Bulk Shopping for Beginners

You’ve started carrying a reusable water bottle and you bring your grocery bags to the store every time. Awesome job! You want to take the next step towards plastic-free living but you find bulk shopping to be a little intimidating and you’re not sure where to start. No worries. I’ve got you. Bulk shopping for beginners.

Step 1) Get a reusable bag or container

You can purchase cloth bags on Amazon or some grocery stores will have branded cloth bulk bags. I like the mesh bags for larger items like beans so the cashier can see what’s in the bag. For finer items like flour, or small grains I like organic cotton bags. If you’re in the middle of a “no buy challenge” and handy with a sewing machine, try making a small bag with a leftover T-shirt. Or, grab any container laying around in your house. It is best to find a lightweight container…I’ll elaborate later.

Step 2) Bring the container and grocery bags to the store

I keep all my grocery shopping accessories in my trunk so I don’t have to remember each time I leave the house to go grocery shopping. If you do not know the weight of your containers, bring a permanent marker.

Step 3) If the weight of the container or bag is not labeled on it, then ask the store to tare it for you

You can normally do this at the front service desk. Tare is just the weight of the empty container. After the cashier weighs your container, mark the weight on the container with the permanent marker you brought. You want to get the weight of the container so they can subtract the weight from the price of the goods. So, if almonds are $10/pound and you get 1 pound of almonds and your container is a quarter of a pound, you don’t want to be paying an extra $2.50 for the weight of your container.

Step 4) Find the bulk section and fill your container with goodies!

Step 5) Take a picture of the bulk label including the 4 – 5 digit identification code

For the black beans below the code is a PLU# “5570”.

Step 6) Bring your items to the cashier and tell them the 4 – 5 digit code as they are weighing each item.

Note: most chain stores have the ability to subtract the weight of your container (or tare) at the cash register but I’ve found small mom & pop stores have older machines that cannot do this. So, if you’re shopping in bulk at a smaller store, check with the cashier first to make sure they can remove the weight of the container. This is one reason why having a super lightweight container is important. Just in case you have to pay for the weight.

Step 7) Bring it home and either transfer to a storage container or place container in the pantry

I like to clean out old spaghetti sauce jars and use them as storage for my bulk items. This reduces waste, makes it easier to see what I have so items don’t go bad, and creates uniformity in my pantry. I’m a nerd for uniformity!

Step 8) Clean out bags and bulk jars and put them in your trunk with your grocery bags

I do this so I they are always there if I’m stopping by the grocery store.

Bonus! If there are salad bars or in my case an olive bar at your grocery store, you can also bring your own containers!

Look at you, bulk shopping! Doesn’t it feel awesome to shop without plastic packaging? Now that you know the basics of bulk shopping, what items are you planning to buy in bulk? If you already shop in the bulk section, what are your favorites and what do you wish they had?

If you need help finding bulk bins near you, use this bulk finder.

Still need a few items to help you bulk shop? Check out my shop page for items I use to shop plastic-free.