- Costco has great deals, but some grocery items may cost more or go to waste in smaller households.
- Items like milk, raw chicken, cereal, and herbs are often cheaper or more practical at local supermarkets.
- For pantry staples and perishables, watch for sales elsewhere—you’ll save money and reduce food waste.
Like everyone else who shops at Costco, there are certain things I always pick up there—and sometimes only there. For instance, no stop is complete without a $5 rotisserie chicken, unless I’m scoring a $9.99 pizza instead, and I’m hard-pressed to ever pass the bakery section without grabbing a dozen of their buttery, flaky croissants. Then there are exclusive products that are top-notch, like the Kirkland extra-virgin olive oil and Costco-only Himalayan Sea Salt Kettle Brand Krinkle Cut potato chips.
But between these undisputed bargains, the giant warehouses are hiding a few food items that are simply not the best deals. Not everything is cheaper by the ounce or pound here, and if you live in a small household or alone with your dog as I do, your price per unit skyrockets when you simply can’t make it through the bulk buys fast enough to avoid spoilage. For these reasons, when I pop in for my go-to’s, there are a handful of groceries I consistently avoid.
1. Milk
Picking up a gallon of conventional dairy milk might seem like an easy convenience while you’re there, but a quick comparison shows you can actually shave nearly half a dollar on a gallon of milk by getting it elsewhere. While it’s right under $4 a gallon at Costco, it’s typically $3 or less at Lidl, Aldi or Target. And if you find it hard to get through a full gallon before it expires, the half-gallon option can sometimes be a better deal per ounce, particularly when they’re on sale—for instance, Kroger often has a half-gallon on special for $1.29.
2. Sandwich Bread
It can feel like a no-brainer to grab a double-pack of soft sandwich bread at Costco. When you’re paying $5 to $7 for two loaves, it looks like you’re only paying a dollar or so more than buying a single loaf at the grocery store. But depending on the type or the brand you choose, you might be overpaying.
Supermarkets like Publix and Kroger often offer “buy one, get one” specials on premium brands like Pepperidge Farm, Sara Lee, Nature’s Own and Arnold, which brings the price down to as little as $2.15 a loaf in my Atlanta suburb. And you don’t actually need to buy two loaves to get the half-off deal, saving you money and the stress of trying to find space in your freezer before any mold appears.
3. Bagged Salad Kits
Bagged salad kits are majorly convenient. And at EatingWell, we’ve tried every kind by Target, Aldi, Trader Joe’s and, of course, Costco. But they’re not always cheaper in the family size. Oftentimes, at roughly $7 to $9 for a super-sized kit, it tallies up to be the same price per serving, at the sacrifice of more variety and, sometimes, more waste if you can’t finish it in one serving (although some Costco locations are selling more double packs of smaller size bags). Dressed salad doesn’t exactly keep well!
As these kits grow ever more popular, I’ve been noticing brands like Taylor Farms, Fresh Express, EatSmart, Dole and more on sale at Kroger, Publix, Sprouts and Lidl for anywhere between $2.75 to $3.50 a kit. And when you can purchase the smaller sizes individually, you get to enjoy a wider variety of salads.
4. Raw Chicken
There are some meat buys at Costco that are well worth it. The salmon and steak are known for their exceptional quality and, of course, that famous rotisserie chicken. But the raw chicken is always a pass for me. While they’re tempting in their neatly vacuum-sealed freezer-friendly bundles, at around $3 a pound for breasts or thighs, I’d rather save a dollar a pound at the supermarket and portion them out in freezer bags myself. I’ve bought large family packs of chicken breasts for as low as $1.79 a pound at major supermarkets, and chicken leg quarters in a bag are often a bargain for as little as 59 cents a pound at major supermarkets and Walmart.
5. Herbs and Spices
Dried herbs and spices lose their potency and coloring over time, and unless you cook at a restaurant or some other kind of commercial kitchen, the odds of a home cook finishing one of those enormous tubs of crushed red pepper, granulated garlic, nutmeg or Old Bay seasoning before its flavor dulls are slim to none.
Case in point: I personally go through a lot of expensive, hard-to-find dust-fine onion powder since I throw it all over my potato chips nearly nightly. But despite this heavy usage, I’ve had the same container sitting in the fridge (to avoid clumping) for a year and a half. And according to the EatingWell Test Kitchen, ground spices are best used within a year.
6. Canned Soup
There’s nothing more reassuring than having an emergency stock of sick-day soup in your cupboard. It’s a gentle promise that if you catch a sniffle, you don’t have to brave the world outside. It can be tempting to stock up at Costco, but you’d actually be better off doing so at your local supermarket when they go on sale.
Name-brand condensed soup is typically only a dollar a can on sale and even less when you buy store brands. Meanwhile, the unit price is as much as a quarter more each at Costco. For heartier soups, Costco sells eight-packs for a little under $2 a can, but they often go on sale elsewhere at a price of three for $5, sometimes even less. And best yet, when shopping at a supermarket, you’re not married to a single flavor. Hello, chicken rice, clam chowder and minestrone!
7. Cereal
When you look at regular prices of popular cereals at grocery stores, it’s easy to get sticker shock and feel that $7 to $14 for two oversized bags of it at Costco might be reasonable. But most of the major cereals are made by three brands: General Mills, Kellogg’s and Post, and supermarkets will usually alternate which brand to put on sale. These manufacturers also often put out digital coupons, which you can use for added savings.
If you’re lucky, after buying a couple of boxes on sale, you might get some printed on the coupon machine at checkout, allowing you to stock up with triple savings! I’ve used this multi-savings method to get name-brand cereals for $1.50 a box with the purchase of six boxes. Suddenly, that $7 Costco box doesn’t look that good anymore!
Our Expert Take
If you’re already at Costco and need one of the things on this list but don’t want to go to another store, of course, you should just buy it while you’re there—no need to make a special trip. But if you’re shopping to stock your pantry staples or buying perishable products for a small household and it isn’t a grocery emergency, you’re better off keeping a running list of the items above and snatching them up when they go on sale at your local supermarket. You just might find it’ll save as much as half off your spending … and more storage space in your kitchen.
