How Bulk shopping saves us a bundle

You know when ever I talk to people about the fact that we do our shopping in bulk we get a lot of the same responses.

"Does it really save you money?"
"I just don't have the money to do that"
"Where would I put it all!"
"I don't have the time!"

So I thought I would share my responses with you all.

"Does it really save you money?" Why yes it does! Part of it is that we have a super sized family compared to the "normal" American family. When you have more than 2 children stuff just gets eaten faster! I could buy 4 boxes of cereal at $4 a pop or 1 giant box for $6...you do the math! Even if you don't have a super sized family buying in bulk is still feasible. We buy he giant cans of tomatoes, you know the ones that look like they are supposed to be used in school cafeterias? Well even with 7 mouths to feed I can't use a entire can of those suckers! I instead package it down into 1c. servings and drop them in the freezer. One 14.5 can of crushed tomatoes is about $1 on sale, One ginormous can of crushed tomatoes is $3. I can typically get 20 one cup portions out of the huge can. That is a HUGE savings!

Another way it saves us money is that buy buying in bulk we typically end up with a little more than we needed. I can get a great deal on 7lb packages of ground beef for example but if I only need 6lbs for that month I freeze the extra pound for later. After 2-3 mths of this type of stockpiling you find you have enough in your freezer and pantry to allow you to skip grocery shopping for several weeks! It is a wonderful feeling to realize "Hey I don't have to go to the grocery store this month!"

"I just don't have the money to do that" We didn't start out with any more in the grocery budget than we normally used. I just decided to use it differently. I decided instead of spending it 4 times a month I would spend it once. I found my local costco, made a detailed list of what we needed for that month and went to town! Over time we were able to adjust our budget so that all of our months grocery budget came out of the first paycheck of the month giving me even more wiggle room. You know what we have found though? We spend LESS buying in bulk, about $200 a month less!

"Where would I put it all!" As I stated in a previous post we don't live in a McMansion, far far from it! We have a small chest freezer, a pantry, and a cabinet in our hallway for over flow. That is it! We found that by going to once a month shopping we tend to buy more whole foods instead of processed foods. Flour instead of french bread, popcorn instead of cookies, etc.

"I don't have the time!" I have found it doesn't take me any longer to pic up a 25lb bag of flour than it does to pick up a 5lb bag. A little harder on my back maybe but not on my schedule. Actually I find it SAVES me time because I do one major shop a month then a quick dash in every other week for milk and fruit instead of 4 major shopping trips.