Name: CHEC Rocky Mountain Homeschool Conference
Start: 2025-06-12T00:00:00-05:00
End: 2025-06-14T23:59:59-05:00
Location: Denver, CO

Tagged: Azure Standard, bulk, food, shopping

This topic has 21 replies, 9 voices, and was last updated 12 years, 7 months ago by blue j.

Viewing 15 posts - 1 through 15 (of 22 total)

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October 18, 2012 at 6:07 pm
crazy4boys
Participant
On another thread we were discussing cheese that people order from Azure Standard. I was wondering if we could do a quick list of the things we like to order from there, to help other people find foods/products we might not have heard of before or were not sure of the quality.
So, I’ll start –
Red lentils – can’t find them locally
Green/brown lentils – if I can find them locally I buy here, if not Azure
Butter – I buy several kinds – Organic Valley Pasture Butter & Sierra Nevada Vat Cultured for putting on breads/toast (2 each lasts us about a month), Willow Maid unsalted (in bulk) for baking
Bubbies Sauerkraut, dill pickles and dill relish – we have locally but it’s more expensive here
Sprouted English Muffins
Quinoa – once in a while Sam’s/Costco has organic for a good price, otherwise I get it from Azure
Rice – see above
Oats – rolled and quick – see above
Tuna – wild caught – it’s much more expensive locally, Natural Value is the brand I get
Dried fruit – so far just banana chips, raisins, and mango
October 18, 2012 at 9:33 pm
Misty
Participant
off the top of my head – oats, rice, quinoa (also), jelly, cheese, toothpaste, sugar (both xylitol for me and sucanant for the family), flour if wlamart doesn’t have it, dry beans of all kinds… this Is what I can think of right now.
Thanks for this post. I may have to look into the butter. May I ask what you like about buying each of these seperate vs using the same butter for everything?

October 18, 2012 at 9:36 pm
KCMommy
Participant
Lots of stuff! 🙂
We get bulk raw, organic nuts (walnuts, cashews, almonds)
Jason’s Chocolate Hazelnut Butter (TRY IT!)
Frozen Salmon
Canned Tuna and Salmon
Lots of in season fresh produce (apples, pears, sweet potatoes, russett potatoes, etc)
Organic bulk raisins
Bulk wheat berries
Frozen organic strawberries
Organic shredded coconut
Those are our “staples”…I’m sure we order other things that aren’t coming to mind right now. 🙂

October 18, 2012 at 9:48 pm
missceegee
Participant
I WISH we could get Azure delivery in FL!
October 18, 2012 at 9:54 pm
2flowerboys
Participant
Me too 🙁

October 18, 2012 at 10:01 pm
crazy4boys
Participant
Misty – what type of jelly do you like? And toothpaste? I’m always switching brands because we haven’t found anything we really like.
As far as switching butters – I do it for 2 reasons. When I bake with it I figure I’m decreasing the nutrients so I use the cheaper butter for that. When we’re eating toast or bread or whatever, where the butter will not be cooked/baked, I like to use something that’s more nutrient-dense/fresh tasting. The butters I buy for that taste farm fresh. The other butter spread on toast tastes sort of stale, if that makes sense. I just don’t have the money to buy the higher quality butter for all my baking! I recently found a local farmer who sells butter at the Farmer’s Market so I might switch to that for the bread/toast stuff.
Missceegee – this is the first area I’ve lived in with delivery. It’s such a blessing, but also very overwhelming to go through 1000s of products to find what you need.
I’ve never even looked at their frozen stuff. I’ll have to check that out next order. And the Justin’s stuff – my kids love Nutella but I won’t by it for them so this might be a good compromise!
October 19, 2012 at 1:31 am
LindseyD
Participant
Bulk raw cheddar
canned wild salmon
juicing apples (when in season)
winter squash (when in season)
wheat/rye berries
rolled oats
canned crushed tomatoes
canned tomato sauce
tomato paste
frozen strawberries
produce such as garlic, potatoes, oranges, kale, zucchini, etc. whatever’s in season
arrowroot powder
tapioca starch
popcorn
food storage buckets w/ gamma seal lids
bulk organic pinto and black beans
used to get whole corn but it hasn’t been available in a while
raw honey
gallon buckets of Wilderness Family Naturals coconut oil
raw cacao powder
chia seeds
parchment paper
…that’s all I can think of off the top of my head. Azure has been the greatest thing ever for our grocery budget and bulk food needs!
October 19, 2012 at 3:11 am
blue j
Participant
Is there anyone on here from IL who orders? I thought I found that the closest delivery site to me was in Iowa at about a 6 hour drive one way. If I could find it closer, I would DEFINITELY order.
October 19, 2012 at 4:12 am
crazy4boys
Participant
Lindsey – do you find that the coconut oil and raw honey are cheaper there than buying directly from Wilderness Family? I just opened my second to the last jar of coconut oil and I need to replenish. We did a group buy in TX with 20+ families, using someone’s restaurant discount….but now I must pay full price.
October 19, 2012 at 1:08 pm
Misty
Participant
I will answer with the honey/coconut – sometimes it is and other’s it’s not for my area, with delivery. Also, amazon sometimes is cheaper.
As for jelly I like the Crifter’s which is GMO free. Toothpaste our family likes – HB350Nature’s GateCreme De Peppermint Toothpaste. We also buy Cocoa, arrowroot,
Thanks for answering the butter question. That is interesting but a great reason for butter switching. Do you know if the Sierra Nevada Vat Cultured , and the Willow Maid unsalted are GMO free? I know the organic valley is. Thanks this is fun thread
October 19, 2012 at 1:15 pm
2flowerboys
Participant
don’t want to hijack this post BUT what kind of organic popcorn do any of you use? We get bagged popcorn and eat it every once and a while..but know it is GM! We don’t have any organic here so I want to order some..I guess from Amazon.
Thanks
October 19, 2012 at 2:38 pm
KCMommy
Participant
We get the bulk organic multicolored popcorn from Azure and LOVE it! We air pop it then season with organic butter and celtic sea salt (also from Azure)
October 19, 2012 at 3:30 pm
crazy4boys
Participant
From the Azure site re: Willow Maid Butter – Made from rSBT free milk. GMO Free. I couldn’t find a specific answer on the Sierra Nevada stuff – lots of no hormones, no antibiotics, a bazillion organic certifications, etc. I sent them an email asking about GMOs and will let you know when I hear back.
Popcorn – I haven’t bought it from Azure yet (but will look into it next order). I’ve ordered in the past from Wisconsin Made and Amish Country. Some of the are GMO and others aren’t so be careful when you order.
October 19, 2012 at 3:47 pm
LindseyD
Participant
Popcorn: if you order the bulk organic popping corn, it’s non-GMO because it’s organic. By law, food labeled “organic” must be non-GMO. We order the 25lb bag, and it lasts us a LONG time. We pop it on the stove in some coconut oil, then pour melted butter on it, then sprinkle rock salt and Bragg’s nutritional yeast over it. So yummy!
Coconut oil: I do find that it’s cheaper to order from Azure because of the difference in shipping. It saves me $3-$4, but every little bit helps!
Butter: I used to buy the Willow Maid butter from Azure until I learned I could special order Kalona grass-fed butter from my local store. I get it in a case of 8 and it costs me around $4.75/lb. Less expensive than Organic Valley or Kerry Gold, more expensive than Willow Maid, so it’s a good middle ground for me. I like that it’s grass-fed, organic, and made from low-temp pasteurized cream. I know Willow Maid doesn’t boast any of those, and OV or KG don’t specify on their label if it’s from low-temp past. cream. We think it’s the best butter we’ve ever had! On another note though, I might start ordering the Willow Maid butter again because I hadn’t thought of using it just for cooking and baking. I should save our good butter to use on toast and such.
October 19, 2012 at 5:55 pm
Rebekahy
Participant
Crazy4boys – I have a friend that runs a co-op (group purchase) specifically for Coconut oil and EVOO in Omaha!!!! I haven’t looked into the quality/processing, but if you want I can have her add you to the list. I haven’t ordered because you have to get a pretty large amount (I’m still using just a quart size jar – my family doesn’t like the coconut taste).
Also – Costco nearly ALWAYS has the organic quoina, at least everytime I’ve needed it, it’s been there (Omaha).
I LOVE this thread – I SO want to feed my family in a healthy manner, but am intimidated about searching out the best quality AND best price.
I’ve been buying my butter at Costco, we eat SO much, but I guess that’s the next switch I need to make. Glad to know I can get it from Azure for a reasonable price – I might just go back and print out a bunch of these posts for my next order…. Azure is difficult when you’re just getting started because they offer SO much.