Some people get a thrill riding roller coasters. But I’m not really into roller coasters. I get my thrills by grocery shopping, y’all. I go to the grocery store for a good time.
Just for fun, I’m going to tell you all about why I love shopping at Sam’s Club and what I buy there.
First let me mention that if we had an Aldi closer to where we live, I probably wouldn’t be shopping at Sam’s Club as much. But the closest Aldi is an hour away and it just doesn’t make sense for me to drive that far to shop. We also don’t have Trader Joe’s or any fancy stores like you find in the big city – because southwest Virginia sure ain’t the big city. There’s no BJs, Costco or anything like that in our part of the world.
But praise God there is a Sam’s Club! Even with the membership fee, there are so many things I buy there that I simply cannot get cheaper anywhere else. It makes the Sam’s club basic membership fee worth it for us. #notsponsored
Our Sam’s Club is about 30 minutes away, but not too far from our church. Every 2-3 months, I will place a big online club pickup order and pick it up on Sunday after church. If I could go by myself, I wouldn’t do the club pickup, but it’s really hard to take four kids and a husband to Sam’s Club and us all emerge happily. Then trying to do that shopping on Sunday after church? Whew, I can only imagine.
If you’re a Sam’s Club member and you haven’t tried online club pickup – you need to get on it!
I mean – it’s the stuff. Best part is there is no charge; it’s completely free. If you’re curious – no, they don’t bring your grocery order out to you. You do have to get out of the car, grab a cart and pick it up from the customer service desk, but that’s just a few extra steps for the ol’ fitbit, y’all! (I mean, if you have one of those. I don’t personally, but I’ve heard things…)
How do I budget for shopping at Sam’s Club?
I only go shopping at Sam’s Club 4-5 times a year, so it really is almost in it’s own budget category. I plan ahead and keep a separate list of what I would like to get so we can figure out our budget beforehand.
Usually when I go shopping at Sam’s Club, it’s a humongous order – like I spend several hundred dollars a trip. Keep in mind, most things are bulk items that last for months. I have to explain to the cashier every time I check out that no, I don’t have a restaurant…just children. I just have lots of children who like to eat.
In the spirit of keeping it real, there are two things I don’t like…
I have a problem with someone else feeling up my peaches. I don’t want a random stock boy picking out my bananas. Seriously, back away. I want to pick out my produce myself. I’m also not a fan of the milk at Sam’s Club; mainly because it doesn’t like my kefir grains. I have no idea why, but it separates and gets all kinds of weird. We’re already crunchy enough eating our homemade kefir – I don’t want it to get super weird.
When I go shopping at Sam’s Club, what do I typically buy?
- Big Blocks of Kerrygold and Cabot Cheese – no more pre-shredded cheese for me!
- String Cheese
- Kerrygold Butter – if I can’t get butter on sale, I buy it there. It freezes well!
- Cream
- Chobani Greek Yogurt
- Produce – specifically the bagged spinach, baby carrots and fresh broccoli
- Frozen Fruit – it is so much cheaper than the grocery store prices. We use ours for smoothies, parfaits, and more.
- Frozen Vegetables – our favorites are peas, lima beans, broccoli, and stir-fry vegetable mix.
- Dried Herbs and Spices
- Peanuts, Cashews, Pecans, Walnuts, Almonds, Mixed Nuts and other Trail Mix making supples (I’ve found that all types are cheaper here than anywhere else.  And sidebar, did you know you can freeze nuts? I store them in my deep freezer and portion them out in smaller bags as I need them.)
- Ghirardelli Chocolate Chips
- Big Blocks of Yeast, for baking
- White Vinegar – I buy 2 gallons for less than $4. I mostly use this as my natural fabric softener.
- Hormel Bacon Bit Pieces – I sound like a broken record, but these also freeze very well.
- Tires – Barry shops around and he has found that Sam’s is pretty much always the cheapest place for tires. They also do free rotate/balance if you bought the tires there! #winning
What are your favorite things to buy at Sam’s Club or your local warehouse club?
I love Sam’s Club myself. And yes, it does save money when you buy big bulk even when there is a sale going on. It last awhile. Since my husband and I move to another state, the closest Sam’s Club is an 1hr away. I started shopping online and shipped to the house makes it easier but one down side, some stuff I buy alot it in store only. Sucks, but that’s ok. I don’t drive out to Sam’s Club all the time. I just go when I’m low on bottles of waters, teas, sodas and chips.
Excellent point! I love the delivery option too!
Great list, thanks for sharing. We are a big Sams Club fan even though it is an hour away but then so is everything else and even better for me my husband works nearby and is willing to pick up whatever I need. So here is my regular list – Iams dog food-definitely cheaper quality food here, Wright bacon-it is cheaper and also for some reason we can’t find any that tastes better elsewhere, Parmesan cheese-not the grated weird kind but real shredded parmesan cheese-as noted above it is stored in the freezer, we use it straight out of there, grated mozarella and colby jack-usually cheaper than non grated and also stored in freezer broken into smaller bags, parchment paper, romaine heads – super cheap here, like you mentioned – all our nuts and frozen blueberries, some spices, honey, and some drinks – my husband likes the lipton diet green tea, oh and like another poster we love the frozen green beans here. I know there is even more stuff – we really spend too much at sams but then we do eat it all!
Some great suggestions; thanks for taking the time to share, Karen!
— Julie, HH Team
Love to by at Sam’s Club too. They have the best price ever. Thank you for sharing your list with us. Definitely going to add some of it to my list:)j
Thanks for the comment! We love the low prices 🙂
— Julie, HH Team
I love Sam’s. It’s the best place to shop. Big wide aisles, huge carts, great prices on stuff I NEED (CHEESE… and yeast! : )), and those double seat carts… once you have twins, you could kiss whoever thought those up!!! Sam’s is my second stop, every other week, right after Aldi. I spend big bucks there; people ask us if we have “a small restaurant”. Umm, yes. Very small. And exclusive. : D But hey, I’m spending a LOT less at Sam’s than I would buying this stuff anywhere else! Let’s not talk about how much food about 500 meals takes… yikes.
Small and exclusive – LOL! And the huge carts are awesome. Thanks for commenting!
— Julie, HH Team
We love shopping at Sam’s Club too! It is 5 minutes from my house. I am there weekly to buy gas, because it is the cheapest place around.
Even though it is so close I do try to stay out of the actual store as much as possible. We have a business membership so I can go as early as 7am and beat the crowds.
I buy the Pom tp and paper towels, laundry soap, oils, baking supplies, cheeses, ziploc bags, foil, parchment paper, nuts and BACON(it was $2 off today). We also buy produce both fresh and frozen,
That business membership sounds awesome – would love beating those crowds! And wish we were close enough for gas, hadn’t thought about that! Thanks for commenting.
— Julie, HH Team
We do Sam’s just about every week but our list is very similar to yours. Here are my 16 favorite items to buy at Sam’s
http://www.myjoyinchaos.com/home/2016/4/are-you-buying-these-16-things-at-sams-club
Thanks for sharing your list Katie! We do love their tortilla chips 🙂
— Julie, HH Team
YES on the yeast!!!