# Bulk sugar



## Stephen (Mar 2, 2011)

Mine have been doing the same. I'm buying it at sams club now in 10 or 25 pound bags. Only other place I've found local has 50 pound bags but it's more expensive then buying (2) 25 pound bags from sams club.


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## ArkansasBK (Mar 5, 2011)

Our bee Asso. has gotten a local farm store to buy broken bags from a candy company and keep it in stock for us. You might be able to buy directly from a candy co. if you have one close. From our farm store, we buy a 5 gal. bucket ( 40 lbs) for $12. Candy companies aren't allowed to use it if the bag is torn open.


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## LtlWilli (Mar 11, 2008)

That sounds like a good proposition, but the nearest candy place is 25 miles distant. Too far to be profitable. What a shame. 
You've done well on the candy store sugar. Congrats !


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## Tom G. Laury (May 24, 2008)

Good tip from Arky. 

Look for food processing outfits that use sugar and are near you. If spilled ripped open minor contamination etc., it becomes unfit for human consumption.


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## Hokie Bee Daddy (Apr 1, 2011)

We had a farm store to our North who used to carry bulk sugar until the Revenuers shut them down. Seems bulk sugar can be used to make something else...

I buy mine at the local Dollar General Market and pay about $0.50 per pound in small 4 pound bags. That's the cheapest I've been able to find it anywhere. Everytime that I go in to buy 8 to 10 bags the cashier asks me what I'm doing with all that sugar and I have to explain that I'm a beekeeper and its all legit.


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## PCM (Sep 18, 2007)

From the sound of your posts you may be big enough in hive numbers to forget the sugar and go with HFCS.
You would of course have to find a supplier in Springfield.
PCM


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## ArkansasBK (Mar 5, 2011)

LtlWilli said:


> Too far to be profitable.


I live 20 miles from the farm store myself. I just pick it up when I'm in the area for other reasons. 

Hard to believe there is no candy makers in Canton!! I love First Monday trade days.! Try to go once a year at least.


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## Katharina (May 2, 2011)

We have a cash and carry store where they sell it for 80 cent per pound. I thought they are supposed to be cheaper because they supply restaurants, but it turned out that I pay 60 cent per pound at the local Walmart. We are in the boonies so that is where my choices end up being. Bakery supply stores may also be a source for sugar. All those places usually sell in 40 pound bags, which is quite heavy for me and my bad knees (hiking accident). I prefer to get it at Walmart in 10 pound bags, which works well for mixing in 5 gallon pails. Walmart also has a 25 pound bag, but the price per pound is the same.


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## cg3 (Jan 16, 2011)

Cheapest sugar I have found is ALDIs 5 lb bags for $2.29. - $.45/lb is cheaper than I have found 25 or 50lb bags for.


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## BoilerJim (Apr 15, 2011)

I was buying from Sams Club @ $14.50 for 25 lbs. 

However, I'm going to try Dollar General at Hokie Bee Daddy's suggestion at 50 cents a pound. Based on that rate 25 lbs would come to $12.50.

Jim


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## hilreal (Aug 16, 2005)

Watch stores for sales around holidays, XMAS, Thanksgiving when people do a lot of baking. Can often find it for less than 40 center per pound. Have them order you some cases. It keeps.


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## Kingfisher Apiaries (Jan 16, 2010)

LtlWilli said:


> That sounds like a good proposition, but the nearest candy place is 25 miles distant. Too far to be profitable. What a shame.
> You've done well on the candy store sugar. Congrats !


Where would that be? 25 miles aint that bad!
mike


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## SpeckledPup (May 25, 2011)

Newbee here with alot to learn.

Question about the Wal-mart and ALDI sugar. The bags just say pure sugar not pure *cane *sugar and my understanding is that this meant it could be beet sugar. 

I thought I had read somewhere that you weren't suppose to give the beet sugar to the bees just the cane sugar. 

So can I give them beet sugar?

Thanks
Becky


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## Hokie Bee Daddy (Apr 1, 2011)

Boiler Jim. Just looked at the last receipt and it was $2.25 for a 4 pound bag last time I bought so it went up some. That would be $14.06 for 25 pounds. If the price hasn't gone up in the last month it'll help a little. I check a couple of times a year and their price is always better than Sam's.


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## Sid from Texas (Jan 24, 2011)

Like has been suggested I go to DOllar General for 50 cents a pound sugar in four pound bags. My local gocery chain had a sale last week for 48 cents a pound for four pound bags.

I have truly thought of HFCS for simplicity, does anyone know how to order it in bulk? ie Sources, costs, comparison cost to sugar???


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## Arose (Aug 25, 2015)

Sid from Texas said:


> Like has been suggested I go to DOllar General for 50 cents a pound sugar in four pound bags. My local gocery chain had a sale last week for 48 cents a pound for four pound bags.
> 
> I have truly thought of HFCS for simplicity, does anyone know how to order it in bulk? ie Sources, costs, comparison cost to sugar???


In north Carolina I find 4lb bag crystal sugar for 1.75.


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## lowhog (May 5, 2015)

I just paid 12 dollars and change for 25 pound bags at Walmart. The nearest Cosco's is 40 mile away. Next time I go there I'll check there price.


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## rookie2531 (Jul 28, 2014)

My Walmart sells it also for 12.and some change, plus tax too.

My local bee supplier has hfcs for sale at the same price, like 14. For 50 lbs. But after some research, I have read that percentages of sucrose and fructose differ in hfcs and the prices reflect that. So, I would rather know that my 1:1 is actually 1:1 than not know how weak the hfcs is.

Oh, to the op, i think the price only drops when you start ordering it by the pallet.


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## RayMarler (Jun 18, 2008)

The U.S. has tariffs on imported sugar to help protect the domestic sugar industry and keep prices elevated over world prices. The prices for sugar go on sale in the fall as harvest season is then, and if the warehouses are stocked up at that time, they will put it on sale to clear the warehouses so that the newly harvested can have a place to be stored. 

I found white granulated sugar on sale at Cash & Carry last fall for 9.25 per 25lb bags. This comes to $0.37 per pounds and I'd not seen it that cheap in about ten years, so I purchased 4 or 5 hundred pounds. A month later I got another 100 pounds for 10.25 per 25lb bag. I think I ended up with 600lbs and I now only have 150lbs left and now it's 11.79 per 25lb bag. I'll be looking for it to go on sale here again in the next month or two and I'll be stocking up for next year at that time.


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## Roland (Dec 14, 2008)

I buy a pallet(2,500 lbs) of 50 lb beet sugar for slightly less than at Aldi's. The big advantage is that I save alot of time opening bags. It would be even cheaper in a cloth bag, but then I would have to weigh it loose instead of counting bags.

Crazy Roland


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## Vance G (Jan 6, 2011)

Beet sugar works just fine for me and is considerably cheaper than cane. Cheap is good. I am feeding every five days right now trying to get nucs ready to winter. 46.1 cents a pound at Sams and thankfully we have no sales tax.


SpeckledPup said:


> Newbee here with alot to learn.
> 
> Question about the Wal-mart and ALDI sugar. The bags just say pure sugar not pure *cane *sugar and my understanding is that this meant it could be beet sugar.
> 
> ...


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## Terry C (Sep 6, 2013)

I've been getting mine at WM for $11-something per 25 lb bag . The employee discount just balances the sales tax here . (The wife works there , I'm just a lazy bum that lays around the house all day eating bonbons .)


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