unfiw.com: Co-op orders

[Guest guest]

Hi Janaki,

Have you looked into forming your own food buying club at www.unfiw.com ?

 

I don't know what the current requirements for a food buying club are since I

set up mine before the last buyout. The buying club prices are significantly

lower than retail and a bit above the wholesale price to stores.

 

This is the company that bought out Mountain Peoples who bought out Nutrasource.

The warehouse for the NW states is several blocks square, and is located in

Auburn WA, so its feasible for people in Seattle to do will call orders. The

minimum amount for a will call order is $500.

 

Since the warehouse is huge, the only time something is out of stock is when the

producer is out of stock. For instance, mangos have become so popular that there

seems to be an annual mango shortage around June for the last few years.

Stocking up each year for an 18 month supply, just after the new crop is

available, will avoid this issue.

 

I live so close to the warehouse, I've never had a delivery made, and think

maybe the minimum for an order which will be delivered is up to $2,500 now.

Still, most families will eat this much each year, so an annual purchase would

be big enough to have them deliver to you.

 

For those out of the area, I know they deliver on the I-5 and I-90 corridors and

can't remember where else they deliver in the NW. UNFIW has a network of

warehouses in North America, so they deliver to quite a few regions. If you are

able to store annual purchases, it might be worth looking into regardless of

where you live.

 

Once you get a buying club account, you can access their online database to find

what they stock and the prices. For instance, a 25 pound case of Baugher Ranch

Nonpareil organic almonds is $208.77 which comes to $8.35 a pound. Of course

these have been steam sterilized, but they don't seem to be cooked like some of

the " raw " almonds I've seen in stores. A 5 pound package of dried organic mango

costs $40.07 which comes to $8.01 a pound.

 

They sell all the types of stuff that health food stores sell, so you can buy

cases of dish detergent and body lotion too if you want. They sell a lot of

seeds and grain in bulk quantities. Depending on the product it might be a 5,

25, or 50 pound sack, and bulk liquid comes in 1 and 5 gallon buckets.

 

The freight cost on larger mail-order food orders can be quite high, and so

doing a local will call order can help save on this cost, especially if you do

large orders to cut down how often you go to the warehouse. Having them deliver

an annual order would be much less than paying UPS charges for mail-ordered

food.

 

I keep my nuts and dried fruit in a chest freezer which can be set colder than

the upright freezers and is more cost effective too. My freezer ranges between

-10F to -5F and this temperature keeps things fresh for a long time

(months/years) that don't keep well in the freezer compartment in a

refrigerator. I'll have to get another freezer before I can start making annual

purchases of everything I eat.

 

I've found the UNFIW nut and dried fruit quality is generally higher than many

stores and mail order companies. This is in part because they keep their nuts

and fruit in chilled storage, which is the storage area kept just above

freezing.

 

Much of the " dried " fruit is so moist now that it spoils at room temperature and

of course most nuts oxidize quickly at room temperature. In spite of this, many

retailers store this food at room temperature.

 

Once I got setup for buying in bulk, it really cut down on the shopping I need

to do, and is easier because if I need more, I just get more out of the freezer.

More importantly, the food quality is much higher than before since it never

sits at room temperature because what I take out of the freezer I then put into

the refrigerator.

 

Pretty much all I buy at stores is the fresh food now.

 

May your day be filled with clarity, grace, strength, progress, and warm

laughter,

Roger

 

-

" Janaki Rose " <Janaki

 

Wednesday, June 25, 2008 7:07 PM

Re: Co-op orders

 

 

> What follows is further description of what I'm looking for and some ideas

> for everybody on disaster planning. I probably miss out on a lot of info by

> not attending the raw food potlucks...

>

> I am looking for local Seattle folks who are making bulk purchases together

> to save money. I don't need to order more on line right now but would like

> to know if there is any coop of sorts. I no longer have the info about the

> fellow that I thought was in Seattle who has a food purchasing co-op with

> some of the raw food group folks or . I'm wanting to know for

> future orders and maybe for present. Is anyone having a drop site for

> azurestandard.com? I've already placed a major order since I'm going to

> Oregon soon and will be picking it up directly from the company, but would

> like to know if any site in Seattle exists that is open for new people to

> join as they didn't have an open site in my 98115 area code when I checked

> today. I could also join a site in Monroe, Kenmore, Bothell etc. Anyway,

> this and other cooperative food buying ideas is what I'm looking for. Some

> good sites I found for food planning and for purchases at this time are as

> follows: azurestandard.com; lifesprouts.com; purcellmountainfarms.org;

> granarybulkfoods.com Some sites are out of some things but by looking

> further to other sites you can still at this time find most items you might

> seek. I use nuts, seeds, grains, certain legumes and heirloom garden seeds

> in my living foods lifestyle and preparation planning. Dried fruit has a

> limited shelf life but if vacume packed will last longer but seems really

> good for about a year max. The smaller fruits last longer, raisins,

> berries. Don't deprive sprout seeds oxygen however. For disaster planning,

> food grade diatamaceous earth (did I spell that right!?) will keep seeds

> viable 10 or 20 years in food grade plastic buckets if you open them and

> stir them once a year and then re-seal which is not a problem especially if

> you are using the food all along. All my seeds (almost used up) from 9

> years ago still sprout and are tasty. Most nuts can be stored frozen fairly

> long term if its a deep freeze that does not self defrost. I choose to keep

> some freeze dried foods that could flavor other living foods in a pinch.

> And then there are the powerful antioxidant and power foods such as

> Chlorella, gogi or wolf berries.

> Janaki Rose

>

> On Wed, 25 Jun 2008 16:12:49 -0700, Catherine wrote

> > I am not sure exactly what you are looking for...Do you know about

> > Raw Vegan Source ? www.rawvegansource.com

> > -

> > Janaki Rose

> >

> > Wednesday, June 25, 2008 1:45 PM

> > Co-op orders

> >

> > Can someone send me information on local food buying co-ops in

> > Seattle, people connected to the raw food group? Is there info about

> > this that is supposed to be accessed through somehow? Janaki Rose

> >

> >