[Sca-cooks] Getting discounted foods - was: Menus

[Micaylah]

> Getting donations is wonderful if you can manage it.  Vendors
> can write it
> off on their taxes.  I have tried to get wholesale prices
> without much luck,
> however.  When we looked into this option, we were told that
> since we were
> not paying taxes on the other side (i.e. we were not re-selling
> the food and
> paying tax on that food sale), we had to pay the tax when we bought it.
> Just because we were a non-profit didn't get us a wholesale
> rating.  Anyone
> else have different results?
> Christianna

My favourite shopping places start with food wholesalers (where the
restaurants shop). Since there are such good deals there I buy my personal
bulk stuff there as well. Since we don't buy bread, we go through a mess of
flour. Getting it there is an ideal situation all round. I can also pick up
any non-food items as well (pizza boxes for tarts, steamer trays,
containers and lids for sauces, etc). This stuff runs pretty cheap if you
buy it in bulk. And even though our Canton has a fairly extensive kitchen
inventory, these sorts of paper/foil products are good to have in the
inventory.

I also shop at grocery store wholesalers. For example, Loblaws (big grocery
chain in Cda) has a central warehouse which distributes to the 10 or so
stores in our city. It is also open to the public. In most cases the prices
aren't as good as at the restaurant wholesalers but they are better than
the grocery stores. I almost never shop at a grocery store for feasts.

I have noticed that it is also a good idea to be familiar with the farms
around you. You can get great deals on fresh meat/produce etc.

Taxes are different here in Cda and are mostly not talked about. lmao

Micaylah