Naomi,
Recently, I've learned that the simple macrobiotic diet uses smaller amounts of sea vegetables per dish and in much smaller pieces (I used to eat lots and in larger chunk sizes).
Apparently for instance when making nishime vegetables or a bean dish a whole lot of sea vegetables are not needed to get the cooking done (usually a piece of kombu the size of a thumbnail that is soaked and cut up into smaller pieces [again that depends on the amount of the other ingredients you are using]).
With miso soup, for instance, the wakame (a small piece) and the vegetables are often cut up very fine.
Regarding bulk online, I don't know who is doing that
Quality Natural Foods http://www.qualitynaturalfoods.com/ will offer a credit for over a certain amount.
You can save money shopping for macrobiotic items at
Discount Natural Foods http://www.discountnaturalfoods.com/.
Both Gold Mine and Natural Lifestyle offer bulk over the phone and maybe through the mail.
There is another company that is dedicated to selling macrobiotic foods wholesale to the public but out of regard for the provider of this discussion group who sells quality and discount macrobitic foods, retail, for a living, I won't publish that information.
Thank you, very much.
Bruce Paine