All about my bulk ingredients....

When you start cooking and baking more, it becomes a much better deal to buy in bulk. Buying in bulk means you need an efficient way to store and use your bulk. Here is my system, which is always a work in progress. Take from it what you think would work for you and let me know how you tweak if. I might be able to get better ideas from you. :)

I have 3 buckets and each has a gamma lid that is a different color.

The yellow is for rice, white is flour and blue is sugar. I bought the white 5 gallon buckets at Lowes, but a friend recently clued me in on a great deal. Go to Walmart or any other store bakery and ask for their used buckets. They usually have frosting in them. Be sure you are getting ones that only had food in them. Take them home, clean them out and you've got free buckets. A savings of around $7 per bucket. I bought my gamma lids online. Just googling gamma lids, I found this site which is about what I paid for mine. As you can see, mine just sit on the bottom of my pantry. If I'm using 5 cups of flour, I'll pull it from my bucket. If I'm using a cup or less, I'll just pull it from my small container. I have a small container for flour, sugar, wheat flour, brown sugar and powdered sugar.

For my wheat flour. I don't have my own grinder yet (hopefully soon). I have a wonderful friend who graciously lets me come and grind a bunch at a time. I have wheat store in sealed#10 cans. I pull about 3 or4 at a time, grind it at her house, put it back into the #10 cans with a plastic lid and stick them in my standing freezer. I fill my small container in my pantry from those.

When you get your gamma lids, you'll need some muscle. You will get a sealing ring that will need to be pounded onto your bucket and then your lid that you will then be able to twist on. I remember my husband had to put some muscle into getting the ring on, but you'll love these so much, it's worth it. One quick twist and you have an airtight seal no problem. I have NEVER had any problems with anything getting into my stuff in these.

I also buy my baking soda, salt and yeast in bulk. I try to keep a small container of baking soda handy, but I don't have one for some reason right now. That's a goal this week. :) The salt is easy to just grab, it has a pour spout. That box is only a bit over one dollar at the store. So easy and cheap.

I buy my yeast at costco (sam's has it too) in a bag that looks like a block. It's super cheap, maybe $4 and last me a good month or two. I bought my yeast container for cheap at walmart. They are with the reusable food storage containers. I think they are by ziploc. Anyway, I keep my yeast in the fridge.