Shopping in Bulk

   If you don't have a member card to a wholesale warehouse store like Sam's Club, Costco or BJ's, I highly recommend investing. The membership is usually about $100 a year. If you have a parent or sibling in town, consider going halvsies on the membership fee and one person in each family gets a card. In Ocala, we have a Sam's Club. My mom and dad have a card, and we have the other one.
   Purchasing meat and dry goods in bulk can be a huge savings for your grocery bill. Produce is trickier because you have to be sure to eat it all before it goes bad or it's wasteful. Yesterday I spent about $100 at Sam's. The same amount of food would have cost me probably twice as much at Publix - my other primary choice for groceries. Here's the breakdown:

   I bought a 5 pound (80 oz.) bag of shredded cheddar cheese for $10.96. **Shredded cheese freezes well. The texture and taste is absolutely fine when it thaws. This week's Publix price for the same cheese is $2.99 for an 8 oz. bag. For the amount I purchased, that's an $18.94 savings....for cheese! I use 4 - 1 quart freezer bags and package it when I get home. One bag goes in the fridge, the other 3 in the freezer until needed.

   Speaking of freezer bags, Sam's sells Ziplock quart freezer bags in bulk (a box of 4 boxes 54 count ea.), 216 bags for $10.97. Publix has 50 count boxes for $4.89 each. That's 200 bags for $19.56, a savings of $8.59 when shopping at Sam's.

   The biggest bang for your buck is the meat section. I found pork chops for $3.28/lb vs. $3.99/lb at Publix. On the 4 pound package I bought, I saved $2.89. Not a huge savings, but still good. Now boneless, skinless chicken breast, I won't buy anywhere else but Sam's. They consistantly sell this product for $1.77/lb. Publix's sale price for chicken breast is usually $2.79 and regular price is $4.99/lb. I bought 2 packages of chicken breast for a total weight of 13.5 lbs. At Publix's regular price, I saved $43.47 by shopping at Sam's and even if Publix had a sale, I still saved $13.77. I package the chicken breast and pork chops in freezer bags in 2 person servings. When you take it out to thaw, throw in some marinade and dinner is ready to cook!

   If you eat a lot of produce, you can save a bunch there too. I usually only buy berries, lettuce and asparagus there. Paper products and toiletries are another place to save - shampoo/conditioner, vitamins, razors are a huge savings, toothpaste, you name it, they probably have it in bulk. 

   If you manage a family of more than two people and you're not buying in bulk, you're wasting your money. Period.