Costco best buys, and what to avoid.

[TeaAndBisquits]

Evening alll.

I'm off to Costco later for the first time and I'm after some hints and tips for what's good to get and what to avoid.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

I've heard great things about the cake, and at this rate will walk out with a sugar overload! Thanks

They're not always the cheapest.
The advertised prices are before VAT!
They do large rectangular celebration cakes that can be customised and only cost £15 (iirc).
I buy washing capsules and other cleaning stuff only when it's on special offer.
If you see something you really want at the right price buy it there and then. Stock changes all the time.

The meals I like are the chicken enchiladas and the breaded haddock. Clothes wise I like the Kirkland UGG-alike boots and DH likes the outdoor trousers. We buy tins of tomatoes mostly and beans and toilet rolls.

The broccoli salad! It's delicious.

It's good if you want a really big real Nordman Christmas tree

The cakes and other threats they have are good, however they don’t use fresh cream so I always avoid the creamy ones!

The pancake mix and the frozen chicken tenders. The mix and match muffins are good. Think it’s two packs for £5.50.

Their bottled water is mega cheap too.

I buy washing powder, toilet roll, kitchen roll in bulk. The cakes and croissants are amazing. Wines and spirits are often cheaper in supermarkets at this time of year and a lot of food is in such huge quantities we can't use it before it goes off. The cafe does great pizza.

There’s nothing really to avoid but do look closely at the prices. Some things aren’t any cheaper. Branded stuff often has the biggest savings.
We buy all our washing powder, bin bags and other household stuff from there.
Food wise fruit and veg is cheaper than the supermarket. Great for Christmas stuff but don’t think you’ll get it next time because quite often it won’t be there next time.
I always leave with random purchases as well I’ve got some great bargains of stuff I never even knew I needed.

toilet paper
washing powder
cheddar
almond butter
bonne maman jam - massive jars
Kirkland Prosecco - quite good
frozen fish - bit hit and miss, but can be good.

Nutella and cereal/ cereal bars are always on our list as usually a fair bit cheaper 

The meat is amazing, and the jalapeño humous!!

As others have said it's not always cheaper however some things are in bulk i.e. washing liquid. We buy:

Meat - everything we've had has been good, fillet steak amazing
Fresh Salmon
Parma Ham
Cheddar
Parmesan/Parmigiano-Reggiano
Frozen Chicken Tenders
Frozen Goyza
Frozen raspberries in a tub
Large packs of butter

If you're having party massive tubs of olives/hummous etc

BTW not sure what others think but I've always found the Kirkland brand which is their own brand very good quality

DONT BUY POPPYCOCK!!!!!

You will not be able to stop eating it, it is basically the crack cocaine of the popcorn world.

Pizza! The bake your own one is delicious.

The bag of dinner rolls from the bakery is amazing. They are like crack, addictive as hell and only 2.99 for 36.

Part bake French bread
Breakfast cereal bars
Loo roll and kitchen roll but you'll need space to store them!

DH always finds a good single malt scotch cheaper than elsewhere (specific brands vary depending what's on offer)

The meat is vat free. They do coffee pods and herbs cheaper. The food is excellent quality though it is sometimes more expensive. I also buy branded cleaning products and cat food there. The cafe is really cheap. You can buy a very large gelato for £2.

Kirkland toilet roll
Kirkland kitchen roll
Bon maman jam
Broccoli salad
Massive box of Persil
Kirkland tissues
Cordial
Boxes of crisps
Little cinnamon whirls
Cakes
Cif and bleach multipacks

I’m going tomorrow and I can’t wait

Ghirardelli triple chocolate brownie mix. 4 packets in a big box for £8 ish. Makes the BEST super chocolatey brownies, chewy American style 😍

Pretty much everything I buy has been mentioned other than books. The book table is great for kids books, some really nice box sets are usually available. Oh and remember to pick up a "coupon booklet" at the entrance. I have mine emailed to me but I still like to skim through a paper copy as I'm walking around the store. I love Costco

Actually Babybel's and cheese strings haven't been mentioned. They're much cheaper than the supermarkets in Costco.

We’ve just discovered Halloumi chips, amazing!
Some of the steak is cheap and very tasty and we love the hot smoke salmon salad. Sausages also excellent.

Thanks all. It got very overwhelming in there!

We got some of the mix and match muffins, the dinner rolls, halloumi fries and some Nutella, ham and cheese.

I've earmarked lots of stuff for next visit though.