Staying in your budget with bulk buying at the new Costco Wichita

*I may have received compensation for this post, all opinions are mine.

It was a packed house tonight at the V.I.P. Preview Party for the new East side Costco. This event was open by invitation and was the first opportunity to check out the newly constructed store. All the shelves were stocked, and piled high ready for their first day of business which is sure to be a
huge day for Costco company wide. I think Wichita is super excited about this store!

Along with getting to browse the aisles, there were unbelievable amounts of food to be sampled. Most of their Food Court menu, Deli foods, and specialty meat, pasta and bakery was out and ready to sample. Plates and plates full. It was a full on eating extravaganza of all foods Costco. These weren't just samples, these were per person meal servings. My family tried some of the sausages, the Deli pizza, and deli hot sandwiches, bakery cake and cookies. Everything was wonderful and seemed to carry through on the excellent taste and quality of all the products. (I highly recommend going to their V.I.P. event if another Costco opens in your area.)

I price compared in my head as much as I could and found that majority of all the items I checked were a much better deal at Costco, so I have my list ready of the items I will have to have from there.

I am planning on revisiting the eye wear department. It has a large selection and prices were much lower than many places I have been recently. I also saw great buys on good quality sheet sets, bath towels, socks and underwear for the whole family.  Produce and the meat department prices per pound were right on to win my business.

The huge walk-through climate controlled freezer sections for produce and dairy are super cool (no pun intended) and were a bit shocking since we didn't expect it to actually be that cold.

Pre-prepared meal and snack foods were all reasonably priced.

You could quite easily spend an entire afternoon here, and judging the popularity so far, I would plan on it, and assume you'll be stopping for lunch or a snack at the Snack area.

 Bulk buying doesn't have to break your budget and Costco could be a great option for fitting the foods and supplies your family needs into your finances. I know when my budget seemed to get tighter and tighter what with food prices going up, warehouse bulk buying was my first thing to cut.

With the grand opening of Wichita's first Costco this week, I did some research on how to make your money count when shopping for bulk items.

COMPARE. Compare your price per unit per item.
Know the prices of the items your buying at your usual store per unit and also their sale prices.
*You also can use coupons at warehouse stores, so you may consider the benefit of store only coupons (such as Dillon's register receipts or Target coupons), and whether it would be more efficient to use those on less.  Remember to compare per unit or per ounce. Costco lists this on their price tags throughout as do most other stores. If they don't just get your calculator handy and you can figure it.

NO WASTE! It's easy to walk into Costco and immediately see things you know you need and can use, but, you gotta' make a list and stick to it. If you want to have a back stock of high use items, you can start your bulk storage a little at a time by focusing on what you are out of or almost out of now.

Not bulk for everything.
There are some items that are just obviously not good to buy in bulk, but consider the following:
spices
White Rice
Nuts (these are freezable)
Condiments (if used within 6 months)
Meats (freezable also)
Vegetables and Fruits (educate yourself on how to freeze veggies and what you can and can not freeze)
Paper Products
Pet supplies (dog/cat food, cat litter, dog treats) The few dollars more for the much bigger quantity makes this a must buy.
Baby items like diapers and wipes. (sometimes the store brand is just as good as the national brand and sometimes it's better)

Search for recipes that you can use to make make-ahead freezer recipes. Pinterest has tons, and All-Recipes has a recipe finder where you can enter the ingredients you want.  This is especially great for fresh produce buys.

And lastly consider sharing your bulk food purchases with a family member or friend. I love to do this with my parents, as they like the quality at Warehouse stores but can't always use the quantity. It sometimes make more sense to split up some items versus others.

Visit the new Wichita Costco today and take advantage of this shopping experience you'll go back to again and again!
*I may have received compensation for this post, all opinions are mine.


sources:
http://premeditatedleftovers.com/deals-money-saving-tips/the-dos-and-donts-of-buying-in-bulk/
http://funcheaporfree.com/2010/07/saving-craving-savings-tip-of-day_19/