I live alone but I still stay stocked up on dry goods and non-perishables. It just makes me happy. Sometimes, my grown kids come “shopping “ at my house and I love it. 😊😊😊
Buying in bulk can mean different things to different people. For example, I am a household of one. Buying 25 lbs. of rolled oats would not make sense for me. However, I would buy 10 lbs. of oats. I use oats for my breakfasts and other dishes, so 10 lbs. would be a good bulk buy for me.
I get the same on the oats for myself. Sometimes I make plain oatmeal, mix it with musli, and make oatmeal apple and banana cookies. They freeze up great for a grab on the run breakfast or a snack for teatime.
I don't buy in bulk anymore. As a single person living alone in a tiny studio apartment, there's no need and limited storage space. But I do stock up on staples like beans, rice, soup, coffee/tea, dried pasta and seasonings. I always have enough for 2 months in my pantry. Rather than throw away excess food, I leave it in our building lobby for my neighbors to take for free. I tried to donate it to a local food pantry but they won't take any food that's expired or close to the expiration date.
Same situation for me. I will buy multiples of protein sources when there’s a good sale. And I make sure I have enough shelf stable food for a couple of months. I don’t eat rice (hurts my tummy) but I have a good supply of beans, flour, sugar, baking soda (which I use for various things), canned goods. I live on a small fixed income so I only set aside about $30/mo for bulk buying.
I agree it is more difficult to buy bulk when you have one or two people household . Also more difficult if like eating salads and fresh fruits like we do . And I live in a city in Canada we pay lots of taxes on everything
Hi, frugal family. Buying bulk only makes sense if you have a large family, somewhere to store it, or will use it before it goes bad. Some things, like hygiene products, cleaning supplies, first aid, paper goods, stock up. These generally don't go bad.
Not necessarily true. I cook in bulk for my partner and I and buy what we use within a year or two. With inflation around 30% the last three years, I could pay my property taxes for the year with the money I've saved.
On the B/Q sauce you can get some jelly jars fill them up with the sauce ( heart up a pan of water) place your flat lids in the water. Fill your jars with sauce Water bath or steam jars for 10 minutes Now you don't have that big container sitting in your refrigerator taking up room and it won't spoil before you finish the bottle. Just open a jar at a time when needed
I love your channel. I’m stocking up to avoid higher prices and my husband is on another path. You can imagine the fights. Even though I’ve brought down our utilities to $100.00 a month for gas and electricity. Washing and drying at off peak hours, no dishwasher, lights off, TV off if you’re not watching, temperature in house at night at 65 degrees and 70 degrees during the day, bought heated socks and vests like you suggested and it saves 100s a month. I love your tips and implement them. Thank you so much. Love 💕 and Hugs. ❤❤❤
Another thing to consider before bulk item shopping is are you physically able to lift and carry those items into your house. In 70s and by myself so I can no longer carry the larger items. People take forgranted having someone to help them. Many seniors are truly alone.
We enjoy our annual trip to a bulk food store in an Amish area about one hour from our house as well. They have some products that we use and simply cannot find at other stores. The selection of spices and different whole grain flours is amazing! We just consider it a really nice way to spend a day, enjoying the ride through the countryside, looking at the fall colors and the crops being harvested.
Laughed about the beans comment, but you're right. It makes no sense to buy what I don't like. Additionally, it DOES make sense to buy what you really eat. It's a lot easier to cook under difficult circumstances when you know the ingredients well and how to cook them.
Exactly…we really enjoy pastas so we stock up on the ones we love best and repackage into Mylar with oxygen absorbers and put into pickle buckets from Firehouse Subs.
We still have full family at home. We we di a monthly menu and I bulk cook from scratch spaghetti sauce, meatballs, meatloaf, chili, sloppy Joe's & taco meats. Plus a month's worth of chicken, coffee, etc. We have some other items we replace bi monthly to quarterly. Sam's club membership pays for itself. We use our reward points to pay for the renewal. ❤ I am sure in 3 to 4 years, it will only be my hubby and myself, then it may not be worth it then. But I love the sharing shopping trip and split it!
In Ireland Asian stores are generally more expensive than regular supermarkets. I've gotten much better deals in Aldi on rice, and tesco for lentils, some beans & pasta.
On Friday my brother, 18 year old granddaughter and I went to a farmers market, we go maybe every 6 weeks. They have a discount grocery store you have to watch the dates on the items but I don't mind as long as they are not to out of date. But anyway I got a whole box of green bananas for only $5.00 plus the manager threw in extra Bunches. That was maybe anywhere between 10 cents to 16 cents a pound. I couldn't go wrong in the freezer they go and banana bread. Talk about buying in bulk one major score!!!!
I love buying in bulk. Lower prices and provides peace of mind, especially in the winter. I always enjoy when you share about your trip to the Amish store - thank you!
I've mentioned in another video that the only bulk buying I do now is at the local co-op as I'm a single person household with food prep being a difficulty. I am happy to say they finally brought back scoops for the herbs, spices etc section. I'm slowly shifting from the current spice containers bought from stores to air tight circular glass spice jars. I'll be able to drop the scoops in my new jars with less chance of spillage and won't need to use their bags any more once I've completely replaced all current spice jars. An added bonus: I get to create labels (I'm organisation/library catalogue minded). I've learned that I don't like prepping beans nor do I use them much anymore so I likely won't buy in future. I know it may seem silly but I'd rather put my limited energy into prepping things I know I'll enjoy eating. Thank you for mentioning that if you don't like something, don't get it.
i was lucky, i grew up in a business family and my dad always brought items in bulk to get them cheaper and even have certain parts on hand that have a tendency to wear out. nothing like shutting the equipment down and waiting for parts, we just grab it off our shelf and back in operation the same day. so i inherited this feature and just took it a step farther and did it with my living expenses.
I use Sam’s more for paper goods and things that are non food items. Dishwasher tablets are about 2 dollars more than Walmart but you get double the amount and my husband’s coffee pods are a lot cheaper at Sam’s. You have to know your price you pay at the grocery stores!
We were given a Kurig when a friend went into assisted living so we purchased the basket that fits the Kurig that is the same size as the pods and hubby just puts 1 teaspoon of his favorite coffee into the basket and makes a large 12 oz mug for pennies on the $ compared to purchasing the pods. Saves us a lot each month because hubby loves his coffee 😊
Re FIFO, in addition to the purchase date, you should write any expiration or "best by" date found on the original package. Not all foods have the same shelf life so you should consider both dates when deciding which to use first.
I love these tips! My hubby and I will buy in bulk on items that make sense for us (we are only 2 people). Dish Soap in big containers at Costco or Wegmans, Laundry detergent also in big containers, pasta, rice, some cereals, pancake mix, and flour are some that come to mind right away. My mom buys in bulk and it works for her, as she works with Special Olympics and always has kids coming in and out of the house.
One thing I've learned is to watch sale prices at local stores. I got parboiled rice for $10.50 for 20 pounds, so 52.5 cents a pound. I got 40 pounds for $21. It was obviously a loss leader.
If you folks like oatmeal and Cream of Wheat, you might enjoy cooked wheat berries for breakfast. You can start them in a slow cooker the night before. Drain off the excess water and serve with a little salt and some drizzled honey or brown sugar. Wheat berries last for ages if you keep them safely stored away from pests, and they're very nourishing.
I buy in bulk what makes sense for me and my household with the money and space I have at the time. I'm very creative with storage! I stored about 8 of those plastic Tidy Cats containers behind my couch. (Actual litter in them - I found a terrific sale!) The couch stuck out from the wall anyway because of how the top was made. No one even noticed. I lived in 600 Sq ft at the time. I *do* need to be better about over buying food. I tend to misjudge that some.
Here in Australia grocery goods have to by law provide the shelf price & also the price per 100 grams. The weight price is smaller on the ticket but it makes it easy to buy the cheapest.....suprisingly it is not always bulk that is cheapest, it also alows easy comparing brands
in Canada the retailers play the shell game: they mix two measurement systems to make such a price comparison really friggin difficult - imperial standard and metric.
I recently found cases of canned chicken for $7 each. Normally $13. And 50# of pintos for $38 at Sam's Club while traveling in TX. I packed as much as I could fit in my cart and hauled it home to OH since my local Sam's never seems to have deals like that.
My daughter buys the membership and uses it as a business write off on her taxes. She adds me to both Costco and Sams and for free. We love Costco but its just me and hubby so we dont go that often and dont buy in bulk there. We do stock up when Kroger has their sales on things like rice, pasta, mayo, pasta sauce etc. It is more cost effective for us.
I bought some things in bulk and had to throw it away because we couldn't use it up before it went bad. Next time, smaller amounts at the best price I can find.
Costco gas a good deal on the organic white rice and coconut oil, if you use that. I really find it worth my Costco membership for the cheaper fuel and the natural chicken breakfast sausages. They are a rare find... containing no sugar.
When I was in college, a few of us would head to the Costco and buy some staples in bulk about 1-2 times a semester and then portion them out among us.
A good first step for buying for me was not “bulk” in huge quantities but it switch to buying canisters of oats over single packets, popcorn kernels in 8 pound bags rather than microwaveable, pasta in 2lb boxes when available, and dried beans over canned beans when it makes sense. Flour is one thing I’ve found to be a good place to start some what bulk. Most people who bake some things from scratch will go through 10lbs in time.
Since I shop for myself, I am starting to reconsider my "bulk" buys. It's great that I can buy something like a pound of deli on super discount, but that's still a pound of ham I have to think up dishes/meals for. Then there's also the fact that I have to rotate my protein options, which can range between beef/chicken/pork, seafood, beans/nuts/tofu, eggs/cheese, etc. And that's just the protein side of things. I've yet to talk about fat, veggies, carb, spice, etc. And I only eat 2 meals a day.
@@katehenry2718 Why, thank you for the compliment. My day-to-day activity is pretty simple since my threshold for variety/activities is limited. Work, cook, clean, plan for the next day, etc. I don't like wasting food that is still good, so I enjoy looking up recipes online. Being creative with extra leftover ingredients is fun.
Listening to you guys makes me want to clean up my deep freeze & basement shelves & make the 2 hour trek to Sams! I sometimes have difficulty justifying the fuel cost to drive that far when I'm not sure how much i would buy/ save. I'm definitely going to reconsider.
I separated my pantry by years, it's taken me twice as long to get through some stuff than it did others. I'm in the process of looking at what we eat more of and what I refuse to pay for anymore. I know the Betty Crocker scalloped potatoes are not good for us, they have raised the price while lowering the amount in the box. We won't buy them anymore, More and more of our foods are going to just the ingredients. Since we have had a couple of cash emergencies lately we are no longer even going to the grocery store. Lights are off, and it's crunch time. I know how to stretch foods but, this time seems different than other recessions and with the grocery stores telling us that the prices are going up another 3 percent it's really going to be a hard winter.
We have the plus membership at Sams. It’s $100 per year. We also have their Mastercard. The reason is because my husband buys a lot of gas for his business there and we get 5% cash back on gas plus 3% back in Sams purchases. We make back the cost plus around $500 cash back. I love Costco but it’s pretty far and more expensive.
yes, we have their card too and have the plus membership also. it definately pays for the membership and then some. we like their scan n go feature. my wife is 14 years older and starting to have issues so when i can see she is having problems we can just leave bypassing all the registers.
@@steveherr450 I also use the free shipping a lot. Most of the dry goods I can have delivered then I do t even need to go and possibly end up buying things I don’t need lol.
I raised 5 children and myself and husband loved bulk shopping back then now with just the 2 of us not so much I do go to Sam's club 3 times a year that's it
I store flour, rice, pasta, cornmeal, barley, oatmeal and legumes in the fridge or big freezers, mostly because it’s hot and humid here in my old farmhouse in the summer.
I used to buy a lot in bulk when my ex and I were together. I made a lot of meals from scratch because we didn’t have much money. I’ve lived alone now for 3 years, and I bulk prep all my food for the freezer. I even have a deep freezer, which most people think is ridiculous until they come over and realize how much variety I have at any given time. So I’ll usually do a monthly shop to make sure I have my staples. But buying in bulk just becomes wasteful. I match to buy in bulk for what I’m prepping. I often split specialty items with friends, as you’ve mentioned. We make up a big spreadsheet, and someone goes to the Amish or Indian grocery store for everyone! Then we go to that persons house and load up all our containers on the dining room table. Now my new partner and I are moving in together soon, and I see myself doing a hybrid type of thing. We enjoy eating out (not frugal, but speaking of vices…), so my scratch freezer meal prep will allow us to equalize our budget.
Speaking of free holiday fun, when my twins were little I used to do something different every year for the holidays. I thought I was making the time magical but all I did (I learned from one of the adult twins) was freak them out. One year I told them that they had to be good all the time because Santa's elves watched them from the vents. Hmm, maybe not such a good idea. Another year I snuck around the front of the house on xmas eve with a red-cello-covered flashlight in the hopes they would think it was Rudolph's nose shining in their window. One twin said, "Oh, it's just Mom," but the other was scared because she thought it was aliens. Yeah, and I stepped into some roving dog's poop that dark night, too. One other xmas eve I made snow from cornstarch and glitter then spinkled it from the back door to the tree in a boot sole stencil I made. The flying-saucer twin was really mad at Santa for breaking into our house. I pretty much gave up the year we had a late December heatwave in Southern California because my daughters burst into tears when they saw all that was left of a visit from Frosty the Snowman was a top hat, red scarf, and carrot nose alongside a big puddle of melted water on our porch. So much for magical holidays...
My sister-in-law and I share a Sam’s Club membership, and the gas savings alone pays for half a membership in no time. Costco is coming to our area soon, and I’m looking forward to checking it out.
I was a single mom, and we were very poor (but happy!!). We had lentils every day and I bought them in bulk. Back then (20-25 years ago??) I remember the non-organic lentils costing about $11 for a 25lb bag. Buying in bulk was definitely a strategy I used. I had my bulk purchases on a rotation so they were spread out over the course of the year. I also kept a price book (Tightwad Gazette fan 😉 ) and knew the best prices of our most-used items - I stocked up when they were on sale. Each morning (or sometimes the night before and kept in the fridge until morning), I'd fill the slow cooker with a bigger can of diced tomatoes, lentils, basmati rice, and a 1lb bag of frozen mixed vegetables. A good dose of Italian seasoning blend, a clove of garlic, s&p, and a shot of Braggs. That was our lunch every day. I also used the lentils as a ground beef replacement in things like shepherd's pie and spaghetti. I still eat lentils almost daily, but I buy organic and use mostly red lentils. A near daily breakfast for me is lentil porridge. I'm hoping to do a "day of meals" video soon. 😊 Joanne in SW MO
When we bring canned goods or boxed items in I write the date from can with marker on top. Say 9/2025. That way I don’t struggle looking. We will sometimes have food expire but I still use unless obviously bad.
I am like a sniper when I go to Costco. I have a list, stick to it, and get out. I might have one impulse purchase. I love self checkout so I can get in an out quickly.
Worth mentioning, is that you need to have a back up power source if you are freezing a lot of your food because if the power goes out you’re possibly going to lose all of that food. And lol! .. about being neighborly, etc. there are no people near me who eat the way I do! They want the frozen, packaged food! 😄
I have bought flour and sugar in 25lb bags for years. Cost savings is significant. Rice and oatmeal is a little tougher, so I use store BOGO offers for those, I get the savings in the smaller quantities.
we are just a couple and i had sam's years ago when i had my business to buy tires and batteries. then we left them when I closed my shop. then after about 12-14 years we came back to sams when they offered $8 membership and gave you $35 in sams cash to spend so it was worth to take the test ride. well we have been back since. We think it is worth it even though it is just two of us. we live in the country and try to have at least 6 months of stock on hand that way we don't need to leave the house during the cold wintery snowy days. normally we get to sams every other month which is our main food store we go to. but i have been in it 3 times last month because of a side job took me right past it so why not stop and get this months sales? anyways i was really disappointed that my freezer was totally full already because they had great discounts on the meats going on. i buy the big prime cuts and cut them down myself. they were $20-$25 off. i was already stocked up with the winter season almost here.
Hi Hope and Larry hope you’re both well? We don’t have anything like this in the uk. I used to bulk buy from Costco but there prices have went through the roof like everywhere else
Just want to say THANK YOU for the bean disclaimer lol. I absolutely HATE beans, except green beans, and I would eat bugs before beans lol. I do have some for the zombies tho, or if I'm on my last bug.
I really miss the days when we could get beans and rice for under $1 a pound 😢 I shop dent and bent stores and sometimes still find those prices, but it's hit or miss.
Hi Hope! I love eggs in the morning because a low carb breakfast is better for my blood sugar. I really like oatmeal but add almond flour or whey to up the protein. I am curious how you fix your oatmeal, eaten every day, to be satisfied till lunch?
My Kroger store had the Green Giant canned vegetables on sale for .49. Tomorrow (Wed) the ad says that the Kroger brand of certain select vegetables will be .50 each. I don't know if the canned tomatoes will be included or not. Also, you use to talk about going to your local Asian store. I don't hear you mention going there anymore. Do you still go there? Love watching your channel!
I’ve recently learned to put rice and macaroni noodles in containers after I got home from the grocery store because I had an incident this year where weevils got into them.
We are a family of 5 and don't buy in bulk. Things seem to go bad and get wasted before we can get through it all. Noone in my family will eat Oatmeal, rice or beans everyday. We have a large house but I don't want to fill it with dry food. We let the store do their job & "store" food for us until we need it or run out. I do keep 2 ketchup, 2 Mayo, 2 mustard etc in our pantry. One for now, one for later that way I have stuff on hand and don't have to run to the store if noone notices at dinnertime were out of Salsa.
We are a family of 6 with 1 away at college and I don't buy in bulk either. I meal plan by week and include a pizza night as well as a leftover day. Just cooking from scratch and meal planning dropped my grocery bill considerably without taking up space we don't have with things we don't eat. We do however buy things like toilet paper in bulk because with a big family that's something you always need!
Hope and Larry - you can share Costco membership with your son. I think it’s only 60$ for lowest membership price. Both of you will get cards. We find that they have the cheapest gas price.
I have noticed in my area that sometimes, when I've bought an item to restock my pantry, the newer item will expire before the older items I already have. It makes no sense. I have started making notes on my shopping list about expiration dates.
i do a fifo too but after working at the store i have made an adjustment to it. I no longer automatically rotate my cans. i now check the dates on my newest cans versus my last can on the shelf. just because you brought the item 5 months later doesn't mean you have an extra 5 months on the new product. Working at the store you realize the warehouse is very bad at fifo and things get buried and sometimes you get items in with very little shelf life left while others of the same product will have 2 years shelf life. it is amazing how much stuff we turned away at the store because they try shipping something that is already expired. if we stock it without looking at the date, the store eats it but if we catch it while stocking then the warehouse eats it and we get reimbursed. also don't forget to fifo the freezer too. so many just put the fresh stuff on top. I am guilty of that also but we do freezer rotation usually twice a year, early spring and fall. we also keep a running list with dates on and approximate location in the freezer. again after a few months that gets outdated and useless too but it does help at the beginning. when that list gets useless, tear the freezer apart and put all items on top that have the oldest dates. since i started this i have not thrown anything out. when we redid it the other day, everything was brought this year. first time we did this we found stuff on the bottom from many years ago. now we prep our meals by what we brought on sale and what got graduated to the top to eat up. some people might need to do it up to 4 times a year but at least fifo your freezer at least twice a year, it really does helps.
Free membership to Sam's through work makes it worth it to me. I know I save at least as much as a membership would cost me if I had to pay for it in gasoline. Gas at Sam's is generally at least $0.30 per gallon less expensive than anywhere else close by.
Thanks again for sharing. My mother taught me how to store FIFO system in the 1950s and now I do the FIFO system. Makes writing up a shopping list much easier.
we turned the extra spare bedroom into a pantry. the daughter knows if she wants to come home she is sleeping on the couch or in bed with her mother because her old room is no longer available. we buy our onions every year right at the farm about 6 miles away around oct. 1st every year. we buy a 50# bag of medium yellow onions for $15. they were $15 last year too but many years before that they were $10. i went online to see what the mushroom farm hours were and sadly they went out of business. they use to supply all the bars and restaurants in the area. explains why I haven't seen any of their delivery trucks in town or going pass my house anymore.
I don't buy bulk, I just get several of one thing, I have to have 7 things of everything i am just replacing what I use and keep the magic number 7. (7 3lb bags of rice, beans, oatmeal, spam, can of spaghetti sauce etc....) anything! Even cleaning products and Dogg food. I have a family of 5
Buying that much in bulk would not be in my best interest because I live alone, but I will buy "in bulk" at Sam's or somethungs from the bulk section in the grocery store. Does save money.
I calculated that due to the high price of gas in the California Bay area, and the fact that I have to drive to work five times a week, even though I have a Prius, my gas savings alone more than pays for the cost of the Costco membership. In my area Costco is always the cheapest gas, sometimes by a huge amount. Plus I'm 10 minutes away from my Costco lol which has the cheapest gas of all the Costco's in the Bay Area. Then stack the 4% cash back on gas with the Costco credit card. I also calculated that at the time I bought my used Prius, it paid for itself in gas savings over my old car that I had gotten for free in 3 years. Now that they have self checkout at Costco, the line is a lot shorter and I can grab a bag of broccoli and a $5 rotisserie chicken and have dinner for a few days and of course chicken soup on the weekend lol.
I live alone but I still stay stocked up on dry goods and non-perishables. It just makes me happy. Sometimes, my grown kids come “shopping “ at my house and I love it. 😊😊😊
Buying in bulk can mean different things to different people. For example, I am a household of one. Buying 25 lbs. of rolled oats would not make sense for me. However, I would buy 10 lbs. of oats. I use oats for my breakfasts and other dishes, so 10 lbs. would be a good bulk buy for me.
I get the same on the oats for myself. Sometimes I make plain oatmeal, mix it with musli, and make oatmeal apple and banana cookies. They freeze up great for a grab on the run breakfast or a snack for teatime.
I don't buy in bulk anymore. As a single person living alone in a tiny studio apartment, there's no need and limited storage space. But I do stock up on staples like beans, rice, soup, coffee/tea, dried pasta and seasonings. I always have enough for 2 months in my pantry. Rather than throw away excess food, I leave it in our building lobby for my neighbors to take for free. I tried to donate it to a local food pantry but they won't take any food that's expired or close to the expiration date.
Same here. To a point. I buy 4 months ahead. Have limited meat to once maybe twice a month. Make alot of soup and freeze it.
Eat the "expired" food and donate the newest food that doesn't fit in pantry to neighbors or food pantry
Same situation for me. I will buy multiples of protein sources when there’s a good sale. And I make sure I have enough shelf stable food for a couple of months. I don’t eat rice (hurts my tummy) but I have a good supply of beans, flour, sugar, baking soda (which I use for various things), canned goods. I live on a small fixed income so I only set aside about $30/mo for bulk buying.
I agree it is more difficult to buy bulk when you have one or two people household . Also more difficult if like eating salads and fresh fruits like we do . And I live in a city in Canada we pay lots of taxes on everything
Hi, frugal family.
Buying bulk only makes sense if you have a large family, somewhere to store it, or will use it before it goes bad.
Some things, like hygiene products, cleaning supplies, first aid, paper goods, stock up. These generally don't go bad.
Not necessarily true. I cook in bulk for my partner and I and buy what we use within a year or two. With inflation around 30% the last three years, I could pay my property taxes for the year with the money I've saved.
On the B/Q sauce you can get some jelly jars fill them up with the sauce ( heart up a pan of water) place your flat lids in the water.
Fill your jars with sauce
Water bath or steam jars for 10 minutes
Now you don't have that big container sitting in your refrigerator taking up room and it won't spoil before you finish the bottle.
Just open a jar at a time when needed
I love your channel. I’m stocking up to avoid higher prices and my husband is on another path. You can imagine the fights. Even though I’ve brought down our utilities to $100.00 a month for gas and electricity. Washing and drying at off peak hours, no dishwasher, lights off, TV off if you’re not watching, temperature in house at night at 65 degrees and 70 degrees during the day, bought heated socks and vests like you suggested and it saves 100s a month.
I love your tips and implement them. Thank you so much. Love 💕 and Hugs. ❤❤❤
@@DonaldMccall-wc4zm Kansas.
Another thing to consider before
bulk item shopping is are you physically able to lift and carry those items into your house. In 70s and by myself so I can no longer carry the larger items. People take forgranted having someone to help them. Many seniors are truly alone.
We enjoy our annual trip to a bulk food store in an Amish area about one hour from our house as well. They have some products that we use and simply cannot find at other stores. The selection of spices and different whole grain flours is amazing! We just consider it a really nice way to spend a day, enjoying the ride through the countryside, looking at the fall colors and the crops being harvested.
Laughed about the beans comment, but you're right. It makes no sense to buy what I don't like. Additionally, it DOES make sense to buy what you really eat. It's a lot easier to cook under difficult circumstances when you know the ingredients well and how to cook them.
Exactly…we really enjoy pastas so we stock up on the ones we love best and repackage into Mylar with oxygen absorbers and put into pickle buckets from Firehouse Subs.
We still have full family at home. We we di a monthly menu and I bulk cook from scratch spaghetti sauce, meatballs, meatloaf, chili, sloppy Joe's & taco meats. Plus a month's worth of chicken, coffee, etc. We have some other items we replace bi monthly to quarterly. Sam's club membership pays for itself. We use our reward points to pay for the renewal. ❤ I am sure in 3 to 4 years, it will only be my hubby and myself, then it may not be worth it then. But I love the sharing shopping trip and split it!
If you go to an Indian store in your area, you should be able to find beans for less than a $1 a pound even now. Rice is cheap in an Indian store too!
In Ireland Asian stores are generally more expensive than regular supermarkets. I've gotten much better deals in Aldi on rice, and tesco for lentils, some beans & pasta.
Love how he is just there looking cute and she is here FOR BUSINESS 😂❤ love them
On Friday my brother, 18 year old granddaughter and I went to a farmers market, we go maybe every 6 weeks. They have a discount grocery store you have to watch the dates on the items but I don't mind as long as they are not to out of date. But anyway I got a whole box of green bananas for only $5.00 plus the manager threw in extra Bunches. That was maybe anywhere between 10 cents to 16 cents a pound. I couldn't go wrong in the freezer they go and banana bread. Talk about buying in bulk one major score!!!!
Praying for healing for Larry's arm!
I love buying in bulk. Lower prices and provides peace of mind, especially in the winter. I always enjoy when you share about your trip to the Amish store - thank you!
I've mentioned in another video that the only bulk buying I do now is at the local co-op as I'm a single person household with food prep being a difficulty. I am happy to say they finally brought back scoops for the herbs, spices etc section. I'm slowly shifting from the current spice containers bought from stores to air tight circular glass spice jars. I'll be able to drop the scoops in my new jars with less chance of spillage and won't need to use their bags any more once I've completely replaced all current spice jars. An added bonus: I get to create labels (I'm organisation/library catalogue minded).
I've learned that I don't like prepping beans nor do I use them much anymore so I likely won't buy in future. I know it may seem silly but I'd rather put my limited energy into prepping things I know I'll enjoy eating. Thank you for mentioning that if you don't like something, don't get it.
Yes Larry, popcorn is the best snack. 😊. Y’all do such a great job, I appreciate all your suggestions and experiences. ❤
i was lucky, i grew up in a business family and my dad always brought items in bulk to get them cheaper and even have certain parts on hand that have a tendency to wear out. nothing like shutting the equipment down and waiting for parts, we just grab it off our shelf and back in operation the same day. so i inherited this feature and just took it a step farther and did it with my living expenses.
I use Sam’s more for paper goods and things that are non food items. Dishwasher tablets are about 2 dollars more than Walmart but you get double the amount and my husband’s coffee pods are a lot cheaper at Sam’s. You have to know your price you pay at the grocery stores!
We were given a Kurig when a friend went into assisted living so we purchased the basket that fits the Kurig that is the same size as the pods and hubby just puts 1 teaspoon of his favorite coffee into the basket and makes a large 12 oz mug for pennies on the $ compared to purchasing the pods. Saves us a lot each month because hubby loves his coffee 😊
The empty shelves during the pandemic made me decide to buy in bulk to be prepared.
Buying bulk really pays off when you have big family but is much more difficult when its one or two people
Re FIFO, in addition to the purchase date, you should write any expiration or "best by" date found on the original package. Not all foods have the same shelf life so you should consider both dates when deciding which to use first.
I love these tips!
My hubby and I will buy in bulk on items that make sense for us (we are only 2 people). Dish Soap in big containers at Costco or Wegmans, Laundry detergent also in big containers, pasta, rice, some cereals, pancake mix, and flour are some that come to mind right away.
My mom buys in bulk and it works for her, as she works with Special Olympics and always has kids coming in and out of the house.
One thing I've learned is to watch sale prices at local stores. I got parboiled rice for $10.50 for 20 pounds, so 52.5 cents a pound. I got 40 pounds for $21. It was obviously a loss leader.
Is Larry going for physical therapy? I certainly hope he is. I injured my arm. Never got better until I went for therapy. Helped me so much.
My meals are basic & by having items I use consistantly in set amounts, sometimes bulk buy makes sense. Cost per serving is the decision maker.
Kroger has $.50 cans for their tomatoes, beans, veggies for the sale this next week. I plan to stock up on this price!!!
If you folks like oatmeal and Cream of Wheat, you might enjoy cooked wheat berries for breakfast. You can start them in a slow cooker the night before. Drain off the excess water and serve with a little salt and some drizzled honey or brown sugar. Wheat berries last for ages if you keep them safely stored away from pests, and they're very nourishing.
I buy in bulk what makes sense for me and my household with the money and space I have at the time.
I'm very creative with storage! I stored about 8 of those plastic Tidy Cats containers behind my couch. (Actual litter in them - I found a terrific sale!) The couch stuck out from the wall anyway because of how the top was made. No one even noticed. I lived in 600 Sq ft at the time.
I *do* need to be better about over buying food. I tend to misjudge that some.
Here in Australia grocery goods have to by law provide the shelf price & also the price per 100 grams. The weight price is smaller on the ticket but it makes it easy to buy the cheapest.....suprisingly it is not always bulk that is cheapest, it also alows easy comparing brands
in Canada the retailers play the shell game: they mix two measurement systems to make such a price comparison really friggin difficult - imperial standard and metric.
I am with you on the oatmeal and Cream of Wheat. I like the steelcut oats and the whole groats too. You can do savory and sweet with fruits too.
We buy in bulk at regular stores when items are on sale. Anything that helps, we try to do it
I love your bulk buying videos. I have no need to buy this way, but I really enjoy yours.
You can buy meat in bulk and use a vacuum sealer to store the meat in your freezer. I do this a lot to prevent waste due to spoilage.
I'd be super interested in you doing a 'what we eat in a week' video.
Thanks for your videos, they're great.
Yes please😁
I recently found cases of canned chicken for $7 each. Normally $13. And 50# of pintos for $38 at Sam's Club while traveling in TX. I packed as much as I could fit in my cart and hauled it home to OH since my local Sam's never seems to have deals like that.
My daughter buys the membership and uses it as a business write off on her taxes. She adds me to both Costco and Sams and for free. We love Costco but its just me and hubby so we dont go that often and dont buy in bulk there. We do stock up when Kroger has their sales on things like rice, pasta, mayo, pasta sauce etc. It is more cost effective for us.
"Mornings With Granny" channel recommended you. New subscriber here 😊
You can seal individual packages in myler bags and place oxygen absorbers and seal them so they would last up to 25 years .
where would you find these O2 absorbers for food storage?
@@Scriptorsilentum I get them on Amazon
I do that with Mylar bags.
I bought some things in bulk and had to throw it away because we couldn't use it up before it went bad. Next time, smaller amounts at the best price I can find.
Maybe yoh go half with neighbors. We've done that before. Saves money.
Costco gas a good deal on the organic white rice and coconut oil, if you use that. I really find it worth my Costco membership for the cheaper fuel and the natural chicken breakfast sausages. They are a rare find... containing no sugar.
When I was in college, a few of us would head to the Costco and buy some staples in bulk about 1-2 times a semester and then portion them out among us.
1 YEAR pantry storage because many disasters take that long for service/growing to be viable again and because you can grow during the growing season.
A good first step for buying for me was not “bulk” in huge quantities but it switch to buying canisters of oats over single packets, popcorn kernels in 8 pound bags rather than microwaveable, pasta in 2lb boxes when available, and dried beans over canned beans when it makes sense. Flour is one thing I’ve found to be a good place to start some what bulk. Most people who bake some things from scratch will go through 10lbs in time.
We also have bought from our local Amish store. They have great deals and are so nice. 😊
Since I shop for myself, I am starting to reconsider my "bulk" buys. It's great that I can buy something like a pound of deli on super discount, but that's still a pound of ham I have to think up dishes/meals for. Then there's also the fact that I have to rotate my protein options, which can range between beef/chicken/pork, seafood, beans/nuts/tofu, eggs/cheese, etc. And that's just the protein side of things. I've yet to talk about fat, veggies, carb, spice, etc. And I only eat 2 meals a day.
Boy! You are organized !!!
@@katehenry2718 Why, thank you for the compliment. My day-to-day activity is pretty simple since my threshold for variety/activities is limited. Work, cook, clean, plan for the next day, etc.
I don't like wasting food that is still good, so I enjoy looking up recipes online. Being creative with extra leftover ingredients is fun.
We have always bought popcorn as a snack for our large family. I also grind it into corn meal in flour mill.
Theon.y time I use oatmeal is for a treat. Oatmeal with fresh raspberries and heavy cream on top. Yum!
Listening to you guys makes me want to clean up my deep freeze & basement shelves & make the 2 hour trek to Sams! I sometimes have difficulty justifying the fuel cost to drive that far when I'm not sure how much i would buy/ save. I'm definitely going to reconsider.
Larry, how's your arm ? I hope you're mending well and quickly.
I separated my pantry by years, it's taken me twice as long to get through some stuff than it did others. I'm in the process of looking at what we eat more of and what I refuse to pay for anymore. I know the Betty Crocker scalloped potatoes are not good for us, they have raised the price while lowering the amount in the box. We won't buy them anymore, More and more of our foods are going to just the ingredients. Since we have had a couple of cash emergencies lately we are no longer even going to the grocery store. Lights are off, and it's crunch time. I know how to stretch foods but, this time seems different than other recessions and with the grocery stores telling us that the prices are going up another 3 percent it's really going to be a hard winter.
I’d love some recipes from your kitchen to show how you use the grains and beans you buy! 😊 that would be so helpful! ☮️
Stored properly, bulk buy ingredients can extend monthly food budget.
We have the plus membership at Sams. It’s $100 per year. We also have their Mastercard. The reason is because my husband buys a lot of gas for his business there and we get 5% cash back on gas plus 3% back in Sams purchases. We make back the cost plus around $500 cash back. I love Costco but it’s pretty far and more expensive.
yes, we have their card too and have the plus membership also. it definately pays for the membership and then some. we like their scan n go feature. my wife is 14 years older and starting to have issues so when i can see she is having problems we can just leave bypassing all the registers.
@@steveherr450 I also use the free shipping a lot. Most of the dry goods I can have delivered then I do t even need to go and possibly end up buying things I don’t need lol.
I raised 5 children and myself and husband loved bulk shopping back then now with just the 2 of us not so much I do go to Sam's club 3 times a year that's it
I quit using Sam's club, but I do use prime pantry since I have had a prime membership for years
Love your videos, thank u!❤
❤thank you another really helpful video x
I store flour, rice, pasta, cornmeal, barley, oatmeal and legumes in the fridge or big freezers, mostly because it’s hot and humid here in my old farmhouse in the summer.
I used to buy a lot in bulk when my ex and I were together. I made a lot of meals from scratch because we didn’t have much money.
I’ve lived alone now for 3 years, and I bulk prep all my food for the freezer. I even have a deep freezer, which most people think is ridiculous until they come over and realize how much variety I have at any given time. So I’ll usually do a monthly shop to make sure I have my staples. But buying in bulk just becomes wasteful. I match to buy in bulk for what I’m prepping. I often split specialty items with friends, as you’ve mentioned. We make up a big spreadsheet, and someone goes to the Amish or Indian grocery store for everyone! Then we go to that persons house and load up all our containers on the dining room table.
Now my new partner and I are moving in together soon, and I see myself doing a hybrid type of thing. We enjoy eating out (not frugal, but speaking of vices…), so my scratch freezer meal prep will allow us to equalize our budget.
Membership at Costco, I use it to save on gas..Always cheaper than any station around
Speaking of free holiday fun, when my twins were little I used to do something different every year for the holidays. I thought I was making the time magical but all I did (I learned from one of the adult twins) was freak them out. One year I told them that they had to be good all the time because Santa's elves watched them from the vents. Hmm, maybe not such a good idea. Another year I snuck around the front of the house on xmas eve with a red-cello-covered flashlight in the hopes they would think it was Rudolph's nose shining in their window. One twin said, "Oh, it's just Mom," but the other was scared because she thought it was aliens. Yeah, and I stepped into some roving dog's poop that dark night, too. One other xmas eve I made snow from cornstarch and glitter then spinkled it from the back door to the tree in a boot sole stencil I made. The flying-saucer twin was really mad at Santa for breaking into our house. I pretty much gave up the year we had a late December heatwave in Southern California because my daughters burst into tears when they saw all that was left of a visit from Frosty the Snowman was a top hat, red scarf, and carrot nose alongside a big puddle of melted water on our porch. So much for magical holidays...
Great discussion and ideas. FIFO is also an accounting term used to specify how inventory is valued, with rotation of products considered
Great video, how long has your family been plant based ?
what are you go to meals from your bulk buying items
I love oatmeal! I eat it for supper a lot! 😊😊😊
If you do not have much room, you can go in with one or more families to save more
My sister-in-law and I share a Sam’s Club membership, and the gas savings alone pays for half a membership in no time. Costco is coming to our area soon, and I’m looking forward to checking it out.
I was a single mom, and we were very poor (but happy!!). We had lentils every day and I bought them in bulk. Back then (20-25 years ago??) I remember the non-organic lentils costing about $11 for a 25lb bag.
Buying in bulk was definitely a strategy I used. I had my bulk purchases on a rotation so they were spread out over the course of the year. I also kept a price book (Tightwad Gazette fan 😉 ) and knew the best prices of our most-used items - I stocked up when they were on sale. Each morning (or sometimes the night before and kept in the fridge until morning), I'd fill the slow cooker with a bigger can of diced tomatoes, lentils, basmati rice, and a 1lb bag of frozen mixed vegetables. A good dose of Italian seasoning blend, a clove of garlic, s&p, and a shot of Braggs. That was our lunch every day.
I also used the lentils as a ground beef replacement in things like shepherd's pie and spaghetti.
I still eat lentils almost daily, but I buy organic and use mostly red lentils. A near daily breakfast for me is lentil porridge. I'm hoping to do a "day of meals" video soon.
😊 Joanne in SW MO
When we bring canned goods or boxed items in I write the date from can with marker on top. Say 9/2025. That way I don’t struggle looking. We will sometimes have food expire but I still use unless obviously bad.
I am like a sniper when I go to Costco. I have a list, stick to it, and get out. I might have one impulse purchase. I love self checkout so I can get in an out quickly.
i love the scan n go feature at sam's. when my wife gets tired we can just leave bypassing all the registers.
Worth mentioning, is that you need to have a back up power source if you are freezing a lot of your food because if the power goes out you’re possibly going to lose all of that food.
And lol! .. about being neighborly, etc. there are no people near me who eat the way I do! They want the frozen, packaged food! 😄
I love your videos it’s helped me a lot
We make instant oats into flour to use as an egg substitute in baking. Bulk, for use like this is 2lbs.
I have bought flour and sugar in 25lb bags for years. Cost savings is significant. Rice and oatmeal is a little tougher, so I use store BOGO offers for those, I get the savings in the smaller quantities.
we are just a couple and i had sam's years ago when i had my business to buy tires and batteries. then we left them when I closed my shop. then after about 12-14 years we came back to sams when they offered $8 membership and gave you $35 in sams cash to spend so it was worth to take the test ride. well we have been back since. We think it is worth it even though it is just two of us.
we live in the country and try to have at least 6 months of stock on hand that way we don't need to leave the house during the cold wintery snowy days. normally we get to sams every other month which is our main food store we go to. but i have been in it 3 times last month because of a side job took me right past it so why not stop and get this months sales? anyways i was really disappointed that my freezer was totally full already because they had great discounts on the meats going on. i buy the big prime cuts and cut them down myself. they were $20-$25 off. i was already stocked up with the winter season almost here.
Hi Hope and Larry hope you’re both well? We don’t have anything like this in the uk. I used to bulk buy from Costco but there prices have went through the roof like everywhere else
I've had luck with the Amish market putting the heavy bags in the store. It would be the same at the restaurant store... but not Costco!
Just want to say THANK YOU for the bean disclaimer lol. I absolutely HATE beans, except green beans, and I would eat bugs before beans lol. I do have some for the zombies tho, or if I'm on my last bug.
watch out: brown rice you can keep for 3-4 months...white long grain rice longer
oops...ff the video..right on the mark
I read about your shopping trip and picnic on Julie’s Facebook frugal group. I love you all!!!
I really miss the days when we could get beans and rice for under $1 a pound 😢
I shop dent and bent stores and sometimes still find those prices, but it's hit or miss.
Hi Hope! I love eggs in the morning because a low carb breakfast is better for my blood sugar. I really like oatmeal but add almond flour or whey to up the protein. I am curious how you fix your oatmeal, eaten every day, to be satisfied till lunch?
puree a somewhat greenish banana and a tablespoon of cocoa powder. add sweetener. use skimmed milk.
My Kroger store had the Green Giant canned vegetables on sale for .49. Tomorrow (Wed) the ad says that the Kroger brand of certain select vegetables will be .50 each. I don't know if the canned tomatoes will be included or not. Also, you use to talk about going to your local Asian store. I don't hear you mention going there anymore. Do you still go there? Love watching your channel!
I’ve recently learned to put rice and macaroni noodles in containers after I got home from the grocery store because I had an incident this year where weevils got into them.
Popcorn usually pharmacy or dollar tree.
We are a family of 5 and don't buy in bulk. Things seem to go bad and get wasted before we can get through it all. Noone in my family will eat Oatmeal, rice or beans everyday. We have a large house but I don't want to fill it with dry food. We let the store do their job & "store" food for us until we need it or run out. I do keep 2 ketchup, 2 Mayo, 2 mustard etc in our pantry. One for now, one for later that way I have stuff on hand and don't have to run to the store if noone notices at dinnertime were out of Salsa.
We are a family of 6 with 1 away at college and I don't buy in bulk either. I meal plan by week and include a pizza night as well as a leftover day. Just cooking from scratch and meal planning dropped my grocery bill considerably without taking up space we don't have with things we don't eat. We do however buy things like toilet paper in bulk because with a big family that's something you always need!
Hope and Larry - you can share Costco membership with your son. I think it’s only 60$ for lowest membership price. Both of you will get cards. We find that they have the cheapest gas price.
I have noticed in my area that sometimes, when I've bought an item to restock my pantry, the newer item will expire before the older items I already have. It makes no sense. I have started making notes on my shopping list about expiration dates.
The drive would be worth it. I wish i luved near the amish.
So wish we had Amish or Mennonite stores near here. We visit them when we go to MO to visit family.
i do a fifo too but after working at the store i have made an adjustment to it. I no longer automatically rotate my cans. i now check the dates on my newest cans versus my last can on the shelf. just because you brought the item 5 months later doesn't mean you have an extra 5 months on the new product. Working at the store you realize the warehouse is very bad at fifo and things get buried and sometimes you get items in with very little shelf life left while others of the same product will have 2 years shelf life. it is amazing how much stuff we turned away at the store because they try shipping something that is already expired. if we stock it without looking at the date, the store eats it but if we catch it while stocking then the warehouse eats it and we get reimbursed.
also don't forget to fifo the freezer too. so many just put the fresh stuff on top. I am guilty of that also but we do freezer rotation usually twice a year, early spring and fall. we also keep a running list with dates on and approximate location in the freezer. again after a few months that gets outdated and useless too but it does help at the beginning. when that list gets useless, tear the freezer apart and put all items on top that have the oldest dates. since i started this i have not thrown anything out. when we redid it the other day, everything was brought this year. first time we did this we found stuff on the bottom from many years ago. now we prep our meals by what we brought on sale and what got graduated to the top to eat up. some people might need to do it up to 4 times a year but at least fifo your freezer at least twice a year, it really does helps.
yes bulk food is worth it if it is the best price
We buy in bulk, either at Costco or from Aldi or Walmart when they are on sale (in 2lb bags ).
Free membership to Sam's through work makes it worth it to me. I know I save at least as much as a membership would cost me if I had to pay for it in gasoline. Gas at Sam's is generally at least $0.30 per gallon less expensive than anywhere else close by.
Thanks again for sharing. My mother taught me how to store FIFO system in the 1950s and now I do the FIFO system. Makes writing up a shopping list much easier.
we turned the extra spare bedroom into a pantry. the daughter knows if she wants to come home she is sleeping on the couch or in bed with her mother because her old room is no longer available.
we buy our onions every year right at the farm about 6 miles away around oct. 1st every year. we buy a 50# bag of medium yellow onions for $15. they were $15 last year too but many years before that they were $10.
i went online to see what the mushroom farm hours were and sadly they went out of business. they use to supply all the bars and restaurants in the area. explains why I haven't seen any of their delivery trucks in town or going pass my house anymore.
Decent quality body lotion. I purchased a gallon for less than $20 on Amazon, add some additional oils and it will last me a year.
I don't buy bulk, I just get several of one thing, I have to have 7 things of everything i am just replacing what I use and keep the magic number 7.
(7 3lb bags of rice, beans, oatmeal, spam, can of spaghetti sauce etc....) anything! Even cleaning products and Dogg food.
I have a family of 5
Buying that much in bulk would not be in my best interest because I live alone, but I will buy "in bulk" at Sam's or somethungs from the bulk section in the grocery store. Does save money.
I calculated that due to the high price of gas in the California Bay area, and the fact that I have to drive to work five times a week, even though I have a Prius, my gas savings alone more than pays for the cost of the Costco membership. In my area Costco is always the cheapest gas, sometimes by a huge amount. Plus I'm 10 minutes away from my Costco lol which has the cheapest gas of all the Costco's in the Bay Area. Then stack the 4% cash back on gas with the Costco credit card. I also calculated that at the time I bought my used Prius, it paid for itself in gas savings over my old car that I had gotten for free in 3 years. Now that they have self checkout at Costco, the line is a lot shorter and I can grab a bag of broccoli and a $5 rotisserie chicken and have dinner for a few days and of course chicken soup on the weekend lol.