It turns out dear reader, that we’ve be scammed.
We kind of all knew it, but maybe we forgot about it. Maybe the trip to yet another specialty store got streamlined to the supermarket. Maybe those cute little matching packages were irresistible. Even though they didn’t weigh much in our hands.
Herbs and spices from the supermarket are incredibly overpriced and this week I visited the Bulk Food Savings store near my house. Maybe you have something similar near you? Mums and hippies go there. It’s all healthy, unbranded stuff. My local store is tucked away in a carpark and has no street presence. This little shop is a treasure trove of unbranded goods. When it opened a couple of years ago, no one noticed.
I only know of its existence due to the drive through at Wendy’s on Dominion Road. Ironic.
I got change from a tenner after buying these bags of aromatics (cardamom pods, fenugreek seeds, cinnamon sticks and coriander seeds) and bought a few other bits and pieces there too. A bargain!
Do you buy unbranded ingredients? Where from?
Bunny Eats Design 
I was thinking the same thing yesterday when I paid $4p/kilo for tomatoes at the supermarket when they were $1.99 at the fruit shop….it’s a joke! Nice score on the spice front. Change from a tenner is impressive!
Yeah, I try and do all my fruit and vegetable shopping at the fruit and vege shop. I prefer to only carry about 5kg worth of food but I always notice the difference in price when I shop. I guess the supermarket put a big mark up on convenience. Convenience stores do the same again. What always surprises me is when the local convenience store sells select items for less than the supermarket giants. That’s the world gone mad.
Not everything at Bulk Food Savings is cheaper than the supermarket. But as you pointed out, some things certainly are. In the end, I guess you just have to shop around. Another bulk food store in the area is Mahadeos, just next to the Mahatma Gandhi centre. It doesn’t feel as clean and has more of an Indian focus, but you might find some interesting things and cheap spices there too. 🙂
Thanks Nom Nom Panda for the tip! I live in between Mahedeos and Bulk Food Savings. With both in walking distance, I think I’ll be sorted for spices for a long while. With Da Hua Chinese Market on the way, I could use a bicycle and a nice big basket.
It’s so true! There is an Indian deli down the street from me that sells spices. They have everything. Seriously everything. And it’s really inexpensive.
I do find myself sometimes paying more at the supermarket thought. Simply because the Indian Deli only sells really large bags of spices and I never end up using them before they start to fade. So I end up spending more for less just so I don’t have so much waste. It’s all kind of backwards, isn’t it?
I wish that I could just buy as much as I needed from the bulk place when I needed it, but they pack it up for you.
I’ve been guilty of paying more for less too.
I’ve always wanted to buy 10kg sacks of potatoes for $8. Instead of the 2.5kg bags that I usually buy for $6. I just need some friends to share the 10kg with. Maybe if I got organised, I could sub-sell to my work mates. I could sub-sell at $1 a kilo and I’d get a free 2 kilos for the effort.
I know! I just don’t have the room in my apartment for buying in bulk. I also don’t have enough mouths to feed.
Your idea to sub-sell sounds like how the market for illegal substances works 😉
I like it 🙂 But please try not to get busted selling spuds!
Haha. The Spud Buster has a good ring to it.
🙂
Guilty of often paying over the top prices for spices at the supermarket – it’s the convenience isn’t it. But I do like to get them when I can at the Asian supermarket.
Sue 🙂
Ah, jealous. Tyler brings me a lot of stuff home from work. I love getting new spices. Something a little different with a bit of pressure to make something new 🙂
Ahhhh this place on Dominion Road is a total gem, I went so crazy with buying every type of bean and lentil imaginable there the other week I almost dislocated my shoulder carrying the bags home!