Bulk provisioning in the UK

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Normanby

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I'm new to the UK, preparing my boat in Cornwall for a summer of cruising.
Where is a good place to buy bulk items like rice, coffee, oats, etc...
I'd like to provision for a month at a time.
Buying online with free delivery would be a bonus too.
I'm a little particular about some things; avoiding MSG and Sodium Nitrate (migraines) for example.
Cheers, Matt
 
You're hard pushed to beat the prices at the supermarkets.

I have a friend who has a large cafe and catering business and apart from the convenience of having a catering supply company deliver (such as Brakes), she says that prices are as good at the supermarkets.

I think a well organised trip to Aldi / Lidl would be cheapest, (the Lidl is convenient to at least one marina in Falmouth) or do a shop on-line with Tesco / Sainsburys / Asda and pay their nominal fee to deliver.
 
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We went along to the trade cash and carry our local pub restaurant uses and bought what we needed on their card and paid them after the visit

The advantage is that there are lots of stock to choose from so you can pick goods with a long sell by date, something you cannot do in a supermarket.

For some reason the UK has a much better range of tinned goods and cook in sauces etc.. than anywhere else we have seen.

We did make the mistake of stock up with things in the UK that we could get anywhere like pasta, tuna, bog rolls, tooth paste so be selective and have fun
.
 
TimBennet said:
...I have a friend who has a large cafe and catering business and apart from the convenience of having a catering supply company deliver (such as Brakes), she says that prices are as good at the supermarkets...
Click to expand...
+1, I had a GF who ran a cafe and she bought all her supplies at supermarrkets. I've seen people who run local corner shops fill multiple trolleys at the local Sainsburys too :)

Boo2
 
Normanby said:
I'm new to the UK, preparing my boat in Cornwall for a summer of cruising.
Where is a good place to buy bulk items like rice, coffee, oats, etc...
I'd like to provision for a month at a time.
Buying online with free delivery would be a bonus too.
I'm a little particular about some things; avoiding MSG and Sodium Nitrate (migraines) for example.
Cheers, Matt
Click to expand...

Where are you going? Probably much cheaper to provision in France which is not too far away from Falmouth.. Or Spain is better. RoI is more expensive however..
 
Amazon marketplace is well stocked in the UK, with some items you'll not find in retail stores, or more specifically sizes you'll not find them in, such as 1.9L canisters of Kikkoman soy sauce. Which I consider essential provisioning, as it makes anything palatable, even a bowl of plain cooked rice ;-)

If you want groceries delivered, Ocado is the way to go.
 
Once upon a time all the big supermarkets did catering size packs.You could buy big packs of dried soup and the like but these days I find these items are almost impossible to find and the likes of Bookers insist on proof of being a business bwfore they will issue you with a card.
UHT milk with long sell by dates also seems impossible to get.Best I could find at Tescos last week were multipacks with a two month sell by.
 
ffiill said:
Once upon a time all the big supermarkets did catering size packs.You could buy big packs of dried soup and the like but these days I find these items are almost impossible to find and the likes of Bookers insist on proof of being a business bwfore they will issue you with a card.
UHT milk with long sell by dates also seems impossible to get.Best I could find at Tescos last week were multipacks with a two month sell by.
Click to expand...

Aldi Long Life semi skimmed milk in cartons is recommended.
 
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