Buying Wheat: Budgeting Tip #2

Because my family eats so much wheat, we buy it in bulk through our church's home storage centers. So far we have only had to buy it when we have lived in the western part of the country where more of these centers are located, but there are centers around the country. (Here is a map that will help you locate the closest one to you.) If you are not a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, you are still welcome to contact one of these centers. While there are commercial companies from whom you can buy bulk wheat, none that I have found even begin to compare with the prices offered by the Church. If you don't yet use a lot of wheat, you may can the wheat at their cannery locations into #10 cans and use it that way. Since my family goes through about 200 lbs. of wheat per year, we buy it in 25- or 50-lb. bags, depending on what's available. You can find a pricing chart here of all the items the canneries offer. Hard white wheat, our wheat of choice, is currently priced at $5.80 per 25-lb. bag. (As compared to other sites I have found which do conveniently ship it to you, but the prices are more in the $60-$80 range for 50 lbs. of wheat.) If you do the math, purchasing wheat from Church canneries, grinding it yourself, and using it as one staple of your family's diet, is extremely inexpensive. And if you end up overestimating how much you can eat in a given amount of time, wheat has a shelf life of 30+ years!