First time to Costco

[Frozenhobby]

I am going to Costco next week. I’ve never been before and don’t judge but I’m quite excited. DS has asked for a tray of muffins and I will get those. I’m also going to buy some laundry powder and coffee if it’s cheaper. Is there anything else worth a look? I don’t want to get carried away and spend a lot of cash just because it’s there and possibly not a good deal versus my usual Tesco shop. Are things cheaper or are you just buying bulk but prices are the same?

We eat tins of sweetcorn like they are a delicacy at our house so I usually pick up a tray of large tins. The bulk buy gets the large cans down to about the same price for green giant as shop home brand, with green giant being much nicer.
The garlic and coriander naans are lovely, just make sure you have freezer space.
Yes to a big box of washing powder.

It's not usually any cheaper overall but a few things will be, depending on the month. Eg cat food was a bit cheaper than tesco this month.

Petrol is much cheaper though so go with an empty tank!

If you take the kids, get the hotdog or pizza and free refill from the cafe - bargain prices.

their own brand loo roll, cheaper, stronger, longer.
Meat is ashtrays good quality and usually cheaper.

it’s not a trip to Costco without a Costco cooked chicken. Supermarket ones are no where near as nice or big

Petrol if yours has a pump. Usually at least 5p per L cheaper than the supermarkets.

Also came on to say sweetcorn. If anyone in the house eats pot noodles they are worthwhile. We got a very good deal on whiskas cat food the last time we were there. And we often pick up a large pack of the duracell batteries. We find the Kirkland ones don't always fit as well. Floss harps are also good value of money and fairly small so not difficult to store.

We get terrible phone signal at ours so it can be tricky to check against supermarket prices. Some stuff isn't particularly cheaper but is worth getting in bulk or we like the Kirkland (Costco own brand) version for.

Things we usually get:

5 pack of cushelle toilet roll (5x packs of 9 rolls) for about £20 so a bit cheaper than Tesco

Kirkland kitchen roll (think it's 12 massive rolls per pack)

Chilli coated peanuts (warning heavily addictive)

Large "ready meal" like a pizza or carbonara for tea that night (can also be frozen in most cases)

Laundry and dishwasher tablets

Kirkland bin bags (massive and have never split!)

Muffins (not always easy to spot - the price of £6.50ish is actually for two trays - you can mix and match flavours and they freeze brilliantly)

Non food like books / clothes etc. we end up with more of this than groceries!

Diet Coke cans.

There are so many good bits it's easy to get carried away. For things you might usually get in Tesco make sure you have a good idea what the cost might be and make sure you have space to store it all - our freezer is tiny and every time we go we malign not having a chest freezer in the garage! Enjoy - I don't blame you for being excited, I flippin love a Costco trip!

We always come out of Costco spending a fair bit but it lasts for ages - own brand toilet roll, coffee beans, tea bags, washing liquid. fresh fish occasionally, sparkling water, big tangerines, maple syrup - they have offers on different set items too … the bakes and cakes look amazing but as there are just two/three of us they’re more for a bigger family … it’s a good experience always very busy!

Thank you all. I was just on their website and it looks like my shower gel which is Dove comes in a pack of 6 and is cheaper. Same with Colgate toothpaste so those look like a good buy. I’ve added loo roll and dishwasher tablets to my list. I definitely need those.

I’d you buy a lot of brand name products, then buying in bulk at Costco will be cheaper.

We don’t for most things (because I’m a tight arse lol) so comparatively it’s more expensive per unit cost than the supermarkets.

However, we always buy their own brand loo roll, kitchen roll, cheddar (not the Coastal one, although that’s good, it’s a maroon-ish wrapper one in a different section with the milk/bacon lol), Tetley teabags, muffins (freeze fabulously) and Butcher’s Hook sausages (they don’t always stock them though).

Dulce Gusto Latte Macchiato 3 packs, onions and sushi if it’s in stock are good, and occasionally some of their nut & seed crunch bakery stuff will accidentally fall into the trolley!

The annual fee is more than covered by the reduced petrol prices & it’s worthwhile just for that!

Free ads for Costco.

What ever you do, don’t buy these. Unless you want to eat the (rather large for biscuits) entire box in a week like we did

I’m still working my way through my box of these. So delicious!

Shortbread squares with chocolate bits
A cooked chicken
Big bottle of lenor.
Btw it'll be rammed this closetoXmas, expect queues.

Great thread! I'm thinking of joining also. There was a stall at work trying to sign people up and I went by with my friend. The lady running the stall said we could sign up for a membership together and split the cost- we didn't have to be in the same household. I thought that was worth knowing! It would mean DH didn't get his own card but knowing him he'll only go if I drag him there anyway.

There were lots of Kirkland products on display on the stall like slippers, etc that looked like good quality for decent prices.

Hot rotisserie chicken is excellent, kitchen rolls are really good too, also big tubs of nuts, trays of chicken for the freezer, frozen fish, homous, sushi is also great if its your thing. Their enormous cakes are great for a party, i also like their seafood salad. Husband gets diesel there and we have just picked up a Christmas tree!!

We went last night and spent a bloody fortune but we buy a lot of things in bulk like cat food that does work out cheaper.
in addition to some of the things others have mentioned, I’ve got my receipt here …large boxes of Walkers crisps 60 for £8.99, Coke Zero 30 for £11.79, frozen pizzas Crosta & Mollica are £6.99. We get a few of the frozen things, parathas £5.79 for 40 are amazing as are the samosas and gyozas, I have them for lunch regularly. Then random stuff like squishmallows, I picked up a basketball for dd last night. They are great for bulk buying things like chocolate bars too.

In the walk in fridge section they have bags of broccoli salad. Looks like a dry coleslaw with chopped broccoli in.
Inside the bag is a beautiful flavoured salad sauce and a bag of chopped cranberries and cashews . Mix it all together and it is the nicest salad you will ever taste.
Tastes amazing with their cooked chicken ❤️

That’s a 2 pack pizza should have said.

If you have the storage space, then the bulk buys are good value, I usually buy

washing-up liquid,
bog roll,
catering size kitchen foil (brilliant last years),
tinned food,
gin,
sauces,
coffee beans, tea bags
pre-bake bread, (rolls that you heat in the oven last ages).
Butter, ice cream, eggs

I don't buy

The fresh meat is good quality but packs are too big for us, and not worth the hassle of freezing.
I would buy water softener salt, but the bags are 25KG and a PITA to move.
Don't stock dishwasher powder
Sweetener free tonic water
Wine

Keep your till receipt you need it to get out,

PS it can be a bit of a zoo when it's busy!

I like the prepacked salads.

Also the pancake mix.

The meat is good but not cheap.

Love Costco.

Other than the obvious things like toilet roll, cleaning products, etc. the stuff we tend to buy at Costco are things that we use a lot but that are generally quite expensive:

• coffee beans
• kimchi
• vanilla extract
• maple syrup
• wine

Trays of Danish are well worth buying. we buy toilet rolls and kitchen rolls in bulk. Toiletries - deodorants, toothpaste, dental floss. Some tinned veg. If you are having a party the ready made salads are worth buying. We like the chilled large pizzas. Don’t buy booze as it is expensive. I have had some good quality clothing but it depends on what’s there. I have bought Baylis and Harding gift sets there for small presents - five gift sets in one package and the towers of boxes of chocolates make good presents.
Finally, I would say don’t go till after Christmas. Our local Costco is heaving and we couldn’t park last week. We really just went for petrol anyway but thought we would pop in. We generally go in mid-October and don’t go again till January.

Amazing. Thank you. I fear this is going to be expensive. We are going in Tuesday so away from the weekend which will hopefully mean it’s not rammed.

I’m not advertising Costco by the way. Long term mumsnetter. 16 odd years.

I’ll see what alcohol there is. We don’t benefit from any deals in Scotland due to minimum pricing so I wouldn’t get deals anywhere else.