Best Online Supply House (for rural folks)

[shilshole]

Our family is moving from the NW to Missouri, where we recognized early a need to find a good mail-order supply option for organic dry goods and earth-friendly household supplies unavailable in our new hometown. We're prepared for monthly trips to more cosmopolitan cities like Columbia, MO or Iowa City, IA to visit their respective co-ops to stock up, but am interested in exploring the mail order angle, if for no other reason than our suspicion that gas prices aren't going to go down any time soon.

With all that said, do any of the local rural dwellers have a preferred online supply house? Also, does anyone have observations on the comparative ecological expediency & economic efficiency of UPS-shipped supplies vs. those involved in a single-vehicle trip of 100 miles? I'd be interested to read some of the varying views on this subject.

[MorningCalm]

I place a huge order through ShopNatural.com whenever I'm planning to be in the States for any reason. They've got household products, bath and beauty products, natural medications, foodstuffs, etc.

For organic staples (grains, dried fruit, legumes, spices, etc.), http://www.barryfarm.com is my first choice, followed by http://www.bobsredmill.com.

VitaminLife.com can be an economical source of certain products (Dr. Bronner's, Jason, Aubrey Organics, Tom's of Maine, Kiss My Face, etc.).

MotherNature.com tends to be a bit more expensive than ShopNatural.com, but offers free shipping on a fairly regular basis.

[shilshole]

After an initial comparison between a couple of online sites and my local co-op, there seems to be a fairly wide degree of difference in prices. My early estimation is it's not going to be much different via internet than locally: some suppliers are good for some things, some are good for others. I'd still like to hear anyone else's opinion or preference if you've got one. I really appreciate all the links.

The Bob's Red Mill link is great. We've long-appreciated their seitan recipe. Sorry, I can't post a link (newbie).

[Tofu-N-Sprouts]

Yeah, Bob's Red Mill is great (I live in the Pacific Northwest though so can visit their factory store).

I really like: http://andysmarket.com/ as you can call them (and actually speak to a real person!) and they can usually get you almost ANYTHING you've ever heard of (natural food wise). I order bulk beans, lentils, nut. yeast, cashews, almonds, rice, quinoa, "chicken" flavor broth powder, gluten flour, and oats from them and they're a great deal. If the sizes (25# or whatever) are too big, often they'll cut a package down to a smaller size too.

However, I should add, I don't pay for shipping because they also supply the food service for my kid's school (Seventh-Day Adventist School=vegetarian school cafeteria) and they bring a big truckload to the school and just throw my order in for no extra shipping...

I have no idea how prohibitive shipping would be, but have recommended them to several other people on other sites and they were very happy with them.