Does anyone grocery shop in bulk?

[whitelop]

Lately I've been thinking about shopping for groceries in bulk. It probably doesn't help that there is a new BJ's being built in a neighboring town!

Anyway, I was wondering if it is cost effective to buy somethings in bulk? I was thinking about toilet paper, snack foods, juice boxes for my son, razor cartridges, frozen goods. Run of the mill dry goods and canned goods. Probably not meat.

The reason I'm thinking about this is because I feel like we spend a lot of money at the grocery store and never have enough food. Now, its only me, my husband and our 2 year old son. BUT my husband eats like a teenager. So I feel like we're buying the same things all the time and its annoying. I would rather spend a few dollars extra and get a lot more food for the money.

But is it worth it? I have a Costco, BJ's and Sams Club near me, is one better than the other, which do you prefer or which has better deals? I know BJ's has coupons that they send out and they look pretty good but I haven't been there in years so I don't really know.

Any help or advice is greatly appreciated! Thanks. Or if its not for buying in bulk, how do you make the food last longer when you have a BIG eater in your house?! haha.

 

[slavetoabunny]

There are only two adults in my household and I regularly shop at Sam's Club. I purchase non-perishables in bulk, but you can also purchase meat, divide it up and freeze part of it. Definitely worth it in my opinion.

 

[JBun]

I LOVE Costco! But we mostly go there because it's closer to us than Sam's. Don't always assume that just cause you are buying in bulk, that you are getting a good deal. You still have to do price comparisons. But for the most part you do save money. But you also end up spending more than you think you are, because of the fact that you are buying large quantities of each individual thing.

 

[Tauntz]

Well, I will add my 2 cents! lol I shop at Sam's, its the only thing around me besides the regular food stores & Walmarts. As already mentioned you have to know your prices to be sure you are truly getting a good deal or you can actually end up paying more per individual item than shopping at Walmarts or grocery stores. I buy the cases of freezer bags & store everything in them! I buy bacon wrap it in small servings in wax paper & put in the freezer bags. Then I can just grab the freezer bag & get out what I need & put the rest away for the next time. Cereals seems to be cheaper in Sam's. Oh, I buy for myself & my parents. I buy mostly freezer items, cereal, nuts & fruit without wasting food or money. So for me it is worth it to shop at Sam's. Wish we had Costco &/or other shopping choices.

 

[Imbrium]

as others have said, you definitely have to price-compare because it's not always a better deal... but often times it is. you can buy damn near anything in bulk, even a lot of perishables. for example, basically all fruits and damn near all veggies can be frozen (though the majority of veggies have to be blanched first). I know ALL about freezing fruits and veggies (or at least am learning quickly now that I'm no longer feeding a glider diet that has a very strict/limited list of suitable f/v)

 

[whitelop]

I know I have to price compare. But like with toilet paper and paper towels, that stuff is crazy expensive anyway and a necessary household item. So if I can get like 40 rolls of toilet paper for $15 with a $5 off coupon, then that sounds like a wondrous thing to me! haha.
Also with the potato chips and snack foods. My husband is the WORST with eating all our snacks. We buy a bag of chips or a box of cheese its for the week for my son and I to snack on during the day, THEN my husband comes home and eats a whole bag of chips in one sitting or a whole box of cheese its, so that leaves us with no snacks. So if I can buy a 18 lb bag of chips then I'll do that, or a 56 lb box of cheese its, I'll do that too. LOL
There are certain things that I feel would be better in bulk.

 

[Imbrium]

btw, if you buy a lot of freezeable stuff in bulk and run out of space, the best deal I found when I was shopping for a freezer (for the gliders, lol) was a 5 cubic foot chest freezer at sam's club

 

[whitelop]

NO! I'm not buying a coffin freezer! I think thats over kill. I don't like frozen stuff that much anyway. I have a big enough freezer, its the perk of having a 45 year old fridge.
I guess I should start price checking things! haha.

 

[Tauntz]

I can't speak for other stores but my Sam's Club doesn't do coupons. You pay their price & that's it.

Thanks, Imbrium! I would like a bigger or another freezer. Most of my food & the birds' food requires freezer space! Rarely do I buy canned goods anymore. Fresh or frozen mostly. I searched all of my area for a chest freezer. Almost bought one at my not-so-local local Sears but I had just got the salesman to check on the freezer I was ready to purchase (cash in hand!!!!!), he went back to check on it & while we were waiting (for some time I might add) another salesman or manager tells us we have to leave it is now closing time. Told him the salesman had gone to check on the freezer I was ready to buy & he said I would have to come back tomorrow! I wanted to call Sears the next day & tell them they not only lost that freezer sale but they lost me as a customer & I would tell everyone of my Sears experience! I was boiling mad! Haven't made a Sears purchase since. even small items! I'm a loyal customer or a loyal crapped on customer, my loyalty to a business is that I am a good customer & I tell others about the service & products sold, good or bad I'm loyal to the store in kind! lol

 

[Troller]

I always buy in bulk, including and especially meat. All you have to do when you buy meat in bulk is break down the packaging into individual packets and your good to go. I truly believe its a savings on certain things. I used to buy bulk when I was a single bachelor, and I buy bulk now as a married man. It's far more convenient as well. The only thing I don't buy in bulk is the fresh stuff, the vegetables, unless they're are frozen as well. It's really not worth it even when you have living salad destroyers. Oh, and I don't have a separate freezer though when I eventually move in a house I'll want one.

 

[PaGal]

We shop at Sam's. I can't compare it to others as that is the only one around here. We do not buy everything there but we do buy some frozen items, those are for fast meals when a day goes crazy and you have to have something on the table quick. We buy storage bags for the freezer and sandwhich ones , with the husband and three girls packing lunch we go through a lot. Some of the spices we use a lot of we buy. Canned corn and green beans, coffee, spaghetti noodles. Snack cakes for the hubbies lunch and our meat. I separate the meat into the serving sizes we use, wrap tightly in saran wrap then place in a freezer quart or gallon bag and freeze. We have never had freezer burn this way. We shop at Sam's once every six weeks. I shop for everything else at Wal-Mart's once a week. Our's is clean and I get there by 9:30am most times and am long gone before it gets crowded. The workers are friendlier in the morning since they haven't been driven nuts by rude customer yet. Even when I spend extra time walking around just looking at specials it's not bad because it's not crowded and I do not like shopping unless it's at a home improvement store.

I save a lot of money by shopping at Wal-Marts as opposed to anywhere else and I have shopped at other stores before.

Oh and before I forget, our neighbor actually works in the meat dept of our Sam's. We helped them out once and he brought us home two rotisserie chickens. I don't know if it is the same at every Sam's or not but that is hands down the tastiest and juiciest rotisserie chicken either us have ever had so yah we buy those too now that we know. And the flavor is through the meat just not on the skin.

Anything else I need to cover that I didn't on my rambling rant? Ha.

 

[PaGal]

HeeHeee...we have two freezers. One is stuffed full and the other is only half full. We do buy some frozen foods but not much, I'm not a big fan but we do blanch and freeze some veggies from our garden as well as our meat. And then of course there is the ice cream.
The best deal I found on a freezer because one of ours is older and not so efficient and costs more to run than it should was at Home Depot.

Oh and I forgot to mention the three girls are little things but eat like teenage boys themselves, I kid you not. There rarely are left overs in our home because of them. They will eat as much as the hubby and sometimes more.

 

[whitelop]

Hahaa. Thanks Denise!

The BJ's does coupons and they're pretty good too, at least I think. I haven't looked at the prices of the stuff but its like $5 to $20 off a lot of stuff, I assume the more expensive the more money off on the coupon. haha. So I might try to get the coupons and go there, because the coupons had a lot of the stuff that I would get from there.
I'm still on the fence about meat. I used to get bulk meat but that made it so I was too choosy with what we had for dinner. So we would start out with equal chicken, pork chops, red meat of whatever type; then I would not feel like something one night and the balance would be thrown off and we would be left with a bunch of pork chops. I can't even eat them anymore.
Thanks for your stories though! Any more? LOL

 

[JBun]

Costco does monthly coupons too. But I think you're out of luck with a 56 lb box of cheeze its. I guess, unless you buy the whole pallet, haha.

 

[Azerane]

Also with the potato chips and snack foods. My husband is the WORST with eating all our snacks. We buy a bag of chips or a box of cheese its for the week for my son and I to snack on during the day, THEN my husband comes home and eats a whole bag of chips in one sitting or a whole box of cheese its, so that leaves us with no snacks. So if I can buy a 18 lb bag of chips then I'll do that, or a 56 lb box of cheese its, I'll do that too. LOL
There are certain things that I feel would be better in bulk.

Ugh, my fiance is exactly the same, I hate it. He doesn't understand the idea of "saving" things for them to last a whole week. We get something, and it's just gone. And he's just like "we'll just buy more" but he just doesn't think about how much it ends up costing. Frustrates me to no end!

As a side note, I don't buy bulk, but whenever there's a sale on something that I buy regularly anyway I tend to stock up so that I hopefully have enough to tide me over until the next sale on that item.

 

[Imbrium]

Thanks, Imbrium! I would like a bigger or another freezer. Most of my food & the birds' food requires freezer space! Rarely do I buy canned goods anymore. Fresh or frozen mostly.

yeah, I bought mine because canned foods are a big no-no for gliders and they need a wide variety of fruits and veggies but eat such small amounts that most of something will go to waste before you can use it unless you dice and freeze things (plus having it diced and frozen means you can prep stuff one time and be good for weeks). on top of that, they have a "staple" part of their dinner that has to be kept frozen in ice cube trays or silicone baking trays (I'll never use an ice cube tray again - I LOVE how everything slides right out of the silicone!). basically, it reached the point where about 2/3 of my freezer was devoted to glider noms and I could never stock up on TV dinners and stuff because there was never ANY room in the freezer... so I bought them their own freezer .

So we would start out with equal chicken, pork chops, red meat of whatever type; then I would not feel like something one night and the balance would be thrown off and we would be left with a bunch of pork chops. I can't even eat them anymore.

god... I remember one time when I was a kid... must've been about 10... there was some insane sale on salmon. mom bought a CRAPLOAD of it and stuffed our freezer full. I swear we had salmon at least twice a week for probably six months to a year, long after I was bitching and moaning about how much I hated it and was sick of it (didn't help my mom always had a knack for slightly over-cooking things). I haven't eaten salmon since, I don't think. for the longest time, I couldn't even stand to look at it and the smell turned my stomach.

 

[PaGal]

Morgan...sorry for that. One of the girls came down with bronchitis and had me up during the night and then a trip to the doctors. I was beyond tired and just to the goofy, dumb stage of sleep deprivation.

 

[Tauntz]

Morgan...sorry for that. One of the girls came down with bronchitis and had me up during the night and then a trip to the doctors. I was beyond tired and just to the goofy, dumb stage of sleep deprivation.

Hey, I'm there now! Next time maybe we can plan ahead & meet up! Would love to go back to bed but should be busy right now & avoiding my work checking RO posts! lol I know I will pay the penalty for it a little later! Hope your daughter is doing better & you can get some much needed rest!

 

[Imbrium]

hah, me too! it's past sleepy time for me