Bulk Barn....Don't know if it was all of them but one I was at had cornbread flour for half price, something like 30 cents per 100 grams...I had never tried the stuff, but at 30 cents bought a few kilos to try. As I was paying I asked why so cheap?( just a little above barley) and was told that it was being discontinued....So if corn bread is your thing, get to a bulk barn fast before its gone at that price!

Lots of good corn bread recipes if you're into homemade breads! So good to have with soups and stews. If there was a bulk barn nearby I would seriously stock up.

Gotta drive 4 hours for a Costco, or 4 1/2 to a bulk barn, argh! The joys of kiving rural.

Gotta drive 4 hours for a Costco, or 4 1/2 to a bulk barn, argh! The joys of kiving rural.

Seriously? wow..I can drive right across Saskatchewan in that time.

Back at Costco and it looks like I was wrong on the potatoes, not Kirkland brand but "Honest Earth" brand. it is 2.5 kg for 13 dollars and change. I think that works out to 52 cents or there abouts per hundered grams. I bought a box this time.

and I cleaned out the dollar store of pocket knives.....I cant believe these are only 4 dollars.

Five pocket knives? You must plan on losing them, LOL

That's a good deal on the potatoes. However I've got a thing for Betty Crocker Scalloped Potatoes. One 141 Gram package is $1.67 (more than twice the price, but still relatively inexpensive). The salt content is a bit high, but I like how they taste. 🙂

Back to Costco again, picked up another 2.5 kg of dehydrated potatoes. The price is so good I couldnt help myself. 31 or 32 kgs in storage now. I think I am good. Most packages (brands) I look at say a serving size is 22 to 24 grams (dry) and makes roughly 2/3 3/4 of a cup of potatoes. They roughly call that a serving size at about 150 cal.
I usually double what they call a serving size for estimating purposes so I round up to 50 grams (dry) for a cup and a half serving size (300 cal).That seems more realistic to me. So at 30kg that works out to 30000/50 = 600 servings. Sometimes you just have to say...that's enough.

When estimating serving sizes if you havnt noticed all serving sizes on most products seem ridiculously low. You would be wise to double serving sizes when figuring out your needs.

Also, I have been experimenting with multi bean stew/ soup mixes from bulk barn. You can of course mix up your own but they have premixed ones that when on sale are cheaper than I can buy the ingredients for (when on sale). These make up great cheap healthy meals, and store dry just fine. One bag I took out from storage (5 years old) and used up over this last month had just been stored in the thin plastic bag I dumped them into at the store 5 years or more back and been sitting on a shelf since then.

Peppercorn, what's the expiration date like on those? Not that I would throw them away on that date, but that gives a bit of an idea.

I always assumed dehydrated potatoes were indefinite in lifespan.
The 2.5kg honest earth brand from Costco that I just bought has a expiry date of Dec 2018.

I looked at some other boxes of different brands I have like the yellow boxed no name brand 389 gram per box.(food for less I think)
I write the year I buy things on the box, and I have some that have writing of 2012 on the box and their expiry date is 2013.
My oldest is a can of 2kg. This was bought in 98 or 99 (I didn't write the purchased date on it) It has no expiry date on it, or none I can understand.
I checked the upstairs kitchen and I have a opened box of no name brand that I opened mid 2017 it has a buy date of 2009 on it and a expiry of 2010.

just read everything again...no expiry dates... All Best before Dates.

So it looks to me like they stamp roughly a year or so date on such products as a best before date.

My experience is the product stores indefinite, I notice no loss in quality.

Just saw this thread! 🙂

We buy these regularly..I'm not a big fan of boxed potatoes but these one's are great tasting and very reasonably priced.

For long term storage though, they require butter and milk as well as water to prepare. Milk and butter might be hard to come buy in tougher times.

Way back about 97 or 98, while shopping at Safeway, they had a cart of 1 kilo bags od Or-Ida instant potatoes. All were priced at $.99. I bought five bags. The next day I went back, with more money on the hope that there would be some left Was I ever shocked to see a full cart of those bags. I bought 24 bags, as that's all I could afford. We stored them in a large Rubbermade tote and took out one bag at a time, as needed. Just this last fall, I brought up the last bag. It is every bit as fresh tasting as the first bag we opened all those years ago. We are no where close to being out of spuds, though, as Save-On foods brought us in 3 - 5 kilo boxes od instant spuds, about 4 years ago. They charged us about 1/2 of the marked shelf price as all they had to do was bring them in. They were happy, and so were we!

Way back about 97 or 98, while shopping at Safeway, they had a cart of 1 kilo bags od Or-Ida instant potatoes. All were priced at $.99. I bought five bags. The next day I went back, with more money on the hope that there would be some left Was I ever shocked to see a full cart of those bags. I bought 24 bags, as that's all I could afford. We stored them in a large Rubbermade tote and took out one bag at a time, as needed. Just this last fall, I brought up the last bag. It is every bit as fresh tasting as the first bag we opened all those years ago.

Thats a good enough testimonial for me to say indefinite storage, and I assume that's in its original packaging.
TCO, 25 kg of skim milk powder in storage, that should keep me in milk for my potatoes for a long time, but a warning on that, it will go bad if you don't keep ( powdered milk) them in sealed packaging. The milk powder is hydroscopic and if moisture is given time to act on the powder it will turn it sour.it will take a long time but will do it. so use up opened bags, don't put back in storage.

Yes, the spuds were stored in their original sealed plastic bags, then put in the tote. I should mention that they didn't get any special care, either. The temperatures got up to 30 plus in the summer, and -25 a couple of times in the winter. I had no choice as to where the stuff was stored as our home was 12 ft x 24 feet. No basement, or loft. No Storage!
Powdered milk, on the other hand.....can be a problem. I've had it go bad. Not nice. What I have stored now, should be good for a long time stores in the original bags, in a sealed bucket, in a very cool room. We should be good to go.

Yes, the spuds were stored in their original sealed plastic bags, then put in the tote. I should mention that they didn't get any special care, either. The temperatures got up to 30 plus in the summer, and -25 a couple of times in the winter. I had no choice as to where the stuff was stored as our home was 12 ft x 24 feet. No basement, or loft. No Storage!

Yes, I have found it bullet proof storage wise, you almost cant go wrong storing the stuff, and who doesn't like potatoes?