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Your photo makes me so nostalgic for the Olympia Food Coop, I was a coop member-volunteer worker there for over 20 years and I really miss it. (The coops where I live now are nowhere near as friendly, and very expensive to join)

I still shop in bulk though, pretty much all the kinds of things that are on your list; the other thing we buy in bulk is meat: (since we are not vegetarian) once a year in the fall, we buy a lamb from a local farmer, put it in the freezer, and that is our "red meat" for the year. Local and sustainable, since the lambs are raised on pasture that is not suitable for growing other crops.

It was only recently that I learned to buy spices in bulk. I can't believe how much money I've wasted over the years buying the far more expensive bottles in the cooking aisle of the grocery store. Now I buy and use more spices, and spend way less money! Hurrah!

How do you store apples, squash, and beets for that long. I know they last longer than most foods, but my beets always get soft after a week or two. Is there a special trick?

I buy my spices in bulk too because it's much cheaper. Plus, if I'm trying a new one and am not sure if I'll use it much, I can just get a little bit.

We buy flour in bulk ( I bake everything we eat as far as bread goes) and meat in bulk. We purchase a whole lamb prepared by a butcher and half a cow every year or so. I love buying in bulk as it makes my pantry full and makes the house feel cozy especially in the fall and winter.

I buy spices, whole wheat, rice, beans in by-the-pound bulk with regularity. I buy pasta in batches of 20 pounds when it's on sale (20 one-pound bags for 20-23 dollars), but I only buy the shapes that we like and which are on sale. Shapes we like that aren't on sale get pushed to the back-burner until they too are on sale. I also buy bulk quantities of dried mushrooms, seaweed and bonito. I'm still working through the batch of assorted mushrooms I bought a few years back, where I was able to get pounds upon pounds of different types for incredibly cheap. I may die before I run out of mushrooms.

Oh, and I buy mustard and other non-perishable condiments in bulk as well.

kittyball - I store apples in a cool, dark place (like a kitchen cupboard). Some apples last longer than others, so it's best to ask the farmer. They don't last as long as other winter vegetables, for sure. When they get a bit wrinkly, you can use them in desserts or to make apple sauce.

Squash can last for several months if the skin is intact. If there are nicks in the skin, they can start to rot a little around the cut and sometimes also around the stem, but that can be trimmed away. I've found that butternut squash lasts the longest - all winter! Acorn squash has lasted me 2 months or so. I store squash in the open - often as a decoration in my kitchen!

I'm less sure about beets and need to do some research on it. I've been storing them in a paper bag in the "crisper" drawer in my fridge. The stems start to rot so I tear those off as close to the beet as possible and then trim away any rot when I cook them. I've had beets last me this way up to three months. Alton Brown has a good episode on beets. If I remember correctly, he stores his in a box of sand in the fridge. Crazy Alton!

I received a rice cooker and a 5 lb bag of rice for christmas last year. That giant bag of rice will last over a year (used mostly for 2 of us) and has convinced me to buy grains like that in bulk. Those weeks where the pantry and refrigerator are pretty empty, I always have a large helping of rice to fill me up.

Are there any bulk foods places in NYC? I am used to bulk from Whole Foods in other cities, but it doesn't seem to be part of Whole Foods here! Like nuts, dried fruit, granola, special flours I don't want to buy a whole bag of... Help!

I recently moved back to NYC after enjoying a year of the bulk section at Berkeley Bowl. Sigh. I second Karolyn's request: any stores with good bulk sections in New York?

There's a bulk section upstairs at the Fairway on the Upper West Side-- it's not great, but you can get various grains, cereals, and yogurt-covered pretzels. I'd love to hear about anywhere else (can you buy spices in bulk at Kalyustans?), too.