where to buy quinoa cheaply in Australia?

[ocicat]

i've heard a lot about this wonder-seed (i now know its a seed and not a grain). i'm in Australia and it only seems to be avaliable in health food shops for a rediculous price - around $6 for 250g? For a staple food (like rice and pasta), that's expensive (ie not something used sparingly like herbs or spices, where that price is of course, not too dear)

any ideas where i can get it cheaper? perhaps in bulk?

eg for things like lentils, instead of the supermarket or health food shop, i get mine from our corner Lebanese shop - coz its a lebanese staple, and is sold cheaper, without the hype and price mark-up of health food shops.

[fiamma]

$6 for 250g

I don't know how much I pay here, but probably half of that.. How come it's so expensive? As far as I know it comes from South America so has to be shipped to Oz and to Italy...

Hope someone can help you out because quinoa is great

[Poppet]

In New Zealand, they have it at the supermarket (Foodtown) it comes in bags that are 450g and costs $4.30 NZ, which is $3.85 Australian, so 250g should be around $2 Australian.

Get your Vegan butt OUT of those stupid overpriced health food stores, and check that it isn't hidden somewhere in your regular supermarket. At my local supermarket, it's in the international and organics isle.

[ocicat]

i have tried........ supermarkets just arent very vegan friendly. arg!
when things are sold as health foods the prices are just ridiculous. its a food staple, people! not a delicacy!
but the price also has to do with lack of popularity. if it was as popular as rice or pasta, i'm sure it wouldnt be so pricey.
anything with the word organic on the label these days can demand double or more the price of its non-organic counter parts. its stupid!

[fiamma]

i have tried........ supermarkets just arent very vegan friendly. arg!

Mine is getting better, but it's going to take a long time before they ever get quinoa in, I fear... I know $6 is expensive, but I suppose if you're not buying it every week you could splash out every so often. It is annoying though when things are so overpriced I feel your pain. I feel for people with gluten intolerance, because they have no choice, and supermarkets just take advantage of the situation with the high prices they charge, I think it's shameful.

[green_belly]

Does anyone have recommendations for places to buy quinoa online? I'm trying to build a list of stores for my Where to buy quinoa page (http://www.the-gi-diet.org/wheretobuy/quinoa/)

As people coming to my site are having problems finding it. I've not found a huge number of online retailers yet.

[Poppet]

Do you live in the city or in a suburb?
When I was out west I noticed the Kelston Foodtown didn't have many Vegan things at all, whereas the Foodtown downtown has quinoa amoung other things that were missing from the kelston Branch.
If you don't live too far, you could drive in to to the city and check if you can get quinoa from there, or if you work in the City but live in the Suburbs you could stop in to a supermarket and do your shopping there before heading home after work.