Is there anywhere to buy decent larger bags of flour?

[OhYouBadBadKitten]

I get through quite a lot of flour, the nicer flours are so expensive in the supermarket that I'm wondering if theres somewhere online or something (am in south england) where I can buy decent amounts.
If I did this, how well would it store?

(I think that the coming autumn is making me feel all squirrelish)

thanks

[MatNanPlus]

For cakes or breads?

Maybe visiting an independent bakery?

[Soapbox]

try this?

[OhYouBadBadKitten]

for bread mostly - I do bake cakes/biscuits but prob only once a week. We do have an indep bakery in town - I'll ask them - good idea

Soapbox - that looks great thanks I'll prce it up incl delivery and see how it compares.

So how long does flour realistically keep?

[InTheDollshouse]

How much were you thinking of buying at a time, kitten, and how would you store it? Sorry, bit of a hijack and not really answering your question! - just that I've been thinking along similar lines.

[InTheDollshouse]

oops, now I see that I'm just repeating your Q.

[InTheDollshouse]

independent bakery a good idea. my local one, before it closed, used to sell Wessex Mill flour.

[OhYouBadBadKitten]

that looks like nice flour.
Its the delivery charges that are the killer. Am def going to ask in bakery

[InTheDollshouse]

yes, that's what's put me off ordering any. I found another nearish stockist but they had a massive mark up compared to the price the bakery used to sell it at.

[expatinscotland]

we get ours from an independent health food shop.

[Takver]

We get flour in 25 kg sacks from a local water mill - lasts for ages & makes a good trip out as we can feed the ducks, dd usually gets a look round the workings etc.
We store it in a big clip top barrel that we got off ebay, can't remember how much it cost but not too much, it lasts 4 months plus easy without going bad (we've always used it by then).

[SqueakyPop]

Costco

[OhYouBadBadKitten]

thanks
nearest costco is a bit of a drive but next time we are in that area i'll check it out.
Will investigate to see if we have any local mills too - that sounds like a great place. Tis good to know we can keep it that long

[misi]

where abouts are you OhYouBadBadKitten

[OhYouBadBadKitten]

southern england

[fishie]

i buy big bags where i can, but no mills near me (east london). unless someone tells me different. they don't really have an online presence.

there is one in shaftesbury dorset and some more scattered around as my parents have brought me some from from kent and lincs on their travels. where are you kitten?

[misi]

depends where or how far out you are. marriages in chelmsford have a fantastic range of flours, sell msotly via shops and mostly independent health food stores but I am told they sell large bags too

[OhYouBadBadKitten]

I'm def southern england sorry i'm being a pain but cos I do a bit of stuff locally that gets into papers occasionally I keep it fairly private on mn.

[misi]

sorry OhYouBadBadKitten I didn't see your reply yesterday! if you have a health food shop nearby, always worth going in and asking if they can get hold of large bags for you. My wholesaler did catering bags that I did not mind ordering for customers but I also had a specialist supplier of dried fruit, nuts, flours basically anything like that and he would bag up any quantity for me if I asked him to. he once made up a 50kg (well 2 x 25kg as 50kg in one bag is far too heavy) bag of carob flour for a customer who was starting a dairy free chocolate cake making business.

www.nahs.co.uk/nahs/exhibitorsearch.asp

if you don't know where your nearest shop is

[littlefrog]

I've just started making pumpernickel sourdough bread, which is lovely, but we like you now go through LOADS of flour and it's all v expensive stuff - rye and spelt, and then seeds as well.

When we were on holiday in Norfolk we came across Letheringsett Watermill (you can google it) and they had MUCH cheaper rye and spelt flour than I can get here (london), and it comes in sensible sized bags - 3, 5 , 7kg I think. They will deliver - can't remember how much it cost, but it was a per 20kg (or 25? can't remember) price, and I worked out that it'd still come a lot cheaper for us if we did buy it in big lots.