Help us appreciate the magic of Costco

The thing to remember about Costco is that not everything is cheaper, in fact, some things are significantly more expensive. I actually have a chart listing the prices of Costco and the 3 major grocery stores in my area. I can't decide if this is completely Dorky or just Informed Consumer. That said: Chicken in bulk is about 50% cheaper at Costco than any of the other stores. I make my membership fee back in one or two trips a year just by buying a ton(not literally) and freezing it. Meat products of all kinds from the case. It's generally better quality and a $1 or 2 per pound cheaper. Not a huge savings, but it can add up. Milk. Probably won't help you since seem to be farther away from yours than I am from mine, but those 2-pack gallon jugs are about 60% of the price in a grocery store. Clothes. If you know your sizes, you can get good deals on "designer" pants. This week, my Costco had Ralph Lauren, Lucky and Dockers for much cheaper than a department store. Printed Photos. Does it have a Photo center? Having prints/cards/posters made is a decent deal. You can upload them online, have them printed at your local store and pick them up when you shop. You can also have them printed at another Costco for the grandparents. Razor blades. When they carry your brand, it's a deal. Unfortunately, they often carry the razor + blade packages, which isn't as good. Vitamins. Bulk packages pennies to the dime compared to grocery stores. Gas. Runs an average of 10-15 cents/gallon below other stations. Some folks will tell you horror stories about Costco gas, but in my area it all comes from the same place anyway. Just fill up if you are shopping for other things and there ya go. Chocolate Chips. Generic Toll House bag for less than half the grocery price. Awesome. Hersheys in the giant jug with a pump? Probably not a bargain, but again, awesome. Oh, and the $1.50 hotdog/drink is, by far, the best bargain for lunch in town. It's not quite as good since they switched from Hebrew National to Sinai, but still, $1.50? As I said above, Costco takes careful shopping just like any other store, but if you have space for bulk purchases and a bit of time, you can easily make the membership pay.

We always buy the Pork Loin and then cut it into "pork chops" Mmmm Mmmm Soft drinks are a big one. Mrs. Megafly drinks criminal amounts of Diet Coke and it would bankrupt me if I didn't have costco. Ground Beef, green beans We don't normally buy fresh things that can't be frozen. We can't eat a 10 pound bag of potatoes without spoilage. We also rock the executive membership so even if we stopped shopping day one, we'd get at least our hundred buck back from them.

Costco sells a superior plastic wrap (used to be Stretch-Tite, now Kirkland) that comes with a slide cutter.

http://www.costco.com/Browse/Product.aspx?Prodid=11183499&whse=bd_823&topnav=bdoff&browse=&lang=en-US. It's worth the membership fee on its own. But be warned : this stuff is the crack cocaine of trail mix.

I actually belong to both Costco and BJs, which is something for me because I'm really thrifty (read cheap). I shop almost weekly at BJs because it's closer and they have good prices on stuff that more closely matches my weekly shop: Milk, prewashed romaine, OJ, yogurt in quarts, eggs, instant b'fast, and I never leave w/o a rotisserie chicken. They carry good quality olive oil (Colavita) at a good price. I also get tampons and such there because they're priced well. Generally the quantities for ibuprofen, vitamins, etc are offputting, but I did get a big bottle of vitamins for my husband there for a good price. They also take manufacturers coupons. Additionally, they have a good selection of books priced much lower than list. The fruit generally sucks and is overpriced. Cold cuts are good if you eat them, line is usually stupidly long. I go to Costco less frequently but I do find their prices a little better on some things. They're great at fruit bowls, which I bring pretty much everywhere we're invited. I like their Kirkland brand laundry soap, which Consumer Reports rated as good as Tide but is way cheaper. Nobody in my family can pour milk from their new gallon containers without spilling. I never leave Costco w/o a rotisserie chicken, either. At either place I buy bottled water, paper towels, TP (try their brand and donate it to a pantry if you don't like it). So try it for a year and try the store brands. You'll probably at least break even.

Costco sells Cambozola for $9 a pound. That's enough to get me in the door.

it's just me & mr medusa, but we do a huge amount of shopping at costco. they sell a food vacuum sealer. get one of these, they rock. then you can buy the great selections of meat, seafood, cheese etc., they sell, break them down into appropriate size packages, seal them, freeze them. boom. they stay fresh and non-freezer burned for a long time, it's cost effective and convenient. we also buy trash bags, ziplocks, printer paper and other office supplies, black peppercorns, wine, booze (great prices!!) ciabatta (also freezes amazingly well!) granola-type bars, laundry detergent (they finally carry a fragrance-free HE brand), ibuprophen, shampoo, dental floss.... once you get into a more "costco mentality" about how you shop you'll probably find it awesome. also costco is an industry leader in high salaries and happy employees (ie the anti-walmart) :)

Luckily, Costco does carry our brand of TP (Scott), so we always get that, as well as Kirkland paper towels (I'm a compulsive hand-washer and wiper, so we go through a lot of paper towels.) We also get the Kirkland trash bags. We often take my parents (seniors over 70) with us. Mom likes to buy those large jars of Kirkland mixed nuts or cashews. She also gets their antacids and baby aspirin, and does love their hot dogs/sausages in the snack bar. Mr. Adams gets six-packs of tuna there, as he likes to make and keep a large bowl of tuna salad in the fridge (we work from home and it's something he can munch on during the day). I usually get a big box of Marie Callendar frozen pot pies to keep in the freezer for those late nights when I don't feel like "cooking."

I'm sure I've earned my money back in photo printing services. The quality is awesome, uploading online is convenient and easy, but I really like being able to pick them up immediately (i.e. not mailed to me). They also occasionally have photo albums that I like much better than any other I've found. Ditto the kitchen trash bags mentioned above. I'm ruined for any other bags. Rotisserie chickens - maybe not cheaper, but better than anywhere else. Sheet cakes, cheesecakes, bags of lemons, BEER.