Where I've Been and Great Local Bulk Food Offerings

So, although I didn't mean to, I've been strangely absent from blogging in general and this blog in particular. I looked so forward to January...after the Holiday rush and deliciously cool weather to explore the Arizona Trails. This January though, something special happened. It seems that this was the year that I was destined to learn some new skills. I received an opportunity to be part of a certification program for an industry I have always been interested in and I jumped at the chance to learn a little more. Long story short, the program was such a success for me that I opened up a second business and, well, that's where I've been. Now, even with running two businesses, there has been some downtime and while I would have loved to go hiking, new skill number 2 came into being, really learning to paddle. My husband and his buddies have been doing it for a few years and I would jump in and sit off shore a bit, but this year marks the time I decided to really be active with this. So, between these couple of new things, I haven't much made it anywhere except a few yards up Thunder Mountain Trail in Sedona (which I really need to tell you about sometime because it was a short but momentous hike).

With all that said, I did want to share a special find with you. Winco recently opened here in the Phoenix area and I was really impressed with their bulk food section. They boast over 600 items in their bulk department and there is so much for us Outsiders in terms of dehydrated foods. This is truly a "just add water and your imagination" situation. My current favorite find there is the # 2172 Soup mix, vegetable blend. So far I've used it to bulk up dried chicken soup, added it to tuna salad and tried it just on it's own.  I've also gotten the dried refried beans, cheese sauce powder and based on how good these were, looking forward to making the dried grits. Along with having a huge selection of items great for the trail, many of them come with recipes, making it easy to understand the basics so you can advance to your own crazy concoctions. I highly recommend you check it out. Phoenix currently has two locations, both on West Bell Road. Hope to see you there!