I Bought 27 Grocery Staples at Sam’s Club: Is Bulk Shopping Worth It?

If you’re shopping at the bulk warehouse retailer Sam’s Club, make a plan before you go. To get the 27 items on my list, I had to spend $287.84 at Sam’s Club (not including tax). 

That may sound pricey compared to a trip to a traditional grocery store. But remember the bulk warehouse club sells everything as if you’re feeding an army (or a restaurant).

By selling in larger quantities, Sam’s can offer lower per-unit prices on a lot of stuff. That can make it a valuable place for those of us who are stressed about sky-high grocery prices. In fact, nearly 1 in 10 Americans say they’re in a constant state of panic about covering basic essentials like food and rent, according to The Penny Hoarder’s Financial Anxiety Barometer report.

The basic Sam’s Club membership costs $60/year, which is important to factor in if you’re considering joining just to save on groceries. So if it’s just you and your family, can you really save money by buying 10 pounds of ground beef? The short answer is yes, but with some caveats. We’ll get into that, along with the best bargains and what to skip.

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What I Paid

Here’s a breakdown of my shopping list, including the size of the item and the total I paid at a Sam’s Club in St. Petersburg, Florida in September 2026. I listed the regular price instead of any sales prices for consistency. This total doesn’t include sales tax or the cost of a Sam’s Club membership.

Item	Size	Price
Bananas	3 lbs	$2.16
Baby carrots	3 lb bag (organic)	$4.82
Russet potatoes	10 lb bag	$6.96
Romaine lettuce	6 ct	$4.67
Avocados	5 ct	$4.62
Boneless chicken breast	6.5 lbs.	$18.72
80/20 ground beef	9.89 lbs	$56.97
Large eggs	2 dozen cage free	$4.82
Bacon	3 1-lb packs	$13.26
Whole milk	1 gallon	$3.94
Shredded cheddar cheese	2 1-lb bags	$7.36
Butter	4 1-lb packs	$10.22
Greek yogurt	40 oz	$4.87
White rice	5 lbs Brown Rice	$4.98
Pasta – spaghetti	6 pk 1 lb boxes	$5.48
Canned black beans	6 15-oz cans	$6.74
Peanut butter	2 pk 40 oz	$7.78
Cooking oil	2 pk 3 quart	$14.98
Cereal – store brand Cheerios	40.7 oz	$6.88
Frozen mixed vegetables	4 pk 16 oz bags	$7.87
Frozen pizza – pepperoni	3 pk	13.76
Sandwich bread	2-pack (40 oz)	$5.83
Coffee (ground)	40 oz	$17.32
Orange juice	2pk 52 fl oz	$6.94
Paper towels	15 mega rolls	$20.93
Dish soap	100 fl oz	$8.98
Laundry detergent	196 oz	$15.98
		$287.84

Produce and Fresh Essentials 

Depending on your household, the bulk sizing really can save you money on produce and fresh items, but keep in mind that they’re the first things to go bad. 

Also keep in mind that buying in bulk means a bigger outlay of money upfront, which can hurt more with inflated prices and for those of us living paycheck to paycheck. So you either eat a lot of an item that week or you have a plan (and space) for freezing items for later.

For example, the 3 pounds of organic baby carrots I got for $4.82 is a steal at $1.60 per pound, and I know between the human occupants and the dog, our house can polish off those carrots well before the expiration date. But the 10-pound package of ground beef may be a good deal at $5.76 per pound, except 1. That still means shelling out $57 this week for just ground beef and 2. It’s me, my husband and my teenage daughter, not the starting lineup for a college football team. I don’t have that much freezer space.

And don’t assume just because it’s sold in bulk that it’s the best deal — especially if you can shop around for sales elsewhere. For example, Sam’s had a 4 pound pack of butter for $10.22, which comes out to about $2.55 per pound, which is generally a good price. But I checked my Winn Dixie app, and a pound of their store-brand butter was on sale that week for $2.50. Yeah, five cents isn’t a ton of money, but I also would’ve needed to allot $10 of this week’s grocery budget for butter. Unit prices are important here, but so is the total amount you have to spend.

Tiffany Connors, The Penny Hoarder

Pantry, Bakery and Frozen Staples 

Bulk purchases of dry goods and frozen foods may be a little easier to justify since you’ve got a longer lead time before stuff goes bad. But you still have to think through what your storage situation is like, as well as how much peanut butter your family will realistically eat.

This section is also where Sam’s private label, Member’s Mark, can help you save. But you have to be flexible to get the best deal.

The Member’s Mark Spaghetti at $5.48 (6 pack of 1-pound boxes) is an easy winner over the Barilla variety pack at $8.52 (two 1-pound boxes each of penne, spaghetti and elbow macaroni), so long as you’re happy with only spaghetti for a while. 

But the only option for cereal the day I shopped was the giant 40-ounce box of name-brand Cheerios for $6.88. It may be a good price at 17 cents per ounce, but we can pick up a 12-ounce box of store brand Crispy Oats at Aldi for the same price per ounce and not have to eat the same cereal for the next month or risk letting it go stale. 

Household and Cleaning 

In theory, paper products and cleaning supplies are really where you should get the most value from Sam’s Club. Paper towels don’t go bad, and at $20.93 for 15 mega rolls ($1.40/roll), you aren’t going to do much better elsewhere.

But it’s still important to think about how your household operates before investing the money in these products. For example, the 196 oz. Member’s Mark laundry detergent is a good price at $15.98, and even better because it was on sale that day for $13.91. But the giant laundry jugs are unwieldy in my tiny laundry room and somehow always end up leaking. I’d rather stick with the 64 oz. generic brand detergent I can get at the grocery store and avoid wasting product.

Tiffany Connors, The Penny Hoarder

My Experience Shopping at Sam’s Club

I live about six blocks from the St. Pete Sam’s Club, so I’m familiar with the layout and some of the quirks. For example, disentangling the oversized carts in the cart corral requires a bit of patience, which can be in short supply on the weekends. I find grabbing a loose cart in the parking lot is easier.

Creating a list will help your trip go smoother, but I still recommend setting aside more time than you think you need. I’ve shopped here for years and still ran into issues. For example:

• I had to backtrack for the bacon — the fancy bacon was in the deli section while the normal stuff was in the refrigerated case.
• When I stopped under the Vegetables sign in the frozen aisle, I found pancake-wrapped hot dogs and Uncrustables. It took a minute to discover the frozen broccoli was a few cases down from the sign. 
• Despite “peanut butter” being displayed on the end cap sign, it was actually on a back wall at the end of the next aisle over.

However, when you come prepared, the trip can go relatively quickly. For example, I downloaded the Sam’s Club app so I can scan products as I shop. When I’m finished shopping, I click check out and pay, which produces a QR code that gets scanned before I leave the building. In fact, the checkout lanes were fairly short at Sam’s that Sunday, so maybe everyone else has gotten wise to this, but I love hitting the checkout button then barely slowing down to roll out the door. 

Pro tip: If you happen to live near a Sam’s Club, you might find shopping during the week even easier than going to your local grocery store. My husband will stop by after work to pick up a couple items (no cart!) and avoid standing in the “express” lane at Publix on a Tuesday.

Sam’s Club accepts major credit cards, including Visa, Mastercard, Discover and American Express, along with its Sam’s credit card (more on that in a bit) and the Walmart credit card (Sam’s Club is owned by Walmart). If you are willing to endure the checkout line, you can use your cards or cash. Sam’s doesn’t accept coupons.

Tips for Saving at Sam’s Club

Saving at Sam’s Club is easier when you know what to look for and what to avoid. My tips:

Best bargains

• Rotisserie chicken: I never pass up the 3 pound rotisserie chicken for $4.98 (and neither do a lot of people — this one is often out of stock at my location). As for quality, Sam’s chicken rivals the vaunted local Publix version (there, I said it), and a small family gets enough chicken to use the leftovers in a second meal.
• Paper products: The paper towels, toilet paper and garbage bags are priced so competitively per unit, it’s hard to argue for buying them at a grocery store or big box chain. However, even if they don’t rot or get stale, keep in mind that you do need the space to store 45 rolls of toilet paper.
• Coffee: If you’re a coffee drinker like me, you’ve watched your precious beverage climb in price. I used to have a rule that I never spent more than 50 cents on a K-cup. That rule’s mostly been abandoned at the grocery store, but I can still get a 100 Member’s Mark Donut Shop cups for $32.98. It might be higher than before, but I can still enjoy my java for less than 35 cents a cup. 

Most overpriced items

• Milk: The milk at Sam’s Club isn’t necessarily overpriced, but I can find a gallon for about the same price at my local grocery stores. You only have so much room in your giant cart; choose wisely.
• Bananas: At 72 cents a pound, it’s not a bad price for bananas. But unless your family loves bananas, you may end up with a half dozen or more brown bananas (I suppose you could freeze them for smoothies). That goes for all the produce. It may look tempting, but can you realistically eat that much romaine lettuce before it goes bad?
• Seasonal decorations: Is the $350 pre-lit musical six-foot Grand Nutcracker tempting? Sure it is. But Sam’s selection of oversized decorations needs a place to live the rest of the year, and it’ll be less of a financial hit if you discover the decorations from the dollar store were eaten by moths. Also skip the holiday-themed food gifts — the festive baskets are cute but overpriced. Buy the fruit and candy separately to make your own basket. 

Tiffany Connors, The Penny Hoarder

More ways to save

• Plus Membership. If you’re a regular at Sam’s, you may benefit from upgrading to the premium Plus Membership. You earn 2% Sam’s Cash back, free shipping and delivery for orders over $50, and early shopping hours. The premium membership costs $120/year vs. $60/year for the regular, so do the math to make sure it’s worth the upgrade. Note that you earn Sam’s Cash, which you can use when shopping at Sam’s Club, for your membership renewal or in exchange for physical cash at the membership desk.
• Sam’s Club credit card. The credit card could also help you save by earning 3% cash back on your purchases. If you’re also a Plus member, you can stack the savings for a total of 5% cash back.
• Gas. If you aren’t currently a Sam’s Club member, you might wonder why there are long lines at every Sam’s Club gas station. It’s because you save about 10 to 25 cents per gallon compared to nearby gas stations. The gas savings alone could more than cover the membership price if you fill up a couple times a month. And again, you can stack the Sam’s Cash earnings with a Sam’s Club credit card. 
• Share the load. In addition to finding deals, an easy way to save at Sam’s Club is to split your membership with a friend or family member. No, you can’t actually share the membership with someone else outside your household, but you can shop on your own, then split the 10-pound bag of potatoes and the cost.  

To see how Sam’s Club stacks up against other wholesale club memberships, check out our comparison of Sam’s Club vs. Costco vs. BJ’s.

Final verdict

Sam’s Club can offer real savings on bulk purchases and even regular size items, like the rotisserie chicken. But just because an item’s sold in bulk doesn’t necessarily mean it’s the best deal, especially if you find sales elsewhere. It’s easy to get overwhelmed by the sheer size of Sam’s Club products and assume they must offer better savings. But to save the most money, it’s best to go in with a list of items as well as what you normally pay for them (per unit, if possible). And set your budget before you go so you can decide ahead of time if you want to incorporate $13 worth of bacon in this week’s budget. You’ll be more likely to save on groceries by arriving prepared.

Tiffany Wendeln Connors is senior managing editor at The Penny Hoarder and a Certified Educator in Personal Finance.