Bulk Indian Groceries

Some kitchens cook for twelve every night, and some cook for three hundred on a Sunday. This page gathers the big packs that suit them: rice and flour bags from 3.5kg to 5kg, cooking oils in 4 to 5 litre bottles and tins, catering size tins and large tubs of ghee. Joint families, community kitchens, gurdwara langar, temple annadanam, iftar gatherings and wedding or puja cooking all run on these sizes.

Large packs work out cheaper per kilo because the packing and handling is spread over more food, and there are fewer bags to buy over a month. The saving only counts when nothing goes to waste, so buy big in the staples you use every day: basmati rice, chapati atta, sunflower oil and ghee. Many families split a bulk buy with neighbours or relatives, dividing a sack of rice or a large tin of oil into clean, labelled containers on the day it arrives.

Stored well, a large bag stays good to the last scoop. Tip rice and atta into airtight bins with tight lids, food grade plastic or steel, and keep them somewhere cool and dry, away from the boiler, the hob and outside walls that turn damp in winter. Use the older stock first, wipe out the bin before refilling it, and add a bay leaf or a few dried red chillies to the rice if that is your family's habit. Flour does not keep as long as rice, so a household that makes rotis only a few times a week may be better served by smaller bags.

Big tins of oil should be capped tightly after each pour and kept out of sunlight; decanting a little into a smaller bottle for the hob keeps the main tin closed. For every pack size in one place, see rice and grains and oils and ghee.