Thursday, April 15, 2010

Buying in Bulk

One of the ways I am able to keep my grocery bill low is to buy in bulk when prices are low. With small children we don't go through huge quantities of food, so I often try to buy with a friend so we can both get the good price without getting too much food.



Recently I was invited to purchase really big quantities as part of a semi-annual bulk buying order a friend of mine participates in. Mostly beans and grains were offered but way, way too much for our family to use in six months and probably not in a whole year. Luckily my aunt was willing to purchase a few items with me. Together we are buying a 20# bag of white rice (CA), a 25# bag of long grain brown rice (AK/MO), and a 50# bag of rolled oats (Canada). Our total for all of this is only $43.90.

My portion (because my cousin is taking some of the oatmeal) works out to $19.96 for 10# white rice, 12.5# brown rice, and 20# of rolled oats. I thought that was pretty good for $20!

Another great place for shared bulk buying is Cash & Carry. A friend & I have gone there a few times and we split produce. We split spinach, romaine, pears, apples, bell peppers, oranges, & whole cases of tomatoes. If you plan ahead by saving a couple of empty quart sized bottles you can also split gallon-sized syrup, vegetable oil, or salad dressing. Often those items are priced cheaper per ounce than you can find on sale at the grocery store.

Other more obvious places to share bulk buying are Costco & Sam's Club. At Costco it's easy to split the cleaners , diapers & wipes, and toiletries which are often in two or more packs and I also have split the brick feta cheese and the whole, peeled garlic tub (those keep great in the freezer).

Happy Shopping!

Katie

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