Intimidated by those big grocery warehouses where everything is sold in packages of ten and often a prestigious card is required to get past those menacing guards (i.e.: Sam's Club, Cosco, BJ's)? Perhaps it might be time to bite the bullet and get a membership – in the long run, you'll save some cash and possibly the environment!
Items sold in warehouses are sold in bulk, giving you a better price per item than you would get at the average grocery store. For items that are used frequently in your home (like toilet paper, milk, maybe even cream of mushroom soup), this can mean significant savings. Local grocery stores can still be used for those items that you use sparingly or that have short shelf-lives, but bulk-buying is the way to go for staples!
Additionally, shopping at these warehouses can help save the environment. The lack of plastic bags at these locations might at first present as a nuisance, but given time and some roomy reusable bags, this will prove to be as beneficial as the savings you will receive! And as the trend for choosing "plastic" becomes as outdated as peddle pushers, more and more retailers are offering increasingly aesthetically pleasing "Go-Green" reusable bags.
So, shop smart, save big, and help decrease the ever growing supply of plastic grocery bags in our nation's landfills and dump sites. Your wallet (and grandkids) will thank you.
This article appears in Apr 15-21, 2009.