7 Items To Avoid Buying At Sam's Club

Whether you're shopping for a big family, a large event, or just want to stock up on non-perishable grocery items, warehouse membership stores like Sam's Club offer just what you're looking for. These stores allow you to buy in bulk, which often yields better deals than those you'd find at a more conventional grocery store. But that doesn't mean every product at Sam's Club is worth buying. In fact, there are some that you should actively avoid when you find yourself browsing the warehouse.

Despite having seemingly every product you might need under one roof, some items at Sam's Club simply aren't very good quality, while others just aren't worth purchasing in large quantities. After browsing the website and poring over reviews on Reddit, we've curated a list of products that you can safely skip without feeling like you're missing out on a good grocery deal. 

From bagged salad mixes to ripe strawberries, fresh fruits and veggies are often quite expensive. Therefore, you might think that it only makes sense to buy your produce at Sam's Club, a store that's known for its deals. However, online reviews suggest that you might want to skip the fresh produce section at Sam's Club entirely.

Depending on your local warehouse, you may have to contend with your produce going bad too quickly after you buy it. While there are ways to keep your produce fresh longer, some find that their purchases end up rotting faster than they're able to use the bulk products. A user on Reddit even mentioned that because the packages are so large, it's hard to know if everything in them is fresh at the time of purchase. Oftentimes, they end up tossing half of the product because the produce hidden in the middle of the packages was already rotting before they took them home.

Therefore, it may be a better idea to check out another grocery store or farmer's market when you need to stock up on fresh fruits and veggies. The smaller package sizes and relative freshness might just be better for your budget than any produce deal at Sam's Club.

Whether you're looking for a light, easy-to-make breakfast in the morning or a quick midnight snack, any type of cereal will get the job done. And thankfully, Sam's Club has a lot of it. If you don't want to spend a lot of money on name-brand cereal, then purchasing from Sam's Club store brand, Member's Mark, might seem like the way to go. After all, many of these types of cereal are similar to popular varieties on the market.

However, we wouldn't encourage you to buy Member's Mark cereal if you're really trying to get the most bang for your buck. That's because you're going to have to buy the product in such a large package size that it's quite likely to go stale before you work your way through all of it. Sure, if your whole family is eating the same kind of cereal every morning for breakfast, buying Member's Mark cereal in bulk might not be the worst idea. Otherwise, it may be a better idea to just get a standard-sized box of cereal at a different store instead.

Many Mediterranean dishes are at their best when they're served with a yogurt-based dip, which is why tzatziki is such a beloved condiment. Made with cucumber, dill, garlic, and a host of other flavorful ingredients, it can add a pop of fresh, acidic flavor and a creamy texture to anything it touches. If you ask us, homemade is best, but sometimes, we just don't have the motivation to make it from scratch. That's when a store-bought tzatziki can come in to save the day.

The Member's Mark tzatziki you'll find at Sam's Club, though, isn't the best out there. According to one Redditor, "Their tzatziki is like a jelly! So much pectin it wobbles — nasty." And although the ratings on the Sam's Club webpage for the product rate it at a 4.3 out of 5, there are plenty of less-than-savory reviews for this dip. Some say that the flavor is bland and is considerably worse than the kind of fresh tzatziki you might get at a Greek restaurant. Despite the star rating, we would rather play it on the safe side and listen to the feedback on its texture and flavor. For that, we definitely think there are better store-bought tzatziki brands to seek out before settling on this one.

When it comes to store-brand coffee, you never really know what you're going to get. Often, these inexpensive alternatives don't taste as flavorful or as fresh as higher-quality brands. Sometimes they're not bad, and that's certainly the case when it comes to Member's Mark coffee. If you're opting for a store brand's brew, you could definitely do worse than the stuff they sell at Sam's Club. That doesn't necessarily mean that you should go out and buy it, though — especially if you don't have several adults drinking coffee at home on a regular basis.

Like a lot of products at Sam's Club, coffee is one of those items that just doesn't make sense to buy in bulk. Eventually, that coffee will start to go stale, forcing you to either toss the bag or simply endure stale coffee until you finally finish it off. Sure, snag some Member's Mark coffee for your office's coffee machine, where plenty of people will use it. But consider seeking out smaller package sizes from a different brand if you're just buying coffee to make at home.

Sure, meat may go bad if you store it in the refrigerator, but we don't mind buying large packages of meat from warehouse membership clubs because you can always freeze what you're not going to use right away. As long as you have plenty of space, it might just make sense to buy your meat in bulk. When it comes to quality, though, Sam's Club may not be the best place to shop for chicken, beef, pork, and beyond.

According to one Reddit reviewer who used to work at Sam's Club, they will never purchase their meat there, while others have said that the quality of meat at their local warehouse has declined in recent months. And for anyone who orders curbside pick-up, there's no guarantee that the meat they purchased isn't being left un-refrigerated for long periods of time. Generally speaking, Sam's Club isn't exactly known for its high-quality meat. And with Costco offering a wider variety of options, it might be worth it to get your meat elsewhere.

If you're trying to get your grocery bill down, stocking up on canned foods is a great way to do so. They allow you to get plenty of protein and other nutrients into your diet without having to buy things fresh, and they're shelf-stable, so you don't have to use them right away. Luckily, Sam's Club has plenty of different types of canned foods to choose from. The only problem is that a lot of the cans are incredibly large. And unless you're feeding a large crowd, there's often so much that it's difficult to use before it goes bad. That means you might open up a can of green beans for a particular recipe, only to have half of the can left. You're either going to be eating a lot of green beans for a few days, or you'll end up throwing the rest of the can out, wasting all of that extra food and throwing away any potential money you may have saved by buying in bulk.

When you find smaller-sized cans of food at Sam's Club, go ahead and stock up. But if you ask us, you're better off skipping those packages of huge cans that you'll probably never make it through before they go bad in your fridge.

Having a party? Just like to enjoy a savory snack from time to time? Then you may find yourself scoping out the Member's Mark Franks in a Blanket at Sam's Club. These tiny hot dogs are blanketed in a layer of puff pastry that claims to provide a combo of juicy and flaky textures. Despite the pleasing image on the front of the boxes, though, these looks can be deceiving.

Unfortunately, these simply don't live up to expectations. While they may look good, several reviewers on the product's webpage have also expressed negative opinions about the franks. One mentioned having to return them and lamenting with the employee about how bad they tasted. Others complained about the texture of the product, claiming that it was rubbery, dry, and had an oily film on the biscuits. This freezer section pick is definitely not worth your hard-earned cash, so feel free to leave it off your shopping list.

We selected these products to avoid at Sam's Club based on personal experience as well as online reviews on Reddit and Sam's Club's website. We looked for products that may have had overall bad reviews or standalone Reddit posts about a poor experience with a purchase. While the Sam's Club website may have also featured positive reviews, if the overwhelming consensus was negative, then we thought the product was worth mentioning.

In terms of the reasoning, some of the products on this list are simply impractical to buy in the bulk packaging that Sam's Club offers and would likely go bad before they could be fully consumed. Others don't deliver the quality we would expect at the price points at which they're available at Sam's Club. Ultimately, anyone may have their own personal reasons for not purchasing specific products, but this list compiles those that shoppers typically steer clear of as a whole.