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When it comes to budget-minded grocery shopping, there are a bunch of questions
to consider. Are store brand products less expensive than name brand? What about
buying groceries online versus in-store? And, where is the most cost-effective
place to shop? Is it Costco? We take on stockpiling (responsibly of course) to
see how much you can save by buying in bulk from the wholesaler. 





Most of us inherently understand the principle of bulk buying, but when it comes
to our normal grocery shopping habits, how many of us actually take advantage of
bulk economics? 

Stores such as Costco, Sam's Club and BJ's Wholesale deal mainly in bulk
products, and department stores such as Target and Walmart typically offer a
number of bulk options, but even conventional grocery stores often carry bulk or
larger sizes of staple items. However, Storage may be an issue when buying in
bulk, and not all groceries are suitable for bulk purchasing if they have short
shelf lives. 

Best Meal Kit Delivery Services for 2022: See at Cnet

But it does raise the question: How much money can you save by buying groceries
in bulk? By my calculations, you'll save over $1,000 shopping from a wholesale
retailer. Below is a breakdown of how I reached that figure.




HOW WE DID THE MATH: STOP & SHOP VS. COSTCO

Using grocery list templates available online, I assembled a list of 25 typical,
staple grocery items that are suitable for longer storage, either in the pantry,
refrigerator or freezer. This ruled out most fresh produce, with some
exceptions, though if you're hosting a large gathering buying produce in bulk
may be worthwhile also. Bulk shopping doesn't mean buying a year's worth of
groceries all at one time, but I didn't include anything that wouldn't hold up
well for at least a month, with the notion that bulk grocery shopping can be
done less often. Bulk buying also requires a greater upfront spend, which is why
Costco's per-item total is considerably higher than Stop & Shop's.


Is It Cheaper to Get Groceries Delivered or Shop in the Store? We Do the Math:
See at Cnet

Assuming either bi-weekly or monthly consumption of those staple grocery items
for a household of one or two people, I came up with the approximate yearly
consumption for each. I chose Stop & Shop to represent a conventional grocery
retailer, as it's largely considered to be a quality store with median prices,
and Costco to represent bulk buying, as its Kirkland Signature products have a
bit of a following in their own right -- Costco is the Trader Joe's of the bulk
set, for sure.




Unless a national brand is otherwise indicated, I used Stop & Shop's SB brand,
or the least expensive name-brand product for a given item, to compare to
Costco's Kirkland Signature brand. For the Stop & Shop items, coming up with the
yearly price for each item was a simple matter of multiplying by 26 for
bi-weekly consumption, or 12 for monthly consumption. For Costco's items, I
scaled the prices accordingly based on whatever package size Costco offers to
indicate a yearly cost for the same amount of a given item.




Since I was primarily interested in food cost savings, I didn't factor in
cleaning supplies, paper products or other items, but you can safely assume
these also amount to big saving potential over the year when bought in bulk.
Also, since my calculations were based on a small household, the bigger your
household, the bigger the savings. 




COSTCO MEMBERSHIP FEE

Costco requires a membership to take advantage of its bulk savings and low-cost
signature brands. A basic membership costs $60 a year and is valid at all
locations. Read more about the different Costco membership options.




WHY BUYING IN BULK IS CHEAPER

The economics of buying in bulk is simple: The more you buy of something at one
time, the less it costs per count or unit of weight. Producers, distributors and
retailers are able to offer lower prices in this way not only because bulk items
often require less packaging, but also because for them it's a sure sale over a
potential sale -- they'd rather have your money now, even at a discount, than
parsed out over a period of time.





THE VERDICT: BULK SAVINGS ARE HUGE

Given this particular grocery list, buying in bulk would allow you to save over
$1,000 during the course of a year, representing a 33% savings overall over
conventional groceries. (In today's economy, it is worth mentioning that you
also save gas money with fewer trips to the store.) In a few cases, the Stop &
Shop item ended up being the cheaper option: organic milk, carrots, potatoes and
frozen salmon filets, for example. In all of these cases, there wasn't a huge
size difference between the conventional and bulk items. Milk is an especially
good example, as it's still offered in a larger quantity at Costco, but there's
only so much of it you can buy at one time without risking it spoiling, and so
the bulk offering is comparatively modest. Costco also doesn't have a Kirkland
brand offering of organic milk, whereas Stop & Shop does.




Generally speaking, the larger the scale on the bulk item, the larger the
savings. If you buy a 40-ounce quantity of Cheerios, for example, rather than
the 12 ounces you get in a typical box, they become nearly 75% cheaper. Buying
25 pounds of white rice all at once instead of 2 pounds at a time saves you 60%.

With at least a grand in savings available yearly for just a portion of your
grocery list, even if you need to buy additional home storage to accommodate it,
the verdict is clear: Bulk grocery shopping is well worth the effort.

The Best Produce Delivery Services for 2022: See at Cnet



SHELF-STABLE ITEMS BRING SOME OF THE BIGGEST SAVINGS

Some of the biggest savings by percentage come from shelf-stable and pantry
items including chips, crackers, jarred sauce, rice and whole bean coffee. These
items are typically easier to store and less likely to spoil or deteriorate in
quality. Buying pantry items in bulk from a discount grocer such as Costco
represents a clear and risk-free strategy for saving money on your grocery spend
over the course of a year.

For more We Do the Math, check out how much you can save by shopping at Trader
Joe's compared to other grocery stores, and if it's cheaper to buy meal kits
than groceries.



Microsoft may earn an Affiliate Commission if you purchase something through
recommended links in this article.



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