Being Thrifty: What 5 Things Do You Buy at Costco?

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Mr friend Andrea, The Greenbacks Gal, is a very thrifty Costco shopper.   Today she is going to share her wisdom with us.

Recently, I decided to see if I could shop Costco on a budget.   After all, you can find some pretty sweet prices at Costco – particularly on organic products. However, you can also end up dropping some serious coin in Costco thanks to the large quantities you have to buy. It’s pretty easy to rack up a $100 in expenses and only have 5 or 6 items in your cart. Can I get an “Amen” to that?

To see if I really could shop Costco for less, I set a budget of $475 and determined that amount had to last for 4 weeks. I could only buy from Costco AND I tried to buy as many organic products as I could. I called it the Costco Challenge and that picture is from my first shopping trip.

What did I learn?

  • You can definitely shop Costco on a budget. The key is to stick to a list and never venturing into the center of the store.
  • Organic products like chicken, beef, eggs, and milk are cheaper at Costco (in my neck of the woods) and you don’t have to wait for a sale to get those prices.
  • Bring a water bottle to wash down all the free samples and always shop at snack time. 🙂
  • I bought only real food ingredients. Buying only real food ingredients meant everything had to be cooked. Nothing was ready-made.
  • Having to cook everything meant lots and lots of dishes.
  • Sometimes it’s nice not to have to cook or do a dish. Four weeks straight of cooking and dish doing pushed me to my limits!

I’m still shopping Costco, but only once a month.  I don’t want to ever have to shop at Costco for 100% of my groceries again! Instead, I’ve found the best bargains to be these 5 Things to Buy at Costco. What do you think? Are those the best bargains you’ve found at Costco?

Are you a Costco member? Did you know that right now they have a $10 Gift Card Costco Membership Offer?

Andrea Green is The Greenbacks Gal. She loves to find Organic Deals, Green Steals, and fix Real Food Meals.

5 Comments

  1. I did a whole series of posts on this very topic last year. I shared my list of things that I think are good buys here:
    http://www.holy-craft.com/2012/04/what-i-buy-at-costco.html

    Things I won’t buy at Costco here
    http://www.holy-craft.com/2012/04/what-i-dont-buy-at-costco.html

    And my explanation of why I hate costco here
    http://www.holy-craft.com/2012/04/why-i-hate-costco.html

    I find that if I really need to stick to a budget, Costco isn’t a place I should drop in at!

  2. We always buy bananas, lettuce, tortillas, peanut butter, ground turkey, eggs, cheese and sourdough sliced bread at Costco. I totally agree with staying out of the middle of the store, unless we’re shopping for socks. 🙂 I got a pair of Fila tennis shoes for $19, though, which was a good price!

    1. Annie- thanks for sharing your Costco tips too. Good to know!

  3. I save on some things at Costco…however i cannot afford to shop thr all the time for my family of 4.

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