Costco...worth it?

[ChiswickFlo]

A friend has offered to take me next week. Its about 12 miles away.
She buys all sorts there like 6 months worth of loo roll etc
Is it worth the membership/trip?
What's the food like?

Totally worth it. Loo roll and kitchen roll is such good quality. Hope she's got a big car. We go every 3 months as our closest is an hour each way.

Definitely worth it especially if you aren't paying for a membership!

If you do a search there are plenty of threads on here with recommendations of what to buy .

Totally!!

I love costco. I just dont have a house or a bank account big enough to buy everything I want.

Ours is only 5 miles away but we have to limit how much we go as we spend far too much!!

The quality of all the products is excellent.

We used to use it a lot, but the prices are not as competitive as they used to be. I have also changed my way of shopping, in that I now shop everyday.

It's a nice time out with your friend, so take her up on it.

Oh thank you for the quick replies!
I'm definitely going :)

Apparently petrol was £1.50p litre yesterday!!

I don't know if it's cheaper but the quality is usually very good and for me having a lot of things in stock cuts down on top up shopping trips, which saves money because unlike DH who I'm sure is a robot I'm the kind of person who goes in somewhere for toilet roll and spends £47.

The key for me with Costco is to only buy things you won't use more of because you have loads of them. So I try and stick to things like toilet roll, bin bags, washing tablets, bags or pasta etc and avoid the cakes and chocolates.

Yes definitely worth it, bulk buy cleaning products. Washing powder, kitchen roll, toilet paper, bin bags, softener, cat food, bottles of water. Cuts down on the weekly shop, just remember the VAT needs to be added which is shown on the bottom of the the price tag.

If you live near one (and drive) it's worth joining just for the cheaper fuel.

(But you will spend whatever you save on applepies that claim to serve 20)

Check prices carefully as not everything is cheap, especially if you're used to shopping in Lidl/Aldi or buying brands on offer from other supermarkets.

But some things are and the toilet roll is an especially good buy. We've bought it for years and I was horrified as to how much decent quality toilet roll costs at full price from supermarkets when the Costco stuff ran out during The Great Toilet Roll Shortage of 2020.

Lavazza coffee is very good value if you buy that, they have beans and ground. Great part baked ciabattas are good and cheap. But I don't rate the cakes or other baked goods, pastries etc. They're very artificial with long lists of unrecognisable ingredients.

Yes - Costco is a great trip out. I have been buying their own brand (Kirkland) loo roll and kitchen roll for years. When I couldn’t get there during lockdown I missed having that brand.

Also buy massive tubs of laundry powder, giant aluminium foil and clingfilm.

If you eat meat and fish you can buy large packs and then freeze in smaller portions at home. I don’t eat meat or fish now but used to buy the fresh salmon fillet and the casserole beef. V good quality.

Oh and their own brand packs of coffee beans are well priced and delcious.

As stated upthread though you will end up spending much much more than you anticipated

Oh and if you eat marmite buy the large plastic pots! A bargain ;)

You can only get a massive bottle of kikoman soy sauce for the price of a couple of tiny bottles in the supermarket.

Don't worry about the BB date, it doesn't go off.

1kg drums of hot chocolate powder are well worth it if your teens life off if it like mine!

Less than £4 for Cadbury. Just shy if a fiver for Galaxy and Ovaltine if my recall is correct.

Also cheese and butter are fab and a lot cheaper than supermarkets. In fact all the dairy seems well priced.

Definitely get washing powder/liquid/tabs.
Bin bags
Coffee
Meat is excellent quality.
Fruit & veg is good.
Croissants freeze well.
Galaxy hot chocolate
Own brand version of Nutella my teens prefer.
Bottled water & orange & apple juice cartons great value for packed lunches.
Part baked rolls/wraps/naan breads excellent value.
Can't beat the loo rolls.
Love Costco!

I live almost opposite Costco.
I go a fair bit.
Meat and portion up.
Bottled water kids take to school.
Cheese
Partbakes
Toys often good and cheaper

Tin foil and cling film. I’m sure the rolls will outlive me.
Kirkland Dishwasher tablets.
Kirkland Washing tabs
Any of the street food in the chilled section

Top tip, the birthday cakes are huge and plain. Get one of those and a £5 edible topper online and you have a huge cake for under £20.

I agree with everything up thread. I love Costco, although never manage to leave having spent less than £100. As mentioned, you need to know your prices as some things are much more expensive than the same brand & size at the supermarket, but some of their own brand stuff is pricier but better quality.

We regularly buy:
Loo rolls
Bin liners
Part-baked bread
Soy sauce
Olive oil
Tinned tomatoes, chickpeas, sweetcorn, and coconut milk
Almond milk
Prawn gyoza
Duck Bao buns
Korean fried chicken
Kirkland's version of Nutella
Marmite
Parmesan
Halloumi
Black pepper grinder
Pink salt

When we have big family BBQs:
Sausages
Burgers
Olives
Buns
Paper plates
Giant cakes/desserts

It's rare we've tried anything that was disappointing, and we've tried a lot! We've had some great bargains from the toy and book sections over the years too. The only section I completely avoid now is the clothes, as I have never found anything I want that isn't cheaper elsewhere.

100% worth it.

The only section I completely avoid now is the clothes, as I have never found anything I want that isn't cheaper elsewhere

They have Levi women’s shaping skinny jeans for about £32. Almost half the price of anywhere else I’ve found.
I also bought a lovely jumper with stars on the other week for £4.50 not to mention the genuine real sheepskin ugg style boots I bought for slippers at a bargain £27.

The clothing is always worth a look!

@Verstappen

The only section I completely avoid now is the clothes, as I have never found anything I want that isn't cheaper elsewhere

They have Levi women’s shaping skinny jeans for about £32. Almost half the price of anywhere else I’ve found.
I also bought a lovely jumper with stars on the other week for £4.50 not to mention the genuine real sheepskin ugg style boots I bought for slippers at a bargain £27.

The clothing is always worth a look!

I think the that I want part might be key here I'm not a Levi or Ugg kinda person so wouldn't look at those. Most of what I've seen and been tempted by were the baby/toddler clothes when my DCs were younger, but they were always really expensive so went back on the table. DH has bought a few jumpers and some jeans before; they weren't cheaper either, but he liked them.

Get the brownies.

I let my membership go as it was costing me a fortune.

It's all set up to encourage you to buy in bulk so while the cost per unit might be good (and you'd have to really know your prices in advance to work that out), you need to spend a lot to save a lot. Plus you need room at home to store/freeze it all.

And then there's all the non-grocery stuff, tempting you to buy things you never thought you needed, it's like Aldi on speed.

I'm sure you'll have fun on a one-off visit though! The quality of the fresh food is really good.

Soooo much good stuff we like
The brownie mix
Lemon drizzle loaf
Cookie dough
Huge bag of mini pancakes
Giant choc spread / peanut butter
Butter very good price
Babybels
Cheesecake Factory cheese cake
I could go on forever 🤣