My latest Costco favorites get updated every once in a while, but I do tend to keep going back to my tried and true products time and time again. Although we’ve never booked a vacation or purchased a car from Costco, I know a few people who have and they’ve all had fabulous experiences! Costco is that unicorn shopping experience that combines the opportunity to buy a new TV, plus home goods and grocery items, all under the same roof.
Costco is well known for its spectacular meats, delicious cakes at half the cost of other bakeries, and bulk baking supplies. Not to mention their Kirkland house brand toilet paper! But some of my latest Costco favorites are those that are a bit more under the radar, not in everyone’s cart. And I bet some of your favorites from Costco are too. Here are the latest finds that I’ve been purchasing on repeat. Some are tried and true, and others are new, at least to me!
My Latest Costco Favorites Roundup
Parchment Paper
I’ve been using parchment paper to line pans and cookie sheets for years. I love its nonstick quality and the easy cleanup. Costco sells a 2-pack for $11.99 and that’s a steal for two giant rolls of the stuff. The boxes at my local grocery store are much smaller and the quality isn’t as good. Although my plan is to replace parchment paper with a Silpat liner in the future, I firmly believe in using up what you have before you buy something new. It’s going to take me a while to get through my rolls of parchment, but I can rest assured that it’s of good quality in the meantime.
Coffee Beans
I love freshly ground coffee and grind enough to get me through a week at a time. Coffee beans at your regular grocery usually run around $8 to $9 for a regular bag, some not even a full pound. I can buy two-pound bags of really good beans at Costco, some even local to me, for just a few dollars more. In the winter, they even have special bourbon-infused beans they sell in a cardboard barrel that is fabulous to serve over the holidays!
Organic Diced Tomatoes
I love cooking with my own fresh tomatoes, but last year, I ran out of my canned tomatoes by the time fall rolled around. These Costco’s organic canned tomatoes get me through until harvest time again. They’re wonderful to simmer in your favorite chili recipe or any other recipe that calls for diced tomatoes. And the can is also BPA-free, which is important to me.
Avocado Mash
Out of my latest Costco favorites, this one is a true guilty pleasure. Matt isn’t fond of avocados or guacamole, but I love it! It just doesn’t make sense for me to make guacamole for one and struggle to keep it fresh, though. One of my friends told me about this avocado mash, and it was love at first bite. It’s delicious on toast or sandwiches, but I confess to sometimes eating one of the single-size containers with a spoon. Although I wish there wasn’t so much packaging involved, it’s organic and checks the clean eating box. I guess you can’t have everything!
Beets
Beets are a pain. There, I said it. There’s all that washing, roasting, and peeling. Not to mention the magenta stain beets leave on everything. Oh, and Matt doesn’t like beets either, so there’s that. I planted and harvested beets for myself to eat for one year. Although I also love eating beet greens too, they’ve been filed under the “makes more sense to buy” category for me. Unfortunately, beets in a can are typically lacking in color, flavor, and freshness. My friend, Linda, told me about these Costco beets and I’m so glad she did. There are three bags of whole beets in each box and they’re gorgeous! They’re also organic, fresh, and already peeled and cooked. What’s not to love?
Mixed Nut Butter
I’m a health food nut, and I always mention this nut butter on my blog. It’s chock full of good for you seeds, but there’s also no sugar added. I only eat toast or an English muffin once or twice a week, and this is what I spread on it with a layer of my own local honey. It’s also really tasty in these easy, no-bake energy bites. Yum!
Tassos Olive Oil
I’m on my fourth bottle of this Tassos olive oil, and I can’t seem to get enough. It’s hard to get an organic, PDO, and award-winning olive oil from Greece, but Costco offers it at a great price. The quality of this olive oil is top-notch!
Bath Towels
We love the bath towels at Costco and would put them up against whatever brand you would buy at a department store. They’re a great price that makes stocking up on them easier on your wallet too. Let’s face it, who really wants to spend a lot of money on towels?
Contact Cleaner and Contact Lenses
Contact cleaner is really pricey elsewhere, but at Costco, you can buy a two-pack set of bottles and vials for just a few dollars more than a single bottle elsewhere. We also buy our contact lenses at Costco and their service is excellent!
What We Don’t Buy at Costco
Produce
With the exception of Medjool dates and power greens, I typically skip the produce section. I don’t personally feel the value is nearly as good as other departments.
Wine and Beer
Every once in a while, Costco will offer a specialty wine that I buy. However, my local grocery stores offer the same wines for approximately the same price. And since they don’t sell craft beer, I usually just pass the beer section entirely.
Packaged Foods
Matt and I cook our own food most of the time from scratch, so we skip all the aisles of ready-made, heat and eat stuff. That saves us quite a bit of time in the store, and a lot of money!
That’s a wrap on my latest Costco favorites. I’d love to hear what yours are. No matter what, Costco shopping is always an adventure!
Hi Angie,
I forgot to comment on the last blog……when we were still farming, one of my favorite pest remedies was heading out to the fields in high summer/tomato season when, overnight, a scourge of tomato worms could leave their path of destruction. Even though we loved watching nature at work when the parasitic wasps laid their eggs into the worm bodies and the growing larvae effectively killed the worm by eating their way out and making a white porcupine effect on the worm’s back, we also chose to be more proactive by meeting the worms at their “game” in the early morning, as the sun was rising. A bucket was needed for this job, too, so with gloves on, we plucked off dozens of the oversized greenies and placed threw them in the bucket. Soon there was a writhing half bucket of “yuck” that was taken to our chickens where great games of tug o’ war played out. They were the ultimate treat for our girls! A side note: Dill, parsley and asters can be companion planted with tomatoes to attract the wasps.
That’s great advice, Teri! Once we have chickens again, I’ll definitely put those worms in the coop for their morning snack!