Don’t like the brand on Costco’s shelves? Don’t buy it!Ĭostco doesn’t offer a lot of brand variety in their warehouse, any many items are seasonal or sold sporadically. Products sold in cans, jars, and tubes all ring up the savings at Costco. Stocking up on canned tomatoes, mustard, ketchup, and sandwich bread could save you up to 50% over similar brand name products sold at regular supermarkets.īottom Line: Three loaves of sandwich bread costs $6.99 at Costco, while breaking that same bread at Superstore costs $14.07. The more ‘packaged’ a product, the better the deal. I can’t fathom such a beautiful state serving these sad sad veggies to a bunch of hungry Canadians.īottom Line: Take a spin down Costco’s freezer section to save big on frozen chicken breasts, vegetables, and fish. Veggie Showdown: Don’t serve your chicken with a side of sad - Costco’s frozen veggies win for quality and price.Īny Californians out there? Please assure me that Superstore’s interpretation of ‘California-style’ mixed vegetables is bunk. I see no broccoli and few cauliflower ‘trees’ in my bag. Superstore No Name Brand: Not only is the packaging misleading, but I hope you like a lot of lumber with your carrots. I was gobsmacked by the price and quality, of Costco’s Kirkland vegetables when compared to a similar mix at Superstore.Ĭostco Kirkland Brand: Frozen broccoli, carrots, and cauliflower are as advertised. Frozen foods are a steal.Ĭonsumers of frozen foods can save a bundle at Costco - especially on Costco’s Kirkland Signature Products. See 1 Organic Chicken, 22 Healthy Meals, $49 Bucks for the details.īottom Line: Your local grocery store may sell fresh fruits, vegetables, dairy, and meat for far less. I’ll stick to buying local fresh veggies and organic chicken to stretch my food dollar. I also found Costco to be more pricey for fresh vegetables, chicken breasts, milk, cheese, and coffee. For example, Costco’s gala apples sell for $2.13/kg while Superstore offers the deal at $1.28/kg. Here’s how to win the war on warehouse ‘deals’ at Costco:Ĭostco’s fresh produce tends to be more expensive than Superstore, based on unit price. And depending on the size of your family, type of membership, and buying habits you may be better off shopping elsewhere. Not everything is a better deal at Costco. But after studying my receipts, I came to some interesting conclusions. Surprised? Based on my sample food bill, I would have saved $25.68 - that’s almost 21% on a near hundred dollar food bill - by shopping at Costco and skipping my local supermarket. Sample List: Comparing Costco to Superstoreīottom Line: Follow the green cells to see the product winner in each category. I even added diapers to my list ’cause I can’t escape Costco without seeing someone with a package of Huggies in tow. But I wanted to get a good sampling of fresh, frozen, and packaged food to determine (based on unit price) if Costco really offers a better deal to consumers. I don’t buy a lot of packaged products and my grocery list generally contains real food - you’ll never find a ramen noodle thingy in my cart. So if you run your own ‘price check’ experiment, do yourself a solid by sticking to pen and paper. Sticking to these rules was pretty simple, but trying to photograph price stickers in Costco was a huge pain. Don’t get caught snapping price photos in either store.

Only compare regularly priced items for a baseline.Compare the same, or very similar brands.Use unit prices to scale items to meaningful quantities.Compare unit prices to calculate the best price per quantity.So to do a fair price check, I had to do a little mathy math with some quasi-scientific rules. Costco also supplies items generally not available in your grocer’s food aisle, such as diamond rings, flat screen TVs, and winter tires. For starters, Costco offers fewer brands and sells their wares in much larger quantities than your average supermarket. Now comparing Costco Wholesale Club prices to those at a regular grocery chain is akin to associating apples with oranges, and the variables are many. If you’ve been checking out of your grocery store without checking in with the prices lately, it’s a good idea to run your own food bill price check - a better dinner deal may found elsewhere. I tend to do this little Costco price comparison check every few months to make sure I’m getting the best value for my food dollar. So I did a Costco price comparison experiment to see if shopping at Costco is cheaper when compared to my local grocery chain, Superstore. Is Costco worth it? I’ve often wondered if shopping at Costco - or any of the other big wholesale stores - is worthwhile after paying membership fees, driving the distance, and standing in long lineups with pallets of peanut butter.

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