By April Swiger, Contributing Writer
My husband and I love saving money by shopping at Costco. During our shopping trips we’ve enjoyed quite a few dates in the food court, chatting over a couple hotdogs for $3.18. Those cheap dates were something we always looked forward to in the early years of our marriage (and, if I’m honest, we still enjoy them occasionally as we hold to the 80/20 rule when it comes to the food we eat. Eighty percent is real food, twenty percent is freedom and grace).
Everyone has different standards for their food, and different budgets. These are our personal choices. It may not work for you, and that’s ok. However, I believe that buying some food in bulk is one of the smartest moves a savvy homemaker can do with her budget.
If you are looking to support all local and organic farms (which I love to do when I can), then shopping at Costco isn’t going to be your thing. If you’re hoping to get the most for your money, while still eating real food, then Costco may be a great option!
Any dollar I can save is worth it, especially since our family grew recently through foster care (holy cow, toddlers can eat a lot!). Costco has saved our butts quite a few times.
Living on one income causes you to truly evaluate your needs vs. wants. We’ve learned to delay gratification, and only purchase food that will be used for our meals. This means we don’t really buy snacks at all except the occasional organic tortilla chips and salsa from Costco, or organic popcorn kernels that I get for a steal at our local market (then we slather it with Kerrygold butter that we stock up on at Costco).
If you want a snack in our home, it may not be as convenient as opening up a package, but it’s well-worth it for our family and personal financial situation.
The biggest factor in making Costco work for us is meal planning. It’s really important that the fresh produce I buy is eaten before it spoils, or I buy heartier varieties like apples, carrots, avocados, bananas, or citrus fruit. I cannot justify letting any bit of food go to waste! If it’s gone bad in my refrigerator, it’s likely due to poor planning on my part.
Upon arrival home from a Costco trip, I freeze the meat, cheese, and any other item that would store well there. This makes meal planning quick and relatively easy for me as I just glance in my freezer and see what I have stocked up for the month.
An additional aspect of my meal planning includes occasional freezer meal prep. Costco’s packages of chicken drumsticks make this a snap. A Ziploc bag with meat, a marinade, and chopped veggies are simple and nourishing.
Here’s a list of what I purchase from Costco:
Fresh Produce:
Avocados ($5.99/6 count)
Clementines ($5.99/5 lbs)
Lemons ($6.99/5 lbs)
Organic Apples ($9.99/5.5 lbs)
Bananas ($0.43/lb)
Organic Spring Mix Lettuce ($4.89/1 lb package)
Dairy:
Kerrygold Butter ($6.99/3 8oz packages)
Kerrygold Cheese ($5.18/lb)
Meat:
Whole Chickens – Organic ($2.49/lb – I roast 2-3 of these a month and make bone broth too)
Chicken Drumsticks – Organic ($1.99/lb)
Ground Beef – Organic ($19.99 for 4 lbs)
Pantry Items:
Raw Honey ($14.79/2.75 lbs)
Pure Maple Syrup ($12.79/1 quart)
Carrington Farms Coconut Oil ($17.49/54 oz)
Kirkland Peanut Butter ($10.99/2 40 oz containers)
Mayorga Coffee ($12.99/2 lbs)
Almonds ($15.99/3 lbs)
Itaja Organic Sugar ($8.49/10 lbs)
Organic Tomato Paste ($5.99/12 6 oz cans)
Organic Tomato Sauce ($5.49/2 25 oz jars)
Canned Sardines ($8.49/5 3.75 oz tins – these are sustainable and one of the least contaminated fish available)
Related: Low-Carb Pasta Alternatives You’ll Actually Love
Frozen:
Organic Frozen Fruit Mix ($10.49/3 lbs)
Kirkland Frozen Wild Alaskan Salmon ($32.99/ 3 lbs)
Household Items:
Kirkland Toilet Paper ($15.99/30 rolls)
Aluminum Foil ($15.99/500 sq ft)
Gallon Ziploc Bags ($12.59/152 bags)
Kirkland Diapers and Wipes (Price depends on size)
Parchment Paper ($9.99/410 sq ft)
Kirkland Paper Towels ($15.99/12 rolls)
Plastic Wrap ($9.99/1500 sq ft)
Kitchen Trash Bags ($14.39/200 13 gallon bags)
Occasional Splurge/Convenience Items:
Kirkland Chocolate Chips ($8.69/72 oz)
Applesauce Go Go Squeez Pouches ($10.49/24 pouches)
Kirkland Organic Corn Chips ($4.99/40 oz)
Aidells Chicken Apple Sausages ($13.59/3 lbs)
Kirkland Organic Salsa ($8.49/2 38 oz containers)
A few last tips, and things to think through:
- Ask yourself – Is it worth the $55 membership fee and cost of gas if you live far away?
- Go during lunch time for free samples (but don’t be a sucker and end up with a cartload full of junk).
- Take advantage of the coupons and manufacture rebates, many of which are instant at checkout (this is fairly new).
- Meal planning is key when buying in bulk. Be sure that nothing will go to waste!
- Always be on the lookout for changing prices in your area. I buy a lot more produce locally during the summer when it’s cheaper, and less from Costco.
If you don’t have a Costco in your area, Aldi and Trader Joe’s are also great stores to buy healthy food at a low price! Fore more posts on frugal spending on real food, click here!
Jaime
Awesome! We have a Sam’s Club nearby and love going there for bulk paper products. Their meat is the cheapest I’ve seen, with ground turkey at $2.59/lb and chicken breasts at $1.98/lb.
Monica
Anyone with kids who wear glasses should consider Costco! We have 2 in glasses (1 of which HAS to have transitions lenses) our savings on glasses alone are enough to justify the membership! They are constantly adding more Organic choices too! They are telling their suppliers that this is what people want, which is awesome! By far my FAVORITE organic deal is the sugar! Definitely beats local stores!
April
Monica, that’s a great tip, thank you for sharing! Yes, the organic sugar is a great deal in our area too.
Leslie
My favorite place to buy applesauce pouches is Big Lots. They usually have a good amount of them for about 25-30 cents per pouch. I check the ingredients to make sure there’s no added sugar, preservatives, artificial colors, etc. We stock up on these and keep some in the fridge and freezer for a nice cold snack in the summer.
Mary Ellen/ Whisk Together
I love Costco! They are carry items that know one else does sometimes. Their pre-packaged items may not be the totally cheapest way to go, but it is certainly much cheaper and tastier than eating out. I love their chicken noodle soup that is made with real chicken. We also love their Kirkland vanilla ice cream – it has the last amount of air. (sorry to break it to everyone, but most ice cream sold is actually air.)
April
Oh, yum, I’ve never checked out the ice cream before, Mary Ellen! I’ll be sure to on my next trip 🙂
Leslie
I love my Costco! They recently added coconut milk so I don’t really have to shop anywhere else now. They have everything I need and great prices too! And my hubby and I do date night there too occasionally.
April
Oh man, I am dying for our Costco to start carrying coconut milk! So glad yours does, and that we’re not the only ones who enjoy occasional dates there 🙂 Thanks for reading, Leslie.
Rikki
We paid the extra for the executive membership and the 2% back at the end of the year was enough to cover renewal of our membership for the next year!
April
Awesome, Rikki! That definitely makes the executive membership worth it.
Liz
This is a neat article and it shows what the writer buys each month but no where does it tell me how to save at Costco. I assume these items are the best deals? Is that what she is trying to show? I wish there was more on how to save at Costco. I felt like it was just an interesting article showing a day in the life of this person.
April
Thanks for reading Liz! This is how our family personally saves money on food. In our area (Connecticut) food is very overpriced, so shopping at Costco helps us save money on certain items. It may not work for every family, but these are the best deals for us.
Lisa @ This Pilgrim Life
We LOVE Costco too. (We actually just got home from a Costco run!). We buy about 60% of our groceries from there. They have so many organic options and even a lot of good deals on non-grocery items. Once the farmers’ markets are in full swing here we will buy more of our fresh produce from them, but for now, we find most of our produce from Costco. We don’t buy many snacks either, but I always like to get their fruit and veg pouches for trips, and their fig bars for day to day on-the-go snacking because they have little added sugar and are so convenient to have on hand.
One other way we save money there is getting our organic frozen fruit from Costco. Their prices are great and when you have a smoothie almost every day, the savings add up!
April
Lisa, we love our morning smoothies too! Their frozen organic fruit is some of the best. Thanks for reading and sharing!
Mama2eight
The best way to save at Costco is know what the prices are in your area. Gas is a good price there, but my local station is often less. When the price is the same or close, I know that Costco will have good quality and will choose that over cheap (less quality.) Organic frozen fruit should win almost anywhere you live. I live in Southern California.
I have a best price list for most things: cheese, meats, milk, tomato products, beans, rice, quinoa, cold cereals, butter. I also have a buy price. Produce should be under $1/pound. Meat and cheese I try to keep under $2/pound. Cold cereal 10 cents/ounce. Kinda get the idea? I care as much about the price as the quality.
Buying my toilet paper there has saved me some plumber visits, because their toilet paper breaks down quicker for fewer clogs. (We have some pipe issues. We do know how to use a plunger and a snake…)
We are shopping for new mattresses. They have great prices. But better yet, they have a wonderful return policy! The reviews on their mattresses were good, but even the ones that didn’t like the mattress, raved on their return policy! So even the negative reviews were positive!
We have been going to Costco since it was Price Club.
Sheree
I actually am fortunate enough to work for such an amazing store. I purchase practically everything from Costco. You can’t beat the quality of their meats,produce,name brand clothes. We only put our signature Kirkland on the best. I have the higher membership, by the way which is free to employees and earn 2% cash back on all my purchases. So I usually get back every year between 150.00 – 200.00 just for shopping for groceries.i buy all my electronics from their as well. Love my job, great benefits, great money and by the way, out of the top ten companies to work for, we rank #2 I’d say those are pretty great standards!,,I work at the membership/return dept. so am pretty knowledgeable of returns and what membership works best for all my members. I think I’ve ranted long enough, lol keep shopping people, you won’t be disappointed.
Heather @ My Overflowing Cup
Thanks for sharing this post, April and Erin. As a guest poster on this blog with the title of “Why I Kissed Costco Goodbye”, I love the opportunities Costco allows for saving money and the purchase of otherwise unaffordable organic foods.
It is wonderful to be able to purchase affordable (and sometimes organic!) items in bulk. It is invaluable especially as your little ones grow.
Blessings to you and yours, girls!
Heather @ My Overflowing Cup
Correction, when I said “this”, I meant to include the link to Shannon Brown’s blog “Growing Slower”. Sorry for the confusion to you or your readers!
Erin
Thanks, Heather!!
Marc McGinnis
I went through your list and I thought I was looking at a Costco shopping list my wife compiled for me lol! We have not tried the Kerrigold Cheese, but we might now. Everything else was identical, EVERYTHING. You validated my wifes’ shopping savvy in my eyes. I was not fully convinced since its about a 30 minute drive one way to our closest Costco. But we have a similar family eating philosophy. It’s nice to feel like part of a group 🙂 Currently we are doing The Whole 30 program, Costco has been great for that as well.
Amber
We have only had Costco in our area for about two years and I love it. I also always look in different areas whe. We are traveling as well. Items that end in .97 are clearances so I always do a double take when browsing the store many times these are things I can stock up on.
Melissa
I’m not trying to judge you when I say this. I just notice no vegetables beside lettuce and avocado. Does this encompass your monthly groceries or do you go elsewhere for other items? Do you buy this monthly? What about eggs? Just wondering. We are BJ’s members but Costco has a larger variety and I was thinking of joining. But it seemed too pricey. If have to cross state and that increases prices a bit.
brenda
You can freeze cheese?! Silly question but please tell me more!
Jacqueline
Cheese freezes fine, but once thawed is usually crumbly. As long as you don’t mind crumbly cheese ? Shredded cheese usually freezes well.
Olivia
Something I’ve learned from all the Costco shopping I do is to check the dates on things like greens, if there is only a couple of days left till the expiry on that spring mix it’s going to be a slimy mess before you can finish it! Nothing worse than picking through rotten lettuces! I love that Costco always has the staples that we eat weekly which is hard to come by in our part of northern Canada. Because we eat a large amount of produce the big packages of veggies are way cheaper than the other stores in our area. Thanks for this post 🙂
Abigail
The produce is so much cheaper when you factor in quality and quantity plus how long it actually lasts. Citrus fruits, apples, lettuce, broccoli, avocados and bell peppers are always drastically cheaper and last TWICE as long than they do from the regular grocery store. Plus the produce at the grocery store has just been looking pretty… well… gnarly lately. (Even now in the summer months.) I’ve vowed to only buy produce from BJ’s/Costco or our farmers market, but I’ve been too sick to get there. (I have both memberships. lol I found a groupon deal for BJ’s! The deal was a 35 dollar membership, but gave you a 25 dollar gift card back. CANT BEAT THAT!)
I don’t know why I never even thought to pick up a bag of frozen berries at Costco! I feel like I’ve been wasting a ton of money now. lol We use frozen fruit for smoothies ALL the time. Those little bags of frozen fruits cost a small fortune at the grocery store, but are really handy in the winter time. I will have to pick up the big bag next time I’m at Costco.
This is all great advice.
Also, if you have a dog that likes to destroy their own bed…. BJ’s sells really cheap, really good dog beds. As well as really amazing memory foam bed pillows 2packs for 10 dollars. I love them and stock up on those especially for when I have out of town guests. And they have great socks. And winter coats! lol I could go on and on….
Stephanie
Costco keeps us on budget by only needing two shopping trips a month!
Vanessa
Thanks for sharing! There organic selection is amazing! It is also helpful to split with other friends or family if you don’t think you’ll eat through everything.