Is buying in bulk actually cheaper?

[Darth Penguin]

If you can find a catering supply shop like Presto, they have a lot of baking and cleaning supplies at at a reduced rate even for non-caterers like me.

[greencanuck]

Generally most items were more expensive at Bulk Barn compared to retail store sales, loss leaders and combining with coupons.
There are a few exceptions, and you need to know your prices per unit cost.

The only things that I buy at Bulk Barn are items that I can not obtain elsewhere, on sale and combined with their coupon.

[Slaney]

chcolate chips & melting wafers & Sugars are cheaper in bulk. Pasta is WAY cheaper in bulk. Spices are also cheaper & you can buy small ammounts so they don't go stale. Same with things like sprinkles, nuts & misc baking supplies

[bmpsmommy]

^^ totally agree with this. I buy the chocolate wafers for melting and they are so much cheaper than buying elsewhere. Ditto with other baking supplies, like sprinkles, sprays, coloured sugar, etc.

[i_forget]

I bought some chai tea there a few weeks ago to try it. I paid about $0.70 for a little bag and have had about 10 generous mugs of tea from it....that was much cheaper than the stores. I also like how you can rent cake pans from them. I wanted to get a pan for my little guy for his birthday and it cost me $15 to buy it.....could have rented it for $2.....

[thorky]

I bought coffee creamer at Bulk Barn at $4.00 per 450 grams. I found the same product at No Frills Supermarket for $2.47 for the same quantity. I compared the two, and found that the No Frills product was better. You have to shop wisely, as I've found other products more expensive at Bulk Barn than at supermarkets.

[padyofurniture]

I normally buy spices at Bulk Barn too. There's no point in buying a small jar of spices at the grocery store for $4-$5 a pop when you can get the same for dollars cheaper. Or buy what you immediately need for a recipe.

Plus it's nice when they get in new products and you can test out a smaller amount to see if you like it.

[Chantel]

I love bulk barn, it's somewhere I actually LOVE shopping. The prices are not ALWAYS right, but you have to shop smart. Compare prices. Just take some time to write down regular/sale prices of things you might buy in bulk in their standard sized packages.

Yeast is way cheaper. I can get the same amount of yeast I would in a jar for $2 as opposed to $6.

Spices and sprinkles are my favorite to get. Sprinkles are great, you have the selection of premium kinds (like shaped ones, different color mixes) without the jacked-up price for seasonal products. You could get dinosaur sprinkles in a cake mate container from Walmart for about $6 for 80ish grams or you could buy dino mix sprinkles from bulk barn for maybe $1.25 per hundred grams.

I also get colored sugar for a good price. I can usually get about 100g for a dollar, or, again, get 100g of a few different colors for $6 from walmart.

They also carry lots of different specialty items like glutinous wheat flour, unflavored gelatin, etc. The specialty flour is always a jacked up price in regular stores for a tiny bag.


They also sometimes have excellent clearout prices on things, so that sways my decision...