bulk buying for delivery

smilymel

Does anybody know of a website that does low (wholesale-ish) prices for grocery delivery to a domestic address?

Most wholesalers you have to be a business to use. I've found one company that does it, but it seems to be London based and I'm in Scotland.

Just think I could save a fortune by buying full trays of cans of beans, chopped tomatoes etc. and loo roll and kitchen roll, bags of flour and sugar, cereals etc. and store them in the cellar (in mouse proof containers) so that I don't need to go to the supermarket so often.

im-lost

wholesale prices aren't that good when compared to the likes of the supermarkets
who have massive buying power.

Wholesalers / cash and carrys are generally just for 'convenience' to caterers etc
not to be able to save a few quid, having worked in the catering sector for a good
10 years I can say that without a doubt using wholesalers probably wont save you
as much as you might think, maybe a few quid here and there.

Say your average food bill is £4000 a year, using a wholesaler / cash and carry will
probably save you 10% - 15% at the bottom line, if you look at some if the large cash
and carry website their prices may seem competative but then when you add the vat at
20% its not so good.

cash and carry sugar 75p per bag, iceland sugar 85p per bag, a saving of 10p or if
you use 52 bags a year, a saving of £5.20 a year, is it really worth it?

DCFC79

How about using the supermarkets.

cherrypies

I live on the Isle of Man and we only have one of the big 4 supermarkets, plus a couple of wholesalers and Coops/Spars, I've also experimented with online wholesalers, short dated discounters, amazon groceries and lots of other options and I've found that the overall best way to shop at low prices is to shop around for absolutely everything you buy and as im-lost says, supermarkets with bigger buying power are invariably cheaper than the majority of wholesalers. It is a pain in the bum having to do your shopping from 8 different places but if you want the best prices, thats what you have to do, in essence, you 'Grabbit' shop buying what you need from the place with the best price.

Few examples:

A while ago Tesco randomly had tuna for 19p per can, I bought 5 cases which should last my tuna loving family a year

The coop currently have tins of chopped tomatoes with garlic at 29p per can (half the price of their other types like chopped toms with herbs) so I've bought a few cases of that.

A while back Tesco had Branston beans 4 packs on buy one get one free @ £1.50 , bought loads, same with the Princes fruit juices, buy one get 2 free @ £1.44.

Its time consuming but it definitely saves a lot of money and in my experience cheaper that wholesale price. Another choice for buying in bulk are the short dated clearance websites like Approved foods, there is an extensive thread on this board listing the companies and peoples experiences with them.

Amazon Groceries are good as the prices include free delivery, i think they are doing a case of Branston beans for about £7.68 delivered at the moment, but you have to hunt hard through their prices to find the deals as some items can be 3 x what they are in regular stores.

Hope this helps.

smilymel

Thanks everyone. I guess I'll stick with the supermarkets then, and instead of buying one set of BOGOF or whatever, if it's something I'll use anyway then bulk buy them to stock away. I also think I need to do a bit more down-branding, but hubby is a bit of a snob and he likes the Supermarket Premium stuff.

cherrypies

smilymel wrote: »

Thanks everyone. I guess I'll stick with the supermarkets then, and instead of buying one set of BOGOF or whatever, if it's something I'll use anyway then bulk buy them to stock away. I also think I need to do a bit more down-branding, but hubby is a bit of a snob and he likes the Supermarket Premium stuff.

We eat mostly premium stuff too, it's just a matter of grabbing it at the right time, I have a freezer literally full of Tesco finest meals, side orders and desserts that I've picked up when the wine offers and glitches have been on. Not to mention cupboards stuffed full of Marks and spencers grocery items, Italian deli pastas, pestos, olives, anti-pasti, all sorts. I cook from scratch using fresh food most nights but it's nice to have that stash of good quality heat and eat food available when I want a night off, not to mention the wine It can be done and with great style on a budget, it's just time consuming! (But I'm quite sad and enjoy the hunt!)

jo58

Approved Foods was once an online Cash and Carry so might be worth a visit? Also check out other similar sites Food Bargains, Swinco and Big Brands for less for wholesale priced bargains