Healthy Food at Costco — What to Buy and How Much You Can Save
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Costco is a great place to save on so many things, but in there a lot of healthy food at Costco and does shopping there really help you save money?
You might be surprised to find out that the answer to both of these questions is a resounding YES!
Read on to see just how much you can save by shopping for not only healthy food, but also whole foods at Costco.
Costco is known for huge bulk boxes and bags of things like breakfast cereal, chips, juice bottles, and more, but there are some amazing ways to save on really healthy food at Costco too.
Eating a healthy, whole food diet can ring up some pretty expensive grocery bills.
Organic and specialty ingredients tend to be pricier than their conventional counterparts, but eating a healthy diet doesn’t have to drive you into debt. With careful shopping and meal planning, busy families can still afford to eat healthy.
Two years ago, I transitioned my family of four from the standard American diet to a life less processed.
I started making most of our food from scratch, and I was surprised to see that our grocery bills didn’t actually change much. I swapped takeout and prepared foods for dinners cooked at home using whole food ingredients.
By using lots of ideas for healthy grocery shopping on a budget, and avoiding eating out, I was able to make this transition without disrupting our family budget.
While I have access to a lot of grocery stores and warehouse clubs, I’ve found that Costco is a fantastic place to stock up on affordable and healthy whole food and organic ingredients.
They sell cheese and butter from grass-fed cows, organic canned tomatoes and tomato sauce, and giant tubs of organic coconut oil. High-quality nuts, seeds, and grains are plentiful in Costco’s aisles, and you can buy enough organic eggs, chicken, and beef to fill your protein quota indefinitely.
Does Costco Make Sense for a Small Family?
The question is a good one! For a small family of two adults and two children trying to eat a whole food diet, does it make sense to buy in bulk at Costco?
I recently did a detailed price analysis of the whole food groceries found on the shelves at Costco.
I surveyed my readers to find out what healthy food items they purchase at Costco around the country.
Based on their input as well as my own experience at multiple local stores, I compared the prices of over 50 real food items at Costco versus the best prices I could find at my local Trader Joe’s, Stop and Shop, or Whole Foods Market.
I discovered that over 90 percent of the items were less expensive at Costco, and in many cases, the price difference was dramatic.
I crunched the numbers and learned that my little family of four can save over $1,400 a year buying whole foods at Costco. The $55 membership fee seems inconsequential in the face of savings that big.
Even if you don’t have a large house with lots of pantry space and an extra freezer, you can still stock up on several items from my list to keep your savings account happy. Here are a few examples of the savings you can find at Costco.
Savings on Whole Food at Costco
Organic Eggs:
These cost $3.50 a dozen at Costco, compared to $4.29 a dozen at Stop and Shop. My family goes through about 18 eggs per week, for a savings of $61.62 per year.
Organic Canned Tomatoes (in BPA-free cans):
Organic diced tomatoes cost $.80 per pound at Costco, while they’re $2.40 a pound at Stop and Shop. A family that uses two 28-ounce cans of organic diced tomatoes each month will save $67.20 a year by buying the tomatoes at Costco.
Organic Chicken:
There are several varieties of organic chicken available at my Costco. Organic chicken breast, chicken thighs, and whole chickens are all more expensive at Trader Joe’s than at Costco. If a family eats two pounds of organic chicken breasts, two pounds of organic chicken thighs, and one whole organic chicken in a month, they’ll save $64.80 over the course of the year at Costco.
Organic Olive Oil:
Organic olive oil costs nearly twice as much at Stop and Shop as it costs at Costco. A 17-ounce container costs $6.63 at Stop and Shop, and this quantity costs $3.74 at Costco. Over the course of a year, this is a savings of $34.68.
Pure Maple Syrup:
A quart of maple syrup at Costco costs $12.79, compared to $16.99 at Trader Joe’s. If you go through a quart of syrup each month, you’ll save $50.40 by buying it at Costco instead of Trader Joe’s. Click here to download my complete Costco Real Food Savings Chart with over 50 items.
This list shows that you can save over $1,400 a year on healthy groceries.
Inventories and prices vary from one Costco to the next, and your store probably doesn’t carry all these items. You can put in a request at Costco’s Customer Service if there’s something you’d like to see on the shelf at your store.
If you have other Costco favorites that aren’t on my list, please let me know in the comments below. I’d love to hear what you’re buying!
Annemarie Rossi is the creator of Real Food Real Deals, a website about how to feed your family real food on a budget. Her site includes many easy, delicious recipes that are made with whole food ingredients. Annemarie loves to travel and spend time outdoors with her family. You can find Annemarie on Facebook, Pinterest, and Twitter.
Costco has an executive membership that earns you a percentage back every year. The executive membership is twice the price ($110), but earns me an average of $80 back every year.
Good deal! We love Costco!
Is Costco worth a 45 min drive?
Hi Emily. I think it depends on how much shopping you are going to do. I love their salad, frozen green beans (they are out of them now), lemon juice bottled, almond flour, olive oil, frozen organic fruit, frozen OG chicken breasts, and more. Hope that helps!
Yes I think so.
Hi,
I am a COSTCO member for 7 years. For seven years, i could never find the Organic Whole Yogurt & Uncooked Raw Crab. When they can sell raw fish, raw shrimp and other such products why can’t they sell the Raw Crabs? Confused!
Every time i go to Costco, i have to stop at Shop rite to get my Organic Whole Yogurt. That is how it has been for last seven years.
Thanks for Listening.
Ananth
I live in a rural community where you’d think farm fresh whole foods would be much more abundant but sadly they’re not. We’re limited to Walmart and Albertson’s for our closest stores where thankfully the organic demand is slowly starting to reach. We have one farmer’s market where we do most of our real meat shopping (a bit pricey when it’s the only option) but we do our BIG shopping at Costco even though it’s a 45 minute drive away. We do it for the real food benefits. We just went last week and discovered Costco sells real fermented sauerkraut! I”m needing to add probiotics to my diet for a health problem I have so I was delighted to find this and it tastes great!
No kidding! What’s the brand name? I will have to check this out!
Wildbrine is the brand name and it’s in their refrigerated section.
They don’t have it at my store. I guess I’ll have to check another one – you are fortunate!
Raw honey in Phoenix Costco’s is about $2 cheaper than other places. IIRC, last time I paid $8.99 for a 48 ounce container. Every month I buy a 10 pound bag of organic carrots: $4.99. I found Nutiva organic coconut flour at one Costco for $6.99 for a four pound bag! I only shop once a month in the first week of the month. I used to buy my gasoline there, too. If you have the Costco AMEX card there is a 3% cash back on gasoline. For the amount of gas I use, that is enough to make the yearly membership worth it.
I get those carrots too, but ours are more money here :(. I think about $6.99. I haven’t looked for coconut flour…..I need to do that. Nice tips!!!
The one thing I love getting cheap at Costco is coconut oil. I can get a 78 oz container for $22. Another item that is hard to find, as it comes and goes, is their GF veggie burgers by Don Lee Farms. Costco also sells organic Bananas for a responsible price — $1.79/bundle (I think, or maybe it’s $2). While not organic, I get my potatoes and oranges by the bulk. They do have organic avocados, kale, spinach, frozen berries.
Oh, and their pure maple syrup is grade A unfortunately. 🙁
I’d have to say that 40% of my groceries or other items come from Costco. The rest is King Soopers, Safeway, Sprouts, Vitamin Cottage, Trader Joes, Whole Foods, Walmart, Amazon, Vitacost, and sometimes eBay.
I’ve done the shop around Costco to see what real foods, fermented foods, pastured foods, wild foods, gluten free foods and organic foods I can fine. It is truly amazing.
The grassfed or organic cheese selection is very good.
I don’t buy much meat at Costco but I do buy the lamb from New Zealand as it is all pasture raised.
I do buy wild caught fish both in IQF (individually quick frozen) and fresh depending on what’s in season.
At our Costco they have a large package of grass fed steaks for 179.00 It is a decent deal per pound if you don’t have room in your freezer for a share of a grass fed steer. I may buy this package when I use up my steer.
At our Costco they are starting to carry local artisinal sauerkraut (Farmhouse Culture brand) It is half the price of buying it at the coop.
They also carry the Tru Roots brand organic ancient grains and gluten free pasta that I like to have on hand.
When berries are in season it is cost effective to pick up the organic 3 packs. We go through them fast and they are very good quality.
I do a fair amount of baking and I love the Costco organic butter. For eating we choose Kerrygold in 3 packs.
Although I make most of my food from scratch I love to pick up gluten free snacks for parties and such.
This list doesn’t cover all the organic dried fruits and nuts costco carries. Not to mention organic cane sugar we use in making jams and jellies. I’m amazed at how many good things I can fill my cart up with. It takes a little planning to cycle items in so that I don’t have too many big packs of things to find a place for but it is so great to find that Costco has so many things that fit into my real food lifestyle.
Laura, it sounds like you have some great options at your Costco that we don’t have here in Massachusetts. I’ll keep my eye out for the grass-fed steak and the sauerkraut. I enjoy the Tru Roots grains too, and we use both the Kirkland and the Kerrygold butter.