You Bought in Bulk...Now What?

You've come home from the store with 5 pounds of rice and 15 pounds of chicken (and saved yourself 30 to 60 percent compared with what you'd spend on packaged food). If you aren't planning to make enough paella to feed an army tonight, you'll need to figure out how you're going to store it all. First, you'll need clean, dry, airtight containers. Next, get out the blue painter's tape (it sticks but is removable) and a Sharpie, because you'll want to label every container with a description of what's inside and the date you bought it. Then, follow these guidelines for where and how long to keep the food. And pat yourself on the back for saving the environment too—buying bulk foods translates into less stress on the environment through less package manufacturing, reduced transportation emissions and less garbage in landfills.