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Daycare Center and Family Home Forum>Best Food Prices For DC
missy 04:59 PM 02-08-2014
I am interested in where you feel is the best place for DC food (bulk items). I am a Walmart fan, and we have an Aldi and a Sam's club here. A friend of mine orders online in bulk, does anyone do that too? I never thought Sam's was cheaper but some swear by it here.
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mountainside13 06:22 PM 02-08-2014
Originally Posted by missy:
I am interested in where you feel is the best place for DC food (bulk items). I am a Walmart fan, and we have an Aldi and a Sam's club here. A friend of mine orders online in bulk, does anyone do that too? I never thought Sam's was cheaper but some swear by it here.
I love walmart too! Sams is more expensive at first but in the long run it is cheaper, as long as you can use the food before it expires! We use Sams club for items that we go through quickly! Like dishwasher detergent, laundry detergent, garbage bags, baby wipes/diapers, bananas, apples, meat, cheese exc. we also use Aldis and Fareway. Just depends on which stores have the best deals for the week.
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blandino 07:01 PM 02-08-2014
I daycare grocery shop monthly (aside from milk and produce), and I do it at Aldi. We don't eat any processed food, so I am buying ingredients only. So I don't have to worry too much about the quality of the food. If I were buying items that were pre-packaged with added ingredients, then I might worry more about the ingredients - but I am purchasing fresh fruit, fresh veggies, wheat bread, pastas, rice, eggs, cheese, etc. I have checked enough to see that what I would be buying with convention brands at Target contains the same ingredients. I am able to feed the children healthy non-processed foods (not organic) for rather inexpensively. I also think buying monthly helps, because I can buy in bulk.
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renodeb 08:27 PM 02-08-2014
I wish I was organized enough to make monthly trips to the store instead of weekly. I used to like walmart but ours has really gone down hill in reguards to customer service. There are never enough cashiers so the lines are really long. Lately I have been shopping at smith's (kroger's for some of you) I think it just depends on what ever works for you.
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snbauser 11:48 AM 02-09-2014
I do a combination of places because some things are cheaper in different places. I shop usually once a month at Costco and stock up on things that last along with some things that I know I will use quicker like produce. I also shop at Aldi's for some stuff and then hit Walmart (along with ads from other places for price matching) for anything else I need.
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missy 03:19 PM 02-09-2014
I just heard we are getting a Costco too. I am going to price compare at Sam's and Costco but I imagine they are similar.
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jessrlee 03:42 PM 02-09-2014
Originally Posted by missy:
I am interested in where you feel is the best place for DC food (bulk items). I am a Walmart fan, and we have an Aldi and a Sam's club here. A friend of mine orders online in bulk, does anyone do that too? I never thought Sam's was cheaper but some swear by it here.
You are in the land of the Amish!! Find yourself a nice Amish bulk store I go to ours every 4 mos and drop about $1000. But I have food coming out of my ears! 50# of oats is $17, 50# bread flour $18.50. 1/2 pints of spices are $1. Cheese is 40lbs for $1.78 LB!! Ground beef is $1.99 for 80/20 and chicken breast is $1.39 lb. I get a bushel of apples (50lb) for 7.99 and 50lbs of potatoes for $8.

I make EVERYTHING from scratch. It is so easy and so rewarding! I love feeding my family of 5 and daycare 12 breakfast, 8 lunch, and 12 dinner plus bag lunch for hubby and 3 kids for $100 a week!
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missy 05:41 PM 02-09-2014
Originally Posted by jessrlee:
You are in the land of the Amish!! Find yourself a nice Amish bulk store I go to ours every 4 mos and drop about $1000. But I have food coming out of my ears! 50# of oats is $17, 50# bread flour $18.50. 1/2 pints of spices are $1. Cheese is 40lbs for $1.78 LB!! Ground beef is $1.99 for 80/20 and chicken breast is $1.39 lb. I get a bushel of apples (50lb) for 7.99 and 50lbs of potatoes for $8.

I make EVERYTHING from scratch. It is so easy and so rewarding! I love feeding my family of 5 and daycare 12 breakfast, 8 lunch, and 12 dinner plus bag lunch for hubby and 3 kids for $100 a week!
Wow, you sound like the super woman of child care!! :-)
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MarinaVanessa 05:45 PM 02-09-2014
Originally Posted by blandino:
I daycare grocery shop monthly (aside from milk and produce), and I do it at Aldi. We don't eat any processed food, so I am buying ingredients only. So I don't have to worry too much about the quality of the food. If I were buying items that were pre-packaged with added ingredients, then I might worry more about the ingredients - but I am purchasing fresh fruit, fresh veggies, wheat bread, pastas, rice, eggs, cheese, etc. I have checked enough to see that what I would be buying with convention brands at Target contains the same ingredients. I am able to feed the children healthy non-processed foods (not organic) for rather inexpensively. I also think buying monthly helps, because I can buy in bulk.
Here too. We get our ingredients at Winco, the rest at Trader Joes.
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TwinKristi 06:55 PM 02-09-2014
Costco or Raleys. Costco for big stuff when we need it, Raleys for our small in between trips. I went to Costco the last 2wks to get some bigger items but now I only need to run to Raleys in for our small fresh items.
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Nebula 02:28 AM 02-10-2014
Aldi for food absolutely! Also, we have a Sams club membership for staples like rice, beans, and sugar, flour etc.
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mema 07:44 AM 02-10-2014
I buy my paper products (napkins, paper towels, tp, etc) and some food products (milk, chicken, hamburger (occassionally), fish, cheese, wild rice) at Sams. Everything else I get at Aldi and if they don't carry it/have in stock, then I either do Target or the local grocery store. I use to shop Wal-mart all the time. Can't stand the place. Ours has horrible customer service. I haven't stepped in one since August, I think.
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Blackcat31 07:53 AM 02-10-2014
Originally Posted by mema:
I buy my paper products (napkins, paper towels, tp, etc) and some food products (milk, chicken, hamburger (occassionally), fish, cheese, wild rice) at Sams. Everything else I get at Aldi and if they don't carry it/have in stock, then I either do Target or the local grocery store. I use to shop Wal-mart all the time. Can't stand the place. Ours has horrible customer service. I haven't stepped in one since August, I think.
We buy a lot of items in bulk at Sam's Club too.

I hate our Walmart too (the customer service is awful and the atmosphere in the store is almost unbearable at times) but I've figured out that it's "best" during off hours like really early in the morning or late at night (our Walmart is open 24 hrs) so I will make a run in at one of those times and buy as much as possible.

I have found we get a better deal for paper products at Target when you buy the bigger packages of toilet paper and paper towel. Especially if you buy when they do the free $5 gift cards and use your Target Red card.
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CraftyMama 02:22 PM 02-10-2014
I too prefer Sam's Club when buying for daycare. Buying in bulk is a great way to keep items on hand. I am not a big fan of our Walmart due to many reasons, especially the fact of uncleanliness. Target has good prices on some of their larger quantity items. Price shop is the best way to go about it.
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Cat Herder 05:02 AM 02-11-2014
I tend to buy the majority of my produce at the local farmers market. The times and special events (sausages, bulk fresh meats, fresh milled grains) will be posted in your newspaper in the community section (usually).
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Meeko 03:46 PM 02-11-2014
I use Costco and Winco
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Christina72684 06:04 AM 02-12-2014
We're starting to get into couponing, and Kroger's is the best place to do that. You can often get stuff for free or pretty close to it. I wish our Aldi's produce was better but it doesn't last very long and since we do our shopping Friday's at nap for the next week it's hard to buy from there. We shop Walmart mostly because it has food and other stuff that we need. I wish we made stuff from scratch but we're already overwhelmed as it is, I don't know where we would find time in the day to do it.
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NeedaVaca 06:43 AM 02-12-2014
Originally Posted by Christina72684:
We're starting to get into couponing, and Kroger's is the best place to do that. You can often get stuff for free or pretty close to it. I wish our Aldi's produce was better but it doesn't last very long and since we do our shopping Friday's at nap for the next week it's hard to buy from there. We shop Walmart mostly because it has food and other stuff that we need. I wish we made stuff from scratch but we're already overwhelmed as it is, I don't know where we would find time in the day to do it.
YES! I coupon regularly at Kroger & Meijer I have saved SO much by doing this, I will occasionally coupon at Walmart and Target or CVS and Walgreens. With couponing and stocking up I get items MUCH cheaper than Costco/Sams. Just last night I had a $25 off $50 purchase and got all my produce, milk, chicken! I also got 8 boxes of organic cereal for 99 cents each-plus the additional $25 off made each box like 50 cents each!
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Tags:buying in bulk, farm, food costs, sams club, walmart, washington dc
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