onion2k wrote:$659 of stuff only lasts 2 weeks? Plus presumably there's fresh food, milk, etc on top of that? assuming that would only be $20 a week that makes it up to $700 every fortnight. Between 7 people ... $100 ... two weeks ... $50/week each, or $7/day. That's insane. I spend less than that and I'm single buying things in quantities of 1. How come you're spending so much when you're buying in bulk?
For the record, this was a bit of an odd trip to Costco in that we hadn't been there for almost three weeks. Usually when we go it costs between $350 and $450 and lasts about two weeks (not including things like bathroom tissue and paper towels). We actually only bought three packs of meat on this trip, which is odd. We also did not buy any fruits or veggies and no milk or eggs because it was a Saturday evening and all the good stuff was gone. So I ended up going to the grocery store a little while later for the fresh stuff. We also bought three videos for the kids for a grand added total of $40.
Seriously though, my wife and I homeschool our kids. That means that the wife and kids, six people, are in the house almost all day long. Consumption rates are a lot higher in my house just for that reason. Things that most people at work or school take for granted are used up at home in my house, so it makes things go a lot quicker.
@kiernan: Dish soap, not BBQ sauce (though I still have two bottles of Cattleman's sauce left from the last trip since the weather has not been the best BBQing weather lately).
@d11: That is why we have a Suburban now. We used to have a van, and trips like this would literally put groceries on the wife and kids in order to get home.
@onion: Buying in bulk is the only way to get by. When you look at the cost of things that would suit one two people, I get them for 6 to 8 people for about twice the cost. Not bad in overall cost. But still, when it means having to supply the needs of 7 people, 6 of whom spend a predominant amount of time inside the house, it gets expensive. And it is not even on frivolous stuff either, like frozen foods and what not. We do buy some of that stuff, but not nearly as much as we could to make it easier to survive during the day.