Where can I get oats in bulk near the Boston area?

May 31, 2010 7:05 PM

Where can I get oats in bulk near the Boston area? I'm looking to cut down my breakfast costs, so I want to buy something like this. I assume that I could get it even cheaper than Amazon if I got it from a local cooperative/farm/something in the Boston area. Is that true, and if it is, how do I go about locating such a place?
posted by long to Food & Drink (10 answers total)

Best answer: I've never been, but Harvest Co-op seems like a good bet.
posted by Horace Rumpole at 7:12 PM on May 31, 2010

Best answer: The places that supply co-ops have fairly modest minimum orders - $500 or something if you can get some friends on board then the oats will come to you, wholesale. I have friends who do this in Maine.
posted by shothotbot at 7:16 PM on May 31, 2010

Best answer: Hannaford's in Waltham has bulk oats for cheap.
posted by Cat Pie Hurts at 7:20 PM on May 31, 2010

Best answer: Harvest Co-op is where I get mine. There's a store in Central Square and another in JP. I'm pretty sure all of the local Whole Foods stores (and there are many) sell this in bulk also, hand-picked by virgins and infused with the essence of righteousness.
posted by range at 7:48 PM on May 31, 2010

Best answer: Do be careful about storage - meal moths can ruin your bulk oatmeal within weeks of opening the sack.
posted by scruss at 7:50 PM on May 31, 2010

Best answer: Oats do not store well for long periods, if the grain has been broken. The oil in the grain gets to taste less tasty, so you might want to buy only a month's supply at a time. I get bulk rolled oats from Costco but don't like to eat them once they've been opened a couple of months.
posted by anadem at 9:10 PM on May 31, 2010

Best answer: Trader Joe's has steel cut oats for a decent price. My ~2lb cannister cost somewhere in the $2-3 range, whereas I would pay at least $2.50 per pound buying it in bulk at the supermarket.
posted by pluckemin at 9:55 PM on May 31, 2010

Response by poster: Very helpful - thanks everyone!
posted by long at 10:19 AM on June 1, 2010

We just got a huge box of regular rolled oats (not the quick-cooking, 1-minute kind--the 5-minute kind) at Costco. The box said it held 110 servings total which was divided into two plastic bags within the box--I hope that means the second half won't go bad before we get through the first. Not sure how much we paid but I'm sure it was orders of magnitude cheaper than single-serving instant oatmeal (shudder), and because the
posted by Sublimity at 11:53 AM on June 1, 2010

oops, strike the last three words up there.

Also, we're near Boston and go to the Costco in ?Dedham?
posted by Sublimity at 11:54 AM on June 1, 2010