Buying Flour in Bulk

[Attjack]

Does anyone here buy flour in bulk? If so where do you get it, how much do you buy, and how do you store it?

[STEbbq]

Richard Chrz

[58limited]

I have bought multiple 5 lb bags before. I store in large ziplock bags, if they won't be used quickly I'll freeze them to control the weevils.

[Donw]

If you have a Sysco nearby they carry 50lb bags of King Arthur and other brands. If you don’t have an account any friends you have in the restaurant or bakery business can add a bag to their order and you pay them. ChefWarehouse also carries them in their stores but I’m not sure if they are local to you.

A neighbor is a manager at our local Sysco distribution center and he brought me a 50 lb bag when the stay at home orders came. I think I paid about $25 for the bag. I had a metal trash can from Tractor Supply and I kept it in that. No issues with pests.

[Donw]

Thinking about it and asking Kathy I think the actual cost was about $25 dollars. She reminded me that I also bought some cases of other things. $65 was the cost of the entire order.

[Attjack]

After I made this thread I ended up on sysco.com poking around. Of course, they don't sell or list their products on the website. I'll have to go the route you did. I was thinking of storing it in a 5-gallon bucket in the basement as I do now with rice.

[Richard Chrz]

Don, that is the right price. But honestly most places online sell it for 50 dollars plus shipping. For 25 dollars, I would buy that bag forever.

[Richard Chrz]

I buy in 25 lb and 50 lbs bags, typically I buy 100 lbs of of bread flour every three weeks, and pizza every 5-6 weeks. One I purchase locally, as it is a Midwest mill, that one is Dakota Maid, it is in North Dakota, but they have a territorial shipping area, worth the check though, it is a fantastic flour, and incredibly affordable. 25 lbs bag for 10 dollars, I have made my pizzas with them as well, and every bit as good, likely switching to just that flour. I also purchase Sir Lancelot high gluten in 50 lb bags, that I buy from Websteraunt store, expensive shipping, but still the best value you can find, at least in the area I live. There are flour mills though that will ship directly to you, always worth a check as you start honing in on what you like. I can’t help on storage, I go through them fast, about 40 lbs this week.

[Attjack]

I'm definitely interested in 00 flour too. I have many restaurant supply stores in the area. I will have to shop around and see what I can get.

[JoeSousa]

We buy 25 pound bags of flour at Costco. When we buy we usually buy 4 at a time and just store them in the garage on some metal shelving. My wife goes through50-100 lbs a week for her business though so no real long term storage. We just keep it in the bags.

[jfmorris]

I buy at most 10 pound bags of King Arthur flour. Most varieties other than the AP are only in 5 pound bags around here.

My daughter used to make cookies as a side hustle and bought the 25 to 50 pound bags. She got it at either Sam's or Costco once, and it had bugs in it. She went back to Walmart Great Value brand AP flour after that. My problem with 25 to 50 pound bags would be storing it and keeping bugs out of it. Bringing it home with bugs is another story...

[Attjack]

I'm thinking that as long as I am storing uncontaminated flour in airtight food-grade containers I should be good to go.

[Richard Chrz]

Attjack, the only thing I’ve ever read was to store it with a bay leaf, but I have no understanding of why, and if it actually does anything. 25lbs hanging around your house for awhile is not going to go bad.

[smokin fool]

We go with the 10lbers too really just for storage reasons.
I only make beard once a week or so and don't want it sitting around long.
Bugs have never been a problem here but I do want is to get a storage container as mentioned and that's for making scooping cups of flour easier.

[DavidNorcross]

We purchase flour in 25 to 50 lb bags. Typically at Sams. We seal in Mylar bags and oxygen absorbers and vaccuum seal then store in food safe buckets. Been doing this for years. I keep a years supply of flour….

[Attjack]

I use cambro containers now in the pantry for flour and sugar and stuff like that. I would still use them if I started buying in bulk and would fill them up from the bucket in the basement.

[DavidNorcross]

I lean toward the side of caution. In my view all flour that is purchased have eggs. You can also freeze the flour before sealing. However, what allows the eggs to hatch is air and light (typically one or the other). Last thing I want is to open a bucket of flower and find critters in there that I do not want.

[Attjack]

I've had moths once in my life and had to toss a bunch of stuff in the pantry. I'm not interested in all the extra steps unless necessary so unless I run into a problem I'll just toss the flour into an airtight bucket in the basement.

[RonB]

King Arthur sez their flour is good for one year from the manufacturing date, but by the time it goes through the supply chain, you will have less than that. Refrigerating or freezing will extend the shelf life.

I keep whole wheat in the refrigerator in the shop because I don't use it very often. I keep bread flour and ap flour in the pantry in airtight containers without problems, but I use both often enough that I don't have to worry.

And you can buy lots of different flours on Amazon, and it comes in bags up to 50 lbs, and they sell large flour containers too. Just make sure they are airtight.

[Attjack]

I might go with 25 pounds then. I still think the brew store is where it's at for containers. Amazon is already parked outside my house way too often.