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Tea
3/20/2022
9:42:05 PM

Morgellons -

Hi Karen!

Thank you so much for sharing all these wonderful ideas, only a few I know, but all these extras along with giving sizes and savings is extremely helpful!

Thanks again Karen, it’s greatly appreciated!

Love & Hugs!
Tea



Karen
3/20/2022
9:42:05 PM

Morgellons -

Hi Everybody!

We are all feeling the increase in prices, but...as those in our community know better than anyone else, we don't wallow in worry about things we can't control...we make a plan and address it.

I'm a big fan of Youtube videos about homesteading. I live in an average suburban home, so I'm obviously not a homesteader, but those videos (besides being very entertaining) have given me some great ideas...particularly ideas about building a pantry. My two favorites are Whippoorwill Holler with Miss Lori and Acre Farm with Becky. Of course they cook a lot of wonderful foods with ingredients that don't work for us, but their general cooking techniques along with their ideas about saving money and how they cook ahead do work for us with some adjustments.

One of the things they both do is buy in bulk to save money. Bulk buying saves money because you are not constantly running out of things and running to the grocery store. Additionally, bulk buying provides a bit of a hedge on inflation since today's prices are likely cheaper.

I'll add to this later, but I'm starting with a few pantry staples I use on a regular basis. I compared prices per ounce between my local grocery store (HEB - I live in Texas), Amazon (I have Prime as many do, so I only included items that would have Prime free shipping) and Azure Standard.

Azure Standard is a company in Oregon that specializes in non GMO and organic items. I've ordered from this company before and really like them. The way to make the prices from Azure work in your favor is to order larger sizes of items (the price per ounce or unit goes down with bigger packages) and to pick up your order at a drop site (shipping is free if you do this). A drop site is where the truck stops in your area once every four weeks and you go pick it up. You'll get an email telling you the drop date and the drop site coordinator who is just another Azure customer from your area who helps out, will call you with an exact time on the day. You can go on their site and look at their truck route to see if they come to your area. I live in a place they stop, so this works for me, but they actually have a lot of stops all over the country, so this might work well for you too. If you order $50 or more there's not a handling fee. The prices I'm listing below from Azure are based on a $50 or more order and picking them up at the drop site. Another great thing about Azure is that there is no membership fee. I know it sounds like I'm working for this company, but I'm not. I've just done some homework and this place has come up a winner.

The prices go down per ounce in larger quantities, but the huge bags of things are a pretty big investment. Also...to compare...some of these items listed below are organic and some aren't...I was going for price...although most of the Azure items are organic. I didn't list prices for the huge quantities, but I did quote prices from larger than average sizes (4 - 5 pounds) because of the price difference.

Here's the rundown:

Pumpkin seeds (I'm doing roasted because those are the ones I like best):
HEB - 43 cents an ounce
Amazon - 44 cents an ounce
Azure - 37 cents an ounce if you buy a 5 pound bag

Chia Seeds:
HEB - 38 cents an ounce
Amazon - 34 cents an ounce
Azure - 25 cents an ounce

Almond Flour:
HEB - 32 cents an ounce (4 pound bag)
Amazon - 28 cents an ounce (3 pound bag)
Azure - 25 cents an ounce (4 pound bag)

Coconut Flour:
HEB - 22 cents an ounce
Amazon - 17 cents an ounce
Azure - 14 cents an ounce

Unsweetened shredded coconut:
HEB - 42 cents an ounce
Amazon 37 cents an A (3 pound bag)
Azure - 16 cents an ounce (5 pound bag)

I didn't put the sizes and brands on everything, although most of the Azure products are their brand. I've found myself going down a rabbit hole here and had to stop lest I spend hours and hours on this. However, it's easy enough to go on the sites and check for yourself.

The clear winner is Azure if you can do a bulk order...it's worth taking a look at their site. The only thing they didn't have cheaper that I've looked at so far is pecans. The price was close, but HEB beat them by a few cents per ounce. Not surprising since HEB is a Texas company and buys some of their items locally. Pecans are big in Texas...there are pecan trees everywhere.

Amazon (if you have Prime) comes in second in prices. HEB (the store in my area) isn't known to be expensive...it's less than most of the other stores in my area, so I'm not comparing a high priced store with Amazon and Azure. Like most people, I've found Walmart to have the best prices on many items, but they sometimes don't have the things I'm looking for.

FYI...I'd also checked out Thrive Market which is another place you can order healthy foods online. BUYER BEWARE! Don't be fooled! Thrive Market and Azure Standard are two very different places. To start with at Thrive, you can't even look at their site to check prices until you join. I got lured in by all the hype and joined for $60 for the year. Then they still didn't open up the site to look at their prices. They made me click on items I purchase on a regular basis and then only showed me examples of those and then waved a big discount in front of me to get me to buy an order right after joining. THEN...after that...they finally open up the site for you to look at. Once I got to that point, I realized prices weren't good at all! Then there's the shipping...not cheap. AND THEN...(boiling mad over this) they also trick you into this thing called auto ship that is so sneaky...where they send you the same things you ordered initially every month without you even asking them to! They hype that it's for your "convenience" and that you can go in and cancel your order every month, but who has time for that? I can totally see me forgetting, and I'm sure that's the idea behind this marketing strategy. AND THEN...they automatically sign you up for auto renew which means that next year when you've completely forgotten about it, they'll help themselves to your method of payment (they save your payment method without even asking your permission) and renew your membership again! Once I realized this, I immediately did the not so easy task of contacting them and cancelling both auto-ship and auto-renew.

Forgive my Thrive rant, but I felt really stupid after I gave them $60 to charge me more, save my payment method, and give themselves permission to use it in auto-ship and auto-renew...and their prices are more as well! I just wanted to share this in case anyone else gets tempted to get hooked into their hype too.

I've learned that ordering online can be a big money saver (as in Azure) or a sneaky way to get into your pocket (as in Thrive).

Hope this helps.

Love,

Karen