Author Topic: What interesting grocery items do you buy in bulk?  (Read 19695 times)

ModernIncantations

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What interesting grocery items do you buy in bulk?
« on: May 03, 2016, 08:49:56 AM »
I regularly buy nutritional yeast and vital wheat gluten (you can make any faux meat with this stuff). I just now bought a gallon of toasted sesame oil (http://www.amazon.com/Kevala-Organic-Toasted-Sesame-plastic/dp/B00F737AI0), a gallon of Kikkoman soy sauce. Stir fry for years.

Chili powder, cumin, tellicherry black pepper (i can never go back to boring, pre-ground pepper), and himalayan pink salt are always in stock here too.

VaCPA

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Re: What interesting grocery items do you buy in bulk?
« Reply #1 on: May 03, 2016, 08:54:33 AM »
I was at Safeway a month ago and they had Thomas english muffins on sale, buy 1 get 3 free. Considering me and my son typically have one each per morning, yes please! I've never seen a sale like that at Safeway. Makes me wonder if they found a few old pallets of muffins in the back of their warehouse they needed to unload.

slappy

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Re: What interesting grocery items do you buy in bulk?
« Reply #2 on: May 03, 2016, 08:57:42 AM »
I was at Safeway a month ago and they had Thomas english muffins on sale, buy 1 get 3 free. Considering me and my son typically have one each per morning, yes please! I've never seen a sale like that at Safeway. Makes me wonder if they found a few old pallets of muffins in the back of their warehouse they needed to unload.

They always have sales like that at my local store. B1G2 Free.  But I think it's because they are so overpriced to begin with.  The store brand is cheaper even without the gimmicky sale.

geekette

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Re: What interesting grocery items do you buy in bulk?
« Reply #3 on: May 03, 2016, 09:50:42 AM »
One local store has my DH's favorite salad dressings on sale about once a quarter - buy 2 get 3 free.  Worth it to stock up, especially since they're dated into next year.  Eh, not interesting, but it's not because they have pallets in the back.

I buy spices in bulk from Penzey's, keep them in the freezer while stocking the little jars in the kitchen.  Their seasoned salt is also excellent.
« Last Edit: May 03, 2016, 09:54:00 AM by geekette »

frugaliknowit

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Re: What interesting grocery items do you buy in bulk?
« Reply #4 on: May 03, 2016, 09:59:16 AM »
1.  Tazo green tea with ginger (online price about $3.50 each versus about $4.50 in grocery store.  If I buy $100 worth there's no shipping).
2.  Truvia sweetner 1000 box via Jet.com

Both of these items are cheap to ship and don't take up a lot of space:)

forummm

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Re: What interesting grocery items do you buy in bulk?
« Reply #5 on: May 03, 2016, 10:04:41 AM »
I buy oats, nuts, and dried fruit in bulk. I'll buy large amounts of staples when they are on sale (I bought about 80 boxes of pasta recently when a good brand was on sale for $1/lb; previously bought a bunch when a lesser brand was on sale for 50 cents; and bought 20 lbs of cheese for $2.49/lb last week).

ModernIncantations

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Re: What interesting grocery items do you buy in bulk?
« Reply #6 on: May 03, 2016, 10:33:18 AM »
I buy oats, nuts, and dried fruit in bulk. I'll buy large amounts of staples when they are on sale (I bought about 80 boxes of pasta recently when a good brand was on sale for $1/lb; previously bought a bunch when a lesser brand was on sale for 50 cents; and bought 20 lbs of cheese for $2.49/lb last week).

That's an impressive amount of pasta. I thought I was cool buying 6 boxes

Fishinshawn

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Re: What interesting grocery items do you buy in bulk?
« Reply #7 on: May 03, 2016, 10:58:40 AM »
We buy in bulk whenever there is an outstanding deal. We found a bunch of ground turkey at the local grocery store that was set to expire in a few days, they had it marked half off, we bought every single pound they had, I think it was 12lbs.  We frequently find similar deals on whole chickens, and when pasta is less then $1 a box we load up on it as well. We make a trip to costco about every quarter, there we generally load up on organic tomato sauce/diced tomatoes, and various sliced lunch meats...Buying in bulk is not always a great deal, we never purchase anything just because it saves a few cents to buy in bulk. Generally, we have found if you buy enough when something is really at a bargain price you can get enough to get you through to when the next bargain price comes about. Also even if we are fully stocked up and find somethign like ground turkey at half off we still buy the hell out of i, and just freeze it.

VaCPA

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Re: What interesting grocery items do you buy in bulk?
« Reply #8 on: May 03, 2016, 11:10:22 AM »
I was at Safeway a month ago and they had Thomas english muffins on sale, buy 1 get 3 free. Considering me and my son typically have one each per morning, yes please! I've never seen a sale like that at Safeway. Makes me wonder if they found a few old pallets of muffins in the back of their warehouse they needed to unload.

They always have sales like that at my local store. B1G2 Free.  But I think it's because they are so overpriced to begin with.  The store brand is cheaper even without the gimmicky sale.

I like the Thomas muffins a lot better than the generic ones. We typically shop at Trader Joes and get their muffins, and I eat them and it's fine. But if I have a chance to get Thomas on sale I'm all over it. Some things I notice no discernible difference in going generic but some things I definitely do.

geekette

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Re: What interesting grocery items do you buy in bulk?
« Reply #9 on: May 03, 2016, 11:17:51 AM »
Wow, 80 boxes?  At our rate (once a week, a 1lb box lasts 4 meals for two), it would take us over 6 years to go through that much! 

I'm guessing you go through pasta a bit quicker...

slappy

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Re: What interesting grocery items do you buy in bulk?
« Reply #10 on: May 03, 2016, 11:23:42 AM »
I was at Safeway a month ago and they had Thomas english muffins on sale, buy 1 get 3 free. Considering me and my son typically have one each per morning, yes please! I've never seen a sale like that at Safeway. Makes me wonder if they found a few old pallets of muffins in the back of their warehouse they needed to unload.

They always have sales like that at my local store. B1G2 Free.  But I think it's because they are so overpriced to begin with.  The store brand is cheaper even without the gimmicky sale.

I like the Thomas muffins a lot better than the generic ones. We typically shop at Trader Joes and get their muffins, and I eat them and it's fine. But if I have a chance to get Thomas on sale I'm all over it. Some things I notice no discernible difference in going generic but some things I definitely do.

I actually had the same thought regarding english muffins. I don't generally buy them though, so I focused more on the cost. I've also never been a fan of frozen bread products. So even if I bought a bunch and froze them, it probably wouldn't be worth it for me , from a taste perspective.

boarder42

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Re: What interesting grocery items do you buy in bulk?
« Reply #11 on: May 03, 2016, 11:38:36 AM »
We buy in bulk whenever there is an outstanding deal. We found a bunch of ground turkey at the local grocery store that was set to expire in a few days, they had it marked half off, we bought every single pound they had, I think it was 12lbs.  We frequently find similar deals on whole chickens, and when pasta is less then $1 a box we load up on it as well. We make a trip to costco about every quarter, there we generally load up on organic tomato sauce/diced tomatoes, and various sliced lunch meats...Buying in bulk is not always a great deal, we never purchase anything just because it saves a few cents to buy in bulk. Generally, we have found if you buy enough when something is really at a bargain price you can get enough to get you through to when the next bargain price comes about. Also even if we are fully stocked up and find somethign like ground turkey at half off we still buy the hell out of i, and just freeze it.

yeah i just started noticing this on the meat at my local grocery store - ended up getting ground beef sub 1.50 a lb for 80/20 ... bought all they had.

pbkmaine

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Re: What interesting grocery items do you buy in bulk?
« Reply #12 on: May 03, 2016, 11:47:26 AM »
I buy olive oil, Truvia sweetener, vanilla extract, Hormel bacon bits, whole pork loin (I cut it into roasts and chops myself), ground beef, boneless chicken breasts, cans of V-8 juice, various types of lettuce, Campari tomatoes, spices and Finish dish detergent at Sam's Club. Most other fruits and vegetables I get at Aldi or the locals farmers' markets. Staples like flour I get when there are BOGOs at Publix or Winn-Dixie. Herbs and green onions I grow myself. Paper products I get when there are sales and I can also layer coupons/cash back/gift cards at CVS or Target.

Fishinshawn

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Re: What interesting grocery items do you buy in bulk?
« Reply #13 on: May 03, 2016, 11:51:13 AM »
I have heard the price of vanilla is about to sky rocket, I guess the area where most of our vanilla beans come from had some sort of crop failure, don't recall exactly what happened, but now is a good time to buy it or the beans before the market catches up. All you need to make your own vanilla is beans and vodka....

Huskie87

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Re: What interesting grocery items do you buy in bulk?
« Reply #14 on: May 03, 2016, 11:56:21 AM »
More of a confession than a good bulk buy...  I purchased the 50lb bag of popcorn at Sams Club.  i mean, I love popcorn and have always used an air popper...but that's a lot of popcorn!   The wife had a good laugh at that one.

I'll get the last laugh though in 2020 when I come home with another one.

forummm

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Re: What interesting grocery items do you buy in bulk?
« Reply #15 on: May 03, 2016, 12:02:48 PM »
Generally, we have found if you buy enough when something is really at a bargain price you can get enough to get you through to when the next bargain price comes about. Also even if we are fully stocked up and find somethign like ground turkey at half off we still buy the hell out of i, and just freeze it.

Me too. I was literally just remarking to DW that our stracheesic stockpile (I'm super clever) was running low, and then the next day the new grocery store ad had the $2.49/lb deal. We have a corner of the fridge that is always a big stack of cheese bricks.

Wow, 80 boxes?  At our rate (once a week, a 1lb box lasts 4 meals for two), it would take us over 6 years to go through that much! 

I'm guessing you go through pasta a bit quicker...

Yeah. It's probably a bit over a year's worth. We do about 2 lbs per week when we have pasta meals. And we tend to have it frequently (most weeks).

I recently bought about 130 pounds of oats. That will last about 9 months.

Dollar Slice

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Re: What interesting grocery items do you buy in bulk?
« Reply #16 on: May 03, 2016, 12:05:38 PM »
I just now bought a gallon of toasted sesame oil (http://www.amazon.com/Kevala-Organic-Toasted-Sesame-plastic/dp/B00F737AI0), a gallon of Kikkoman soy sauce. Stir fry for years.

Just an FYI in case you're not aware - sesame oil is one of the shorter-lived oils and has a fairly short shelf life after opening. Keep it in the fridge if you can, it will help it last longer. :-)

I live alone and have a teeny tiny kitchen, so my version of buying in bulk or stocking up on a sale is buying double what I normally would. But I'm saving a lot on rent by having a tiny kitchen, so it's OK.

Rural

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Re: What interesting grocery items do you buy in bulk?
« Reply #17 on: May 03, 2016, 06:33:50 PM »
TVP - textured vegetable protein. It's soy protein, and I buy 25 pounds at a time which lasts us a couple of years.

Blazin

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Re: What interesting grocery items do you buy in bulk?
« Reply #18 on: May 03, 2016, 07:09:42 PM »
We bought 1/2 a steer from a local farm.   It was lots cheaper than buying from the grocery store and so much better.

abhe8

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Re: What interesting grocery items do you buy in bulk?
« Reply #19 on: May 03, 2016, 07:17:05 PM »
I buy at least half our groceries in bulk. Pork, beef by the half. Chickens we raise and butcher 25 at a time. 5 gal coconut oil. 25 lb bags dry goods (popcorn, all kinds of beans, oats, lentils, quinoa, rice, pasta, sugar, salt) and some cold items (cheese, pickles, frozen fruit, butter). I use azure standard, country life natural foods. Tea, canned coconut milk from Amazon.  Flats of canned pumpkin, tomatoes and beans from the local grocery store when on deep discount. Whole turkeys when on clearance after thanksgiving.

I cook for 6, soon to be 7, so we go through a lot of food. I have a chest freezer and two fridge/ freezers that are usually full.

rvg

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Re: What interesting grocery items do you buy in bulk?
« Reply #20 on: May 04, 2016, 09:14:17 AM »
Not really interesting, but bulk (cheap cuts of) steak, chicken, and tilapia. Sometimes salmon. They are super expensive at the local grocery stores so I get 2lb+ of each at Sam's club, break them up and freeze them.

Kaspian

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Re: What interesting grocery items do you buy in bulk?
« Reply #21 on: May 04, 2016, 09:40:12 AM »
I buy gallon jugs of Frank's Red Hot.  It's much cheaper than buying even the large bottles.

Jenanator

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Re: What interesting grocery items do you buy in bulk?
« Reply #22 on: May 04, 2016, 02:30:11 PM »
Fresh produce. I recently learned that my store will sell nearly-overripe fruit by the case for cheap, I just have to go ask the produce department manager directly and see what they've got. I just finished dehydrating 120 mangoes ($4.00 per case, and only 5 were bad in the 6 cases I bought.) They'll make some great snacks.

eliza

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Re: What interesting grocery items do you buy in bulk?
« Reply #23 on: May 04, 2016, 08:36:42 PM »
More of a confession than a good bulk buy...  I purchased the 50lb bag of popcorn at Sams Club.  i mean, I love popcorn and have always used an air popper...but that's a lot of popcorn!   The wife had a good laugh at that one.

I'll get the last laugh though in 2020 when I come home with another one.

I just bought 3 lbs and thought it was a ridiculous amount of popcorn.

serpentstooth

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Re: What interesting grocery items do you buy in bulk?
« Reply #24 on: May 04, 2016, 10:10:42 PM »
Spaetzle. Damn Aldi only carries them during German week twice a year, and I run a risk of a peasant revolt if we don't have them for chicken soup. I have 20 pounds of them in the pantry right now.

elaine amj

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Re: What interesting grocery items do you buy in bulk?
« Reply #25 on: May 04, 2016, 10:46:03 PM »
We typically have about 3-5 of those giant bags of rice in our pantry at any one time. But we eat a lot of rice. So that might only last us under a year.

I currently have a dozen bags of Wild Roots Hemp Granola in my pantry. It should last me a year or more. I have only been able to find it at Costco and its my favourite granola. Costco only seems to carry it a few months of the year. One time I went 3-4 months without and I was cranky and went up and down endless aisles every single Costco visit. 

Catbert

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Re: What interesting grocery items do you buy in bulk?
« Reply #26 on: May 05, 2016, 01:00:25 PM »
Pine nuts are very expensive but important in some recipies.  Costco sells at 1 or 2 lb bag that lasts several years in the freezer.  A pound of yeast at Costco for ~$4 will last for years in the freezer.   

MandalayVA

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Re: What interesting grocery items do you buy in bulk?
« Reply #27 on: May 05, 2016, 01:07:15 PM »
My neighborhood supermarket can have some insane deals on meat that's about to reach its sell-by date.  A few weeks ago it had Purdue Oven Stuffer Roasters, aka Mutant Chicken Monsters, for forty-nine cents a pound.  Yesterday it was selling one-pound packs of 93% lean ground beef for a dollar.  I thank Cthulhu every day for my chest freezer.  You CAN be a frugal carnivore! 

Shropskr

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Re: What interesting grocery items do you buy in bulk?
« Reply #28 on: May 05, 2016, 04:20:03 PM »
At our fruit stand they sometimes have brown bananas for 15 cents per pound.  I buy 10 or more lbs at a time and freeze for smoothies.  I always pick out the best ones to eat a normal bananas.   

FINate

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Re: What interesting grocery items do you buy in bulk?
« Reply #29 on: May 05, 2016, 06:30:47 PM »
I mail order 50# sacks of an organic blend of flour for making bread.

MishMash

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Re: What interesting grocery items do you buy in bulk?
« Reply #30 on: May 05, 2016, 07:10:46 PM »
Anything I can find a stupid good deal on.  DH hunts so we end up with 3-4 deer a year (I'm not a huge meat fan of any sort) so that usually lasts us a year, even with giving a bunch away.  I also traded some venison to our local grocery store butcher in exchange for the "in".  Essentially he tells me what's going to be marked down in the meat department on what day based on expiration dates.  If it's something I'm interested in I get there first thing in the morning that day.  Some of the best things so far.  Ham last week for 49c a lb, chicken tenderloins for 99c/lb, whole turkeys for 29c lb after thanksgiving (we ground 4, cut up 4 and donated another 8) a whole pork leg for 20c/lb and whole prime rib roasts for 3.50 lb around Easter. 

We do all our own butchering (and by we I mean DH) so we will break down whatever it is that we get from whole animals to portions, grind meats, make sausages etc. 

ModernIncantations

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Re: What interesting grocery items do you buy in bulk?
« Reply #31 on: May 07, 2016, 02:49:45 PM »
Fresh produce. I recently learned that my store will sell nearly-overripe fruit by the case for cheap, I just have to go ask the produce department manager directly and see what they've got. I just finished dehydrating 120 mangoes ($4.00 per case, and only 5 were bad in the 6 cases I bought.) They'll make some great snacks.

That's a sweet pro tip

redcedar

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Re: What interesting grocery items do you buy in bulk?
« Reply #32 on: May 07, 2016, 03:51:06 PM »
With a chest freezer, meat is most biggest target for bulk buying. Not only a big cost saver but we don't need super mega portions so we make packages of less than 1 pound each.

I have really wanted to buy a cow or pig from a local farm so I love reading about others that have done it and we're happy. I will get off the fence on this soon. I hope.

We are starting to get more into big bags of rice and dried beans. Huge savings there.

Metric Mouse

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Re: What interesting grocery items do you buy in bulk?
« Reply #33 on: May 08, 2016, 07:05:53 AM »
With a chest freezer, meat is most biggest target for bulk buying. Not only a big cost saver but we don't need super mega portions so we make packages of less than 1 pound each.

I have really wanted to buy a cow or pig from a local farm so I love reading about others that have done it and we're happy. I will get off the fence on this soon. I hope.
.

Good luck with that. After reading this thread and seeing ground beef for a buck a pound, I died a little inside at the thought of what my side of beef in the freezer cost...

ketchup

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Re: What interesting grocery items do you buy in bulk?
« Reply #34 on: May 08, 2016, 07:13:14 AM »
Kerrygold butter.  Went on sale at a local grocery store for <$2/8oz (normally $3-3.49 at a regular store or 3/$7.69 at Costco) so I bought about $100 worth and stashed them in the freezer.

Kitsune

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Re: What interesting grocery items do you buy in bulk?
« Reply #35 on: May 08, 2016, 07:39:16 AM »
With a chest freezer, meat is most biggest target for bulk buying. Not only a big cost saver but we don't need super mega portions so we make packages of less than 1 pound each.

I have really wanted to buy a cow or pig from a local farm so I love reading about others that have done it and we're happy. I will get off the fence on this soon. I hope.
.

Good luck with that. After reading this thread and seeing ground beef for a buck a pound, I died a little inside at the thought of what my side of beef in the freezer cost...

... Given how that means that steer was treated, I'm willing to pay more.

Buying in bulk: everything. We live 25km from the nearest grocery store, so we have a chest freezer and a huge pantry and generally do grocery shopping every 2 weeks or so.

Gyosho

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Re: What interesting grocery items do you buy in bulk?
« Reply #36 on: May 08, 2016, 07:57:57 AM »
Just ordered my first shipment of Soylent. I'm curious to see how it goes. I actually enjoy cooking, so I will probably just use Soylent for one meal a day.

serpentstooth

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Re: What interesting grocery items do you buy in bulk?
« Reply #37 on: May 08, 2016, 09:09:51 AM »
Just ordered my first shipment of Soylent. I'm curious to see how it goes. I actually enjoy cooking, so I will probably just use Soylent for one meal a day.

My husband has used Soylent for about a year, and it's working fairly well for him. It's saved a good bit of money on him buying lunches out during the work day, and for whatever reason, he prefers it to me packing him a lunch.

Rezdent

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Re: What interesting grocery items do you buy in bulk?
« Reply #38 on: May 08, 2016, 09:51:07 AM »
Chili Garlic sauce by the case, gallons of soy sauce, dried Shiitake mushrooms and Nori sheets.  There's an Asian food market about 30 miles away that has the best price, and gives a case discount, so I make a trip about once per year.

Gyosho

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Re: What interesting grocery items do you buy in bulk?
« Reply #39 on: May 08, 2016, 10:04:12 AM »
Just ordered my first shipment of Soylent. I'm curious to see how it goes. I actually enjoy cooking, so I will probably just use Soylent for one meal a day.

My husband has used Soylent for about a year, and it's working fairly well for him. It's saved a good bit of money on him buying lunches out during the work day, and for whatever reason, he prefers it to me packing him a lunch.

Glad to hear a positive testimonial. I found I was eating too much junk when I got hungry at work; a Soylent meal should be a good replacement.