4 Staple Casserole And Slow Cooker Ingredients That Are Cheaper At Sam’s Club

Temperatures are falling, which means it’s time to break out your coziest comfort food — and all of those fall- and winter-worthy casserole, soups, and slow cooker-made recipes you’ve been waiting to cook. Chilly weather means comforting food is back on the menu. But even the most budget-minded casseroles and dump-and-cook slow cooker recipes can cost you at the grocery store.

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My workaround? I head to Sam’s Club, where key ingredients used in tons of different casseroles and slow cooker meals are sold in bulk at a lower price (or better value, at the very least). Below, I’m sharing the four casserole and slow cooker ingredients I’m stocking up on only at Sam’s Club so I can save some cash.

Plain Greek Yogurt

Greek yogurt is always a staple in my fridge, and Sam’s Club is the only place I’ll buy it from. Sure, the store stocks big-name brands like Oikos and Chobani. But when I’m in the refrigerated section, I’m only looking for the Member’s Mark Plain Nonfait Greek Yogurt — it’s the cheapest, it’s perfect in taste and thickness, and it’s sold in a 40-ounce tub for less than $5.

While you might not immediately think about stockpiling Greek yogurt for casserole and Crockpot season, it’s super handy to have on hand. Plenty of casserole and slow cooker recipes rely on Greek yogurt for quick and simple sauces. 

It’s also an excellent stand-in for sour cream, both flavor-wise and nutritionally. So, even if you’re not directly adding it to your quinoa broccoli rice casserole, say, odds are you’ll use it as a topping for chili, soup, or dishes like tortilla casserole.

Condensed Soups

If there’s one item I’m constantly running out of — and then rebuying — during the fall and winter, it’s condensed soup. Campbell’s Cream of Mushroom and Cream of Chicken hate to see me coming, because I’m never buying just a single can at a time. I dump these cans into so many slow cooker meals and casseroles, including stroganoff and variations of a chicken and rice casserole.

And I never buy Campbell’s soups from the grocery store; they’re far cheaper at Sam’s Club. Here, you can get both the iconic Cream of Mushroom and Cream of Chicken in supersized packs of eight cans for roughly $9.

These name-brand soups are rarely discounted to a similar price at regular grocery stores (though I will admit to catching an $8 eight-can pack at Walmart once last year around Thanksgiving). So, if you use it in many different fall and winter recipes yourself, Sam’s Club is where you’ll want to head.

Cream Cheese

Another item that does double duty in fall and winter is cream cheese, which I always add to my Sam’s Club shopping list. Yes, it’s a central ingredient in holiday desserts like cheesecakes and some cookies; it’s also a breakfast staple. But it also appears in plenty of casserole recipes — and some slow cooker ones, like holiday and party dips.

Cream cheese is a slightly sweet, wonderfully creamy base for rich casseroles, sauces, pasta dishes, and sometimes even soups and stews. And if you find yourself buying a few blocks at a time for everyone on your weekly menu, switch to Sam’s Club to save. You can pick up a huge 3-pound brick of the stuff for less than $7. 

Prefer to stick with name brand versus private label? Even blocks of Philadelphia Cream Cheese are nicely priced here, going for around $7 for four 8-ounce bricks.

Block Cheese

Now, this is one place where Sam’s Club and Costco don’t compete; they overlap quite a lot. Both warehouse retailers offer blocks of cheese in many different varieties, and both offer them for fantastic (and cheap) prices. And I highly recommend grabbing blocks of the type you use most often for casseroles and slow cooker meals, because you’ll save significantly compared to the shredded stuff both at warehouse stores and your regular grocery store.

The wide variety of cheese in block form at Sam’s Club offers a wealth of options for less than the pint-sized blocks sold at grocery stores. Even if you’re sticking with a basic like mild cheddar, you can easily stock up and get all the cheese you need for quite a while (even if you’re heavy handed with it during comfort food season like me) on a budget. 

Just make sure you’re wrapping and properly storing all of that cheese if you think it might mold before you use it up. That’s the key to ensuring you don’t waste any of it.