Is Costco really worth the price of the card?

[Pantopeach]

My husband can get a card for £35 through his work. I’m tempted but only if it will be worth the saving on the cost of everyday items.

We have a chest freezer and have space to store bulk items. I’ve had a look on their website but they tend to show the prices of large ticket items rather than food / toiletries.
I’d be buying meat, cheese, loo rolls, pet food, big bags of frozen food etc.

Does anyone have a card and are they worth it? Or are supermarkets just as good?

We personally don't find it good value compared to supermarkets, but we don't have space for bulk purchases.

If you’ve got space I’d say it is. The meat is excellent quality, i buy the stewing beef which is usually about £15 a pack & makes 3 meals. Cheese is good value, milk & butter are. Their laundry detergent & loo roll are excellent & last forever, same with foil & they do the big 15kg sacks of dog food for about £25.

I use it but then I prefer some of their products to supermarket equivalents . I use their own brand Loo roll and kitchen roll ( which is huge ) , I also think that their salmon and haddock fillets are much nicer than anything you buy in a supermarket so I buy a pack and then freeze in portions . The petrol is incredibly cheap if your local one has it . Their mince pies are worth the trip on their own at this time of year . I also usually manage to get presents for whatever children we buy for at very good prices . I don’t think for lots of things it’s necessarily cheaper but many are better quality .

I find it worthwhile just for the fuel alone which is often 10p cheaper a litre.

I have a card, I have it because I like going for a look around, it's convenient & I love some of their products (humous, olives, coastal cheese - all much nicer than supermarket offerings). they have things that are very helpful at Christmas (big Brie/camembert).

I don't have a card because it saves me money on every day items.

they do have things like bagels BOGOF & they are the BEST bagels ever!!

so many people have cards, why not see if one will take you with them next time they go so you can see for yourself.

Yes absolutely particularly around Xmas. V good for presents and office supplies inc wrapping paper and tape as well as food for freezer and for party catering etc. love it.

Depends where you live and what you have access to.

Compared to my local Aldi, Poundland and local ethnic shops I found Costco higher priced and no better quality. Their pastries, cakes etc taste cheaply made. People rave about them because they are cheap not because they are comparable in taste or quality to eg an M&S cake.

I’ve never had a large cake but I have to disagree about the pastries , cookies , mince pies etc as they are all lovely .

I think it's very good and bulk buy things like loo roll, bin bags, wash powder etc

you can also buy online with your membership

https://www.costco.co.uk/c/Hot-Buys

https://www.costco.co.uk/c/Hot-Buys?q=:price-desc:cartGroup:8796093380189

https://www.costco.co.uk/Grocery-Household/Grocery-Delivery/c/cos_6.16?sort=relevance&q=:price-desc

Their fresh lasagnes and pasta bakes are really great if you have a crowd coming. And we find it worth it for fuel alone

It’s worth it for the mince pies alone!

What do you buy thats cheaper than normal shops?

Ive been a Costco member for years but not seen any of the things you mention cheaper than the supermarkets

I can see that if you like gaudy OTT Christmas decorations you could find things that you can't get elsewhere but as the OP is concerned about COL I'm guessing thats not what she's buying

I’m always surprised by how much is in shoppers’ trolleys when I go there as it’s no cheaper than Aldi and Lidl as far as I’m concerned.

We have a membership and it's worth it for fuel alone, so if you have a car, and your coscto has a garage, then I'd say go for it.

So we see it as just discounted fuel. Once in a while we will go for a mooch, but a preprepared meal from there for dinner or slices of pizza for lunch.

The books are brilliant fir gifts. The big cakes are good for parties.

That's about all we buy.

It’s not always about price and I think if that is your real driver then Costco is not necessarily for you . The wrapping paper ( double sided ) is not cheap but it goes a long way and is excellent quality .

They are also very good if something breaks especially electrical goods

I always found Costco great value for basics. Saved me a fortune on things like tinned tomatoes, loo roll, tuna etc. Only problem for me is I have no willpower. So what I was saving on the basics, I was spending on buying a load of stuff from Costco that I didn’t need (ie the delicious chocolate fudge cake 😂) I don’t have a card anymore for that reason!

I hate the garage at ours though, it is horrendously busy and someone ran into me so not so keen even though petrol is good value

I don't think that Costco is cheap at all, but what I do think is that you get better quality goods for a similar price to other supermarkets.

Their meat is really good quality, and they do a nice range of fresh 'ready meals' which again, are not cheap, but are reasonable value compared to buying fresh ingredients, time spent prepping, and cost of cooking etc and taste good too.

You can buy lots of frozen food, veggies, fruit, bog roll, cleaning stuff etc in larger quantities which is great if you have storage space.

Some things are much cheaper and worth the trip alone. There are also lots of unusual things you don’t get anywhere else.
Some of the clothes are incredibly cheap. I got a pair of Levi’s for £32 they are £105 in the shops.
I love the smoked salmon, tinned organic tomatoes, half baked bread, nuts, nut butter, olive oil, frozen chicken dippers, frozen veg, butter and jam.
I also got a really good bin, Joseph and Joseph chopping boards and knives. Every kind of electrical thing is cheaper. Also some wooden flooring and a washing machine.
Recently they’ve had some packs of lovely big peppers which were delicious.

It honestly depends what it is and if you have the space. Not everything works out cheaper but certain things do - butter and cheese (the large blocks of cheddar) most definitely! Fruit and veg doesn't generally (unless salad potatoes).
Nuts are generally cheaper and you get very good quality tomatoes. We also get sausages as they are just over £5 for 18 and gluten free.

We tend to go with a list which has the supermarket price per kg next to it to make life easier.

No, it's not usually cheaper than buying your weekly shop in a supermarket. But it is good for specialist stuff. So bulk buying batteries for example, designer clothing, big boxes of sweets/crisps, champagne. Kirkland is their own brand and excellent quality. But as I say you need room to put the bulk stuff.

I have bought really fantastic cashmere sweaters at incredibly low prices, they are good for things like thermal underwear and gloves for skiiers, brilliant for books particularly kids books around christmas often in big multipacks much cheaper than in bookshops, I buy big 5-packs of sellotape at good prices, there are often really good deals on other things which make good presents like portable speakers (I got a three-pack of ultimate ears speakers for the price of 2 in john lewis). You never know what you will find until you look. In household stuff I buy really a really massive roll of tinfoil, clingfilm and baking paper every other year around this time which last me at least 2 years and which are much cheaper than buying multiple small rolls, and really good quality too. I also get useful things like electric blankets at a good price. Re food I buy big jugs of proper canadian maple syrup which you can't get in the supermarket that size and much cheaper than multiple smaller ones, I buy frozen family sized spanakopitas and apple strudels which are super-cheap and good for the freezer to produce a fast meal with no effort. Wines are fantastic value - I have spent £30,000 on first growth wines in a single shop and a few years later sold half for more than I bought it and drunk the rest for free (I appreciate not everyone can do that but there you go). People swear by the prices of tyres for the car and contact lenses, amongst other things. I can't remember all of what I buy there (ping pong table anyone?!) but I know it doesn't take me more than a single shop to save £35 that the membership costs me.

It all depends on how close it is, what you usually buy from elsewhere and whether you feel it is worth it. We have been Costco members for over 15 years and it was on Dh's way home from work so easy to call into. However we are executive members so get in an hour before individual card holders and get 2% cashback on all purchases which pays for the card and an additional card holder with the amount we spend in there.

Every couple of years I do a price comparison between Costco and Asda/Aldi as those are our 2 main shops. Back in the day when a 4 pint of milk was 99p in the supermarket, Costco had a 2 pack for £1.69 so that in itself was a massive saving for us when the children were little and again as teens. We have a set list of things we buy because we feel the quality is better in that I include bin liners (but it will be a pack of 90) black bin bags, tin foil, cling film and parchment paper. Stuff we buy on offer Finish dishwasher tablets that we buy a year a time.

Regular items we buy and remember this will be in bulk so toilet roll (40 rolls in a pack) tinned tomatoes (12) tuna (12), sweetcorn, frozen salmon which are massive fillets compared to supermarket ones, huge block of cheddar, babybel cheese, applewood smoked, all 3 cheeses are considerably cheaper. Minced steak, pork shoulder (3.2kg ish compared to the supermarket's 2,6kg from Asda, I like left over pulled pork for nachos) and chicken breast. And tortilla chips and pistachios.

We also buy petrol from there too. It works for us. some items we save on like toothpaste some items we don't but it sort of evens out. And you cannot beat their hot chicken for taste, or the price of a massive cooked pizza at their cafe. We have also bought footwear, socks, branded items cheaper, books etc.

We have a larder freezer, a vacuum food saver things for dividing and freezing portions and a massive pantry to store all the dry goods. Not everyone does. This is a bit like asking if you like Asda and there will be people saying yes, those saying no and those saying this is better or that is better etc. The best way is to try to go with someone who has a card and then do a price check against what you usually buy.

We bought a TV from them years ago, about 4 years in the on/off button broke but Costco has a 5 year guarantee so they arranged for someone to come out and fix it. Then rang us up to check the company and person were polite, did the job and were we happy with the outcome.