Things you can buy at Buc-ee's that cost less than a gallon of gas
Seems like we’re all pinching pennies these days, as the price of just about everything goes up and up. Gas prices, in particular, have been frustrating for motorists in Alabama, passing more than $4 per gallon in May and climbing even higher during the first half of June. Prices have dropped in July, but gas still isn’t cheap.
With that in mind, we paid a visit to Buc-ee’s, the giant gas station and convenience store in Leeds. People rave about the abundance of road food at this Texas-based chain -- from Beaver Nuggets to pepper jerky to pecan pie kolaches -- and we decided to explore the closest location, searching for cost-conscious things to eat.
Our benchmark: the price of a gallon of gas on Wednesday, July 20, 2022. At Buc-ee’s in Leeds, folks were paying $3.69 per gallon for regular. So what could we buy that costs less than $3.69, in a mega-convenience store that covers 53,250 square feet?
Plenty, as it turns out. Here are 25 items on our shopping list.
BuzzBallz in various flavors are $2.99 each at Buc-ee's, a giant convenience store and gas station in Leeds. (Mary Colurso | mcolurso@AL.com)
What you get: Little booze drinks (or “chillers”) in flavors such as Peach, Lime Rita, Pineapple Colada and Choco. Orange wine is listed as the main ingredient in each, plus various ingredients for flavor. To-go cocktails, anyone?
Good to know: “BuzzBallz is a certified Women Owned and family-operated Texas distillery, winery and brewery founded in 2009,” the company website says.
Price: $2.99 each. One can holds about 6.3 ounces of chiller; the alcohol level is 15 percent by volume.
The Icee machines are popular at Buc-ee's, a giant convenience store and gas station in Leeds. The frozen treat costs 79 cents or 99 cents per cup, depending on the size. (Mary Colurso | mcolurso@AL.com)
What you get: Frozen carbonated drinks in fruit and soda flavors. Think sweet and slushy, for slurping on hot days. Flavors include wild cherry, blue raspberry, Dr. Pepper, Pepsi, Classic Cane Cola and Mountain Dew. The Icee machines tend to be popular at Buc-ee’s, and during peak hours, you might have to wait your turn.
Good to know: Icees and Icee machines have appeared in several movies and on TV shows over the years, and the company has been touting a cameo in “Nope,” the new Jordan Peele film.
Price: 79 cents or 99 cents per cup, depending on the size.
Kolaches are $2.59 with meat filling, $1.59 with sweet filling at Buc-ee's, a giant convenience store and gas station in Leeds. (Mary Colurso | mcolurso@AL.com)
What you get: Pastry rolls stuffed with meat, cheese or fruit. Kolaches are a major favorite with customers at Buc-ee’s locations in Texas. You buy these from a pastry case, near the jerky, fudge and Texas Round Up stations at the store.
Good to know: “Pronounced ‘koh-lah-shee,’ the word kolache is derived from the Czech word, kola, meaning ‘wheels’ or ‘rounds,’ referring to the shape of the pastry,” says the Feeling Foodish website. “A staple of Czech culture, kolaches gained popularity in the United States in the 1880s when thousands of Czech people immigrated to Texas.”
Price: $2.59 each for kolaches with meat fillings, $1.59 each for kolaches with sweet fillings.
Beaver Nuggets in sea salted caramel flavor are $1.69 for a 3-ounce bag at Buc-ee's, a giant convenience store and gas station in Leeds. (Mary Colurso | mcolurso@AL.com)
What you get: Sweet and salty corn puffs. Buc-ee’s is famous for this snack, which comes in a basic version or coated with chocolate, cheese, caramel and sea salt, and more. Aficionados say Beaver Nuggets are addictive, for the taste, the crunch and the relative lack of mess in your car. To us, they definitely scream, “Road food!”
Good to know: “For the unfamiliar, imagine a slightly crunchier puffy Cheeto with a sweet, vaguely caramel tasting flavor,” says the Eater Houston website.
Price: $1.69 for a 3-ounce bag. Bags of Beaver Nuggets come in other sizes -- the 13-ounce bag appears to be the gold standard -- but those cost more than $3.69, our benchmark here.
Cotton candy is $1.59 for a 2-ounce container at Buc-ee's, a giant convenience store and gas station in Leeds. (Mary Colurso | mcolurso@AL.com)
What you get: The iconic spun-sugar confection kids know and love, in classic and watermelon flavors. At Buc-ee’s, cotton candy comes pre-made and stuffed into plastic containers. In other words, you can’t watch it being created, thread by sticky thread, in one of those spinning machines.
Good to know: In other countries, cotton candy is called “fairy floss,” “sugar thread,” “sugar spider,” “papa’s beard” and “dragon’s beard,” per Wordnik.
Price: $1.59 for a 2-ounce tub.
Banana pudding is $3.18 for a small cup at Buc-ee's, a giant convenience store and gas station in Leeds. (Mary Colurso | mcolurso@AL.com)
What you get: Small cup of the dessert Southern folks adore, featuring creamy custard, sliced bananas, vanilla wafers and a dollop of topping. Good as grandma’s? You tell us.
Good to know: Jim Mills, culinary director of Buc-ee’s, calls the banana pudding “luscious,” and included it in his top 10 road-trip snacks in a 2019 interview with Texas Monthly.
Price: $3.18 per small cup. (There’s also a larger size for $3.99, which was pricier than our $3.89 yardstick.)
Nutty Bites are $2.78 to $3.48 per bag, depending on the size and flavor, at Buc-ee's, a giant convenience store and gas station in Leeds. (Mary Colurso | mcolurso@AL.com)
What you get: Nut clusters made with pecans, almonds, cashews and pistachios, flavored with cinnamon, sugar, caramel, blueberries, syrup, salt and more. These bites are “pop in the your mouth” fare, sold pre-packaged in bags. Another sweet-and-salty option at Buc-ee’s.
Good to know: Buc-ee’s has earned fame for its sugar-coated nuts, prepared in the store near the fudge counter. Those are sold warm in paper cones, and they’re outside the price point we set here. Nutty Bites are in the same ballpark, however, and the price was right for our purposes
Price: $2.78 to $3.48 per bag, depending on the size and flavor. Various bags weigh in at 3, 3.5 and 4 ounces.
In the mood for a few hard-boiled eggs? They're $1.43 per cup at Buc-ee's, a giant convenience store and gas station in Leeds. (Mary Colurso | mcolurso@AL.com)
What you get: Two hard-boiled eggs, peeled and chilled. Served plain and simple.
Good to know: “There’s obviously only one use for a plastic cup bedecked with a smiling beaver, filled with two hard-boiled eggs and nothing else -- grabbing and consuming straight from the container by you, weeping and alone in your Mazda,” the Houstonia website says. Agree or disagree?
Trail mix in various flavors is $2.99 for a 10-ounce bag at Buc-ee's, a giant convenience store and gas station in Leeds. (Mary Colurso | mcolurso@AL.com)
What you get: A mixture of nuts, sesame sticks, peanut butter chips, pretzels, corn sticks, corn nuggets and more, pre-packaged in 10-ounce bags. Varieties include Peanut Butter Blast, Sweet & Savory and Trail Blazin’ Crunch.
Good to know: If you have trouble making choices, Buc-ee’s may put you into a tailspin. The store tends to line up several varieties of a particular snack, sometimes covering an entire wall with them. Our advice: Don’t overthink it.
Kettle-style chips in various flavors are $1.49 per 2-ounce bag at Buc-ee's, a giant convenience store and gas station in Leeds. (Mary Colurso | mcolurso@AL.com)
What you get: Potato chips cooked in batches, instead of continually fried. That makes ‘em thicker, crunchier and, fans say, gives the chips more of a potato flavor. The house brand at Buc-ee’s comes in Salt & Vinegar, Jalapeno, Cajun Boil and other varieties.
Good to know: If you don’t like kettle-style chips, Buc-ee’s offers traditional chips for the same price, in flavors such as barbecue, sour cream and onion, hot and jalapeno.
Price: $1.49 for a 2-ounce bag.
Ice is 69 cents for a small bag, 99 cents for a large bag at Buc-ee's, a giant convenience store and gas station in Leeds. (Mary Colurso | mcolurso@AL.com)
What you get: Frozen cubes of H2O. But you knew that already.
Good to know: Like many convenience stores, Buc-ee’s keeps the ice in outdoor coolers. These line the walkway leading to one of the store entrances, past the statue of the Buc-ee’s mascot. (Yep, it’s a beaver with a pronounced overbite.)
Price: 69 cents for a small bag, 99 cents for a large bag.
Beaver Buddies (like animal crackers) are $1.58 per 2-ounce box at Buc-ee's, a giant convenience store and gas station in Leeds. (Mary Colurso | mcolurso@AL.com)
What you get: Cute little cookies in eight different shapes, reminiscent of old-school animal crackers. The box says they’re “baked in sprinkles.”
Good to know: See that red truck pictured on the box? You’ll find a full-size version parked inside the store, filled with stuffed animals. (They’re the Buc-ee’s beaver, of course.)
Price: $1.58 for a 2-ounce box.
OverBites (chocolate candy bars) are $1.99 apiece at Buc-ee's, a giant convenience store and gas station in Leeds. (Mary Colurso | mcolurso@AL.com)
What you get: Chocolate candy bars stamped with the Buc-ee’s logo. Varieties include Milk Chocolate Peanut Butter, White Chocolate Peanut Butter and Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter. These feel solid and hefty when you pick up the package.
Good to know: “It’s like a hockey puck of chocolate,” one reviewer said on YouTube. “This thing’s a beast.”
Price: $1.99 for a 4-ounce package.
Need some barbecue sauce? It's $2.99 for a 20-ounce bottle at Buc-ee's, a giant convenience store and gas station in Leeds. (Mary Colurso | mcolurso@AL.com)
What you get: A bottle of Texas-style barbecue sauce. Or as Buc-ee’s describes it: “A premium blend of savory spices with just the right amount of heat, adding our signature smoky flavor to your favorite dish. Beaver tested, Beaver approved!”
Good to know: As we understand it, this is the same stuff they use at the store’s barbecue station, which is wildly popular, especially for brisket sandwiches.
Pecan logs are $2.99 each at Buc-ee's, a giant convenience store and gas station in Leeds. (Mary Colurso | mcolurso@AL.com)
What you get: Nougat galore, dipped in caramel and rolled in chopped pecan pieces. (Note: The famous pecan logs from Stuckey’s include maraschino cherries in the recipe, but the logs at Buc-ee’s do not.)
Good to know: Pecan logs are popular in the South, especially during the winter holidays. “I ain’t trying to tell you what to do,” the TexasSnax website says, “but if you don’t eat this as soon as you get it, set it out next to the milk and see if Santa approves!”
Price: $2.99 for a 4-ounce log.
Buc-Arrones (puffed wheat snacks in various flavors) are $1.49 for a snack-sized bag at Buc-ee's, a giant convenience store and gas station in Leeds. (Mary Colurso | mcolurso@AL.com)
What you get: Puffed wheat snacks in Chili and Lime flavor. Lighter than chips, but they deliver a satisfying crunch.
Good to know: These cry out for an alcoholic accompaniment -- say, a cold beer or a frosty margarita -- so they might not be a great road food. Save the Buc-Arrones until you get home.
Price: $1.49 for a 2-ounce bag.
Rock candy is 98 cents per stick at Buc-ee's, a giant convenience store and gas station in Leeds. (Mary Colurso | mcolurso@AL.com)
What you get: Colored sugar crystals on a stick, in cherry, grape, watermelon and blue raspberry flavors. Pretty stuff, and pretty nostalgic.
Good to know: Unless you have a super sweet tooth -- or a craving for old-fashioned penny candy -- you might want to leave this one for the kids.
Pork rinds in various flavors are $1.49 per bag at Buc-ee's, a giant convenience store and gas station in Leeds. (Mary Colurso | mcolurso@AL.com)
What you get: Strips of deep-fried pig skin, seasoned in various ways. Flavors include Dill, Chili Limon and Habanero. Don’t knock ‘em until you try ‘em.
Good to know: “Pork rinds have no carbohydrates and are high in fat and protein, so they are a popular chip-replacement and snack among followers of low-carb or Keto diets,” says the Food Network website. “But pork rinds are a processed food that are high in sodium, which can increase blood pressure, and high in saturated fat and cholesterol, which can raise levels of LDL cholesterol (aka the bad kind), so it’s best to consume them in moderation.”
Price: $1.49 for a 2-ounce bag.
Chocolate chip cookie dough bites are $2.49 per cup at Buc-ee's, a giant convenience store and gas station in Leeds. (Mary Colurso | mcolurso@AL.com)
What you get: Chocolate-chip cookie dough, cut into little rounds for “pop and eat” ease. Look for them in small cups, stored in refrigerator cases at Buc-ee’s.
Good to know: Ingredients are listed on a label attached to each cup, so you can make your own decisions about eating raw cookie dough.
Loaves of Sara Lee bread are $3.12 each at Buc-ee's, a giant convenience store and gas station in Leeds. (Mary Colurso | mcolurso@AL.com)
What you get: One familiar loaf of Sara Lee sliced bread, in butter bread or honey wheat.
Good to know: We’re not sure how many people would go to Buc-ee’s for a loaf of bread, but the store has it in stock. It’s a staple, after all.
Cinnamon bears are $2.99 for a 12-ounce bag and salt water taffy is $3.48 for a 12-ounce bag at Buc-ee's, a giant convenience store and gas station in Leeds. (Mary Colurso | mcolurso@AL.com)
What you get: Candy, candy, candy. There’s an abundance of it at Buc-ee’s, including cinnamon gummy bears and several varieties of salt water taffy.
Good to know: Sure, it sticks to your teeth. But this type of candy is fun to eat, and reminds us of carnivals and beach trips.
Price: $2.99 for a 12-ounce bag of cinnamon bears, $3.48 for a 12-ounce bag of salt water taffy.
Pecan pralines are $2.69 each at Buc-ee's, a giant convenience store and gas station in Leeds. (Mary Colurso | mcolurso@AL.com)
What you get: A sweet Southern treat, typically made from sugar, corn syrup, milk, butter and pecan halves. At Buc-ee’s, they’re prepared in advance and wrapped in cellophane.
Good to know: We discovered these in a pile near the cash registers, which means pralines are tempting as an impulse purchase.
Price: $2.69 per praline, about 3-4 inches in diameter.
Cups of coffee range from 99 cents to $1.59 at Buc-ee's, a convenience store and gas station in Leeds. (Mary Colurso | mcolurso@Al.com)
What you get: Hot and fresh java, brewed in several Bunn machines. Buc-ee’s has earned raves for its coffee, and the self-serve coffee station is a busy spot at the store.
Good to know: There’s an area near the coffee station devoted to a wealth of creamers and sweeteners. You might think it would get messy over there, but staffers at Buc-ee’s keep the area clean and tidy, 24/7.
Price: Ranges from 99 cents to $1.59 per cup, depending on the size.
Chocolate-covered sunflower seeds are $1.99 for a 3-ounce container at Buc-ee's, a giant convenience store and gas station in Leeds. (Mary Colurso | mcolurso@AL.com)
What you get: Colorful, candy-coated sunflower seeds, with a thin layer of milk chocolate.
Good to know: Buc-ee’s also sells 3-ounce tubes of chocolate rocks -- that is, rock candy coated in colored chocolate -- right next to the sunflower seeds. And if you prefer plain sunflower seeds, shelled or unshelled, they’ve got those, too.
Price: $1.99 for a 3-ounce container.
Candy corn is $2.99 for a 12-ounce bag at Buc-ee's, a giant convenience store and gas station in Leeds. (Mary Colurso | mcolurso@AL.com)
What you get: Tri-colored candy that’s popular at Halloween. But why wait until October? If you adore this sugary stuff -- and lots of people do -- you can get your fix at Buc-ee’s year-round.
Good to know: “Candy corn is a sweet replica of dried corn kernels,” says the HowStuffWorks website. “It’s considered a ‘mellow cream,’ a name for a type of candy made from corn syrup and sugar that has a marshmallow-like flavor. Although candy corn tastes rich, it’s actually fat-free.”
Price: $2.99 for a 12-ounce bag.
If you want a 3-inch round Buc-ee's pin with a tie-dye background as a souvenir, it'll cost you $1.99 at the convenience store and gas station in Leeds. (Mary Colurso | mcolurso@AL.com)
Bucee’s offers a dizzying array of snack foods, and plenty of them cost less than $3.69. That includes pints of ice cream, frozen fruit bars, dried fruit slices, peanut brittle, chocolate-covered almonds and caramels, pretzels, baked cheese curls, meat sticks, meringue swirls, flavored granola, cinnamon rolls, doughnuts, pies, pickles, almond clusters, cookies and cups filled with pineapple chunks.
A hot apple pie costs $1.78. A bag of Beaver Chips (think hot, thick potato chips) is $1.98. A plain hot dog is $2.98, but the price increases when you start to “build your own” with chili, cheese, onions, dill relish and other condiments.
Also, you can get some non-food items for less than $3.69 at Buc-ee’s. We mostly focused on food during our search, but spotted the following along the way:
What’s the best sandwich at Buc-ee’s? (Spoiler alert: It’s not BBQ brisket)
To mask or not to mask? Here’s what shoppers decided at Buc-ee’s in Alabama
Buc-ee’s set to start construction on Gulf Coast mega-store
How Buc-ee’s took America by storm
Buc-ee’s in Alabama: Texas-sized convenience store is a destination in itself
A statue of the Buc-ee's beaver is a popular spot for photos and selfies at the gas station and convenience store in Leeds. (Mary Colurso | mcolurso@AL.com)
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