Costco vs Aldi/Lidl

[ronconcoke]

Which is cheaper?

We're thinking of doing a monthly bulk shop for loo roll, washing powder, tins, maybe rice etc to cut down our grocery bill and wondered which works out cheaper. We wouldn't buy meat from there as I'm concerned about animal welfare.

Also, how exactly does Costco work - do you need to be invited by a member?

TIA!

Aldi is cheaper once you've factored in the cost of membership

How many of you are there in the family?

It depends. Costco can be amazingly cheap for some things and not for others. They also do some great offers. We buy a lot of our cleaning stuff and washing powder etc. From Costco because it does work out cheaper. We also stock up on things like cereal bars and buy fruit when we are there.
You can find out how you join on their website there are certain professions that can get personal memberships. Mine is a trade one through my dad's business so not sure what the personal rules are anymore.

I find once I've factored in the membership fee (and all the extra carrot cakes I buy when shopping there) Aldi is cheaper.

For Costco you need to be either self employed or work in a specific industry - think nhs is included in that. Or if you know someone who has a card they can get you in on their referral scheme. I don't find Costco that much cheaper. A lot of the stuff works out as the same price as stuff the supermarkets sell it for when it's on offer. So they might sell x3 cleaning fluids for £3, but you can usually pick them up for £1 from Tesco. You can get some good deals, but if your buying 100 toilet rolls at once your going to need plenty of space to store your haul.
I find Aldi/Lidl annoying because I can't get everything. I do my weekly shop there, which will work out maybe £30 compared to £40 in Tesco, but then go into Tesco and spend another £20 trying to get the stuff I couldn't get in Aldi.
I find the amazon subscribe and save quite good. I get cheap nappies/wipes and toilet roll from there. They also do an Amazon pantry. But I'm not sure how much cheaper it is to buy from there compare to a supermarket.

I've just had this dilemma. I only shop at Lidl or Aldi but have just done my first Costco shop in years.
A few things were cheaper like tea bags £8.79 for 1100 and cushelle toilet roll was on offer this month.
I don't pay for my membership so have come to the conclusion that the odd thing is a bargain but you have do your sums and be willing to use the Kirkland brand like you would with Aldi/ Lidl brand.

We buy cat litter, loo roll, bottled water (40 x 500ml for £3.00!), some cleaning products and sometimes cans/bottles of pop from Costco. Oh and Diesel (at 4p per litre cheaper than nearest rivals). Sometimes other things too if there is a good offer

Shopping at Costco has saved us money but on the whole we are buying the same brands as before just in bulk so it's probably not as cheap as Aldi/Lidl.
Mostly it's saved us as its stopped most of the little top up shops I was doing where you go in for a tin of tomatoes and come out with a £30 bag.
Just looking at penne pasta Aldi pasta is 45p or 29p, I buy a 6 pack of 500g from Costco for I think around £4 so certainly not cheaper, although before I was buying DeCecco at £1.50-£2 for 500g so it's a big saving for us although DeCecco is still the best
I buy a massive pack of 6 giant peppers for £2.99 from Costco.They aren't as cheap as Aldi but they are much bigger and last much longer so to me better value.
I have tried Aldi and Lidl and although I rate a few items in general I find the quality is poor or it's not suitable for nut allergic DC.
It all depends how you shop now I guess.

I've let my Costco membership lapse. By the time I'd got tempted by other stuff in there, I wasn't saving much.
I now go to Lidls and buy what I need. It's much cheaper that way.

Our nearest Costco is 20 mins drive, and Aldi, about the same, so once petrol and time factored in, Lidls is the answer (for me!)

I find the Kirkland branded stuff like their toilet rolls to be far superior to branded stuff like Andrex, cheaper too and last longer. It's also good for things like water filters, teabags, cleaning products the mozzarella sticks in a massive bag are worth the membership fee

Yes you do have to be strict with Costco. Our general rule is we only buy things we won't use more of because we have more if that makes sense.
So toilet roll and kitchen roll are fine, pastries and chocolate bars not fine!

I have a friend who gets stuff for me. Just a few items. Their kitchen roll which to me is far superior to any supermarket one. Their kitchen bin bags in a roll. The jug of maple syrup. Kirkland loo rolls are excellent but I can buy loo rolls locally as cheap.

I visited there once and found it all overwhelming.

Aldi is cheaper - Costco is mainly brands though. We had membership but didn't renew.

I think you have to really know the prices of things (or have time to stop and Google it on your phone) or you just don't know whether what you're buying is cheaper. There are definitely some things which are a great bargain (e.g. we get a particular brand of dog food there) but the problem I have is that I find it more difficult to control my weekly budget if I've bought a load of stuff at Costco which will last me a few months.

The Costco meat is of a very high standard and quality. They do all their own butchery on site.

But. You do need to have a decent size freezer or a large family to make it work. I bulk buy things like minced beef then split and bag it up. Their chicken breasts are quite big but 12 in a tray so I open freeze them, bag up so I can then use what I need.

It's so easy to over consume and get carried away though because pack sizes are so large e.g. Danish pastries by the dozen.

I've shopped there for years now and agree with the PP that you need to be focused and disciplined. It's so easy to get distracted by the non food items. Magazines are sold with 20% off the cover price.

I've bought loads of non food stuff from their and got some great bargains, e.g. simple human dish rack £43 in John Lewis, £23 in Costco.

If you go have a list and a price comparison, not just unit price but price/kg so you can compare as you may only be saving 1p per toilet roll but have to store it all under the bed and it takes 6 months to use up.

Be careful of Amazon Subscribe and Save ... they change the prices / quantities each month, and the price on the reminder email can change before the dispatch too.

They changed a six pack of mouthwash to a single bottle on me, for the same price. Apparently £12 for one bottle is reasonable.

And the cat food would appear on the email at a good price, and then go up £7 before dispatch. Again, totally reasonable thing to do, apparently.

Fuckers.

6x packets of 6 pitta breads for £2.99. Part baked ciabattas and rolls. Skippy peanut butter. Washing powder and conditioner, batteries. Couldn't see myself doing a whole shop though.

Totally agree that the quality of their own brand Kirkland stuff is great. As is the quality of their meat. But somehow every time we go in there looking for something specific I don't find it and instead I end up getting a half dozen things I didnt know I needed and a bill for £200. 6 pack of Bio Oil? Check. Oversized chiminea? Check. Rainbow assortment of Sharpies?! Check.
I really need to cancel my membership...

I end up spending more in there than I would elsewhere because of the random abundance of wonderful things. It's the books that get me every time! We always buy washing products and toilet rolls there though. And it saves us a lot on Christmas presents.

In Clacton, Lidl were great for specials, like winter clothes, and yogurt, cheese, bottled cherries, drinks, etc. But some canned fish were terrible as were some fruit and vegetables. I found nothing in Clacton Aldi that I could not get in Morrison's cheaper.

In London, CostCo varied between outlets. We mainly used Tesco or Iceland.

J Sainsbury are priced at head office. They used to grow, process or make their own products, or ask other manufacturers to make them specially for Sainsbury.

Tesco vary between branches depending on each manager. They make nothing, just coordinate/manage manufacturing contracts and deliveries. We now shop mainly at Tesco, Sevenoaks, and sometimes Morrison's, Oxted, Kent. Thanks.