1. The ordering process
2. Delivery/pickup process
3. Their food quality
4. Price comparison to Walmart

A few things to note about Azure Standard before we get into the review.

Azure Standard runs like a co-op. They deliver their goods once a month to delivery drop locations throughout the United States. When you make an order you are committing to meet the delivery truck at the drop location and pick up your order straight off the truck.

Although Azure Standard is known and believes in the benefit of organic foods they do have some non organic products. And although they are known for their bulk quantity they also offer smaller or regular sized quantities for their products. Flour for example, their organic all purpose flour has size options of 30oz, 5lbs, 10lbs and 25lbs.

The Ordering Process

How Azure Standards ordering process works is actually very simple. It works like any other online store, you search for items, add to cart, and check out. You can search by category, sale, or even by your previous orders. Then add your items to the cart and check out like you would anywhere else. You do need to have an account, (name, email, password) not unlike many places.

When searching for items Azure will keep track of previously purchased and item and that makes restocking my pantry quick and easy. Another feature I like is that I can add to my order after I’ve completed my order as long as its before the cut off date for shipping. Azure Standard only ships and delivers once a month, so I can add to my order all month long. They will not charge you for anything until it gets shipped out. The flip side of this is that if you forget to complete your order before the cut off date you have to wait a month to get your order. I don’t like when that happens.

Something else that has disappointed me is when I place something in my cart and then when I check out its out of stock. I do believe this is my fault for not completing the order earlier in the month when it is in stock, then adding more as the month goes on if needed. I think I can fix this problem by ordering earlier and not waiting till the last minute.

The Ordering Process Pros and Cons Summary.

• Pro – Easy and simple to navigate.
• Pro – Add Last minute items to your cart

• Con – Forgetting to complete order on time, results in waiting a month to get your goods. (I was 1 hour to late today and I have to wait. I might be more mad at myself…)

Delivery/Pickup Process

Like I mentioned before, Azure Standard delivers once a month to your local delivery drop off location. The location is hosted by a Drop Coordinator, they are often a local from your community who has the space for delivery truck to drive in and out of. On the day of the delivery, the delivery truck driver keeps in contact with the Coordinator on the their ETA and the Coordinator is responsible for letting you know what time you need to be at the drop location for a quick and smooth delivery. So far we have not had any issues with this system at our drop location. Our Coordinator has been great with the reminders and updates on time of arrival and we have always received everything we’ve ordered undamaged.

The Con to this system is that you have to be available at that time. If you couldn’t make it on time you would miss the truck and not receive your order. So far this has not happened to us. I honestly don’t know if our coordinator would be gracious enough to collect our goods for us, or if we would be able to send someone else in time to pick it up. I have heard of other peoples stories of someone forgetting a part of their order so their another azure friend grabbed it for them. I’ve heard that as you wait for the delivery truck you can make friends with those waiting with you and created a great community that helps you out if something goes wrong. Again, I have not experienced anything go wrong yet so I don’t know how it would play out. If I do have a horrible experience at some point I will be sure to update this post.

Delivery/Pickup Process Pros and Cons Summary

• Pro – Great communication
• Pro – Received everything undamaged

• Con – You have to work with their schedule

The Quality of the Foods I’ve Purchased

To be honest, I have loved it all! I’ve ordered a lot of dry goods, baking goods, like rice and beans and flour and baking soda. They have all kept so well in my food grade buckets and I haven’t found any contamination in anything. The only fresh produce that I have gotten has been organic apples that were on sale. I had heard these were hit or miss when it came to freshness but I took the chance and bought 20lbs of apples. There were some rotten apples in the mix but not many. I was warned so I wasn’t disappointed. So I made applesauce with the apples and my kids love it. Yes, I would order them again, but they would still have to be on sale. I have also ordered things like oats, raisins, frozen fruits, butter, elderberry syrup, and rice cakes and more and everything has been delicious and kept well.

Pros and Con for Quality of Foods Summary

• Pro – Stores wonderfully and tastes delicious.

• Con – I’m always nervous the fresh fruit will not be fresh

Price Comparison (to Walmart)

Walmart my not be the best comparison to prices against but we live in a small town and the Super Walmart is kind of all we have here. Walmart is where I shopped before discovering Azure so its what I price check everything from.

Here’s a list of some of my essentials. This will be the price for organic unless otherwise noted. (updated 5/8/25)

• Oats – Azure: 5lbs, $1.65 per lbs | Walmart: GV $3.58 per lbs
• Flour – Azure: 10lbs, $1.32 per lbs | Walmart: King Arthur, 5lbs, $2.32 per lbs
• Raisins – Azure: 5lbs, $3.23 per lbs | Walmart: GV not organic $4.58 per lbs
• Sugar – Azure: 5lbs, $1.57 per lbs | Walmart: GV 4lbs, $1.44 per lbs
• Brown Rice – Azure: 5lbs, $1.88 per lbs | Walmart: Mahatma 2lbs, $2.09 per lbs
• Black Beans – Azure: $1.78 per lbs | Walmart: Not organic $1.76 per lbs
• Rice Cakes – Azure: .55c per oz | Walmart: Not organic .80c per oz
• Peanut Butter – Azure: $7.12 per lbs | Walmart: GV, $4.68 per lbs
• Frozen Fruit (blueberries) – Azure: 5lbs not organic, $2.36 | Walmart: not organic, $2.98

Organic is typically more expensive but it’s something I don’t mind paying for because I do believe it is best. But when shopping with Azure I have not felt like I’m spending a ton more for organic healthy food. In fact, I’m saving money. If you buy the larger, 10lbs or 25lbs with Azure the price does go down as the quantity goes up, so I buy in bulk. I’m very happy with the prices.

I have never experienced any hidden fees, or shipping fee’s. Its actually the opposite, when you purchase certain items you receive Azure Cash Rewards. So when I go to check out often I have about $5 of reward cash I can use based of off my previous purchases.

To Sum Up

I have been very happy with Azure Standard and plan to continue shopping there for the bulk of my needs. The site is easy to navigate, communication on delivery/pickup has been excellent, the quality of food is wonderful and I’ve been saving money.

I highly recommend Azure Standard for anyone looking to purchase high quality, organic foods.

The post Azure Standard Review. Pros, Cons, Price Comparison. appeared first on Embracing The Home.

Where To Buy Bulk Food

Azure Standard is my number 1 place to shop. I love the clean, Non-GMO, organic food they offer. Azure Standard is an online whole food distributor. They skip the middle man and deliver your order to drop off location near you. You pick up on the day and time they deliver. For example, for me they deliver on the 1st Tuesday of every month around 6:00pm. Knowing this allows me to plan out my orders knowing my food needs to last at least a month long. Although most of what I order lasts us 2-3 months, some items, like dry beans, last us 6+ months.

There are other places to shop in bulk like Costco, AllBulkFoods.com, and many more… Each place differs a little on what they carries so you will need to shop according to your needs. I shop Azure for their Non-GMO organic whole foods.

Foods You Can Store In Buckets

• Dry Beans/lentils
• Rice
• Flour
• Oats
• Popcorn
• Sugar/brown/powdered
• Seeds (flax, chia, sunflower, etc)
• Salts and spices
• Pastas
• Even cereals

This list is not exhaustive but the more common items that are stored in buckets. You can store pretty much any pantry food in a food bucket. But just because they are in food grade buckets doesn’t mean they will last longer. Although most items that can be stored in a food bucket can last a good long time. Do you research the shelf life of the foods you want to store and don’t simply believe that because it’s in a food bucket that it will automatically stay good for 30 years.

Food Grade Buckets

Which buckets are safe for storing food? Can I just pick up some $5 buckets from Home Depot or Walmart? Regular $5 buckets are made with releasing agents that can be toxic. They are not ideal for storing food and the FDA advises against it. Luckily food grade buckets are not hard to find and are typically only a few dollars more. To know if your bucket is FDA approved look for the recycle number “1”, “2”, “4” or “5” on the bottom of the bucket.

Where To Buy Food Grade Buckets

You can buy Food Grade Buckets online easily, I like buying them from Azure Standard but you can also find them on Amazon, Home Depot, Tractor Supply, even some Walmart’s. The prices for Food Grade Buckets is typically only a few extra dollars around $6-8 per bucket but it’s the lid that often comes separate and is another $5-7. 

I’ve actually bought most of my buckets from our local donut shop. When we first started buying in bulk it was because we were trying to save money and spend wisely. So buying new 10 buckets with lids at $12 was money I just didn’t have at the time. So I went to my local donut shop and found they sold their used buckets for $2.50 with the lid. Most of their buckets were only 4 gallons and didn’t always fit 25lbs of flour or sugar in one but I worked with it. The goal was to save money while providing my family’s needs and it worked.

TIP: I will advise, when buying from a local restaurant or bakery make sure to avoid putting your flour or sugar in a bucket that had jalapenos, vinegar or something strong smelling in it previously.

Where to Store Your Food Buckets

Keep your buckets in a cool, dry location. You want to keep food buckets out of extreme temperatures. A pantry or closet inside the house is always the ideal temperature but they are often not big enough for your needs. Some  Basements and garages are typically perfectly fine. Sheds and carports are not ideal due to their lack of insulation.

Along with temperature you always need to consider moisture or humidity levels. You want to store your pantry foods in a dry location. Too much moisture can lead to rot, fungus and molds. Often people who store in a cool room or basement will invest in a dehumidifier to insure a safe room for all their goods. If the room you are planning to store in has trouble with moisture this may be something you will want to look into.

I store my bulk foods in my kitchen under my worktable.

Remember there is not one right way to store food for your family while providing for them. But there are multiple wrong ways that might lead to contamination and food waste. Avoid the wrong and be creative with the right ways to fit your family’s needs and enjoy the fruit of your labor.

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