Food in Bulk or Cheaper Grocery Options (Raleigh, Cary: sales, coupons)

[MissingNC]

I have heard of AngelFood Ministries, and I'd love to try it, but there are no locations close to Cary. I am looking for something along these lines. Does anybody have any recommendations?

[caesarsgirl79]

Some cheaper grocery options are Aldi's and Superwalmart. There is a Aldi's in Cary. I do a lot of coupon cutting and checking sales ads. Harris Teeter is having triple coupons this week and on the name HT and Kroger do double coupons.

My sister likes Compare Foods. I am not a huge fan of theirs. I believe the closest location is Garner to you. I know there is a location somewhere in Raleigh.

I usually keep a Costco membership for bulk items, but I am using BJ's right now while they are doing the 60 free trial. What I do to save on my bulk membership is I split it with a friends and then it's $25 a year. Also, some companies may offer discounted memberships.

Some other tips: My coworkers, friends, and I swap coupons. Also during the garden seasons I have a garden and at work we bring in extras for who may want them.

One of my coworkers mentioned AngelFood Ministries and she likes it, but I don't think it will be a good option for my fam. I don't know of any other organizations that are similar to AngelFood. I heard of it initially on Slickdeals. I hope I helped nonetheless.

[lamishra]

Aldi in Cary is my recommendation.

[lottamoxie]

+1 for Aldi.

Also, if you go to the State Farmer's Market on the weekends you can go to the back building where the 'wholesale' vendors are and you can purchase fruits and veggies in bulk there.

You can purchase 'shares' of bulk items from others if you don't want the whole thing yourself or you can sell off 'shares' of your own bulk purchase if you purchase an entire flat of something and don't want it all.

It's immediate commerce--the minute you purchase a bulk item there are tables right there and you can start dividing out the portions (i.e 'shares') and people come right up to you and ask how much per share. I bought a flat of strawberries for $8 and sold the other half. I got all my veggies for the week and fruit too, for about $12! It's fun.

Bring a cooler on wheels so you don't have to carry the stuff around, as it gets very heavy.

[kelly237]

Originally Posted by lottamoxie

+1 for Aldi.

Also, if you go to the State Farmer's Market on the weekends you can go to the back building where the 'wholesale' vendors are and you can purchase fruits and veggies in bulk there.

You can purchase 'shares' of bulk items from others if you don't want the whole thing yourself or you can sell off 'shares' of your own bulk purchase if you purchase an entire flat of something and don't want it all.

It's immediate commerce--the minute you purchase a bulk item there are tables right there and you can start dividing out the portions (i.e 'shares') and people come right up to you and ask how much per share. I bought a flat of strawberries for $8 and sold the other half. I got all my veggies for the week and fruit too, for about $12! It's fun.

Bring a cooler on wheels so you don't have to carry the stuff around, as it gets very heavy.

Thank you for "sharing" that... I had no idea about the bulk buying and share buying and selling... That does sound fun...

[lottamoxie]

I've gone just once and it was a blast. You hear every language from around the world spoken. But everyone knows how to say, "how much a share?" in English. Right about 9am - 9:30am on weekends is the prime time with seemingly the most buyers & sellers. It gets crowded. But within 15 min you can have done all your fruit & veggie buying for the week, and at a much reduced cost.

What's nice is for us single folks with no kids, we can still purchase 'shares' from the bulk amount someone else purchases. I think I got like 8 or 10 zucchini for $2. I also got 4 lbs of carrots for $2. I feed them as snacks to my dog instead of dog treats. I purchased 2 cantelopes for $1 ea from someone else who had bought a crate of 12 of them (for $12 for the full box). It's a nice alternative to the retail side of the farmers markets.

[MissingNC]

Thank you, great info about something I hadn't considered!

[gtlRaleighWood]

The sharing at the State Market is over. The state police were there today and I guess sharing food is no longer allowed. What a pitty! I will miss meeting people from around the world and sharing affordable food.

[jmana]

The retail sellers probably got pissed and put a stop to it.

[adlnc07]

Originally Posted by gtlRaleighWood

The sharing at the State Market is over. The state police were there today and I guess sharing food is no longer allowed. What a pitty! I will miss meeting people from around the world and sharing affordable food.

That's kind of lame.. I always meant to get over there to give it a try.