One of my favorite ways to save money is to shop the bulk food bins at Whole Foods or Sprouts Farmers Market. Both stores have a great selection in dried goods that store well in the pantry.
One problem that I see in buying these foods for the newbie is the pack of cooking instructions for those foods. With that in mind, here is a tip that I am using in my kitchen.
Take a blank book or notebook and write the basic recipes for preparing the food items. Having this information readily available will save a lot of frustration later.
Here is one example. I recently purchased farina at Sprouts for 99 cents per pound. I filled a quart container for less than $2.00. When I got home, I realised I had no instructions. Luckily I had a small box of farina in the pantry that I was able to copy the info from.
Having the information not only helps me, but anyone else in the family who wants to cook. I may know how to cook lentils, but my daughter doesn’t.
Once you have the basic cooking instructions recorded in the book, add favorite recipes using those bulk foods. I am using a small 3-ring binder for mine. This way I can add index tabs to make finding each bulk food faster.