Staples are standard goods required in your home. Depending on what your family eats, staples may include pasta, rice, canned goods or other such shelf-stable items that you always want to have on hand. Buying staples in bulk can be a great way to save money if you do so properly.
Instructions
1. Determine your household's needs. You don't want to buy a bulk selection of items that you cannot use once they go bad. You can determine an appropriate amount of staples to buy in bulk by monitoring how much of an item your household uses on a regular basis. For paper goods or non-food items such as toilet paper or paper towels, you may want to focus more on how much available storage space you have to determine how much to buy.
2. Consider your grocery store first. While your grocery store does not necessarily sell a wide selection of bulk items, many grocery stores, including Wal-Mart, have a section in which they sell larger quantities of items, which may be a better value. In addition, when an item goes on sale for a very cheap price, consider purchasing large quantities of that item. Although they aren't packaged in a bulk size, this is still a great way to buy bulk quantities of an item inexpensively.
3. Look into restaurant supply stores. Some of these stores may be open to the public and may allow you to buy large quantities of an item for less than it would cost you in a grocery store, without requiring a membership to a bulk shopping club. Check your phone book or look online to see if such a store is available in your area. Remember to call first and find out if they are open to the public and if they have a minimum quantity purchase requirement.
4. Use warehouse stores. Shopping clubs such as BJ's and Sam's Club allow you to buy items in bulk for less than you might spend at a grocery store. These clubs require a membership, however, so make sure you do the math to determine whether your savings will outweigh the cost of joining the club. You can also look into splitting the cost of a club membership with neighbors or other family members.
5. Organize and rotate stock. It isn't useful to buy staples in bulk if you can't find them or don't use them. Have an organized system so you know what you have, and make sure to use up older items first before using new ones so nothing expires.
Tags: grocery store, staples bulk, items that, large quantities, less than, make sure, open public