I avoided having a membership to Costco for the longest time. I didn't want to have to pay a yearly membership, for one thing, and I'd heard a few stories about impulse shopping and buying a large quantity of one item only to never use it. My in-laws have given us 10 of an item on more than one occasion when it turned out they didn't care for the item they'd bought, since many of the canned goods come in cases of one dozen count.
About five years ago I was given the responsibility of doing a good portion of the shopping for my employer, and Costco is one of the places we frequent. I would say I shop there at least once every two to three months. Since I was given a card in my name, this also gave me an opportunity to learn what the stores carried. Interestingly the items you find at one Costco might not be available at another.
As a result of shopping for my employer, I have found a number of items that I always buy from Costco (unless we can find them on sale elsewhere) because the price is better than at the regular grocery store.
Here are those items:
- Kirkland Brand Rice and Lamb Cat Food 25 pounds $16.39
- Ziploc Brand Gallon Freezer Bags 152 bags $10.45
- Ziploc Brand Quart Freezer Bags 216 bags $9.25
- Ziploc Brand Sandwich Bags 500 bags $7.99
- Kirkland Brand 33 Gallon Drawstring Trash Bags 90 count $13.99
- Kirkland Brand 13 Gallon Drawstring Trash Bags 200 count $11.99
- Baking Yeast 2# $3.95
- Kirkland Brand AA Batteries 48 count $9.98
- Kirkland Brand AAA Batteries 48 count $12.99
- Onions 10# bag $4.29
- Organic Frozen Green Beans 5# bag $6.19
- Frozen Cauliflower, Broccoli, Carrots and Yellow Carrots 5# bag $4.99
- Exam Gloves (we use them for various things around the house: cooking purposes like cutting up meat, cleaning toilets, Mr. A uses them for changing oil, and he also buys them for his business) $14.99
- Avocados 5 per bag $5.99
- Kirkland Brand Unsalted Sweet Cream Butter 4 pounds $7.99
- Fresh Spinach 2.5# bag $3.99
- Fresh Whole Mushrooms 24 ounces $3.99
- Fresh Organic Carrots 10# $4.59
- 5 dozen large eggs $4.89
Share in the comments below, if you shop Costco, what do you buy?
I’m a believer in having a Costco membership. W e regularly buy:
canned tuna
ground beef
ground turkey
dog food (both canned and dry)
cat food (canned)
vitamins and supplements
milk
cheese
coffee
trash bag
and so much more…
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Staples that we always buy at Costco include: Toilet paper, paper towel, batteries, laundry soap, fabric softener, laundry sheets, Windex, Ziploc bags, canned mushrooms, raisins, parmesan cheese, graham crackers, granola bars, certain vitamins, and a few other things. We’ll always look at what we have as well as look at their coupons and stock up accordingly.
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I buy everything I can there, largely because it’s convenient to get staples and household goods in lifetime supplies (the house has plenty of storage!) and because buying a month’s worth of good keeps me out of stores and so, paradoxically, keeps grocery and household expenditures down.
Their meat is comparable to AJs at regular grocery-store prices. You can’t buy meat of that quality at Safeway or any other regular supermarket in town.
I also buy the Gloria Vanderbilt jeans there, which are now the only jeans that will fit around my capacious rear end. They occasionally have some cute tops, too.
Best to bring a list and stick to it… It really is Impulse-Buy Central.
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Premio brand sausage
Hot dog and hamburger rolls for a party
Mickey Mouse chicken nuggets
Fruit, especially berries and avocado
Coffee creamer
I’ve also found some name brand clothes there at dirt cheap prices.
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Like FaM, we pretty much buy everything from Costco. Since I bake all of our bread, cookies, etc their flour is cheaper than anything I can get at the grocery, and the quality is excellent. I buy the big bags of yeast and freeze it, no problem getting it to work months later. Whole chicken is .89 a lb, which is cheaper than the reg. price around here. I get two meals for a family of five per chicken if I roast it. All of our fruit is from Costco, potatoes too. I used to have a dreadful time with potatoes going bad quickly when I got them from the grocery store, not so with Costco. Our last shopping trip I stocked up on:
bread flour 50# $10.89
rice 50# $20.99
diphenhydramine 400 minitabs $3.19 (essential for our dog and cat who have allergies, plus the humans use it too)
When I shopped at the commissary a 20# bag of rice would cost around $18. We eat rice almost every day, so this is a substantial savings. Gigantic bag of pintos is a must. Costco is one of the reasons I can feed the kids when ex-husband fails to pay support, I have a stockpile of food basics that get us by. Nothing fancy but no one is going to starve. Another reason why I think it’s important to have a 6 month supply of basics stored, you never know when you are going to have to depend on it to live.
My brother lives in Bay area and he gets stuff I wish i could buy, like more Asian stuff.
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