Showerthought: The 'buy in bulk' tip costs me more than it saves.

I was at Costco in Austin last year and this older guy in the checkout line told me I was wasting money buying the 50-pound bag of rice. He said for a single guy like me, half of it goes stale before I finish it. Ran the numbers when I got home and he was right, I tossed about $15 worth of rice every 6 months. Has anyone else found bulk buying actually backfiring for your household size?

2 comments

2 Comments

jessicajohnson1mo ago

Did you end up switching to smaller bags? I learned this lesson with spices myself bought a huge container of paprika and it lost all its flavor before I even used half of it. Now I just stick to the regular sizes even if the price per ounce looks better.

piperr581mo ago

Oh wow, I was totally guilty of thinking bigger was better for years. I used to buy those giant bags of everything at Sam's Club because the price per pound looked so good. But then I moved into a smaller apartment and realized I was basically storing half my pantry for months on end. It definitely changed my perspective when I found moldy flour in the back of my cabinet that I'd forgotten about. Now I buy just what I can use in a month or two, even if it costs a little more upfront. It stings less than throwing away food and money together.