Whether to join Costco? Advice please!

zcrat41

We use it for business purposes and the benefit to me is that I send hubby for business stuff once a month and he comes back with a list of stuff for me that doesn't get taken out of my household budget cos he forget it's groceries!!

Seriously though, they do the best meat I've ever come across, better than Waitrose - we often feed beef farmers so can't compromise on that quality!

dasophster

Again I think it depends on what you have in your area and the particular costco you have nearest-I have heard negative things about some of the costcos up north as well regarding them having whole aisles out of stock and not being any cheaper for some items. Living in the London area means there are a lot of ethnic cash and carries and quite often these trump costco by a long way both in price and quality, pitta breads you can get 5 packs of 6 freshly baked no preservatives added for £1 in some of them and the quality of them is far higher than the 'long life' pittas sold in costco. The big bags of rice, lentils, and Indian/ethnic spices often work out cheaper in the ethnic shops too. There is a big ethnic cash and carry/food distributor a few miles away and they beat costco price wise on a lot of things and they have a lot more selection of raw ingredients; and some of the local markets do the same type of bulk produce as costco but it is much cheaper.

natalieho

Love Costco! Wait for the offers for buying the nappys and then just stock up 3 months worth at a time.

Milk is around 1.48 for 8 pints
Roberts bread £1.50 ish for 2 loaves
Large bottles of robertsons juice is 1.56 atm

All the other bits i wait for the offers like on the mince, chicken, steak etc

yvonne13_2

I joined but have only been twice and now the renewel has come up again.

I buy toilet roll, washing liquid and soap powder as I find them very good value buying in bulk plus the money of vouchers I get in the post.

The fruit and veg are really nice and last for I long time, yep I'm going to renew my membership

tigerfeet2006

We joined last month and on our first shop we saved £160ish on SM prices and that was taking off the paying out for membership and petrol to get there.

We are going again in March.

Picasso7

My brother has a large family and he buys the large box of eggs which keep quite happily in a cool place while they get through them. They are ridiculously cheap. I buy the box of free range large eggs which I think is good value.

The pesto sauce is also good value, and dried herbs. I used to buy the cashew nuts which are excellent value unless, like me, you end up eating loads of them!

mummytothomas

Hi all,

Thanks for all of your replies, I'd reply individually but with a baby keeping me constantly busy and using my phone to get on the website (Martin make a mobile site!) it's hard to find the time!
I've found out that my aunty is a member and is taking me along in a couple of weeks to have a look, but from most of your comments/links it sounds like Costco may be a good choice for me!

Thanks again for your replies, I wasn't expecting to get so many and you've all been a great help :-)

krlyr

I was going to do a search on Costco then stumbled onto this thread, asking nearly the exact thing I was wondering.
I can join up through work but not on the trade account, so it would cost £30 for the year (and a 20 mile trip like OP). I know a colleague raves about it but we do tend to buy cheap stuff already, e.g. we stock up on the Lakeland frozen chicken breasts when they're half-price at Tesco, we don't mind frozen meats so wouldn't bother spending more just because it's fresh.
We're looking at buying stuff in bulk, e.g. tinned tomatoes, meat, veg, toilet rolls, etc. but there's only two of us (and no intention to extend that family unit!). Does it work out money-saving for people who don't tend to spurge on brand names or luxury items anyway? I've started doing more and more cooking from scratch so avoiding jars of sauces etc. too. We're thinking of starting a pantry so happy to buy giant bottles of stuff like squash, oils, vinegars, tinned of veg etc.

ladybabe

Costco is great for basics, I always look for the things we will use anyway and when they are on offer i stock up i.e.

loo roll last time i bought this it was 40 rolls for £8.99
kitchen roll 20 rolls about same price as loo roll
persil small and mighty 108 washes for £8
comfort 5litre always works out loads cheaper
we also use them for tyres for the car as they work out about 25% less than the garage and will put them on while you do your shopping and rotate them for free
the fruit and veg is also really good value

just did a costco shop this week below is what i bought so you can see how much cheaper it is compared to high street. since i joined various members of mine and my partners families have joined after seeing the savings they could make over the year.

24 tins of heinz baked beans - £8.89 = 37p per tin (cheapest i could find elsewhere was 50p per tin)
case of real ale (for Mr) 12 bottles - £9.99 = 83p per bottles (most supermarkets are 4 for £5.50)
2x packs of chicken breast fillets just over 3kg - £18 (i portion up into freezer bags i will not have to but chicken for a good 3 months) (around £9 per kilo in the supermarkets)
Steak mince 2.3kg - £11.50 (again i portion into bags, i also make some into meatballs portion and freeze them. i will not have to but mince for a good few months) (over £7.50 per kilo in supermarkets and not as good quality)
Scotch beef roasting joint 1.8kg - £10 (portioned into a cuple of steaks and 3 good sized joints) (about £10 per kilo in supermaket and again not as good quality as the costco stuff)
oral B precision brush heads x8 - £17.49 (in boots these are 16.49 for 4 so double the amount for nearly same price)
cheddar 1kg - £5 - i chop this up and freeze in portions - in supermakets you are lucky to get 1kg for £10
Listerine 2x1litre bottles - £4.49 (one 1 litre bottle costs the same price elsewhere)

we also upgraded last year to the executive card and the rewards earned paid for the difference in the difference in membership amount so didn't really notice it.

Nearly forgot to mention are great for electrical stuff as you get a 5 year warrenty with anything you buy


NB forgot to say all prices i have quoted are including VAT for the ones you pay VAT on - food you dont pay VAT

chanie

I'm a member of Costco and supermarket offers can be cheaper, but if there aren't any offers, then Costco is cheaper. I couldn't do my whole shop there, but because I'm busy, I do like buying some items in bulk so that I don't run out and it does work out cheaper.

nappies - I get about 130 for £19 in Costco. I prefer to buy a huge box as it lasts about a month.

birthday cakes - you can get a huge A3 sized cake for about £13 and they will customise it for you (as you said you wanted stuff for your childs birthday)

Coke Cola - I get 6 bottles which work out to be £1.30 a bottle. I recenlty got them for £1 in ASDA, but if htey aren't on offer, they are normally up to £1.99 each. I think I save my membership in Coke alone!!!!

Laundry - I get the big 5litre bottles of detergent and softener for about £10 each and they last about 5-6 months each.

Rice - a big 2litre vat is about £4, so much cheaper than the supermarket.

herbs and spices - 40grammes of mixed herbs is about 50p-£1 in the supermarket. IN COstco, you get over 100 grammes for £1.30.

Costco also does books, toys, clothes etc and some of the stuff I haven't seen on the High Street.