Can anyone tell me where you buy your bulk items for cake making? Such as powd sugar, Crisco, Oil, Cake mixes, etc. I feel like an idiot leaving the local Walmart with 50+ cake mixes and 6 Crisco containers. I left with $150 worth last night. There has to be an easier way!

Do you have places like Sam's where you are? Around here you can buy just about anything in bulk there. Maybe not cake mixes...not sure

Do you have a Sam's club, Costco's or Bj's in your area?

We do have a Sam's Club about 1 1/2 hour away. Going there on Thurs (my Grandma lives there) Do they sell bulk baking items? I was wondering if the bulk powd sugar was the correct kind to be using. What about the other items I mentioned?

Hi MicheleH. I'm from Iowa too! new Hartford. Mycousin graduated from Morning sun, years ago. What a small world! I stock up at Aldi foods for powd sugar, sugar, flour and Walmart for Crisco, etc. Good Luck!
Michelle C.

soccermom17-Don't feel like you have to answer this, I know there are a lot of crazies out there, but who is your cousin? Is he/she still around here? I was born and raised here, so I know everyone it seems!

Does the Aldi powdered sugar work as well as say, C&H? I worry about smoothing, etc.

I'll email you regarding my cousin.
As far as Aldi powdered sugar, I made chocolate frosting from a Baker's Square recipe last night. The first batch I made I didn't sift it and there were lumps, so I made a new batch and sifted it and it was fine. When I've used it for buttercream frosting I haven't sifted it and there weren't lumps, but I think i'll sift it from now on. In Cedar Falls it's only .99 for a 2 lb. bag, same price for a bag of brown sugar. Hope this helps.

Thanks for the info. I don't have a lot of time with three little ones still at home, so I may opt for buying the $1.38 C&H from Walmart to skip the sifting stage. Plus, my sifter doesn't work the greatest! Thanks again!

I buy 5# and 10# bags of powdered sugar at Sam's. I get 25# of sugar and flour there too. They also have Brown Sugar in bulk. If you use half sheet baking pans, they sale a twin pack for eight bucks. Sam's sells lots of things for small business in the food industry. Costco sells the ingredients, just not any of he extras that Sam's sells.

Have you tried the semi sweet chips from Aldis?? And thanks for the info on teh ps...I was wondering about it.

I just checked my cupboard, and I have butterscotch chips, but now semi sweet. i used the Fastco brand (Fareway) for an order of cookies I had last week, and wasn't happy with them. I did buy a huge bag of Toll House at Walmart this weekend.
What size are your sheet cakes and what do you charge, say for a 9x13? etc. Is that considered a 1/4 sheet?

MicheleH: Oh, many of us know the feeling about leaving Walmart with a cart full of cake mixes! All of the cashiers got to know me as "the cookie lady" when they found out I use the Walmart brand chocolate cake mix for some of my cookie recipes (believe it or not, we tried using a name brand cake mix for one recipe and it didn't turn out as well). Customers standing behind me would make comments. One guy in line behind me, as he watched me put 36 cake mixes on the check out, flat out said, "OK ..... I've GOT to ask!"

I buy my stuff from GFS, Sysco, Sam's and Walmart. Some things are cheaper at Walmart, like the mini M&M's for cookies. To buy a 25-lb bag of them thru Sysco would have cost me $13 more than buying 25 lbs worth in the little regular bags at Walmart. AND .... I didnt' have to buy 25 lbs at one time!

A fun story that I'll share: Right after Katrina, Sysco was out of sugar. My sales rep kept telling me they just could not get it because of Katrina. I said, "Well, maybe you should back your truck up to Sam's because they've got plenty!"

When someone asks a friend of mine what she is going to do with all the cake mix, she hands them a business card. She gets a lot of business that way.

Theresa

Quick HELLO to all the Iowans!! BRRRR it's gotten cold finally.
I get a majority of my bulk items form Sysco. Occassionally run to Martin Bros. in cedar falls or mason city. I like their clear vanilla. Cake mixes fRom super walmart. Try picking up 30 cases of them during graduation.
if any Iowans need cake boxes I get mine from a company in Cedar Falls called Weber paper. My reps name is Darwin.
I had trouble with powdered sugar after Katrina too. But them were only out of the 25lb bags so I had to switch to 50 lb. I t was becasue the plant could only package one size

Thank you all for your replies. I must live in the sticks though because I've only heard of Sam's & Super Walmart. I guess without driving awhile, I'm stuck getting things where I do.

Heavenlys-Thanks for the cake box info. I will check with them and compare prices. I normally order mine through Restockit.com. Not bad prices, but paying shipping sticks!

Heavenlys, thanks for all of the info. Yes, it is cold today. We even had a light dusting of snow yesterday! My son is thrilled. Thanks for the heads up about Sysco, didn't even think about them. I didn't find much as Martin Brothers, just the vanilla and almond flavoring. That's funny you said the Weber paper co., my printer in Parkersburg mentioned them too! So I'll be checking into them.
Thanks for all of the leads!