook regularly, the three-liter vessel is a steal at only 30 bucks.

Nibbling on namkeen at Patel Brothers
When you need a 20-pound bag of basmati or 16 liters of vegetable oil, head north to Patel Brothers. Resist the curry smell that teases from all directions on Devon and keep telling yourself this: "There are free samples inside."

The shelves at this stalwart grocer stretch up to the ceiling, framing broad aisles full of Indian mothers guiding overstuffed carts. If you're not looking to whip up a dinner for 12, just nudge your way to the southwest corner's display of 32 earthenware cauldrons, each filled with its own blend of namkeen. Running $2 to $4 per pound, these savory snack mixes are staples in any Indian household. The basic formula is to take various crunchy things (dried peas, nuts, rice flakes) and add a blend of Indian spices (cumin, coriander, curry, cardamom, fennel) in varying proportions. Pop the treat in your mouth for a quick hunger fix.

Getting your crunch on at Newleaf Natural Grocery
One of the chief benefits of buying bulk items is to avoid food manufacturers' astronomical markups. Case in point: breakfast items. A box of individually packaged oatmeal typically costs $3 to $5. A pound of bulk oats runs just $.59 to $.99. That's one hell of an increase for a bunch of debris.

Granola suffers this same fate; many people pass on the crunchy stuff because it's just too expensive, but New Leaf offers six bulk blends, from hemp to French vanilla. Each will set you back $3 to $4 a pound, a steal when compared to the fancy-pants bags you'll find in the health food aisle at chain grocers. If you want to go even cheaper, make your own from the other bins of Newleaf: Load up on oats, brown sugar, a couple kinds of nuts, sunflower seeds and raisins. Toss with salt, flaxseed oil and maple syrup and bake on a cookie tray for an hour at 250 degrees, tossing every 15 minutes.

Kick it up a notch at Spice House
Even those of us with the best culinary intentions treat seasoning as an afterthought—always buying the cheapest option so that we can put the extra dollars toward a good olive oil. Adding insult to injury is the outrageously long shelf-life we expect our spices to endure. Be honest, just how many half-empty shakers of McCormick garlic salt do you have in your spice cabinet right now? And what are the expiration dates on those babies? To do their job right, spices should be treated gently, ground in tiny batches and used right away.

That's where The Spice House comes in. It knows that the sensory boost you get from properly treated thyme, oregano and chipotle is astronomical. Each spice and housemade blend is measured out from apothecary jars into shakers, reusable bags or vessels you bring from home. From a three-buck bag of garlic salt to a $100 tin of superior-grade Spanish saffron—and the whole stick Indonesian Cassia Cinnamon, truffle salt and bay leaves in between—prices vary wildly.