Tuesday's tip: Buy in bulk

Last week I put a call out to readers, asking what your tips are for saving time and money in the home and kitchen.

Two of you came back with this goodie:

Buy in bulk to get 'bulk discounts' on items like pasta, rice and white flour, which have a long shelf life.

My cousin-in-law, Brie, has worked out she can spend $19 for 5kg of pasta at bulk food store Moore Wilsons, compared with around $6 for a 500g packet at the supermarket. This saves her about $40 on the 5kgs.

My sister-in-law, Mandy, bought 25L paint buckets from Bunnings to store her rice, pasta and flour in. The paint buckets are airtight, so her food stays fresh and the moths stay out.

But if you don't have room to store bulk purchases, you could always go in with a friend or friends. That way you still get the savings, but only buy the quantity you actually need. Everybody wins!

As a side note from me - white pasta and white flour stay fresh because they've had the oily germ stripped away. It's the germ that goes rancid in wholewheat flour, in just three days, so you're best to grind your wholewheat flour yourself and freeze or refrigerate it in an airtight container to keep it fresh.

Eating rancid flour is not good for you, but there's just no way to tell how fresh store-bought wholewheat flour is. That's why a grain mill is high on my wish-list right now.

Do you have other time and money saving tips you'd like to share on Tuesday's tip? I'd love to hear from you if you do.