How I Save Hundreds of Dollars Buying in Bulk

One of the biggest ways to save money on groceries is to cook everything from scratch.  This process can be time-consuming, so it doesn't work for everyone.  However, if you have more time than money, there are lots of ways to be an efficient from-scratch chef, and the savings are insane.

It's the beginning of a new month, and I needed to buy some groceries in bulk today.  I wanted to take this opportunity to compare bulk shopping to shopping at my local grocery store.  For comparison purposes, I used the store brand or, if the store brand was not available, the least expensive option.  I bought 14 items today, and this is a breakdown of the savings at the size I bought today:

Item                Sam's Club     Grocer       Savings
White Rice       0.39/lb            0.80/lb      $10.25
Bread Flour      0.35/lb           0.78/lb       $10.75
AP Flour          0.35/lb           0.51/lb       $4.00
Apple Juice      0.02/oz           0.04/oz      $7.84
Parm Cheese    $5.86/lb         $9.60/lb     $5.00
Chicken Breast $1.77/lb         $1.99        $1.33
Cheddar           $2.57/lb         $4.00/lb    $7.15
1% Milk           $3.19            $4.59         $2.80
Whole Milk      $3.46            $4.59         $2.26
Diced Tomatoes  0.78/can     0.99/can     $1.68
Bananas            0.49/lb          0.54/lb       $0.15
Totals               $88.08          $141.29     $53.21

If you wanted to do the simplest calculation, over the course of a year, you could save over $600.00!  Obviously, there are a lot of variables here.  There are items that are big savings, and other items that aren't really much different.  But the biggest savings are in the most basic items: flour, rice, oil, sugar, etc.  If you use these more, and can buy them in bulk, you could really save a bundle on your yearly groceries.