Costco - do you go?

[NorthEastNancy]

Tempted to get a card - I've never been!

We (me, dh and ds 14) shop in Tesco mainly. I love a big shop mooch and feel like it's somewhere I'll go on my own if I ever pass my test (currently having lessons at the grand old age of 48!)

Do you go? Would you recommend it?

Our family love Costco and it’s perfect for mooching. I have a 14year old son and I think it’s his favourite shop, especially when they give out samples of food!! Congratulations on learning to drive. I’m 55 and contemplating it 😱

We have an account through dhs business, we never use it but his business partner does.
I’ve been a few times but I just find the whole set up a bit baffling, well not baffling really, were a family of 5 and don’t have masses of storage space so just shop weekly - I guess if you’re a bigger family and have more storage it would suit you. People used to bring in the cakes to work and they were pretty horrible, so I never get the love for Costco cake!

I've considered it as we can get cards through work, but when I compared the prices of things I'd buy it was cheaper in Lidl or Aldi where I normally shop.

It can be worth it if you can get petrol but I think you have to either have a blue light membership or pay extra and it wasn't worth it for me.

Cheap crap sold in bulk? No ta.

I'd rather have less and pay more for it.

We love Costco and have learned how to shop carefully now we've been members for a couple of years, so we definitely save money.

We do a Costco run once a month or so, and stock up on things like crisps, toilet roll, dishwasher tablets, laundry pods etc that have decent shelf life and always get used. We tend to only need one 'big' household thing each time.

We budget £150 for this, then spend the rest in Tesco. We keep to a budget of £500 for groceries as a family of 5 (3 adults, 2 teens) by doing this.

It's definitely one of my teens' favourite "days out." My 18yo was affronted that I didn't take him last time and demanded to come next time!

I have often gone halves with a friend for some of the big stuff. I don't think you can really compare warehouse shopping to Tesco. I love the range of different products in Costco. And the sampling...

The savings we make on fuel basically pay for the membership. We buy our toilet roll. Kitchen roll in bulk there.

My MIL loves costco but she is a horder. I agree the cake is vile.

We go about every 6 weeks and stock up on laundry pods, fabric softener, dishwasher tabs etc. We have an area in the garage where we store it. I do price check as we go round as not everything is good value once you've added the VAT. We were recommended the large bags of Costco cat biscuits but ours didn't like them but we still get the massive bags of the Purina ones that work out good value.

I hate the Costco birthday cakes. The icing is horrible (although I appreciate I am in the minority here). However, the carrot cakes and red velvet cakes are yummy.

How much are say the dishwasher tablets per tablets. Is it much cheaper than tesco own?

I’m an American immigrant so there are some things I just enjoy having - granola bars, massive jars of peanut butter, huge bags of tortilla chips. Most things don’t save me money but I like having in bulk - dried fruit (my son takes it for snacks), pasta, etc. Olives are cheaper and some of the meat, but we don’t have a huge freezer so we only buy meat if we are having a bbq or something like that. We go once a month or every other month as we have shelves in the garage for storage.

We love a Costco mooch. Toilet rolls, kitchen roll, foil, washing powder etc are the staples. But really I go with my teens as they love the bakery products and the free samples. some of the skincare/ hair care offers are very good too.I always fill the car up when there, and may visit the cafe on the way out for a jacket potato😊
ETA i also got a couple of summer dresses and a great beach bag for this years holiday

Our nearest is about a 3 hour drive so we’ve never been - I’d love to go one day though, it looks oddly fascinating 😂

Most of the food is big brands so you'll find nothing as good value as supermarket own brands, but if you prefer branded cereal etc it'll be cheaper in big quantities. They do their own brand called Kirkland which is generally good.

The plants are good in the summer. The clothes are really good value, especially footwear. The ready meals and bakery are great quality. The cooked chickens are a must. They have some lovely stuff at Christmas. Hot dog & coke on the way out for £1.50 makes a cheap dinner. Fuel alwaya competitive.

All in all we feel we get our money's worth for the card and enjoy a visit!

Love Costco, been a member for 20yrs.

Used to live local and pop in on my way home from work when it was quiet (the daytime hoards had gone and the evening shoppers had not yet come out) but since moving away we only make it 3-4 times a year.
The seasonal stuff can get very good, we particularly like the Halloween offerings and my late Ddad was really happy with his lifesize Nutcracker figure, have never seen one before or since that was comparable quality for anything approaching the price
The opticians is particularly good, far better than the likes of Specsavers.

"Cheap crap sold in bulk? No ta.
I'd rather have less and pay more for it."
The sort of statement that makes me wonder if you have ever even been there?

Yeah the meat and nuts and fruits and veg are totes cheap crap sold in bulk... 🙄

We buy mixed nuts there, meat, olives etc. Eome things cist like in shops though so you just have to check if quality is better or not. We go once every few months to stock up.
Their popcorn is top notch. Gyozas are good value in freezer so is much of the frozen fish for the quality.

You’ve never been, have you? Their own brand is good but it’s mostly big brand stuff.

My DH really rates the meat at Costco. We go every do often to stock up on toilet rolls, kitchen rolls, dishwasher tabs and buy the meat for our Sunday lunch. We don’t have a big freezer or a large family so can’t really make the most of it but it is quite a fun afternoon out! You have to be careful re prices as a lot of the branded stuff is not cheaper than the supermarket, but if you’re savvy it can be pretty good value.

We go (well I send DH and middle child) with a list. If we adding anything new I add price it would cost from Tesco or Asda.

Whoever asked about dish washer tablet Finish Quantum All in One Lemon Dishwasher Tablets, 2 x 100 Pack are £21.79 at Costco compared to Tesco Finish Ultimate All In One Dishwasher Tablets Lemon x92 are £16.00 at Tesco.

You need to know how much things cost in your normal shop so you can compare. Just because in baulk doesn't mean it will be cheaper.

33 yr member. Shop there weekly.

It’s normal brands? But us sold in bulk, so lots of storage needed. Excellent for toilet roll though 😁

I don’t think the people I know who go save any money, if anything they spend more money by buying more random crap than they would had done otherwise.

If you usually buy own brand stuff or shop at Aldi you’re unlikely to save money.

If you like to buy branded things then you may do providing you don’t spend a load of extra money when there.

Shopping at Costco has made a huge difference to our shopping bill, I'd say weve shaved at least a third off.

We buy toilet roll, kitchen roll, foil, dishwasher tablets, Washing powder, general groceries and i can't fault anything. The meat is especially good value. Clothes and shoes are good quality and good value.

We do have space to store items which is helpful. If you can go with a cardholder just for a browse that might give you an insight into whether its worth it for you.

It's good you need to set yourself a budget though or you can spend a lot. Tell yourself x number of things you need and say , 2 things you don't really or you can end up wasting loads of food and money.

We've got a business membership, as we also have with Bookers. We looked for work supplies but find it's much cheaper now to get toilet roll, hand towels, cleaning stuff, tea/coffee for our business from Amazon on subscribe. Years ago we used to have a Makro membership and that was the same. By the time you add the VAT on, you're not saving much. It didn't grab me, to be honest, but it's a good job we're all different. They're clearly doing something right.

I miss Bookers!

The toilet paper in costco is great, but has gone up massively so as pp we buy elsewhere now.
Meat is still great for the quality luckily