No matter who you are or what sort of lifestyle you have, pre-planning your grocery trips is one of those things that is guaranteed to have a positive impact on your life in the very near future.
Why?
Quite simply, the act of thinking ahead means that you are preparing when you are at your most clear-headed; when you can sit down and think about how much you have to spend in order to get everything you want or need.
For example, creating a grocery list ahead of your trip means that you can plan out how many ingredients you will need for as many recipes, meals or snacks you need to hold you over until the next or month you shop for food again.
If you’re really ambitious, you might search online for common prices for the items you want to get at your supermarket before actually shopping. This will help you stay within an established budget and also make sure you don’t get any unforeseen surprises when you go to checkout.
Knowing what you are getting ahead of time can save you from the headache that is brought on by rash decision-making.
We’ve all made those split second decisions at some point or another.
They’re the sort of choices you make literally while standing in the middle of a grocery store aisle, faced with too many choices of brands and prices; or at the register, when we’re too embarrassed to step aside and figure out which items from our cart we need to put back and which we can comfortably pay for.
For anyone who has ever been caught in such a position (or similar), bulk shopping is one method of pre-planning that will make your life a whole lot easier and allow you to cut through the noise of supermarket product placement.
Particularly, when buying snacks, bulk shopping is the best to get both quality and quantity for less.
In this article we will explore the top 5 benefits of buying snacks in bulk so you can get an idea of why you might want to start preplanning your food budget in advance today.
Got any others? Feel free to let us know in the comments.
1. Saves Time
One of our top reasons to start buying snacks in bulk is that it will save you a lot of time on future grocery shopping trips.
In fact, when done right, in some cases it will cut down on your need to pick up new items altogether (sometimes you will end up with leftover snacks that you can save for the next week).
For people who lead busy lifestyles, bulk shopping is an absolute time saver.
If you do the math and figure out how many snacks you need to purchase in order to cover every time you instinctively reach for one (cravings) or need to bring to school or work, you can eliminate the need to pick up snacks on your next trip to the store in the time between now and whatever time frame it usually takes for you return to the supermarket.
2. Grab N’ Go
Image Source: Oh Joy
Along with time, another of the benefits of buying snacks in bulk is having already prepared ingredients for meal prep right at your fingertips; ready to simply be added to your purse, suitcase, tote, meal prep container, bento box, clothes pocket or wherever else you store your snacks.
It doesn’t get much easier than this!
3. Be Informed & Organized
Purchasing in bulk also allows you to think about what kind of snacks you’ll be eating ahead of time in a way that accounts for both health and flavor.
Before you commit to purchasing an item in bulk, do some research on its nutritional facts.
Take some time to figure out how much you need to eat in order to feel full and how you can balance main meals with snacks so you’re not completely reliant on them for nourishment.
4. Saves Money
Another one of the great perks of buying snacks in bulk is that it saves money.
According to The Penny Hoarder, many grocery chains offer discounts when you buy in bulk.
Although not officially published, “Whole Foods also offers discounts on bulk items. If you buy a case of an item, you can get 10% off. Also, if you buy three or more pounds of meat, it’s considered a bulk purchase and you can save 50 cents per pound.”
Furthermore, they make the point that one needs to be persistent enough to ask their local grocer about whether or not they offer bulk deals.
So the moral of the story is: Ask.
If you you might get a discount at your local grocer for buying in bulk, or if you are just curious to see what your options are, it definitely won’t hurt to ask.
5. Variety of Snacks
When people think of bulk shopping for snacks, they don’t usually think of variety. This is because buying in bulk is associated with getting multiples of the same item (Like the same flavor of a snack).
However, buying a variety of snacks in bulk is a thing and can help you to change up your rotation of goodies as your palette changes from week to week.
Most companies that have more than one line of snacks will also offer some sort of bulk variety package as an incentive to encourage you to get the most bang out of your buck.
6. Eco Friendly
Lastly, buying in bulk is more environmentally conscious/eco-friendly.
This is because less materials are needed for items packaged in bulk.
We may all think that simply the act of recycling is enough to solve the issue of waste, but unfortunately this is not true.
Only by preventing unnecessary trash from entering landfills can we ever truly start to put a dent in the global environmental issue that is waste disposal.
Well, there you have it.
Our list of the top benefits of buying snacks in bulk covers many of the reasons you should want to start today.
Many of those reasons are sure to positively affect your life, as well as the world at large collectively (assuming we all do it).
For example, purchasing in bulk saves you both money and time; which allows you to save precious hours, energy, gas and other resources spent on grocery shopping or meal planning, on other tasks better suited for your busy lifestyle.
Buying snacks that you can just “grab n go” at your own convenience, makes it easier to get up in the morning, take what you need and head out of the door without having to second guess if you’ve brought enough with you to last the entire day.
Of course, variety means never having to be bored.
Even when buying in bulk, variety is an important concept because it helps you to have a constantly different roaster of snacks to eat; which means a new treat every day of the week.
Just like we often get tired of the meal after a week or two, being able to choose between, for example, healthy snacks and more traditional varieties, can ensure that the perfect snack is always within arm’s length.
Always keep in mind that bulk does not always mean the same flavor, as is commonly thought. There are several brands that offer a variety of their snacks in bulk expressly for this reason.
Lastly, it can never hurt to be eco-friendly.
Buying in bulk tends to eliminate the need for more packaging; which of course means that there is less waste that will end up in a landfill. While this isn’t something that may have immediate benefits for you or yours, it is something that we should all work towards as a society; as it is something we all feel the effects of over time.
Speaking of eco-friendly packaging, Variety Fun is proud to reuse and recycle packaging materials, office supplies, printer cartridges, scrap paper and newspaper.
We also use recycled paper and paper from sustainably managed forests for our packaging and other printing projects.
We always look for a greener option. In an effort to create more sustainable packaging, we have eliminated our package overwrap. Our all-new packaging is 100% recyclable.
We would love to hear about any and all of your personal reasons for buying in bulks. And of course, this this includes both snacks and other items!.
Feel free to let us know in the comments below!
Interested in receiving monthly snack deliveries? Head to varietyfun.com to subscribe.
Want to see what else we're up to?
Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, Pinterest and LinkedIn for snack updates.