Bulk Shopping For Healthy Food | 4 Tips To Making It Last Longer — Growing Goddess

I love Costco - and I’m sure if you follow me on Instagram, you already know that with how much I reference Costco in my posts and stories.

But while I love shopping here, bulk shopping definitely has its benefits and huge downfalls. I love that when purchasing things in bulk, I’m saving money (per weight) on many foods I buy regularly anyway; but when I first started bulk shopping, much of that food would spoil before I could even get through all of it.

To do bulk shopping right, it takes a lot of thought. But with some additional prep, you can really make your bulk foods - even the fresh foods - last for weeks (if not months).

When shopping for fresh fruit and vegetables in bulk, portion and freeze them.

Instead of purchasing frozen vegetables from the grocery store, why not make your own. Here’s a great hack on how to do it without all of your fruits and veggies clumping together:

Wash your fruits and vegetables.
Prepare them how you’d usually prep them before making a meal (cut broccoli into bite-sized pieces; pre-peel, and chop bananas; de-seed and slice/chop bell peppers, keep blueberries whole, etc.)
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and lay your fruits and vegetables on a flat layer (avoid them touching each other) and freeze for at least 1-hour.
Transfer frozen fruits and vegetables into separate bags and store them in the freezer until you’re ready to freeze!
BONUS: If you know you’re making smoothies every day, store all of your smoothie fruits together in one freezer bag. Likewise, make pre-made stir-fry bags in your freezer so you can just drop the frozen bag of vegetables when you’re ready to cook them up!

When shopping for fresh meats, freeze whatever you aren’t using this week and defrost the cut in the fridge the night before you cook it.

The freezing method for fresh meats is very similar to the vegetables, except it takes a little more meal prepping:

Make sure to always keep a clean work surface, wear gloves, and sanitize your counters afterward to avoid cross-contamination
Because you have to defrost the meat, it may take a little extra menu planning to ensure you actually have defrosted meat to cook that day

Make Your Own Frozen Meals

I have an amazing client who meal-preps huge batches of her favorite foods, freezes them, and defrosts them when she’s ready to eat them! It’s absolutely brilliant - especially if you’re super busy and always on the go! You can simply grab one of your frozen meals from the freezer, drive to work, and then microwave it at lunchtime - for a delicious meal in minutes! Then, when you run out of food, you just meal prep again. This could easily make you 2-3 weeks’ worth of food without worrying too much about grocery shopping or meal prepping every single day!

Dehydrate Them For Storage or Snacks!

You don’t need a dehydrator to make dehydrated snacks.

Did you know that you can dehydrate foods in certain air fryers? The Ninja Air Fryer has the option to dehydrate foods and comes with a dehydrator plate!

You also can dehydrate foods in your oven (but it will just take a lot longer).

Dehydrated foods are amazing because they are so versatile.

You can dehydrate a bunch of vegetables, store them in your pantry, and rehydrate them in soups or stews.
You can make dehydrated snacks like beef/chicken jerky, banana chips, or dried mangoes
You can make dehydrated backpacking meals (amazing if you’re a camper!) and rehydrate them with hot water
You can dehydrate bread and make a bunch of bread crumbs instead of buying it from the store
You can crisp up seeds, nuts, or legumes (like chickpeas or split peas) and make a trail mix or crunchy salad topper

The ideas are endless!