One way to provide the very highest quality of food for yourself and your family is to find other families in your area and band together to form a buying club," say Sonya and Ed Kugler of Natural Needs, a Chicago consulting firm that does events and outreach for the organic products industry. The Kuglers once ran a food cooperative in their garage. A food co-op or buying club is member-owned and member-controlled, and operates on the share principle: that a group, buying in bulk directly from distributors, can obtain the best food choices at a better-than-average price. "There are warehouse distributors all over the nation that are set up to provide you with the goods and services you need," the Kuglers say. Some co-ops continuously occupy a permanent site, like a storefront or a member's garage; others temporarily use a site, such as a church basement, for a few hours a week while members divvy up a delivery of food.
Terry Shistar, Ph.D., a board member of the National Coalition Against the Misuse of Pesticides (NCAMP) and a long-time organic food co-op member, writes in the winter 1995-96 issue of Pesticides and You that most co-ops are based on the following six points:
1. Open membership
2. Democratic control
3. Return of surplus to members
4. Limited rate of return on investment (co-ops exist to provide services for members, not to invest capital)
5. Belief in education
6. Cooperation among co-ops
The beauty of the co-op, or buying club, form is its loose cut. It can be tailored to fit the size, character, needs and capabilities of any group. "The average co-op has around 12 to 20 members," the Kuglers estimate. Many co-ops start out in members' homes and garages, move into small storefronts, where members work a certain number of hours to be able to buy food at member prices, and grow into actual grocery stores. The Hanover Consumer Cooperative food stores in Hanover and Lebanon, New Hampshire, have 20,000 members. "Since all 144 people who work at the [Hanover] store are, like the rest of us, co-op members, and hence part-owners, there is a camaraderie while shopping that is akin to that found in an old-time general store," observed Noel Perrin in the New York Times Magazine.
In some co-ops, a member can buy at a discount without having to buy in bulk. Often, member discounts vary according to how much labor, if any, a member contributes per month. "The point is, there are as many ways to run a co-op as there are co-ops," the Kuglers say.
Keeping your Co-op Running
(We've condensed these ideas from the Kuglers and Shistar's article.)
1) Membership and Sharing the Work. In addition to sharing food, "For the new food-buying club, it is best for everyone to share the work," Shistar advises. Make sure your co-op has enough people to divide up tasks and meet your distributors' minimum order amounts. This doesn't mean everyone schleps heavy boxes; members should volunteer according to their capacities and skills.
Here are some jobs:
Treasurer: Keeps the checkbook, balances books.
Order Coordinator: Can be done by an individual or committee. Terry Shistar works this job for her co-op. "I receive the orders from members two weeks before delivery date. I collate them and send them to Blooming Prairie [the distributor] a week before delivery, and download and print invoices on the day of delivery. I can do all this because Blooming Prairie supplied us (for a small fee) with a computer program that does most of the work." In other co-ops, order collating is done by a committee that takes the orders of, say, 30 families by hand, writing each item on an index card. Then the committee chair serves as liaison with the distributor.
Telephone Contact: The one whom the distributor calls before delivery day to give the arrival time of the truck, and who then notifies the other members.
Delivery Day Crew: Meets the truck and divides up the orders. To divide cheese, flour, dried beans and other bulk items, the co-op will need a scale, bags or wrap, and markers for labeling.
2) Delivery and Division Sites. A co-op needs a designated place at which to meet the truck and divide the order. Ideally, this would be a place with refrigerators, sinks, shelves and tables. Church basements make good sites, in exchange for donations of surplus to the needy.
3) A Distributor. You may want to work with more than one. Bulk items might be bought from a major distributor and specialty items from an organic coffee company. Both can be located through national co-op organizations (see below). Fresh produce might be contracted for in a Community Supported Agriculture group (CSA, see The Green Guide #40) with a local farm.
4) An Equity Account. To build up a common fund that will cover rent and other expenses, such as photocopying and bank fees, co-ops can charge members up to 5% an order for the first year or two. The surcharge should be offset by members' savings through buying in volume.
--Adapted from The Green Food Shopper (by Mothers & Others, 1997, 175 pages), a hands-on manual that tells how and where to get organic and local food, how to start CSAs and farmers' markets, and provides all the tools M&O's Shoppers' Campaign uses for convincing merchants to stock better food choices. With 18 pages of resource addresses and phone numbers.
http://www.cgin.coop/how_to_start
Build Your Food Supply for $5 a Week
A recent article appearing in a survivalist magazine provided the blueprint for building a substantial and nourishing food supply over a 52-week period. Importantly, the foods that can sustain you and your spouse can be bought once each week for about $5 (perhaps a bit more if prices in your area have risen).
Do the math: the cost for building your emergency food supply is going to be very affordable – just $5 per week (approximately) for 52 weeks … a mere $260. That’s not a lot of money, especially when you consider that you can spread the cost out over a full year. And, while the foods may not seem exotic or overly enticing to you (see the list below), they will sustain you and your spouse. And they are nutritious.
Here is the list of purchases you need to make weekly – for One Full Year …
Week 1: 6 Pounds of Salt
Week 2: 5 Cans Cream of Chicken Soup
Week 3: 20 Pounds of Sugar
Week 4: 8 Cans Tomato Soup
Week 5: 50 Pounds of Wheat
Week 6: 6 Pounds of Macaroni
Week 7: 20 Pounds of Sugar
Week 8: 8 Cans of Tuna
Week 9: 6 Pounds of Yeast
Week 10: 50 Pounds of Wheat
Week 11: 8 Cans of Tomato Soup
Week 12: 20 Pounds of Sugar
Week 13: 10 Pounds of Powdered Milk
Week 14: 7 Boxes of Macaroni and Cheese
Week 15: 50 Pounds of Wheat
Week 16: 5 Cans of Cream of Chicken Soup
Week 17: 1 Bottle of 500 Multi-Vitamins
Week 18: 10 Pounds of Powdered Milk
Week 19: 5 Cans of Cream of Mushroom Soup
Week 20: 50 Pounds of Wheat
Week 21: 8 Cans of Tomato Soup
Week 22: 20 Pounds of Sugar
Week 23: 8 Cans of Tuna
Week 24: 6 Pounds of Shortening
Week 25: 50 Pounds of Wheat
Week 26: 5 Pounds o f Honey
Week 27: 10 Pounds of Powdered Milk
Week 28: 20 Pounds of Sugar
Week 29: 5 Pounds of Peanut Butter
Week 30: 50 Pounds of Wheat
Week 31: 7 Boxes of Macaroni and Cheese
Week 32: 10 Pounds of Powdered Milk
Week 33: 1 Bottle of 500 Aspirin
Week 34: 5 cans of Cream of Chicken Soup
Week 35: 50 Pounds of Wheat
Week 36: 7 Boxes of Macaroni and Cheese
Week 37: 6 Pounds of Salt
Week 38: 20 Pounds of Sugar
Week 39: 8 Cans of Tomato Soup
Week 40: 50 Pounds of Wheat
Week 41: 5 Cans of Cream of Chicken Soup
Week 42: 20 Pounds of Sugar
Week 43: 1 Bottle of 500 Multi-Vitamins
Week 44: 8 Cans of Tuna
Week 45: 50 Pounds of Wheat
Week 46: 6 Pounds of Macaroni
Week 47: 20 Pounds of Sugar
Week 48: 5 Cans of Cream of Mushroom Soup
Week 49: 5 Pounds of Honey
Week 50: 20 Pounds of Sugar
Week 51: 8 Cans of Tomato Soup
Week 52: 50 Pounds of Wheat
Now, it should be noted that this list was the creation of a writer by the name of “AZ Pepper.” If you look closely at his suggestions, you’ll see – almost immediately – that they make sense. The supplies he suggests are affordable (perhaps no more than $5 for each weekly purchase, maybe a bit more) and they can last a long time. These foods will not spoil quickly.
Here is something else you need to know, courtesy of “AZ Pepper.” There are some weeks in this process of food accumulation and storage when there will be money left over after your purchase (perhaps some loose change). Don’t spend it. Instead, put it aside for use in the weeks when your purchase exceeds $5. This will help you stick to the budget. In fact, there will also be weeks when the items you want to buy are on sale. Take full advantage of these sales to save money and get ahead.
Clearly, if you follow this shopping strategy, you will be able to meet your one year food storage goal while staying right at – or near – your pre-planned budget. This is something you can do, if you remain motivated and focused.
Now … for the really good news …
Here is What you will have Stored … after just 52 Weeks
You’re about to be surprised, maybe even shocked, at what your 52-Week Food Storage Plan has enabled you to purchase and store for emergencies. You will have accumulated all of the following:
- 500 Pounds of Wheat
- 100 Pounds of Sugar
- 40 Pounds of Powdered Milk
- 12 Pounds of Salt
- 10 Pounds of Honey
- 5 Pounds of Peanut Butter
- 45 Cans of Tomato Soup
- 15 Cans of Cream of Mushroom Soup
- 24 Cans of Tuna
- 15 Cans of Cream of Chicken Soup
- 21 Boxes of Macaroni and Cheese
- 500 Aspirin
- 1000 Multi-Vitamins
- 6 Pounds of Yeast
- 6 Pounds of Shortening
- 12 Pounds of Macaroni
Here is the BEST NEWS of all: the nutritional value for all of this food is, believe it or not, a whopping 1,249,329 calories (give or take a few calories). And, based on a daily diet in which you and your spouse each consume 2000 calories, the food listed above can sustain the two of you for about 312 days. That’s the better part of a full year.
At a cost of just $5 per day – just $260 for a full year – this is a bargain you can’t afford to pass up. In fact, it would still be a bargain if you doubled the cost because even if you were to spend $10 a week … the cost to you would still be a very, very modest $40 a month.
In 21st century America, you simply can’t feed two people for such a
small sum of money and remain healthy. Well, now you can. Put this amazing one year food storage plan to the test.
Start planning your first weekly purchase today.