We grew a lot of foods this past summer and dehydrated them (check out www.thorntonwilliamsfamily.blogspot.com and www.survival-gardening.blogspot.com). But we have to buy what we can't grow (mango, rice, salt, honey, olive oil, etc.). Here are a few of our suppliers:
Vitamin Cottage - http://www.vitamincottage.com/
For decent prices, they have a huge selection of nuts, seeds, soybeans, grains, herbs, fruits and vegetables. They package their own spinach, parsley, bell peppers, carrots, onions, garlic and more. Find a location near you and check out their stores. They probably also ship. Everytime we stop in a Vitamin Cottage, we pretty much clean them out of onions, garlic, spinach, carrots and parsley. Usually also bring home soybeans for the freezer. (They also have a "soup vegetables" package with various veggies but it also includes potatoes so we can only use it on a "Potato Day" in our "Rotation Diet".)
Emergency Essentials - http://www.beprepared.com/
This catalog company has great supplies, not only for emergencies but also food. MRE'S (meals ready to eat), meal-bars, first aid kits, sleeping bags, cooking and heating supplies. Good water storage containers and grain grinders. What we really love is their #10 cans and big storage buckets of grains, beans, dried fruits/veggies, powdered eggs/sour cream/butter/peanut butter, and so on. They also have dried meat like chicken. This is a MUST for certain essentials. We order from them whenever we can, at least the peanut butter powder, powdered eggs and wheat berries (to grind for wheat flour).
Just Tomatoes - http://www.justtomatoes.com/
We usually place an order with this company about every month - love 'em love 'em love 'em! They dehydrate all of their products with no sulphur, and nothing added. Our 12 year old Son refuses to eat fresh mango or blackberries but will clean out a single container of Just Tomatoes dried mango and dried blackberries in an hour! We order big packages of those, blueberries, soybeans, and green peas. Sometimes we get the small packages of apples, carrots, fruit salad, pomegranate, persimmon and cranberries as well as others. We have a special place of honor for these products in our kitchen area as well as our storage area. The company says these will last unopened for about a year, but we recently came across an unopened bag of peas from 4 years ago and they were just fine. Be sure to keep moisture-proof.
Sam's Club - http://www.samsclub.com/
They have good prices for bulk items, and our membership pays for itself within a month of stock-up-supplies. Once every other month, we buy several of each: rice, salt, honey, corn flour, olive oil, and vitamins. Be careful with price comparisons - one brand might be labeled price per ounce and another with a different brand might be price per unit. Still, a 25 pound bag of Morton Table Salt is $3.58 - a lot better than paying a dollar for a pound at the local store! Sometimes we use their "click n pull" where we choose the items online and in a couple of days, the order is ready for pickup. Certain stores also deliver.
These are just four of our suppliers but there many others. (Try CostCo too.) Feel free to use this post's comment section to add your own information.
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