What's cheaper in Costco?

[7inchesFromTheMiddaySun]

We are off to Costco (UK) tomorrow. What do you find to be cheaper there? We've been before and it was hard to work out what's actually cheaper than you get in supermarkets because Costco packs are so large. Any tips?

Things aren't necessarily cheaper, but things are in larger quantities which will often work out better value.
I stock up on chicken and Salmon
Kirkland toilet rolls
Kirkland washing powder
coffee
Ziploc bags
Dettol cleaning liquid

Lots of other stuff that I can't think of off hand.

We buy toilet rolls, kitchen rolls and bottles of water.
We like bags of jalapeño peppers , samosas, mozzarella sticks.
Last time we went I bought a friend a box of Dubai Chocolate and she said it’s the best chocolate she has ever had.
The clothes can be good value - it depends what they have at the time.

Apart from doing price comparisons on your phone on the way round my rule of thumb is that large single packs of things are better value than multipacks of the same size you get in normal supermarkets. Peanut butter and maple syrup are on our regular list.

Tins - basics like tinned tomatos and beans are very cheap (packs of 12).
Olive oil.
Loo rolls & kitchen towels.

Off the top of my head whole uncooked chickens I think are £1 cheaper each and it comes in a two pack. I cook 2 at the same time in the air fryer. Things like wraps and bread. Wraps will have a long date, they come in a pack of 3 and part baked baguettes, ciabatta and petit pain work out cheaper I think. Milk I think is also cheaper but comes in a 2 pack. Eggs are £3.99 for a 24 pack, Dh has 2 poached eggs for breakfast every day. It is 4 years since I did a price comparison but I shop there every 3 weeks or so and have done for almost 20 years.

If you are buying fresh items then consider portioning and freezing. We have a separate larder freezer for bulk stuff because we shop at Costco. Chicken breasts come in a pack of 10 ish, minced steak is 2.5kg or more ie 2.8kg, so I divide that into 5 portions, vacuum pack and freeze flat. Same with cheese, it comes in a big block but it is cheaper than the supermarkets and absolutely lovely.

For us Costco falls into 2 categories, cheaper or just miles better quality. Bin liners, never had one rip ever but it comes in a pack of 90. I have both a utility room and a pantry for canned items, tinned tomatoes come in a pack of 12, coconut milk is a pack of 6 and coconut milk is less than £1 a tin, Amoy is £2 in Asda.

Kirkland, their own brand toilet roll is definitely cheaper but comes in a pack of 40. We also get their kitchen roll but it is taller than supermarket ones, same with tin foil and cling film, excellent quality but the box is big. It does fit in my Ikea kitchen drawer though.

What we tend to do every 5 years or so is print off the master shopping list (excel sheet) and I write all the prices down in Costco then compare them to Asda which is where we usually shop.

The hot rotisserie chicken is delicious and definitely worth buying.

Electronics guarantees are 5 years, petrol is cheaper if your Costco has one. Their return policy is great. Clothing, coats are good quality. We bought the children winter coats from there for a decade as they were basically ski jackets. We are on a 2% cash back as we are executive members meaning on a weekday we get in before the other card holders. I go for opening time, get in, shop, get out but I know it like the back of my hand.

The best advice is take your time going round. You can price compare on your phone as long as you have signal.

Toilet rolls and kitchen towels
Part baked bread rolls, tortilla wraps, the whole bakery section is good value if you'll eat it / freeze it.
The giant birthday cakes are excellent value!
Cheddar cheese, yoghurt, baby bels / lunch box cheese
We get the mince, chicken and pork loins, not sure if they work out cheaper but last ages. There's usually an offer on in the meat section that works our good if you have space to freeze.
Vitamins

I buy stuff like baking paper, tin foil, food bags etc, I don't think they are necessarily cheaper but are so massive they last us ages and it's stuff I easily forget to add on the shopping list for the supermarket!

Their "middle aisle" is amazing, but can get spendy fast. I've just replaced our bedding and towels with Costco ones and really pleased with them.

We joined as we needed to replace our car tyres (or buy winter tyres... it was tyre related anyway!) and Costco had a good deal on so also worth thinking about.

In the summer we popped in to get ice cream at the cafe, the gelato was delicious.

Seconding the coconut milk recommendation by @HorseOnBy

If the famous Chicken Wine is your thing, my local one had it on offer for less than £6 a bottle in boxes of six - limited to two boxes per member.

Currently £8.75 a bottle in Tesco/Sainsburys (but appreciate they regularly have offers on that take it to closer to £6.25)

Some excellent recommendations here - thank you. We do need tin foil and parchment paper actually so I'll watch out for those too.

Last time we went we got yoghurt, peanut butter, jam, cheese, bacon and freezer stuff like mozzarella sticks, sole goujons, chicken strips.

Bakery goods are good value but big packs so we often split a pack of croissants or muffins with my mum & sister!

While you’re in there you can get on your usual supermarket app and compare price per 100g

or Amazon for toilet roll.

Costco isn’t that much cheaper for regular folk doing a shop. Remember to need to store your 200 toilet rolls too 😂

Marmite and bin liners

I buy coffee, olive oil; w-up liquid- the 5ltr ones are £3.50 there at the moment which is cheaper than Tesco (which is price matching The Range where I am); washing and dishwasher pods, kitchen roll, caster sugar and dog / cat food there.

Their vitamins are also really good value as the bottles are huge. The alcohol generally works out well and their own brand champagne is decent and good value.

I second winter coats; my DD also got sheepskin winter boots from there for years & I still have a couple of pairs that have lasted me nearly 20 years & still look almost new. I just bought more sheets there and some crockery; the sheets are v high thread count cotton & were cheaper than anywhere else.

We tend to go about once every 2 - 3 months to stock up as our closet one is about an hour away or on the way back from visiting friends & will fill up with petrol too.

Sugar, baked beans, coffee beans, teabags, toilet paper, kitchen roll, cans of pop (although Iceland can be cheaper for these now), large block of cheddar and mozzarella as we make pizza a lot for dinner. We cut into blocks and freeze it. Eggs if they have them as often sell out at ours. Fruit shoots for the kids. Large bars of dairy milk/galaxy chocolate. Clover spread and block butter. Bacon, the Riverway sausages they sell as the nicest sausages too.

As others have said, it’s not necessarily cheaper but when I go I usually get big jars of coffee, snacks like kinder bueno bars, big tubs of spices, sparkling water, their packs of muffins as they freeze well, sparkling wine, wine and chicken breasts. I also find their beauty section cheaper so buy toothpaste, shower gel, shampoo and conditioner, vitamins etc from Costco. They are all known brands such as dove and Aussie. Make up is often good value so 3 Maybelline mascaras can be £16 but they are £9 each in Boots type thing.

Lurpak
frozen raw prawns
cans of coke 7up etc
bottles of water
honey
maple syrup
crates of wine

all MUCH cheaper and I’ll only buy from costco

Frozen prawns definitely, I also buy chicken and mince to freeze in portions, maple syrup, cleaning stuff, cleaning stuff, part baked baguettes (8 for £2.50 - good with soup for lunch).

I agree that I buy either because something is cheaper or much better quality - their shearling boots are excellent value - I have a pair that’s lasted 5 years and still look new. My teenage DD chose them over Uggs. I love a good rummage in Costco.

Bloody love Costco. As has been said, not everything is cheaper- some things massively are as they're in bulk- but other things I buy because I hate shopping, like going less, and find the quality fantastic.

We buy a lot of the Kirkland things and they're brilliant.

We always buy (and are going there today)

Toilet roll (thick, large rolls, hate using any other now!)
Large kitchen roll (brilliant)
Multipack of water bottles for the teen (they work about 10p each I think)
Laundry detergent (Kirkland - smells amazing, cleans brilliantly)
Fabric conditioner
Frozen fruit (mixed bag, amazing on porridge)
Pink lady apples (enormous, taste amazing)
Bin bags (1 giant roll lasts forever and they're so thick and never rip)
Toothpaste multipack
Vitamins and supplements (fit wife and teen love these)
Protein drinks/powder
Crates of Monster/Red bull/cans of drinks for the teen

And then food; the bakery goods are incredible but too much for 3 of us so only if we have guests planned, usually get a big tray of sushi or a giant pizza for dinner, we love the fresh greek salad and always get one, a rotisserie hot chicken, etc.

The two pack of Finish rinse aid. Only place I can get the plain scent (not lemon) and the two bottles last me 1 year. And make a massive difference to how dry the dishes are!

This is the most middle clsss mumsnet response ever but Maldon sea salt is so cheap in there. £4 for a huge 500g tub; works out way cheaper than the little boxes and it lasts really well in the tub.

Agree with PP about vitamins too. If you have kids that like fresh fruit their del monte platter works out good value too - it’s £8.50 but much bigger than the supermarket packs.

I stock up on

Kirkland loo roll
tin foil (about once every 18 months as the roll is huge)
chicken thigh fillets- split the pack into as many as needed and freeze
branded breakfast cereals
butter
bottled water
kirkland batteries

End up spending a tonne as plenty of other things end up in the trolley too. But I’m quite good at looking at stuff and working out if it’s better value at Costco or Tesco etc.

Malden sea salt
branston baked beans (I paid £12.99 for 24 cans, good till 2027)
finish dishwasher tablets
ariel washing pods
vanish stain remover
toilet rolls
levi jeans are great value in my local one right now as they are the ones I wear!
crisps are cheaper but it is a big box
lurpack butter
cathedrral city grated cheese
mini baby bels
olive oil
bottles of Coke Zero

i looked up prices on my online shopping delivery app to compare prices as I was going round - I worked everything out per kilo or per litre to decide if it was worth buying

sainsburys have nectar 1/2 price on smaller tubs of Lurpack so right now that might be cheaper there (I only saw this offer yesterday and have a kilo of butter in the fridge so didn’t investigate further!)

fruit and veg is top quality, not necessarily cheaper though

The tin foil is amazing, really big and thick and the roll lasts ages. Same with the cling film, and the Christmas wrapping paper - pick a pattern you love as it will be around for years unless you have many many large gifts to wrap!

Lavazza qualita Oro coffee is about half the price of supermarkets.

Levi jeans ( I often wear leggings so I can try on over them!), sheepskin slippers etc all good value

cheese blocks, frozen stuff, large packs of Lurpak and Greek yoghurt

batteries are usually cheap, and IIRC, they sell multi packs of postage stamps cheaper if you have lots of Christmas cards to post

the meat and fish is high quality and well priced, not necessarily the cheapest but restaurant quality

Salmon, steak, prawns (most meat really), make sure you have room in the freezer! Some of the ready prepared fresh food (dinner after a hard day shopping) and packs of fresh vegetables (but check those). Foil, cling film, baking parchment, vitamins and minerals, batteries but now you can get Amazon basics which are good too. Be careful of white goods not always the best prices. Plants, sometimes available, always big sometimes left a bit dry, and bunches of flowers.

Edit: Forgot spirits, can be very cheap when on offer and champagne.

The double sided Christmas paper is excellent, usually a typically Christmas print on one side and something more generic on the other. My kids know on Christmas Day that every other present for the rest of the year will be in the generic print wrapping paper. One roll to rule them all!