Thrifty Thursday: Case Lot Sales

I'm often asked the question: Do you ever buy items at Case Lot sales?

My answer? Of course!

You all know I recommend getting great deals by combining a sale with a coupon. However, like many of you,  I have a growing family and often times, we eat through basic foods before another sale and coupon come along. What do I do in this instance? Pay full price? I try not to! My strategy is to stock up on certain items during case lot sales!

Case lot sales normally happen in April and October and last for 2 weeks. Stores often have a wide variety of items available like canned items, sugar, flour, cooking oil, frozen chicken, peanut butter and more. In most instances, stores receive a certain amount of case lot items, so I try and go during the first week, to make sure I am able to purchase what I need. If you want to buy a large number of cases, I'd recommend pre-ordering with your store.

I dedicate a portion of my grocery budget during April and October for case lot items. I regularly buy canned corn, green beans, kidney beans, and sugar. This year, I'm crossing my fingers for a great price on sweeten condensed milk. My attempts to pair sale and coupon have failed miserably, so I've been paying full price at Winco!

Don't start thinking that all case lot sales are created equally though! Each time the case lot sales roll around, I compare prices and time and time again, Smith's has beat out Associated Foods stores. This week for example, Fresh Market is running a case lot sale. Western Family canned chili is priced at .88 each and cream of chicken or mushroom soups are priced at .65 each. These might seem like great prices, however, at the last Smith's case lot sale, both chili  and cream soups were only .50. Canned mandarin oranges are .59 each at Fresh Market, whereas Smith's had them for .33 each! Even if you're not well versed on what to pay for a 24-pack of canned corn, remember that Grocery Smarts also rates the prices of the case lot sales.

If your budget is tight, set aside some of March's budget in preparation for the case lot sales next month. I'll keep you all posted on when they start!