Costco?

MAprincess · July 2009

I will likely end up staying home after this new baby comes due to the cost of day care and I have been working my way through using coupons and saving and such to prepare. Does anyone belong to Costco? Is it worth it? We live right down the street from it but I hate paying memberships to things unless I will really get my moneys worth. Thoughts?

Ilumine · July 2009

I love Costco because I am a bulk cook. I have 6 or 7 yummy, freezable casseroles that I make, plus a handful of slow cooker meals and a deep freeze.

Every 4-6 weeks, I will pull together my list of ingredients for the meals, buy enough to make 3 separate servings/pans of each recipe and then cook them all at once. For the slow cooker meals, I bag up the ingredients together and then put that into the freezer.

I will have about 24 meals when all is done. And the best thing - I always have a casserole to share.

I also will buy baby stuff there too. I do not like their generic diapers, but you can get huggies there. And since I make my own food, I add her ingredients to my list.

SO worth it. I am going to miss it when we go to Germany

HarrietNJMommy · July 2009

We have a membership at Costco, but really use it for bulk items like paper towels, toilet paper, etc. We do get organic milk there for the girls, certain cheeses and fruit on occasion.

My friends swear by Costco for meat, etc. I have a butcher for meat, and use my local supermarket for produce.......

Addicted2thenot · July 2009

I LOVE it!?

DS & I are there at least once a week (the employees all know him by name ?we are there that often), I buy almost everything there (including DS clothes, they have a ton of Carters & OshKosh stuff)

I go to our local supermarket for produce & the few staples that I can't get at Costco. I also get my gas there & most large ticket items like computers, phones, etc

I am a Costco aholic

JAM2000 · July 2009

We belong to BJs- we really only keep the membership because I love the BJs brand diapers. They are great. They also have a deli and the milk is pretty cheap.
We have gotten great deals on carseats, camers and other electronics. My brother and SIL swear by their meat, but I find I can get a better deal at the supermarket when they run sales.
But you really have to be careful and bring a list with you- otherwise it is easy to overspend. Also, you really gotta know your prices- many times I can get papertowels and toilet paper cheaper at the supermarket when they run sales and/or if I have coupons.

TrinaKay · July 2009

Costco is great for carseats also!

brightning · July 2009

LOVE it. Great deals on diaper, wipes and formula, too. We buy all our meat and cheese there, and lots of veggies.

You can definitely get cheaper deals if you scour the grocery stores and buy off-brands. But since we don't do that, we buy brand name (or Costco's Kirkland brand) at Costco.

jen5-03 · July 2009

We like it a lot. We just got a membership a couple months ago. We went for the upgraded membership (gold? executive? not sure what it's called), the $100 one. We chose that because a) you get 2% back on your purchases, paid at the end of your membership year; b) if you don't earn at least $50 back based on your purchases, they'll make up the difference. So in the end it can't be more than the other membership and if we use it a lot we'll come out ahead. Oh, and they gave us $20 gift card for joining which is just a bonus, not part of the $50+ we'll get back at the end of the year.

You can go and just walk around and look to see what you think of the prices and selection.

Cat litter is a great buy for us there. I don't buy organic milk there because I can get it cheaper at the regular grocery store, but they're cheaper on regular milk and way cheaper on dried fruits. Good prices on produce too if you can use that much at once. For meat, you can probably find sale prices to beat it, but if you don't want to hunt for sales then it beats my local grocery store prices. Amazing prices on rotisserie chicken too - $5 compared to $8 at the grocery store and a lot bigger as well.

moogan · July 2009

Costco is the best!!! We also live right down the street from one and we are there all the time. We'll got there just to buy milk or bread b/c it's cheaper and just as close as the grocery store. DS & I will go there to "graze" on samples too, just a fun outing.

I second PP about upgrading to the $100 membership b/c you can only make money on it. I also love that Costco "guarantees" everything that they sell. They take it back even if you "just don't like it." No questions asked.

We buy all our meat there. It's delicious, economical and fresh. That's where I have found some of the best savings ($2.99/lb boneless, skinless chicken breasts or $6.99/lb NY strip steaks). The grocery stores in our area do not have good meat and there are no butchers around so this is a great option for us.

MAprincess · July 2009

Thanks guys! Sounds like we'll definitely have to go down there and check it out.

d.f · July 2009

I'm late but Costco is sooo worth it. We buy meat, paper towels, TP, bread, milk, lunch meat, diapers, wipes. We buy a lot of stuff there. It was worth it even before we had a baby. The Kirkland brand is quality too.

Also, they actually pay their employees reasonable wages and have a cap on the percentage of profit they make. The head guys salary is also capped at X times (I donakt remember the actual number) the average employees salary. I think this is great compared to their competitor, Sam's, which is owed by the evil empire of Walmart.

MissesRootbeer · July 2009

We joined Costco shortly before DD was born and I'm so glad we did. We got there at least once a week. I love buying in bulk!

mandymack · July 2009

Hi and welcome to the board!

We are huge Coscto fans for so many reasons:

1) Price per lb of almost ALL their meats are $1-3 LESS than most grocery stores and they aren't in such huge bulk packages that you can't store them in your freezer... although I have a deep freezer because I shop only every 3 months and fill that thing full! I always buy the chicken breasts, ground turkey, 80% lean ground beef, stew meat, tilapia, halibut, salmon and shrimp in shell. I also really love their block cheeses and frozen bags of Mickey Mouse chicken nuggets that are made with whole grain breading.

2) You can get Redbull and other sodas, juices, waters by the case, which is super cheap!

3) They almost always have a "buy 1 get 1 free" coupon for their cleaning supplies, like Lysol Wipes and Electrasol Dishwashing Liquid and their laundry detergent is several dollars cheaper than Target.

4) I really love their $9 take 'n bake pizzas!

5) Spices are super cheap bought in bulk

6) I love their Heinz Organic Ketch-up 2-pack and can only find it at Costco

7) 24 eggs are only $1.87!!! Even if you don't use them all, a dozen eggs at the grocery store are nearly $3.00.

8) Romaine hearts - 6-8 per bag for only $2.19 and using Debbie Meyer's Green Bags help them keep for weeks! I've never thrown any away. A bag of 3 Romaine Hearts is nearly $5 at Safeway.

9) Paperback books are $6-8 each and they have all the newest releases!

10) They carry all the popular Swiffer cleaning products in bulk, way cheaper than Target

11) Ziploc freezer bags and sandwich bags sold in bulk are nearly half-price as Target.

I seriously could go on and on, Costco is fantastic!

MAprincess · July 2009

Thank you for this list! We are going to go over there this weekend and sign up:-)

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