A couple of you have emailed me about shopping at Costco. Honestly, I don’t do much shopping at Costco because I can’t really justify a gallon of cheese in my fridge or a 48 pack of coke. (well…maybe that one I could get away with 
) Face it–Costco is all about bulk shopping. I do occasionally hop into Costco to purchase some items (that to be discussed later) but there are some items that I will NEVER be seen purchasing there–because frankly–I can get the same amount for a fraction of the price using coupons and a store sale. Here is my list:
Cereal:
Special K is priced at $7.99 for 32 oz. Many months ago, many of us were able to purchase 4 boxes free (48 oz) at Rite Aid. Already, I’ve saved $7.99 and the nice thing is that if I had more coupons– I would be stocking up even more without spending anything.
Deodorant:
This 5 pack of Gillette Deodorant seems quite pleasing at $13.99 with a FREE Gillette razor. That makes each item $2.33. As most of you know, Gillette deodorant goes on sale at the drugstores for BOGO free. and there are almost always coupons for these making them less than a $1- Free.
Snacks:
Most weeks at CVS you can score two packs of Orbitz gum FREE. Why pay $8.99 for a 12 pack?
This is just my personal experience with Costco. I love Costco for bulk shopping but for me personally–i have found that these items and others are really just a waste of money!
Obviously, I do shop at Costco but for what? Stay tuned to see my Costco shopping list…
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!
Thanks for posting this; can’t wait to find out what you do get at Costco!
Two Costco tricks that do work for our family:
Shredded Cheese – it freezes! The mexican shredded cheese at costco is about $7. I can get 11 cups of cheese out of that bag, or 5 two-cup bags. I divide it into 1qt freezer bags and pull one out at a time. Grocery store’s best sale on 2c bags of cheese is usually 2/$4. So I think this one is better, on average, at Costco.
Bacon – 4 packs for $10. That’s $2.50 a pack! Rarely, even with a BOGO will bacon be that inexpensive at the grocery store. And it freezes too!
Costco is great for meat, produce, cheese and milk. Usually the things we dont have a lot of coupons for.
hot dog buns 24ct for 2.19 I haven’t found any other price that has a better price
I buy Organic Milk. Only about $3 a gallon. It’s worth it to me! Plus their expiration dates are always about a month away.
Milk, Cheese and eggs are GREAT PRICE ALL THE TIME… But your right about the razers, shampoo and those things. Also paper products are priced high in my opnion. And animal food will not buy there.
I buy baby formula and steak meat
I bought tires there for a great price and the included maintenance is great too.
i agree with bacon and organic milk.
I also LOVE getting the roast chicken and bananas there. The roast chicken provides us two meals. one for chicken and one for chicken noodle soup with the stock i get from the leftovers! Bananas are such a value there and when they are too ripe, I can always make banana bread!
I thought the organic stock in the box was a good price. You get 6 to a case at under $2 a piece. The meat and produce are really good too.
with 6 kids, the 3 oldest are teenaged boys, bulk cheese is not a problem. i buy milk 8 gallons at a time and pray it last a week. and although i occassionally see buggit lunch meat (which i hate) on sale, i think the lunch meat is a better deal at costco. you’re totally right on toiletry items. i love that i can buy levi’s $20 a pair at costco.
I only go to Costco for a few things:
- Huge box of Roasted, salted Seaweek snacks. (my kids LOVE THEM)
- Huge bag of broccoli.
- 18 ct. eggs (if there are no good sales in the stores then I will get them here)
- Tortillas (great price on Flour tortillas, comes in 2 big packs and we usually freeze the other one so they don’t go bad)
- love the Rotisserie Chicken too! (it’s pumped up with loads of salt, that is why it tastes so goooodd! lol)
Edamame (large tray only lasts about one week here, another huge favorite for my kids)
I haven’t seen this mentioned but I sometimes get my GAS there for my car!!!
(not my Dh’s favorite but hey, it’s cheap!
@Susie F. –
Typo!!! Seaweed, not seaweek! lol
I only go there to buy gas & paper products. Their paper products (paper towels & toilet papers) are larger & better quality.
I buy rice, flour, butter, eggs and other baking needs at Costco. A 25 lbs of flour only costs $7 and this can make lots of breads and cookies. A large bottle of vanilla extract only costs $4+ (I could not find a real vanilla extract this cheap even at Walmart. Also, half a gallon of organic cream only costs $3+ (in grocery stores, the price is almost triple). I use this to make homemade ice cream, whipped cream and Alfredo sauce
I buy these religiously:
Knudsen Cottage Cheese: Almost never a coupon for this product anywhere usually for like the odd flavored ones.
Coke: I’ve done the math and even with some of the great deals at the stores they can’t beat this price, since my husband drinks a can everyday for his lunch at work. Plus you get a lot of coke rewards points for buying this, which are great for getting free coupons for 12pks.
Francisco Sandwich rolls: You get this huge pack for the same price as the small package at the grocery store. I use them for a lot of things throughout the week sandwiches, meatball subs, and roast beef sandwiches.
Bananas are also an awesome deal!
Naked Juice: I’ve never seen it that cheap at a grocery store, the big bottle is only 5.99 at costco.
I also get a lot of my spices and gravy mixes there too!
I’m a Costcoaholic as my fam and friends would call me haha.
I buy my bacon at Fresh and Easy. Their bacon is really good and it goes on sale for $2.00/lb. Plus they always send out $5 off $25 spent. So I will buy 13lbs of bacon for $21. That comes to $1.40lb. You have to really love bacon, like my family, to want to get this much, but it makes for really cheap bacon.
@Sheri –
Sheri: I buy a lot of Knudsen products which are all made with Real California dairy which enables us to use the .55 cent Real California coupons religiously! When Ralph’s has the small Knudsen sour cream or cottage cheese on sale for $1 they’ll double up the coupon to $1 and it’s free! Great to use with Albertson’s doubles as well.
Also – just recently, the Real California sticker started popping up on the top/cap of Albertson’s brand milk 1/2 gal & gallon milk – so look out for those! Another brand that comes to mind is Alta Dena (usually need to pair sale & coupon to make it worth buying this brand). Also good for buttermilk, whipping cream and I think there is even a creme fraiche out there with the CA seal, too!
There are three – one for dairy product, one for cheese and one for milk (I use the dairy or the cheese one for the cottage cheese without a problem) – save the PDFs, good until 2013!
http://www.realcaliforniamilk.com/for-californians/coupons/
Did you see the new coupon? It is combined milk & cheese and the new value is only 35cents. The 55cents expired Jan 31, 2013.