What do you really save on at Costco? - Page 2

[Norasmomma]

Olive oil, butter, nuts(almonds, walnuts, pecans), granola bars, milk, dog food, contact lens solution, vitamins, popcorn, maple syrup.

I could keep going...we just went and I realized that we should have bought some other things. I need to make a Costco master list because there are a lot of things we like to get there, that are so much cheaper than at our local store.

[leavemealone]

Contact lenses, birthday cakes, some fruit (depends on what fruit, how much I am looking to buy, etc), laundry detergent, sometimes paper towels (not always - depends on the sale at the grocery store when I need to buy more), some snacks (depend on what snack), Kashi Dark Choc Oatmeal Cookies, Olay Regenerist serum (one bottle lasts 9 months and was only about $2 more than the one at the grocery store that only last about 3 months), sometimes milk.

I guess, for me, it depends on the product and what the price is at the grocery store. Sometimes it's not always cheaper to get it at Costco, but sometimes it is just easier. For example, I'd rather buy their package of 200 trash bags once every 1.5 years than have to remember to buy them at the grocery store every 2-3 months. The same goes with dish detergent, if Costco is having a BOGO coupon on Electrosol, I'd rather buy it there and not have to buy it again for 1.5 years.

[sunflower.mama]

Contacts for sure. Those alone pay for the membership. If you eat cereal or oatmeal, it's way cheaper to buy in bulk. Pancake mix too. And peanut butter, and turkey dogs.
I could probably accomplish the same savings by using coupons, but it's easier not to have to work at it. Ultimately the reason I love costo is that it allows me to do one or two big shops per month, and then fill in as needed. It's just easier for me that way.

[onlyboys]

Ecos laundry soap!

[mags.bubble]

I have been going with my MIL (her membership) 1x/mo.

I get:

Tiillamook sliced cheese (mh dh insists on the convenience)
Tillamook cheese block
mini babybel cheese
Bacon (hormone, abx, nitrate free)
Organic chicken breasts
Organic Ground beef
Chicken sausage
dried cranberries
dried blueberries
vodka
scotch
Home run inn frozen pizza (cheaper than ordering on the nights I just don't feel like cooking)
Miralax
Ricola cough drops
Baking soda
Vinegar

There are other things, it just depends on the month. I don't buy paper products - not enough room to store them. I am very careful not to just put anything in the cart, always have cash so that I can settle up with MIL right away. Some things are cheaper at Trader Joe's, Aldi, or my local ethnic grocery store.

I wouldn't get a membership for us. Only because I want to keep dh out. He would come home with enough legal pad of paper, socks etc... to last us a lifetime. Not to mention if he saw the caskets......

[Citymomx3]

Vitamins
Bottled water
Eggs
Milk
Half n Half
Butter
Tuna
Real maple syrup
Garbage bags
Recycle bags
Freezer bags
Tinfoil
Saran wrap
Gallon of Lysol cleaner
Cascade
Sponges
EVOO
Coffee
Fruit (most)
Salad stuff
Frozen Vegetables
Birthday cakes (I don't bake)
Many electronics
Batteries
Construction paper

I'm down to 2-3x/year for a big Costco shopping trip.

[april77]

Funny, organic milk is way cheaper at Costco than at Kroger's here. My basic Costco list is:

milk
eggs
cheese
vinegar
laundry detergent
palmolive
chicken sausage (except I haven't seen it lately)
bagels
soap & shampoo for dh since he won't use the "hippie" stuff the kids and I use
about to add frozen veggies since our CSA is ending and there wasn't much to put up this year

The organic peanut butter is much cheaper, but I just don't like it. We switched from Sam's to Cotsco last year and the only think I miss is the huge Maranatha PB, our Costco only has Maranatha Almond butter and my kids aren't into it.

[alegna]

Originally Posted by april77

Funny, organic milk is way cheaper at Costco than at Kroger's here. My basic Costco list is:

Isn't that funny? The cheapest organic milk at hour Kroger's is $2.99 a half gallon. The costco organic selections were nearly $4

-Angela

[april77]

Originally Posted by alegna

Isn't that funny? The cheapest organic milk at hour Kroger's is $2.99 a half gallon. The costco organic selections were nearly $4

-Angela

And here, I pay at least $3.29/half gallon for organic at Kroger but at Costco I pay $6 or $7 for package with 3 half gallons.

[Novella]

Nutella
Pork Tenderloin
Bread ($4.00 a loaf at regular grocery store, $2.75 a loaf at Costco)
Butter (same price at Costco as at Wal-mart, but I'd rather buy from Costco)
Bounce (when I still used it)

[Kellie_MO4]

We like to go walk around (esp when all the Christmas stuff is out ) but the one thing we ALWAYS get there is frozen chicken breasts...
We also usually get out TP and PT there

[lalaland42]

Originally Posted by mags.bubble

vodka
scotch

Ooh a Costco with vodka? Where do you live???

[Amys1st]

I go w my friend who has a membership from her Dad.

I buy all staples every month or so.

Cheddar blocks (much cheaper than the groceries around here)
wine
flour in huge bulk
butter
cheddar cheese
juice boxes for lunches
sugar
shrimp
sometimes whole organic chickens
occasional produce

I cook 99% from scratch so I buy staples in bulk. For me, this makes sense. I dont see the deals on all the ready made frozen stuff but I dont normally buy it anyhow. SOmetimes I will get the bulk strawberries because my kids love them but mainly its staples. I stay away from all the "deals" and clothing etc because I really dont see how its a saving.

[Guinevere]

I find it interesting how different the Costco inventory is depending on where you live. Here in NM, for example, we can buy beer, wine, and hard liquor at Costco, but there is no organic flour to be found anywhere.

The other thing that I admit annoys me about Costco is that they have the frustrating tendency to suddenly stop carrying certain items, or to have them disappear for half a year or more, before bringing them back. If they are convenience foods, well, I just suck it up, but on more staple-type items, I find it irksome.

I shop around 1x/month at Costco and I do like the convenience of being able to buy in bulk/less frequently. But the single best thing I ever did was to make a price book of all the staples we buy and I discovered in doing so that I was, in fact, buying a lot of things at Costco that were not truly cheaper elsewhere, merely for the convenience factor of "well, I'm here and it's a BIG bag/box of you name it." So I've tried to stop doing that and instead wait for the cyclical grocery sales on certain items. Chicken breasts, for example, are not cheaper at Costco compared to a good sale at my local grocery store. So now I wait the 6 wks. or so at a time for the big sale, stock up, and I'm good until the next sale.

On the other hand, some things are still cheaper and far more convenient to buy in bulk containers. I still get:

Flour
Sugar
Vinegar
Baking Soda
Yeast
Salt
Canola Oil
EVOO
Toilet Paper
Organic Chicken broth, to supplement what I make at home
Coffee

I buy clothing for myself there occasionally, and have been very happy with the price and quality. I got the kids Christmas PJs there this year -- organic cotton in lovely stripes in all the size ranges I needed for under $10/pair. I buy my DHs jeans there sometimes. The Kirkland brand stuff is good quality across the board, from my experience. Friends of mine who uses sposies say their dipes are great.

Guin

[RasJane]

Originally Posted by Guinevere

I find it interesting how different the Costco inventory is depending on where you live. Here in NM, for example, we can buy beer, wine, and hard liquor at Costco, but there is no organic flour to be found anywhere.

I agree! Just the difference from here to Boise, where my parents shop, is weird.

But the single best thing I ever did was to make a price book of all the staples we buy and I discovered in doing so that I was, in fact, buying a lot of things at Costco that were not truly cheaper elsewhere, merely for the convenience factor of "well, I'm here and it's a BIG bag/box of you name it."

That is really what I need to do. Maybe farm out the kids for the day and make my rounds to the stores, so I know what I'm getting for my $$.

I mostly cook from scratch, due to all the food allergies in the family, so I don't look much at the convenience stuff. Sometimes I am tempted by treats for myself though! But then I think of how sick I would be of even artichoke dip if I had to eat 2# of the stuff before it spoiled.

[PatchyMama]

garbage bags
pasta
sourdough bread
butter
cheese
organic milk
coffee
Gogurt simple yogurts
bacon
frozen veg - organic green beans, corn
frozen organic blueberries
organic ground beef
pork chops (on occasion)
salmon
frozen chicken breasts (not cheaper than the store on sale, but its individually frozen)
salsa
bananas
presliced pineapple... its so yummy
strawberries, apples, other fruits depending whats there
juice boxes for school (made by hansen I think?)
organic peanut butter
bread yeast
organic jelly
organic annies shells and cheese
fruit leather
Naked Nuggets - my girls LOVE them.

I am sure that some things we buy are not cheaper there, but we have an executive membership so we get 1% back and on top of that we have a costco american express that we use there and pay off each month. That when added with the executive membership gives us 3% back on everything we buy... which pays for our membership and then some

[feminist~mama]

Our Costco has organic milk in gallons- 2 gallons for about $10. Conventional millk is about $4/gallon here- so the Costco deal is awesome!

We buy:

dog food
garbage bags (once a year or so- they last us forever!)
organic salad mix
organic milk
chicken breasts
boneless leg of lamb
organic bread
organic peanut butter
vermont sharp cheddar cheese
organic coffee (sometimes- this is for work, where we all share)
lunch meat
toilet paper (the recycled kind)
laundry soap
fiber one bars
organic chicken broth
GAS!

That's our basic list- we add other stuff as needed. Yeast is a fabulous deal, as are pine nuts! We buy snacky stuff too and movies...

[bigeyes]

Originally Posted by zh97

Yeast. It is $4.00 for this huge block that I keep in the freezer. I have a jar from buying yeast in the grocery store for $5.00 and I fill it up at least 6 or seven times from the Costco yeast. I've also had very good experiences with it. Also, organic flour, organic whole wheat bread and butter.

What we save on yeast, flour, bread, meat, dairy and gasoline there more than pays for our membership. Plus we get a refund at the end of the year.

Groceries are outrageous here, a small jar of yeast is about $8 at the grocery store and the big bag of yeast is about $4 at Costco. We get huge cuts of beef and pork and dh cuts our own steaks , roasts and chops for a lot less than we can get them anywhere else. The produce in our Costco is iffy, sometimes Safeway has better prices, sometimes not, so you have to watch the ads and compare, and then there are also farmers markets to factor in.

[mags.bubble]

Chicago west burbs. We can buy the big bottle of Sky Vodka for $20.99, and the big bottle of Dewars for $27.99. Not sure how much of a savings it is exactly since my dh was making the 'liquor runs' before this.

[StarJune]

On top of regular groceries I always get:

Cashews
Magazines/Books
Fresh Flowers

at prices MUCH cheaper than anywhere else.