I started shopping at Costco this year and for me it has been the best place to shop for groceries. They have amazing prices and a lot of amazing foods I cant find at any other store. Any time I go I find amazing sales on bulk foods that has saved me a lot of money so far! I always leave with a full belly also thanks to all the free samples they give, saves me even more cash I love Costco!!
While on a holiday to the States, I was really impressed by the range of products and aisles at a Costco outlet. The prices on bulk purchases were a steal. My friend who lives there shops at Costco quite often, and I purchased some health products that I brought back to the U.K. We have branches of the chain in the UK as well, but I have not yet been to any. The membership cost, the distance of the store from where I live and the compulsory bulk purchase are factors that deter me.
As a single person, it's not really worth it to buy most of my groceries at Costco. Most of the perishable food would spoil by the time I got around to eating everything. The condiment containers are so large and I have limited space. Once I did buy some American mustard. It lasted a year.
To save money on groceries, I don't shop at places like Costco. My first stop is Dollar Tree (everything $1). The new Dollar Tree in my town even has a frozen foods section. Since they get new stock in, all the time, when they have great brand name foods, I really stock up. Then, I shop my local stores based on the sales they have in their circulars. Stocking up when items are on sale, can save you even more money than bulk item stores.I also clip coupons and save at least an extra $25 a week, that way.
Yeah , a lot of the items are little overboard like huge tubs of mustard and stuff like that. The best thing is they sell huge bags of stuff like chicken, shrimp, and ground beef that saves me a lot...also buying stuff like toothpaste and soap there saves a really good amount, pretty much everything there can save you a lot of cash!
I've heard other good things about Costco. We don't have one in the area, just a BJ's and Sam's Club. The Sam's Club membership seemed high to me. The BJ's membership is more reasonable, but there selection isn't as good. After a year and a half it didn't seem worth it to keep the membership. We also have space issues. The bulk might save money, but you need room to store it.
Costco and other big box stores like Sams and BJ's are great for buying in bulk and saving money if you learn what to buy. If you have a large family and a lot of pets and entertain a lot, you will definitely come out ahead doing most, if not all of your shopping at the big box stores. Also small businesses will reap a lot of savings here. Otherwise, it's a good idea to get the calculator out and make a trip to compare prices. Sometimes, the best savings are going to be at your local grocery store or CVS for particular items.
I am curious - does Costco offer organic foods and produce? Do they maybe have their own store brand of organic foods? I am trying to find places that have organic products at good prices and was wondering if getting a Costco membership would be something to do. I heard before that they have good deals on paper products and household items, but I'm not sure that these alone would be worth the membership price.
Costco has all kinds of foods, I am sure they carry some organic foods. If you really look into it you will see that the membership price can easily pay for itself quickly, I got a 2 year gym membership special for 160$ which im sure already payed for the card. The Costco Gas is always a little cheaper too, really good way to save all around.
Costco is really only good for bulk items. As a grocery store on it's own, they don't really have all that much. At least that's how it is judging from the Costco where I live.
I agree with HDHarper. I buy from the .99 stores a whole lot more. The one near me has tons of frozen berries for my smoothies, fresh produce, great deals on mixes and I use that to supplelent my couponing at my local grocery store. I do enjoy shopping at Costco though. Just don't buy their electronics. You can get those for less online!
The Costco is my area does sell some organic produce. Costco does have amazing bargain prices on vitamins and supplements. If you know someone who has a membership, you can go into the store as a guest and look around to see if you think it worth it for you.
I have given up meat, but Costco does have a great selection of meat including fish. I love to buy their vitamins and nutritional supplements. The gas is often 10 cents cheaper there too. The prices on the electronics are not always cheaper though.
I buy from Pathmark and my local grocers here in New York City where I live. We get good deals. But when prices go up on certain items to to catastrophes with weather or storms, we get hit first, and hardest.
"Is Costco the best?" Well.... that depends. Yes, they sell in bulk at good prices, but some people I know end up throwing away about 1/4 of what they buy because it goes bad before they eat it. Is your family large enough that you'll put all of it to good use? Additionally, there are some "lists" out on the internet that compare certain Costco products to 99 cent store products and there are often times when the lower-quality 99 cent store product is a better overall deal. Sure, the paper plates may be more flimsy, but when you're pinching pennies, those 99 cent store paper plates might be a better bet. I believe Tooth paste is another thing that Costco does not have a good value for. I also read something the other day about Costco gas which, at least where I live, is about 5 cents cheaper per gallon, however there is always a long line for it - sometimes 15 minutes wait. All the time you spend idling your car waiting in line for the gas, you just burned up all the "savings" you might have gotten by getting gas at a normal gas station.
Costco came to Australia recently and they opened in Sydney, Canberra and Melbourne. I haven't been there as hasn't been interested to visit the Parramata, Sydney branch since they started. My brother-in-law and his wife however, shop there once a month or a couple of months. They love hunting on bargains. It is funny how they get pleasure out of shopping there simply because the items are cheap in bulk. But the thing is there are just the two of them living together; they don't have kids. I believe that Costco is good for bulk buying especially if you have a big family. In my case, with only two young kids and a hubby, I might do shopping there one time with my brother-in-law since he has the membership and see how I'll go.
I think that Costco is really only worth it if you're shopping for more than 2 people. My boyfriend and I shop at No Frills and it's still pretty cheap - but if we had more additions to our family, we would need to shop at Costco for bulk prices. I'm not sure if the membership cost overrides the savings though - so that's something to consider before signing up. But I do think that if there are many people living in one residence that Costco is valuable for it's ability to sell things in large packages.
Only if you have a really big family your buying for. And then you have to pay for the membership, which is a waste because who needs a big bulk of those things in their unless they are having a big bash. Just need a few cheap items and that's it.
I wasn't aware that there were any here in the UK, are there a lot of them? I'm assuming one of them will be in London.
A lot are saying Costco is only good for large familys and what not, it is literally good for any amount of people. You can buy frozen food in bulk that can literally save a single person 100 bucks in a month, also the free samples are no joke, they are basically a free meal because there are like 40 stations around the store.
