Lessons I Learned From Shopping at Sams Club

I am constantly taking notes of prices of items I buy.  I like to keep my meat under $2/lb.  I won't pay more than 25cents for a can of Diet Coke.  Bananas cost 48 cents/lb here in Texas... etc.  I try not to go to Sams Club too often because things tend to jump into my shopping cart.  This shopping trip I wanted to really see what is cheaper at Sams Club and what is cheaper in the grocery store.  Fyi, Sams Club has diet coke for 31cents/can.  Not a deal!
   They DID have a good deal on chicken breasts.  $1.88 per pound was the cost for boneless skinless breasts.  Ill let you know one of my tricks when buying packages by weight.  The packages vary slightly in weight and I always buy the smallest one.  Each package had 5 breasts but they varied in price from $10-$13.  I buy the $10 packages and don't even notice that the chicken breasts in my package are slightly (and I mean slightly) smaller than the $13 package.  Instant savings of $3!  As soon as I got home I vacuum sealed each breast (these suckers are HUGE) and froze them individually for meals later.

(notice the crockpot with tonights dinner in the background?)

  Another lesson that once again hit home, was that typically individually packaged items are smaller than "bulk".  Most of us understand that 50 pounds of rice bought at once is cheaper than 50 pounds purchased in 1 pound packages.  But what so many people forget is that buying snack pack size items is more than double the cost of a regular size package.  I bought a bag of Veggie Straws.  It weighs 1.2 lbs for the whole bag and cost just under $5.  I could have bought the lunch pack of perfectly portioned Veggie Straws.  The lunch pack weighed 1 lb total and cost just under $10.  To save over $5 I think I can portion out my own snacks. 

  I bought 50 lbs of rice, 10 lbs of pinto beans and 15 lbs of potatoes to make some frugal meals in the future. I managed to defend my shopping cart against the "extras" that tried hard to jump in...