Full Time RV Living: Sam’s Club and Costco Memberships–Are they Worth It?

I was laughing with and telling RV friends the other day, that when we sold the house with the freezer,
and the big pantry, and moved into the RV. . .I wasn’t sure how I was going to stock up on groceries. . .
in fact, as Karen, who writes the FabGrandma blog might tell you, I had a little bit of a melt down about it.

I knew we were headed to Yellowstone, and I was just sure there wasn’t going to be ANYWHERE to get groceries,
and we didn’t have room in the rig for huge supplies.  Knowing Karen and her hubby were working at the
North Rim of the Grand Canyon, which is very remote. . .I sent her a note as to how she handled this issue.

Karen was kind enough to send me a list of essentials that she kept on hand at all times to prevent starvation. . .LOL!
Dried milk
Dried Beans
etc., etc. . .

Now that we’ve been traveling a few years, I know I will definitely be able to find groceries somewhere, and it is no longer an issue. . .which is why I am asking if you think a Sam’s Club or Costco Membership is worth it. . .

My mother, who taught me to cook everything from scratch, (bless her heart,) always had a pantry filled with essentials. . .in other words, if she decided to make most anything, she probably had the supplies on hand.

My mother in law, who was an awesome cook, and taught me many, many tricks to good food, also had a well stocked pantry and freezer. . .

Having a Sam’s Club accessible,  especially when my boys were teenagers, and I was working a full time job, allowed me to keep the pantry and freezer well stocked with convenience items, which allowed the boys to be self sufficient, and made life simple for us all. . .

Soooo. . .when we moved into the RV, I questioned whether to keep the Sam’s Club Membership or not. . .was it really worth the annual fee when I could no longer purchase items in bulk?  Calculating just the savings on coffee supplies. . .coffee beans, splenda, creamer. . .quickly convinced me that it was.

But. . .there’s not always a Sam’s Club convenient to our location. . .so, we have to think ahead. . .ha ha!  Here we are at Sam’s Club. . .how long will it be before we are near a Sam’s Club again?  How much of each thing do we need to purchase to hold us over until we find the next Sam’s Club? 

This trip. . .I guess I miscalculated. . .because a couple of pricey things, like vitamins, are going to run completely out.  So now I must decide on how to resolve the problem. . .do I just pay an arm and a leg at the local mega mart, and purchase enough to tide me over, or do we make the supreme sacrifice and stop at a Sam’s Club this week as we pull the rig through Houston. . .hmmmmm. . .guess I’ll see what Dave has to say.
  
When he is pulling the rig. . .he just hates having to maneuver the mazes that are designed as parking lots these days. . .I’m gonna go do some research with Google Satellite. . .see if there are any easily accessible parking lots on the way. . .

So. . .what do you think?  Do you still use Warehouse Club Memberships. . .or have you decided it’s just not worth the bother?