Big Retailers... worth it?

[Sum Dum Gai]

Yeah, it's not a good place to buy snacks for sure. Unless you're disciplined enough to stop yourself or put individual servings in ziplock bags or something. I can mindlessly down an amazing quantity of chips and salsa/guacamole/queso if I'm not careful.

[qofcc]

We have a membership to Sam's club. We get a discount on the membership through work and I think it's about $40/yr. Every couple of months I stock up on meat at $2.99-3.99/lb and cut the restaurant sized portions into normal human size portions and stock the freezer (and DD's and Dad's freezers sometimes too). The meat is far cheaper than any of the local grocery chains (except ground beef, which I rarely buy). I'll also stop in every other week and buy the huge tub of pre-washed mixed green salad for $3.99. Even giving away part of the tub, I can't use it all before it goes bad, but even if I throw away half of it, it's still cheaper than the little bags at the grocery store. Just with those items, I save enough to pay for the membership. On top of that, DH fills the truck up with gas every time he's near the store and we buy our tires there. There are also quite a few convenience things and bakery items we buy occasionally. I also like some of the clothing like the silk sweaters I bought last summer for $9.99.

[thyme4change]

Yeah, it's not a good place to buy snacks for sure.

One year I bought the box of snack-sized chips. There were 30 little bags and there was a variety. It was more expensive than buying 4 giant bags of chips - but it was great. Not only did we not "graze" all day on those chips, but we also metered the left over bags over weeks instead of just sitting down the next day and polishing them off.

[kgb18]

We just got a Costco card. We're going to try it out and see if it's worth it to us. So far it's been great for stocking up on paper products and non-perishables. Our next trip we're going to hit the meat section.