Friday, August 9, 2013

Warehouse Clubs

The Mom's group that I am a part of had a discussion a little while ago about warehouse clubs like Sam's and Costco.  We have a membership at Sam's club but until this discussion, I've only used it to buy sugar for my small jam business.  Shameless plug here, Gram's Jams is just getting started on Facebook.  Back on topic...LOL.  

So the discussion was what do you buy at the Warehouse clubs.  A lot of people pointed out that diapers, baby formula and baby wipes were cheaper there.  Some also talked about peanut butter and cheese being a better deal as well.  They also talked about some items that were not a good deal there, like cereal.  That surprised me.

I was surprised at the different reasons that people shopped at the warehouse clubs as much as the items that they purchased.  Shopping there wasn't always about saving money.  Some shop there because they could get their children's lunch items there prepackaged for individual use.  Some shopped there because they were able to get things like toilet paper and paper towels in larger packages.

I decided that I needed to do some comparisons.  While I was on my big monthly trip to the grocery, I made notes of the items that I regularly purchase that I know I'd seen at Sam's.  Then I went to Sam's and compared things.  I was surprised.  Shocked on a couple of things!

I compared some random things that I normally buy:

We keep the Fiber One bars (Oatmeal & chocolate) on hand and at the grocery they were $6.98 for 10 bars, at Sam's club they were $6.98 for 20.  Twice as much for the same price!

Pop Tarts (my little guy likes them for after school snacks) at the grocery they are $1.99 for a box of 8 which is $.25 each.  At Sam's, they were $6.87 for a box of 36 which is $.19 each.

Being diabetic, I use Splenda at home and Splenda was on sale at the grocery for $7.98 for the bag that equaled 5 pounds of sugar and at Sam's club was $9.98 for the bag that equaled 10 pounds of sugar.  Two dollars more for twice as much!

Cheese was a huge difference.  The 8 ounce package of sharp cheddar was on sale at the grocery for 2 packs (one pound) for $4.00.  At Sam's, it was $5.98 for TWO pounds or $2.99 per pound.

String cheese at the grocery was $7.98 for 12 or $.67 each.  At Sam's, they were $8.78 for 48 or $.18 each.  

I need to do some more comparisons but I found that I need to use my Sam's club membership to my advantage a bit more.  I can't see us buying a gallon of pickles or 96 candy bars but I do see where there can be a huge savings there now.

2 comments:

  1. Thanks for the comparison...I have always wondered, but have never done it for myself. We buy lots of cheese, so I need to check that out.

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  2. We have bought the huge jar of pickles. Huge savings and if you have room in your fridge, they last forever. I also buy the huge can of whole tomatoes. When my freezer is empty, I can process it into quite a few jars of "fresh" salsa. Cheese is big for us - I buy the 2-3 lb block and shread it at home. And cereal can be a good deal. Recently, with the Costco coupon, I got $2.50 off Raisin Bran. Ended up getting it for less than $5.00 for two huge bags - can't remember the ounces.

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