Join a membership type store like Costco for groceries?

[raildogg]

Hey everyone, I'm trying to watch what I spend on groceries but still eat reasonably healthy. I am going to Wal-Mart and Food Lion about once a week or so to buy general groceries. I'm not a big shopping person so I don't compare prices too much so I just buy what I feel I need. I don't buy meat but a couple of fruits and vegetables, not much though.

Just wondering what benefits a warehouse type store like Costco or Sam's Club might offer. I don't really need anything in bulk so I'm not sure. Not sure if the membership fee + the drive will be worth it.

What do you guys do for groceries and other household needs?

 

[Jumpem]

I go to BJ's here. I may switch to Costco when the first one opens later this year. Many things at warehouse stores are much cheaper than grocery stores. It will take you a few weeks of grocery shopping to figure out what items to get at which store.

 

[Kreon]

I find that I need to be careful what I buy where.

My general rule of thumb is non-branded, not commonly couponed products only at BJs. So basically rice, flour, meats (sometimes), vegetables, beans, etc. Notable exceptions to this rule are olive oil, which always seems to be cheaper at BJs than my grocery store. On the other end of the spectrum of exceptions, are pasta (which I can usually get for significantly less at Shaws than the dollar a box at BJS) and canned vegetables, which go on insane sales at certain times of the year (and I stock up). Also paper products. EDIT: I should note, I don't really buy branded things, almost never in terms of staple items. The only branded staple item (at least for me) that I buy is alfredo sauce, which we use a lot of.

Now, if you don't use coupons and don't watch sales, then BJs/Costco/Sams Club will give you better prices. But you can usually beat those prices if you buy stuff on sale, and crush them when you add properly applied coupons into the mix.

 

[ponyo]

It's only worth it if you need bulk. And buying meat is a must. It sounds like you'll be better served by stores like Trader Joe's.

 

[Childs]

You might be better off at a Smart and Final. You go into Costco for eggs and butter, and come out with a jacket, underwear, movie tickets and a lawn mower, even though you live in an apartment. And you forgot about the eggs and butter.

And I can't imagine Costco being that much cheaper than Wal-mart, especially if you dont need to buy in bulk. I have had a jar of peanut butter the size of a basketball for about 6 months. All because I felt like a peanut butter sandwich when I was shopping, and that massive jar was only $6. Thats how they get ya.

 

[DesiPower]

Costco is for people with disposable income, all fancy expensive stuff sold at regular store prices... Sam's is the real money saver.

 

[MontyAC]

If you can handle/use the bulk size items, then it's well worth the membership fee. The vegetables are top A grade and the meats are choice to prime grade. The bakery section have various breads and cakes that are much cheaper than any supermarket.

 

[mmntech]

Costco memberships are worth it from the meat alone. You realize just how low quality grocery store beef is even though it costs roughly the same. Costco isn't always cheaper for everything. You have to know what you're buying.

Aside from meat, some things that are worth it are...
-Cheese. If you really love cheese, it's definitely cheaper to buy their big wedges that to get the small packs at the grocery store. Significantly less.
-Frozen vegetables. Cheaper than the supermarket brand and high quality.
-Dairy products. My dad is a tall cup of cream with coffee in it guy. Half and Half is significantly cheaper at Costco.
-Peanut butter. It keeps a long time and even the small jars are encroaching on Costco's giant Skippy jar price.
-Bread.
-Books. Crappy selection but often way less than what the big box book stores have em for.
-Clothing. I get my jeans and work shirts from there. Good quality at a low price.
-Over the counter drugs, glasses, toiletries

Stuff that's not worth it
-Produce. It's the same price as the grocery store and buying produce in bulk makes little sense. It goes off too quickly.
-Electronics and housewares. I haven't found them to be any cheaper than other big box stores.
-Boxed foods. Stuff like frozen foods, cereals, etc, not substantially cheaper. Though canned goods often go on sale.

Also if you do get a Costco membership, don't let them sucker you into the cash back card. You have to spend A LOT to even break even on the membership price.

 

[vi edit]

Milk is a lot cheaper Sams/Costco vs grocery stores. $1.99 or $2.50 a gallon vs. $3.50 or more. Fruit is quite a bit cheaper. The big two pound tubs of strawberries and blueberries and grapes are the same price as the containers half the size at most other grocers. Plus they are usually much better shape. Bananas are much cheaper and better shape. Bell pepper packs are much cheaper. Frozen berry packages are about half the price per pound.

Bread two packs are about 75% the price of two similar loafs in a grocery store.

K-cups if you are into that kind of thing are MUCH cheaper at Sams/Costco.

Salad is about the same price for about 25%-50% more than what you'd get at a grocer.

Liquor prices are pretty good for hard alcohol, on par with some of the best discount liquors you'll find.

Frozen meat (fish, chicken) are pretty good sized packages but by pound much cheaper than grocery stores unless there is a big sale.

A lot of this stuff isn't "bulk" in the way that most people think. Sure you can buy a 50 pound bag of rice and a 20 pound box of flour, but that's not what most of the grocery things are. Most of it is stuff that you can freeze (like the extra loaf of bread), already frozen, or something that you can use up usually before it goes bad.

It's a lot of little prices that add up after a while, especially if it's stuff you need/use.

 

[vi edit]

Costco is for people with disposable income, all fancy expensive stuff sold at regular store prices... Sam's is the real money saver.

Eh, they are pretty comparable. In my experience Costco has a bit better grocery section (fruits, veggies) and I like how they package some of their fresh chicken breasts in individual packages. My local one also has a gas station with discount prices that are $.10-$.20 less per gallon than other stations in the area. They also have better "store brands" than Sams in my opinion. Price wise most things are pretty in line with each other.

 

[T_Yamamoto]

BJ's is our local wholesaler and damn do they have some killed deals. PLUS when you have membership they send you a coupon book, some great deals in there too.

PLUS I get free samples

 

[ponyo]

Eh, they are pretty comparable. In my experience Costco has a bit better grocery section (fruits, veggies) and I like how they package some of their fresh chicken breasts in individual packages. My local one also has a gas station with discount prices that are $.10-$.20 less per gallon than other stations in the area. They also have better "store brands" than Sams in my opinion. Price wise most things are pretty in line with each other.

Chicken breast at Sams: $1.99/ lb. Chicken breast at Costco: $2.99/ lb. Individual package is not worth $1/lb premium. Chicken and pork are cheaper at Sams than Costco. Beef is about the same but Costco has better quality.

 

[BoomerD]

We buy some grocery items at Costco, but mostly meat.

It's damned near impossible to get better quality beef (steaks or ground beef) anywhere.

 

[MontyAC]

Also if you do get a Costco membership, don't let them sucker you into the cash back card. You have to spend A LOT to even break even on the membership price.

For me, the cash back American Express card is well worth it. I use that to shop at Costco and also any any place that takes Amex. The cash reward ranges from 1% to 3%.

 

[CA19100]

Sam's is cheaper, but Costco is a better value. The quality of the product is leaps and bounds better than the stuff Walmart sells, particularly the grocery products.


I start my shopping at Costco, and hit the grocery store for the few things I can't find. The fuel savings alone pay for my membership several times over -- they're ~25 cents a gallon less than the other stations in town. For two 30mpg cars each driving 15000 miles a year, that's $250 in fuel savings.

 

[Miramonti]

I find that I need to be careful what I buy where.

My general rule of thumb is non-branded, not commonly couponed products only at BJs. So basically rice, flour, meats (sometimes), vegetables, beans, etc. Notable exceptions to this rule are olive oil, which always seems to be cheaper at BJs than my grocery store. On the other end of the spectrum of exceptions, are pasta (which I can usually get for significantly less at Shaws than the dollar a box at BJS) and canned vegetables, which go on insane sales at certain times of the year (and I stock up). Also paper products. EDIT: I should note, I don't really buy branded things, almost never in terms of staple items. The only branded staple item (at least for me) that I buy is alfredo sauce, which we use a lot of.

Now, if you don't use coupons and don't watch sales, then BJs/Costco/Sams Club will give you better prices. But you can usually beat those prices if you buy stuff on sale, and crush them when you add properly applied coupons into the mix.

This is pretty much how I use costco and buy sale items elsewhere. Milk is cheaper at kroger, so are things like ketchup and various other items. I get my fruits and vegetables at various places depending on sales, but mostly take advantage of ridiculous great sales at the large mexican grocery store in town (oranges 4lb/$1, tomatoes 3lb/$1, 10lb potatoes/$1, cherries 1lb/$1, and many other weekly specials.) Costco fruits and veggies are the prettiest but rarely the cheapest.

 

[Jaepheth]

If you have cats, the savings on buying cat litter at costco or sams will pay for the membership by itself.

 

[PowerEngineer]

I've shopped at Costco for many years.

If you have a family with kids then it's a great place to shop because the bulk sizing isn't a problem; not really a great place for a single person to shop.

As others have said, Costco's allure is less about low pricing and more about better quality at comparable pricing.

The Costco store brand is Kirkland. The Kirkland products are consistently good. I never hesitate to buy them.

Items we usually buy at Costco include: hamburger, vanilla ice cream, maple syrup, cheese, milk, eggs, salmon, chicken, tuna, toilet paper, plastic bags, plastic wrap, shampoo, bread, peanut butter (Kirkland natural!), jams, tires, CFL bulbs, batteries, and printer ink cartridges.

I always walk in thinking I'll spend $50 on a few items and end up paying $150 for a cart-load of stuff.

 

[BoomerD]

I've shopped at Costco for many years.

<snip>

I always walk in thinking I'll spend $50 on a few items and end up paying $150 for a cart-load of stuff.

I don't think you can even get out of the store unless your register tape is for more than $100!

 

[highland145]

For me, the cash back American Express card is well worth it. I use that to shop at Costco and also any any place that takes Amex. The cash reward ranges from 1% to 3%.

I should look into this or rewards for our current card. We spend ~$1200/month for the daycare so we're more than covering the cost of the corporate membership. An extra percent or 3 would be nice.

We're getting a Sam's about 1/4 mile from the center. Costco is 20 minutes away. Will definitely be price comparing.

 

[Train]

Costco is for people with disposable income, all fancy expensive stuff sold at regular store prices... Sam's is the real money saver.

I'm currently a Sams club member, former Costco member. And that's only because I moved and have a Sams club nearby but not a Costco.

I would pick Costco over Sams club 8 days a week.

Better Selection, nicer Stores, better food, better clientele.

Prices are similar.

 

[PingSpike]

Costco memberships are worth it from the meat alone. You realize just how low quality grocery store beef is even though it costs roughly the same. Costco isn't always cheaper for everything. You have to know what you're buying.

Aside from meat, some things that are worth it are...
-Cheese. If you really love cheese, it's definitely cheaper to buy their big wedges that to get the small packs at the grocery store. Significantly less.
-Frozen vegetables. Cheaper than the supermarket brand and high quality.
-Dairy products. My dad is a tall cup of cream with coffee in it guy. Half and Half is significantly cheaper at Costco.
-Peanut butter. It keeps a long time and even the small jars are encroaching on Costco's giant Skippy jar price.
-Bread.
-Books. Crappy selection but often way less than what the big box book stores have em for.
-Clothing. I get my jeans and work shirts from there. Good quality at a low price.
-Over the counter drugs, glasses, toiletries

Stuff that's not worth it
-Produce. It's the same price as the grocery store and buying produce in bulk makes little sense. It goes off too quickly.
-Electronics and housewares. I haven't found them to be any cheaper than other big box stores.
-Boxed foods. Stuff like frozen foods, cereals, etc, not substantially cheaper. Though canned goods often go on sale.

Also if you do get a Costco membership, don't let them sucker you into the cash back card. You have to spend A LOT to even break even on the membership price.

Thing I find a great deal at costco is things like soap and garbage bags or plastic bags. Tin foil I think was a good deal as well. And paper towels and toilet paper. I know their bulk containers of Finish dish washer tablets are way cheaper than the grocery store ones and the paper towels and toilet paper I believe are great savings. Hopefully I'm still right about this because I stopped comparing. They only markup at most 15% I guess and most stores routinely screw the hell out of you on certain things. Other things stores make no money on at all and Costco actually costs more.

The problem with Costco is they don't really sell shitty cheap versions of anything. Most of the time this is great. I don't want some nasty grade F meat or a fall apart shirt so its better if they aren't even in my way.

But sometimes this becomes silly. I bought a window fan there once and I still kind of regret it. It cost like $50 but it was hot and I didn't want to drive to walmart because I hate going there. It's the fanciest window fan I've ever seen with multiple light settings, automatic temperature control, three different fan settings (in, out, and recycle) and even came with a remote control. The fan is pretty quiet and blows pretty strong. But it cost $50 and its actually way overcomplicated for what I needed. I own two shitty Chinese fans I bought at Walmart and they also get a lot of use. They cost $7 a piece. If you just need something simple or as a stopgap Costco is the wrong place to go.

 

[Vdubchaos]

Before you do consider the following:
a) you will not ALWAYS save money there. Lots of times local supermarket + coupon will get you a better deal. So pay close attention to Units per Price ratio and compare to your Grocery store.

b) you always end up more than needed (bulk) SO unless you are very disciplined (and your family is as well) you actually end up consuming more (as there is naturally more around) and end up wasting MORE money

Although we do shop at BJs and Costco we find that getting your stuff at the grocery store is cheaper in the end....

 

[PingSpike]

For me, the cash back American Express card is well worth it. I use that to shop at Costco and also any any place that takes Amex. The cash reward ranges from 1% to 3%.

He might be talking about the executive membership, which I just retired because I was losing money on it. They do push that kind of hard and I'd say for many people it doesn't make sense. If you have a big family it probably will still save you some.

Unless you want to pay by cash or check I think Amex is the only card they accept.

 

[Fritzo]

Try local farmers markets for fresh foods. I often get amazing deals on things like peppers, onions, potatoes, fruit, etc...sometimes 1/4 the price of stores.

If you're in a big city though, you may not have these available.