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Below is a list of 20 groceries that we consistently buy at Costco. We stick to these items because we love the quality, quantities (not ridiculously huge packages), taste and definitely prices!
I’m sharing our local Costco prices – these probably vary somewhat by state. PS. Costco did not pay me to write this post. My love of Costco propels me to share and I myself love lists like these for discovering new treasures :).
Costco Staples:
1. You can’t beat a 40 pack of Kirkland Signature water for $2.99.
2. Organic Tortilla Chips ($4.69) – I love the taste and texture of these. We go through 1 bag/week on spicy guacamole and roasted tomato salsa sprees!
3. We buy these hot cups ($9.39 for 200) in winter and clear cups in winter, plus the lids ($14.39 for 1200). We rarely go out for coffee but it’s nice to feel like we do. lol.
4. Jumbo Reynolds heavy duty foil – this double pack lasts for ever! Its so sturdy and perfect for grilled corn and every recipe that calls for foil. ($13.69 for 2 huge rolls).
Baking and Cooking:
5 & 6. I get all of my cooking oils at Costco including: avocado oil ($8.89 for 1 L), extra light olive oil ($18.99 for two 2L) and extra virgin olive oil ($11.99 for 2 L). We go through these like crazy but for normal people, these cost-effective bottles will last awhile. I love to fry foods in my extra light olive oil because it doesn’t give off that “fried food” smell.
7. Walnuts are priced well ($9.99 for 3 pounds)
8. You can’t beat a 2 lb bag of Organic Chia Seeds for $7.49.
9. Sweetened Condensed Milk ($8.99 for a pack of 6)
10. Honey! I love that they carry a wild raw LOCAL honey at our Costco ($9.89 for 40 oz)
11. From the spice aisle we buy Kirkland brand everything: sea salt ($2.79), pepper corns for the grinder and cinnamon.
12. Mayo – how do I love you, let me count the ways (don’t judge me). Have you even seen our list of mayo-containing recipes? #ridiculous ($4.99 for 64 oz)
13. Pickles – if you know me, you understand my love of pickles and I’m sad that we only have 6 pickle recipes. ($4.39 for two 33.8 oz jars)
DAIRY at Costco:
14. Mozzarella is always hanging out in our fridge. Costco has the best price that I’ve found ($3.89 for 2 lb)
15. We keep this giant bag of parmesan in the freezer and refill a small container in the fridge as needed ($10.99 for a 3 lb)
16. $5.69 for 2 (32 oz each) tubs of Greek yogurt is a steal! We use this for our typical breakfast; topped with homemade granola and berries.
17. I bake alot and love the quality of Raskas Cream Cheese. It works perfectly for my blueberry or raspberry apricot cheesecakes ($5.99 for 48 oz)
Produce at Costco:
18. Their watermelon prices are generally on the lower end and 90% of the watermelon’s we’ve purchased at Costco taste really good. Maybe it’s due to my amazing watermelon knocking skills… maybe not 😉 ($4.99 each)
19. The produce we get there varies by season but during winter, we buy their Romaine lettuce ($3.49)
20. and baby cucumbers ($4.99).
Other Things to Buy at Costco:
It’s really hard to leave Costco without hitting the snack and cookbook aisles. We always go home with a treat :).
Healthy Choices at Costco:
I kid, I kid. Don’t go anywhere, we don’t EVER buy spam. lol.
We’re hooked on using the Fooducate App (Officially called “Weight Loss Coach by Fooducate – Personalized…” So just search Fooducate in the app store. Once in the app, click: “Food Finder” to initialize the barcode scanner). I always use it at the grocery store, especially with products that are new. You scan the products barcode and it provides a health food rating with explanations to defend their ratings.
These sausages didn’t make the cut. I’ve been spared from unknowingly consuming hidden MSG and other products with unhealthy ingredients.
YOUR TURN!! What do YOU buy at Costco? Let me know in a comment below 🙂
I love my 2 gallons of milk $5.89 for two can’t beat that, usually I buy 2 packs (4 gallons) I make my own farmers cheese ( tvorog ) it never fails. Also I always get their sour cream, cottage cheese and uncooked tortilla. LOVE their huge and convenient rotisserie chicken. LOVE COSTCO in general.
How do you make it? I was told that it had to be made with raw milk not pasteurized? I miss the taste of Cheese cake made with tvorog like we had at home.
Sorry to be so off topic, but have you included gluten free foods on your blog? I’ve experienced SOO many of my russian community friends experiencing a gradual intolerance to gluten etc since our Russian diet is so heavy on the flour/pastry/bread side. Just curious since now when I go to costco I either buy gluten free flour and/or almond flour. Yet I’m still determined to find a yummy blog to conform to this new lifestyle! Thank you 🙂
Hi Violet, I do have quite a few gluten free recipes and I am slowly categorizing them over time. I have some, but not all listed here (you can find a link to this on my RECIPES index page (link at the top of my site).
Hi where I live we have BJ’s and Costco. I never been in Costco my husband tells me it’s same like bjs. He tells me bjs is better with all the coupons we can use. Also you can use expired coupons. I kinda want to get membership in Costco. I want to know is it like bjs with coupons?
Hi Lena, I’ve never been to a BJ’s so I can’t compare the two. Costco sends out a coupon book but now they don’t require the coupons – they are automatically applied 🙂
Costco heard it’s really way cool and totally mad cheap I once tried kosher cold cuts from there and wow they were really way good the mrs purchased them for a bargain deal instead of the random kosher takeout places I live in Brooklyn ny and they have but it’s about an hour and fifteen minutes away from me I’ll hafta somehow make the trek one day to really get some bargain deals to score
That is a good distance away! I’ve heard from several readers that they have to make a trek to Costco (someone said 3 hours even) to stock up occasionally 🙂
Yup sure is and right now @ the moment unfortunately I don’t drive so my mode of transportation is the bus train foot cab and family and friends will either hafta take a cab there and back or really persuade my bff or a very close family member to drive out to sunset park wow 3 hours super far but I guess it’s worth it sometimes ehhhh lol
We recently got a Costco membership and I’m obsessed. I try to shop pretty much everything so I stock up on fruits: blueberries, strawberries,bananas, apples. Veggies: aspergus, Brussels sprouts, potatoes, mushrooms. Also they’re eggs. And meats. They’re salmon is delicious. Chicken thighs. Beef. My husband loves their canned olives. I also go for the mixed nuts and trail mix. Have been meaning to explore the wine selection too. Oh and let’s not forget the samples!
I prefer BJ’s over Costo or Sams
I guess I’m the odd girl out… I LOVE me some sam’s club. Much better deals at sam’s on some of the exact same and similar products sold at costco without the absolutely insane lines! I have a membership to both clubs and have been doing comparison shopping since costco was built much closer to my home. Sam’s club wins for me, hands down. The bulk cheeses: jarlsburg, gouda, dubliner, amish blue cheese crumblers… SO much cheaper. Sam’s brand diapers, wipes, and TP are also of much better quality than kirkland brand. Too bad sam’s closed in Nampa.
We shopped at both places when Sam’s Club was open. I always liked their furniture options :). I’m not sure why they did close Sam’s in Nampa?
We don’t have one near us, maybe an hour away. Do you guys have Aldi store in your area? It’s a simpler store, smaller, (way smaller then Costco or sam’s club) but the prices are way cheaper. For example, I saw you buy sweetened condensed milk, it’s $1.29 a can ag Aldi. Cream cheese is $1.2 8oz. Organic salsa chips are $1.89…so is a jar of salsa….list keeps going in and on…that’s were we all shop here is Ohio.
We don’t have that store anywhere nearby. I’ve never heard of it, but it’s great that you have a store like that nearby that beats other stores prices 🙂
Irish butter and cheese are our absolute must-haves (only salted Irish butter at Costco). Our shopping list typically consists of the following (changes seasonally somewhat): brussels sprouts, cara cara oranges, campari tomatoes (best tasting ones in the winter if we really need some), Wild Alaskan smoked salmon, Manchego or smoked gouda cheese (for variety in addition to staple Irish cheese), sour cream, oils (as you mentioned), maple syrup, organic salsa, pesto, marinara sauce, organic chicken (when we can’t get some from a local farm), various organic produce, Udi’s GF bread, Nonni’s biscotti, jasmine rice, organic sugar, vanilla extract, and lots of other things I can’t remember 🙂 We recently moved to Maine (one of 2 or 3 that don’t have Costco) and our trips there are a lot less frequent. But I still keep Costco shopping list so we can stock up on our essentials whenever we have time to make the 3 hour drive!
Thank you for sharing. That really is a great list!! Bummer though that it’s three hours away! Although Maine sounds like a beautiful place to live 🙂
We shop at the same Costco!
Our go-to’s are the 2 gallons of milk, Orowheat whole wheat bread- 2 loaves, and the big bag of Stacy’s pita chips. Our love of the produce changes with what is in season. We recently bought a bunch of raspberries and froze them. Delicious.
Ha ha! That’s awesome! 🙂 Thanks for sharing your list 🙂
What do you do with chia seeds?
We use it mostly to sprinkle over our usual breakfast of Greek Yogurt. We also put it in smoothies and occasionally my husband makes a chia seed pudding
Thanks for this useful post! But can I really freeze my Parmesan cheese?! Can’t believe it! I have so many wastes of it! Could you please tell me more about it? What else do you freeze? Thanks a lot!
Yes and it freezes so well! Once it’s thawed, it stays great in the fridge just as if you were keeping fresh refrigerated and you can’t taste the difference 🙂
Diapers, wipes, greek yogurt, bruschetta tomatoes (amazing but I haven’t seen it the last couple months), teriyaki chicken meatballs, Kirkland coffee (tastes like Dunkin Donuts)….so much more!
What a fun post to read. Now we kind of know what you got in your cupboard 😉 We love to buy dry cranberries and cherries. Cherries taste Amazing alone as a snack or in baked goods. They are the cheapest at Costco. We also like the small 12-pack naked juice for kids for school.
I LOVE Costco, when I first discovered your website and saw Costco products, it was love at the sight 😉
I buy a lot there, can’t even list all my favorites. Some of them are: Pesto, smoked wild salmon, variety of cheese (Dubliner is my husbands favorite, BellaVitano Merlot is mine, both go well with red wines sold at Costco 😉 fruit, peaches there now are amazing, organic chicken drums and chicken stock, canned chicken breast, fish sticks, organic breads, wild sardines in oil, various snacks for school, Kirkland vanilla ice cream, dog food, organic pasta, black bean pasta, frozen organic fruit and vegetables (can’t beat the price, Brazilian rolls (gluten free, but why like them because they are just good anyway). I’ll stop there, my list is long! Yes, I’m a Costco fan.
We buy a lot of the already mentioned items at Costco. Add pecans to that, organic flour, organic string cheese (used to be there, not anymore. Trader joes it is), heavy whipping cream, Haagen Dazs vanilla chocolate almond covered ice cream (my favorite), fruits and veggies, organic bananas (every time we stop at Costco), organic chicken breast and thighs, lamb, tissues, paper towels, bath tissue, disinfecting wipes, Pom juice, cold stone gift cards (and save money on them: good for gifting or using yourself)
Kirkland’s Marinara sauce – 3 packs. Low sodium, low sugar and tastier than any other canned/jarred sauce.
We have them in the pantry right now! 🙂 It is nice to have a jarred one for the times (most of the time) when we don’t have time to make it from scratch 😉
Love these type of posts! I don’t shop often at Costco but when I do, it’s mostly paper towels, toilet paper, and cleaning supplies. BTW I so love that app idea! Now I’ll be the scanning everything that comes my way 🙂
Us to! And baby wipes too! 🙂 I think you’ll love that app. It is addictive to use 🙂
we also buy corn chips and I found new blue corn chips last time I was at Costco. Also nuts, oils, organic salsa is the best, huge package of power greens, feta and the best Manchego cheese, coffee beans and tons of other things 🙂
I’ve never tried Manchego cheese but now I have to! Thanks for sharing 🙂
Nuts, butter, meat, especially lamb chops. Also the rotisserie chicken and eggs. Curious about the Raskas cream cheese. Is it as good as Philadelphia? Does it have the tangy flavor?
Hi Elaine, thanks for sharing your list! I’ve always liked it and thought it had good flavor. I buy it because I go through alot of it for baking. I haven’t done a side-by-side comparison with Philadelphia but I do like Raskas flavor.
Their cream cheese has a salty flavour to it.