What Should I Buy in Bulk? (Wholesale Shopping Club Tips)

Buying a membership to a wholesale shopping club certainly can pay off — but it doesn’t always. Toss giant boxes of this or jumbo-size canisters of that in your cart without giving a second thought to price tags, and you probably won’t save enough to cover the cost of your membership. If you want to save a bundle when you buy in bulk, you need to shop smart — and we have the experts who can tell you how. Read on to learn where the real savings are.

Vitamins: Unlike over-the-counter meds (see below) vitamins are easy to use up by their expiration date, assuming you take them daily. Dr. Philip Trigiani, a healthcare practitioner in New York City, suggests women buy bulk-size bottles of a multivitamin that includes calcium and iron.

Paper goods: Assuming you have the storage space, it’s worth it to stock up on toilet paper and paper towels, says Cathi Brese Doebler, author of "Ditch the Joneses, Discover Your Family: How to Thrive on Less Than Two Incomes!" However, if you don’t have a garage or basement, 30 rolls of either are going to cause more headaches than they’re worth.

Pet food: Unlike people, pets don’t get sick of their food, so you generally can’t go wrong if you buy the biggest-possible bag of kibble, says Brese Doebler. Of course, you’ll need to take your pets’ size and appetite into consideration. By the time your teacup chihuahua gets through the first 10 pounds of a 30-pound bag, what’s left will probably be stale.

Baked goods: Lots of wholesale clubs now have full-service bakeries, says consumer finance expert Kevin Gallegos, vice president of Freedom Debt Relief in Tempe, Ariz. And they don’t only sell supersize boxes of pastries! Order in advance — just as you would at a regular bakery — and you can get a custom-decorated cake (even a wedding cake!) to feed a few people or a crowd.

Canned goods: If you have the storage space for 24 cans of soup or string beans, go ahead and buy them, says Brese Doebler. The key is to buy products you’re familiar with. If you love a certain brand of soup but haven’t tried their clam chowder yet, hold off on buying two dozen cans until you’re sure your family likes it.

Grains: Most families have a go-to grain, like brown rice, that they eat several times a week. Buy dried grains that you’re apt to serve often in bulk for a savings of up to 30 percent, says Todd Kluger of the Bulk Is Green Council. Store bulk grains in heavy plastic or glass containers to keep pests out.

Spices: Buy dried spices in bulk and you’ll spend up to 96 percent less than you would if you bought the tiny jars in the supermarket spice section, according to Kluger. Here’s the catch: Dried spices have a shelf life of about a year; if you end up tossing a half-used jumbo-size canister of dried parsley, you’re throwing away money.

Beauty products: Ounce for ounce, you’ll probably spend less on face lotion if you buy a multipack. But check the expiration date. Beauty products are less potent when they’re past their prime, which means ingredients that block sun, smooth wrinkles and so on will be less effective.

Meat and fresh produce: A box of 60 hamburgers or 16 pounds of bananas is great — if you need them. If you don’t, talk to a friend beforehand about splitting extra-large quantities, suggests consumer finance expert Jeanette Pavini. Can’t find a friend to share with? Skip ’em. The bananas will go bad — or your kids will stage a banana strike — and the 50 extra burgers will eventually turn to hockey pucks in your freezer.

Frozen foods: The key to buying frozen foods in bulk is to repackage them, Pavani says. Divide frozen shrimp and such into serving-size bags so you don’t have to keep opening and closing the big bag, letting air in. However, take your freezer into consideration before committing to bulk frozen foods. If yours is circa 1976, anything you store in it for more than a few weeks will probably have freezer burn.

Pet shampoo:...or annual plant fertilizer, or anything else you don’t use very often. “While you might find a great deal, you’ll tie up money that could probably be better used elsewhere,” says Gallegos.

Junk food: If you buy a lot of junk, you’re going to eat a lot of junk, says Heather Wheeler, cofounder of Krazy Coupon Lady and coauthor of "Pick Another Checkout Lane, Honey." “I don’t care if the case of 24 candy bars is only 36 cents per bar instead of 50 cents each at the corner grocery store,” she says. “Purchasing chocolate in 5-pound increments is not a good idea for your bottom line or your waistline.”

Anything with a limited shelf life: Peanut butter made with nonhydrogenated oil has a shelf life of under a year, says Wheeler. Unless you have three or four kids, buy natural peanut butter in regular-size jars. She also suggests buying mayonnaise in a small jar, which you should be able to use up before it turns rancid.

Over-the-counter medicine: A bottle with 1,000 ibuprofen tablets probably has a great per-pill price. But check the expiration date. Chances are, it’ll take you five or six years to go through them — and they’ll have expired well before then.

Diapers: If you’re not careful, you could wind up with a few hundred diapers that are too small for Junior. “Kids' growth spurts can mess up the best-laid plans,” says Wheeler. The caveat is that some wholesale clubs will let you exchange sizes, so double-check your club’s policy.

New products: ... or new varieties of your favorites. Wheeler’s kids, for example, love Quaker Instant Oatmeal, so when she found a great deal on the new Quaker High-Fiber Instant Oatmeal, she bought in bulk ... only to find out that the extra fiber didn’t agree with her children’s stomachs.

Breakfast cereal: Wholesale clubs often charge as much as $8 for a two-pack of dry cereal. “I swear those are the biggest rip-off,” says Wheeler. Shop sales and use coupons, and you can usually get a box of name-brand cereal for under a buck, she says.

A bread thread sounds good.

I can start one next week, if nobody jumps to it before then.

BTW, here’s a great recipe that I’ve always had good results with for 100% whole wheat bread. It does turn out light and airy - and the trick is patience. Do not bake it until it has risen and is so soft and high that it wiggles almost like jello when you touch the dough or move the pan. It has a marvelous, nutty flavor as well. I grind my wheatberries before making it, for max flavor and nutrition. (And to satisfy my OCD tendencies.)

This is from http://www.preparedpantry.com/wholewheatbreadrecipe.htm

The key to really great 100% whole wheat bread is to extract the best flavors from the whole wheat and temper the harsh tones that sometimes accompany whole wheat flour. Good whole wheat bread has an almost nutty taste without a bitter aftertaste. A long fermentation gives the yeast a chance to produce its own flavors and convert the starch to sugar. By refrigerating the dough overnight, you can make excellent 100% whole wheat bread.

This is one of our favorite bread recipes. Yeasts perform differently at low temperatures. In this recipe, the dough is mixed the day before and refrigerated. The acids and enzymes produced by the yeast at lower temperatures temper the harshness of the whole wheat and develop wonderfully complex bread flavors. It’s no more work than other recipes; you just mix the dough the day before.

Bakers note: This bread should be very light and fluffy, not dense. The secret of making it so is to make sure that the dough rises fully both in the first rise and in the pans. The dough will fill two 5 x 9-inch loaf pans and should be very soft and puffy before baking. If you let it over-rise, you may see a blister or two in the dough. Poke the blisters with the point of a knife and hurry the bread into the hot oven.
Ingredients

5 to 6 cups fine-ground whole wheat flour 2 tablespoons wheat gluten (optional)
1 teaspoon dough conditioner 1 seven gram packet of instant yeast (or two teaspoons)
2 cups plus 2 tablespoons water 1/2 tablespoon salt
1/3 cup brown sugar 4 tablespoons melted and slightly cooled butter

Directions
1. Place about three cups of the flour in the bowl of your stand-type mixer. Add the yeast. Carefully measure 2 cups room temperature (80 degrees) water. The water should feel cool to the touch. Mix the water with the flour with a dough hook for 30 seconds or until the yeast is dissolved and the ingredients begin to combine.
2. Add the salt, sugar, and butter and continue mixing. Add most of the remaining flour, the wheat gluten, and dough conditioner and continue mixing at a medium speed for at least four minutes adding more flour as needed to reach a soft dough consistency. (It is important that the dough be mixed for at least four minutes to develop the gluten.) The dough should clear the sides of the bowl but will be soft, not firm, to the touch.
3. Once the dough is mixed, place it in a large greased bowl, turning once to coat both sides, and cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate overnight or for up to three days.
4. On the day that you would like to bake your bread, remove the dough from the refrigerator and let it warm to room temperature—about three hours. The dough should rise to nearly double in size.
5. Once the dough has risen, form the loaves. Coat your hands with flour and gently form a loaf by pulling the dough around itself to create a slightly stretched skin. You may need to coat your hands several times if the dough is sticky. If necessary, pinch the seams together on the bottom of the loaf. Lay the loaf gently in a well-greased loaf pan and cover with plastic wrap. Repeat with the second loaf. Let double again in size, about 11/2 hours.
6. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Once the dough has doubled (the loaf should be very puffy), place the two loaves on a shelf in the top half of the oven, well-spaced so that air can circulate between the loaves. Bake for thirty minutes or until done. The interior of the loaves should register at least 185 degrees when an insta-read thermometer is inserted through the bottom crust. Remove the bread from the pans and cool on wire racks. Let it cool completely before cutting.

I came up with this variation - it doesn’t not affect the rising either:

SWEET WHOLE WHEAT BREAD RECIPE

Add 1/3 c honey, and 1 T molasses, and ½-1 cup more flour.

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