If you missed my last post on what I do not purchase at Costco—head on over and take a look.
I’m excited to know that all you Costco freaks didn’t yell at me when I posted on things that I do not buy there. I admit. I love it. I love the free samples, it’s ability to keep you walking around even though there is nothing there you need. Costco still is a family affair—in fact it is something we still do for fun!
Despite all this; there are things that I love Costco for.
- Meat! As a Chef for a husband—he only wants cheap, good quality meat. Although the amounts of it will feed more of a small army than our family of 5, we are able to purchase meat maybe once a month (depending on the menu) and freeze anything left for another time. This makes grocery shopping so much easier as there are times that you will not find the price or the quality you are looking for at another store.
- Honey. I found 6lbs of honey for only $13.69. Making it .14 a ounce and will last you at least a year (depending on your use)
Gift Cards! You can grab Regal Movie tickets for only $7.99 a ticket! (vs. $11.50 at the door!) Costco also sells Disneyland tickets at a discount rate.
I do find that milk and eggs are a better price at Costco if you have a larger family..
What things do you find at Costco that are a good buy?
My Name is Josie and I live in sunny Southern California and I am a stay at home mom to three beautiful boys. We all know that living in California is a task of it's own and saving in California IS possible! I started this blog mainly to share all the awesome deals out there and show others how to save in any area of life. Even though you may make the commitment to be frugal and pinch your pennies doesn’t mean you have to sacrifice!
Bananas !!!
HUGE dog beds for $19.99, Carter’s 3-pc pajamas for $9.99, CHEAP minced garlic (which never goes on sale at the grocery store!) and their special order cakes for any occasion!
We go to Sam’s Club. Milk is a great price! Tortillas; sandwich meat and cheese are high quality, and a good price. Cat food and litter. Fruit sometimes. Things that I dont usually get coupons for.
I also forgot puppy food and Knudsen cottage cheese! I love Costco, but I love even more that I now know what to buy there and what I can get for cheaper/free at the grocery store. THANK YOU, JOSIE!!!
Good to know I’m not crazy! My husbands only complaint when I started couponing last year was that I wasn’t buying stuff at Costco anymore. He loved shopping with me there but we always WAY overspent. I still go but only for meat and without him! He can’t be trusted!
I second the giant dog bed thing! We also buy our meat, eggs and milk there as well. I do bread there (only because I’m really still trying to figure this couponing thing out) as well as apples, bread, granola bars, single serving chips and fruit snacks. We have the membership where you get a percentage of what you spend back, so we try to make the most of that….. I’m sure it doesn’t really equal very good savings though. Oh! And Bully Sticks for dogs! Our dog loves them, you get a package of 10 or so for $23. At Petco just one big one is like $8
@Kati –
Knudsen Cottage cheese has the Real California Milk symbol on the container so you should be able to get the 16oz. size for about $2 at Ralph’s or Vons after .55 doubled coupon.
Definitely eggs, dog food, butter (freezes like a charm!) and clothes… their cakes are GREAT for parties (and also freeze like a charm!). And this is going to sound weird, but mini-bell-peppers… we LOVE peppers at our house, but OY! they are expensive at the grocery store… can’t beat the Costco price!
Butter, eggs and real sliced Tilllamock cheese. I used to buy milk when it was 4.29 for 2 gallons…but not anymore.
The cakes are great for Birthdays, butter is always better priced there, and the fruits and veggies are good quality too.
Butter, milk, eggs, cheese, and bananas. Oh, and gas
Beef Jerky, high fiber wheat tortillas, agave, sandwich meat, bacon (turkey and regular) and eggs. Even with just my husband and I we can go through two cartons of their eggs, I hard boil one pack and bake with the rest. For around $2.50 you can make 18 hard boiled eggs that are fantastic for lunches and salads, not to mention they are usually local, our Costco sells eggs from the next town over!
Holy you know what!
That is TOTALLY SAME HERE!!!!
We used to buy everything at costco but after starting to coupon in June we slowly started moving away from it. We have a huge family and do find that milk, eggs and movie tickets are still cheaper there. As for the meat, you can sometimes find it for that cheap a grocery stores but the quality is not as good, costco wins. What you did not post is buying frozen lunches, that still is pretty cheap there and do buy that once in a while.
Also, although the $2.50 may seem high, check out their eggs against the grocery store ones, the Costco eggs are huge. Okay enough about eggs
we buy our dog food at costco. the costco brand is way cheaper and we just keep it in a big tub locked away. We also buy any major appliance we can there simply for the return policy…. We have had our TVs replace 4 times no problems. We buy Cheese there also and i sort it our into freezable containers and freeze in sizes that we like to keep in our fridge.
@Linda – Oh and I forgot the bananas… we keep out what we can eat and freeze the rest for smoothies!
Always eggs, sliced cheese, fruits (their honeycrisp apples are amazing and strawberries), clif bars, razor blades (sometimes they have coupons were you can get the shovel gel for free), bread, canned veggies, seasonal items like beach umbrellas etc. gift cards for movies and slabs are great too. We never buy meat from Costco. We only buy grass fed beef from our local Sprouts organic market as well our chicken. Theirs runs about $3.99/lbs and it’s fabulous. Rather payload now for good food than pay later with pills.
I ment Dland tix and pay more now than pay later with pills. @Christina -
I have a family of 7 and still only buy a few things there. I buy milk. It’s only $4ish for 2 gallons. I buy my sharp cheddar there. It’s only $5ish for a large block. I LOVE goat cheese. They have a 2 pack of goat cheese logs for only $5ish. I also get my rotisserie chickens there. I have never found a better price for that yet. I also get my pure vanilla extract there.
butter, cheese, Yeast, Vanilla, and Bacon (unless there is an awesome sale at a regular grocery store).
I keep my calculator handy while I shop. Costco always has surprises, like Hershey’s Syrup, pure maple syrup, brown sugar, various cans of beans, etc. I can occasionally get these things cheaper with coupons, but it’s good to know that Costco usually has a great price on things like these year round. Nice if my stockpile runs low and I don’t have a coupon! my best advice for Costco? JUST PAY ATTENTION!
chx strips …love the6 individual packs cut apart put in freezer and i only take out what i need
milk
5 doz eggs
bananas
bread..$4 and change for great bread
tortillas
5lbs. shredded mozzarella cheese
OJ
bar soap with a costco coupon
baby wipes with a costco coupon
organic strawberry jelly
organic peanut butter
gas
I agree with most of the others above and want to add spices are SUPER cheap there compared with grocery stores, even with coupons. Can’t beat there food court either
I buy meat and fish, lunch meat, mushrooms ($2 for a lb), pickles, and gas. I buy bread at the Bimbo Bakery Outlet (HIGHLY recommend) and thanks to Josie I use my CVS Extrabucks or Walgreens Register Rewards for milk.
Contacts and single slice Costco pizza!
We let our Costco membership expire 2 years ago. That is when I started couponing. We only ever bought paper products there. Yesterday was the first day I could have used it because the doctor told me the generic Allegra was a great price. So I just asked a friend to pick it up for me.
I buy a huge thing of soy sauce which lasts me for at least a year. I don’t even remember the price, I bought it so long ago. We just keep refilling our little Kikoman jar. Now that I coupon, I’m guessing I can probably buy those on sale but it’s so convenient to have the refill of soy sauce compared to wasting lots of bottles. I also buy parmesan cheese which is so expensive at the market. I’ve been trying to find a deal on capers at the market ($5.99 for a small jar!) and I’m guessing they’d be cheaper at Costco.
We get:
Tilamok sliced cheddar cheese
Kirkland brand Turkey breast 3 pack (I love it cause doesn’t have nitrates)
Knudsen Cottage Cheese
GAS
Greek Olives
Crumbled Feta Cheese
Thomas English Muffins
Folgers Coffee, sometimes,
and often things for the home.
CHICKEN NUGGETS!!
Cheese
Tortillas
Bananas
Gifts
Eggs
Milk
There’s more but I can’t think of it now…. basically anything that doesn’t come up in couponing much. Huggies diapers are about $0.21 a diaper so if I’m running low and there are no deals coming up I will go there.
20 lbs of basmati rice for $18.99, amy’s organic soups 8 cans for $11.99,
We go to Costco bi-weekly for milk, bananas, cheese, black-forest ham, and gas. I also go there for Lysol toilet bowl cleaner w/ coupon, and handi-snacks for my son to take to preschool. If I am really running out of toilet tissue, I’ll get them there w/ coupon. Costco had the best prices for infant formula. So glad I don’t need them anymore. And also generic Zyrtec (Kirkland Aller-Tec) is supercheap! I also get some prescription meds at their pharmacy because they’re cheaper. We occasionally see good deals and got a Keurig coffee maker and good quality frying pans w/ coupon.
Gift cards for movies; tillamook cheese, grated cheese for my huge pans of enchiladas; greek olives; kitty litter; wild bird food; butter; organic eggs; greek yogurt; food court; toys for the grandkids (Love their special prices for Legos at Christmas time); Kirkland face wipes are the best on the market ; and we buy the salad mix, take it to work, use one bag for four lunches (add a little chicken or left over meat) and saves us $$$. We also buy the Tejava tea cases, the soup stock stuff in a jar that we use for both chicken, and beef soup (a Tablespoon is all you need to make a huge pot of soup), rot. chicken; pistachio and other nuts (we make our own trail mix) mushrooms; peppers; gas; maple syrup (my husband will only use the real stuff), and things on Clearance. I have 5 adult daughters and this past Christmas, they had the large totable cold soft expandable bags (plus a free small one each) for summer picnics on clearance for $5.00 – Each daughter got one of those and each got a different design, loaded with groceries for their “stocking presents” this yr. (Last yr it was laundry baskets filled with coupon saving items from many stores).
Oh and I almost forgot – Also at Christmas, they had a package of two hot/cold cups with straws, Starbucks coffee and tea packets, all in a plastic sleeve with a nice red bow for $10. I bought 2 packs and that was a nice present for 4 people – like my nail gal and hairdresser, piano teacher, etc. I also had bought 1 bag of spring blooming bulbs in the Fall (it had 3 different kind of tulips in the bag) and a bag of potting soil and a roll of wire based ribbon. Then I searched the thrift stores and end of season Home stores and $1 stores for pots and planted 20 pots of spring bulbs for Christmas presents for all the neighbors. Th pretty ribbon and pretty colored pots looks good outside their homes now and the Spring will bring the rembrance of the gift of the Season to their eyes and hearts! I had enough potting soil left over to repot about a dozen of my indoor plants as well!