How to Buy Food in Bulk and Save Money
When you shop for food in bulk, your goal is to save money. Think about a few factors to make sure you are getting the best deals possible. If you have a family, buying food in bulk might work better for you than if you live alone or with a spouse and no children. Some food items last a few weeks or months, but as everyone knows, produce has a short shelf life.
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Instructions
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Bring a calculator to the store to compare bulk against individual items. Bring a calculator to the store to see if buying buying in bulk is really cheaper. If you have found a few good coupons for regular grocery shopping, bulk may not be better for those coupon items. Always check the individual price of an item before buying it in bulk.
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Consider your home's storage capacity before buying food in bulk. Before you bring home giant cases of green beans and 10 loaves of bread decide where you are going to put them. Sometimes the inconvenience of bulk purchases outweighs the savings.
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Pay attention to the waste factor. Getting 50 tomatoes for a bulk discount sounds like a great deal now, but if your family eats only 10 of those tomatoes, you have wasted money. Make sure when buying perishable food in bulk that you aren't going to waste any. Even longer lasting items like condiments or spices eventually go bad or lose flavor. But if you have space to stock up on toilet paper or paper towels, this is an area where you can save money.
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Investigate what you'll pay in membership fees to shop at bulk discount stores versus how often you actually shop there. If you do your bulk shopping only a few times a year, you probably aren't saving anything when you factor in the membership fees charged by warehouse stores. If you have a big, hungry family, though, warehouse shopping may be for you.
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Beware of impulse buys. If you go to buy food in bulk and come back with a pack of 100 toothbrushes, you have wasted money. The more prone you are to impulse buying the more expensive shopping in bulk will turn out to be. Take a disciplined approach to bulk shopping.
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References
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