I am always on the hunt for healthy and good quality food at a reasonable price. Let’s face it, organic food is not cheap! I have had memberships at Sam’s Club, Costco, CSA’s, and my local co-op and they all had their advantages and disadvantages. I still frequent my local co-op, the farmers markets, and CSA’s.  However, I have stopped going to the Bix Box stores. Want to know why? Well, I put together a comparison of why I did this and what I found to be an even better option.

Why I don’t shop at the Big Box stores any more:

• I always bought more than I needed: When I used to shop at Costco, I would come back with huge containers and boxes instead of the smaller sized products found at regular grocery stores. Who needs a 50 pack of canned green beans anyway?!
• You consume more than you need: When you buy an extraordinary amount of food and bring it home, what will you do with it? Eat it of course. Well, you better eat it fast and in large amounts because it will go bad fast. Plus since you got such a great deal instead of just eating one candy bar, you can now eat three for the same price. Winning? Losing!
• You waste a ton of food: I can’t even count how many vegetables and greens I had to throw out because we simply could not eat them fast enough! That 70lb tub of greens does not last forever and even the most salad savvy person can’t eat it before it turns to slime!
• It’s not all that great of a deal: If you are someone who uses coupons with any regularity, you will actually save more money at your local grocer than at the Big Box store.
• Hello impulse buying: I don’t think I ever left a Big Box store without buying at least one of the samples they were offering. Heck, in college we shopped there during prime sample time so we could get a free meal! I always left the store with waaaaay more than I had intended to buy.
• You have to drive to the store and have a car big enough to haul all of your purchases: I remember one time we actually borrowed my neighbors truck to go to Costco because our car was too small to fit the large boxes we were going to buy. Driving to the store will use gas, gas costs money.

What I now do instead:

I recently purchased a subscription to Village Green Premium (its a membership similar to Big Box stores, but much less expensive and completely online!). Here is why it’s a better way to find all of your food, and health related items.

• You have control over the amount that you buy, no more excessive food taking up shelf space!
• You do not over-eat, because you do not over-order
• No food wasted!
• No impulse buying because there aren’t people handing you samples and luring you to buy
• No driving to the store or wasting gas money (also, no dealing with lines and aisle congestion! Bonus!)

Here is how it works:

It costs $5 a month and literally offers thousands of dollars of savings and rewards. As a member of the Club, you’ll receive up to 50% off many of publishers’ bestselling products, amazing discounts and special offers from advertisers – as well as Premium Giveaways and exclusive publications available only to Premium Club members!

Here are a few of the companies that offer discounts and coupons through the Premium Membership. (This is so exciting to me because I was a regular buyer to many of these companies before I subscribed and now I get deals on all of them all in the same place!)

I purchased the year membership because it’s seriously cheap right now: $39! This program was launched June 7th and they are offering a launch discount of 20% off the price until the end of June. Go sign up now and you will get the super cheap early bird pricing!

I hope this inspires you to change your shopping (and eating) patterns a bit so you can save some cash without even having to get into your car! Plus, think of all the extra shelf space you will now have!

If you are curious and would like to know more go to their website now