Do you find Costco cheaper for groceries?

[Anonymous]

Is it cheaper than regular grocery stores?

[Anonymous]

It is for *some* things. Like jarred capers. You can get enough to last you a lifetime for the price of a tiny jar at Giant.

[Anonymous]

For produce, not at all.

Not even for things like juice boxes, packaged snacks, cereals. I can find them cheaper on sale at the grocery store.

Not meat either, especially ground beef.

Sometimes milk and eggs, but not always.

[Anonymous]

For certain groceries, yes. For instance, we buy whole organic milk at Costco, as we find that is usually the best price. But overall we end up going to Costco plus 2 different grocery stores for the best deals on various items. You really need to price compare to make sure you're getting the best value.

[Anonymous]

For me --no. I cant consume the large quantities before the food goes bad. I end up throwing a lot away. So on a per unit basis, my waste is too high.

[Anonymous]

organic eggs, organic chicken, and fage seem to be cheaper. not necessarily fresh produce.

[Anonymous]

I investigated this, once, and I didn't find the prices justified the cost of a membership. Also, round trip to Costco is about a gallon of gas in my minivan (don't judge) which adds to the cost as well.

[Anonymous]

Not all things are cheaper but quality is great.

[Anonymous]

Most condiments (ketchup, A1, sriracha, seasoning blends, soy sauce) are INSANELY cheaper. Canned goods aren't really. Rice is. Cheese can be. Produce isn't.

[Anonymous]

We save on these:
Cheese, jam, chips, protein bars, fruit (sometimes), hummus, the $5 rotisserie chicken, on sale Claritin, coffee, huge jug of vinegar, Better than Bouillon, nuts, organic sugar, cereal.

[Anonymous]

Cheaper: Organic strawberries and bananas, Hummus, Eggs, Milk, Rotisserie chicken, Cheese Sticks, Cheerios, and nuts.

[Anonymous]

we honestly don't have the space to buy in bulk, despite having a SFH with a garage.

I tend to buy staples at Target using Cartwheel (which now pulls in many manufacturer coupons) and a Target card. That helps with costs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We save on these:
Cheese, jam, chips, protein bars, fruit (sometimes), hummus, the $5 rotisserie chicken, on sale Claritin, coffee, huge jug of vinegar, Better than Bouillon, nuts, organic sugar, cereal.

Every grocery store sells a $5 rotisserie chicken. Costco is not special there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Most condiments (ketchup, A1, sriracha, seasoning blends, soy sauce) are INSANELY cheaper. Canned goods aren't really. Rice is. Cheese can be. Produce isn't.

But you have to buy the condiments in gallon jugs. Who needs that much A1?

[Anonymous]

Some things are definitely a lot cheaper (mostly the high-end stuff): raspberries, organic eggs, organic meat, premium ice cream, Kerrygold butter, nuts, pure maple syrup, etc.

For regular pantry stuff (like canned beans, canned tomatos, pasta), I find that the price is about the same as the grocery store sale price (e.g., like 10 cents cheaper per item or something like that). If you go through a lot of milk (like a gallon a week or more), then the discount on milk itself may be enough to pay your annual member (which works out to about a dollar a week).

Agree that you do have to be honest about what you'll eat. We can eat the big thing of cherries before it spoils, but not the big thing of carrots, for instance. The only vegetables I buy there are mini tomatos and organic spinach. My husband once bought BBQ sauce there and I took it back, as I didn't want an open gallon of BBQ sauce in our fridge when we use it 2x a year. Also you need to be honest w/ yourself about how often you'll go--it may not be realistic to buy things like milk there, if it's not practical to go weekly or if you're burning a lot of gas to do it.

We also don't have a lot of space to store bulk products, but the bulk things we buy there tend to be things we go through quickly, like pasta, canned beans, canned diced tomatos, dried fruit. We mostly just buy high-end food stuff there, as that stuff is sooooo expensive at the grocery store. For that stuff, the quantity is reasonable.