The Benefits of Buying Bulk Foods in Massachusetts... and Beyond

My recent stock from Supply Bulk Foods going into the box truck.

When I came back to Massachusetts in the 2010s after living in Northern California, I found shopping for bulk foods not as easy, especially where I'm from on the South Shore. I was able to find a few places though, like Whole Foods, where I could fill my jars with some staples like coffee, peanut butter, and oatmeal.

After the pandemic, many of these places unfortunately stopped letting me bring in my own jars. Luckily, I travel a lot and stock up at places with hundreds of bulk options like Honest Weight, in Albany, New York. But it certainly would be great if there was an option around the South Shore. Well, there actually is.

A couple of years ago, I got an email from a woman wanting to make sustainable T-Shirts for her business; a dry bulk foods delivery service! While she was a friend of a friend, I had no idea that Supply Bulk Foods existed and was I excited to learn more. Alys Myers and I connected, we learned more about each other's work, and we got her reuse shirts made.

Alys with her first batch of Supply / STAY VOCAL reuse T-Shirts.

With the lack of bulk food shopping in Massachusetts, it was great to see that Supply delivers to various locations around the eastern part of the state. So, you don't have to worry about driving to a distant location every time. For me, it's fortunate that one of the delivery spots is my friend Julia's shop: Four Corners Supply Co. in Marshfield. One of the many great things I see about this is that two small local businesses are working together for a common good.

Julia Traggorth, owner of Four Corners Supply Co., with my order from Supply.

So, why is buying bulk foods a better option? 👤 Buying bulk foods is better for people.

We've all heard by now about the increasing studies finding microplastics in human bodies. That is some seriously.... scary... stuff! We don't want that. And that's one thing bulk foods are all about preventing. With Supply, for example, all orders are individually packaged in compostable/recyclable packages and tin tie paper bags with a biodegradable liner. ZERO PLASTIC! These items aren't manufactured in a factory somewhere and kept in plastic for who knows how long.

Some of my recent order from Supply.

🌎 Buying bulk foods is better for our planet.

Cutting down on packaging also helps save resources and eliminates plastic waste. Plus, the more the local the food is, the less fossil fuels and carbon emissions there are. And that surely makes less of an impact on the planet creating less pollution and eventual climate change.

💰 Buying bulk foods is better for our wallets.

With minimal packaging, the costs for the business are down and those costs can be carried over to the customer. You're also less likely to overbuy, as you can just get what you need. You're not stuck with one big package of something. Personally, I only have so much room for food storage in The Reuse Box Truck.

The dry goods shelf in The Reuse Box Truck Tiny House.

As an added bonus, Supply is also one of the bulk foods companies that takes SNAP/EBT. This is an important part of the brand model to help those facing food insecurity.

And buying bulk foods doesn't just benefit customers wallets. By supporting local, small businesses, we're putting more money into our communities. And that's one of the easiest and most impactful ways that we can support our community. If we truly care about our community, we should want to put the money into our community's pockets, right? That being said, I used go to Whole Foods a lot, like I mentioned above. But as of earlier this year, I'm no longer going there. I don't need to give their billionaire more of my hard earned money. (Amazon owns Whole Foods if you did not know.) There are smaller, local grocery stores and bulk foods options like Supply that I can support. With every dollar that I spend, I get to vote for the kind of world I want to live in. And by supporting a small business, I'm choosing to support community and people I actually know.

Since I know many of you are not in Eastern Massachusetts, there are plenty of options around the U.S. for buying bulk foods. Here's a great zero waste grocery guide by Litterless.

The Dill Pickle Peanuts were not in the assortment on the shelf because they simply didn't make it that far on the way home.