Start A Food Buying Club...

A buying club is a group of people who pool their time, resources, and buying power to save money on high quality healthful foods.

There are 5 basic steps to buying food
through a buying club:
1. Members combine their individual orders into a single order. .
2. The combined and collated order is sent to the warehouse through the internet ('ftp' or email), by fax or by phone.
3. The truck delivers to your prearranged location. At least three buying club members need to be on hand to unload and receive the order.
4. Members divide up the order among the individual households.
5. Household bills are recomputed after delivery to account for any discrepancies. The buying club keeps track of additional charges or credits which may be carried over to the following month’s order. FoodLink takes care of these functions easily.

Why Join a Buying Club?
In addition to being able to access and purchase high quality natural and organic foods and products and the cost savings available from buying directly from the warehouse, there are many other reasons to start or join a buying club.

• to get to know other people with similar interests from your community
• to support organic farmers
• to be a part of a cooperative food system that is owned and controlled by people who use the products, and to work together to serve your needs
• to learn new skills, such as using a computer or bookkeeping
• to revitalize your neighborhood, small town or rural area by gaining access to high quality natural foods and products which might not otherwise be available
• to learn more about natural food, nutrition and cooking

We recommend you have five to eight households to start a buying club, although some groups begin with fewer. Talk up the idea with your family, friends, neighbors and colleagues. Hold a meeting and describe how a buying club works; emphasize the cooperative nature of the organization.

http://www.unitedbuyingclubs.com/RESOURCES/BCHelp/WhatIsABuyingClub.htm
http://www.unitedbuyingclubs.com/RESOURCES/BCHelp/BCResourcesIndex.htm
http://www.unitedbuyingclubs.com/
http://www.coopdirectory.org/distributor.htm
http://www.cooperativegrocer.coop/coops/
http://extension.missouri.edu/xplor/extcirc/ec0943.htm
http://www.vegfamily.com/articles/coop-food-buying.htm
http://www.foodclub.org/
http://www.newfarm.org/features/2005/0205/club/index.shtml
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CCC: A VERY SIMPLE WAY (in 10 e-z steps), without complex organization/serious meetings or big time planning, is to simply create a LIST of foods, (list) and products that, for example, eight to ten people (friends, family, like minded) buy regularly. Then calculate monthly needs and order the quantity needed (Badda-bing, Badda-boom! All taken care of.)

How to start: 1.a print out food source catalog or weblink; 1.b Each family/person picks & chooses from list. 2. Share lists. 3. Compare lists. 4. Find common, make compromises, some sacrifices. 5. Create MASTER LIST. 6. Pool $$$. 7. Order stuff. 8. Unload stuff. 9. Take stuff home. 10. Eat stuff. (repeat monthly, bi-monthly or quarterly).

PS: You could also bring a Group order to a local-food-coop, small grocery store or Seventh-day Adventist Church (they usually group buy).