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.
So was by CostCo today and stopped in to see if they had organic eggs in yet. They didn’t, so I asked. Was told there is a nation wide recall on them, was not told what for. They are switching brands due to it, more are coming but they were not sure when they would be in. Ug, guess I will have to get some at the grocery store tomorrow.
Interesting about the egg recall. I don’t see that on their website, and our store has been stocked. Hopefully they’ll be back on your shelves soon.
Costco has been our go-to for a few years now and I only supplement with actual grocery stores. Love the savings. Love the atmosphere. Love the quality.
Great article! We buy a lot of organic/whole food from Costco too.. we cannot use eggs/chicken etc from Costco because of the quantity,
Here are some of whole food items that we stock up from costco:
Grains: Organic Freekeh, organic Farro, noGMO verified black rice, Organic brown rice
Seeds: Organic Quinoa, Organic chia seeds,
Nuts – almonds (though they are not organic, I love the quality)
Oils – organic coconut oil, organic EV olive oil
Dry fruits – Organic dates, organic figs
Vegetables – Organic spring mix, Organic baby spinach
Spices – Whole black pepper (I am from India, so I know they are the best you can get), Organic oregano, Himalayan salt
Then of course Costco keeps bringing a lot of ‘green’ things (other than food) at affordable prices too. For example I recently got a pair of Greenpans at the same price as I got one Greenpan from amazon.
Good to know about the whole black peppers! I noticed the Freekah at my Costco, but I don’t have experience with this grain. How do you use it?
I use Freekeh just like I would use rice – in pilafs, wholegrain salads, or simply topped with a warm curry 🙂
I purchase organic Flax Meal, almond butter, rice milk and almond milk from Costco as well as the other things mentioned.
This info is so interesting! I have heard there were more organic options at Costco than Sams (where we have a membership) but I have never tried shopping at Cosco. This is really great info and it makes me want to look into making the switch. It would be fantastic if you would link this up to our {Healthy} Tips and a Tricks Tuesday party – so many people are trying to make the switch to whole foods, and I bet this info would be really handy! Thanks!
I’m a HUGE fan of Costco and notice a LOT more organic and natural foods in the past 6 months. Has spoiled me a little in that I gripe when I go to Whole Foods and see the same stuff for twice as much … even the Boy made a comment the other day to just wait for a Costco trip! Thanks for the post … coming from Tuesdays Talent Show!
I actually buy the more expensive membership, because we spend enough to get our entire membership fee back, especially with buying gas there. I love their organics, we buy frozen brocccoli, green beans, and berries, eggs (often out of stock they are so popular), hamburger, though not healthy or organic ice cream, nutiva coconut oil, nuts, pure maple syrup, olive oil, organic beef better than bullion. I also find their parchment paper to be an incredible deal, its vegan no silicon or petroleum. We also buy some really unhealthy things their like my husbands coke in bottles made with cane sugar, no corn syrup at least. I buy occasional snacks there recently bought a large bag of organic kettle corn popcorn GMO project certified. I use my vacuum sealer with mason jars to keep the excess from going stale, they had samples, the kids loved it and a great big bag was only around $5. So much cheaper than kettle corn is normally. I don’t buy stuff like this much especially being allergic to corn, but figured for the price and as much as the kids liked it.
What do you think about their eggs? I have heard mixed things about them.
Better than grocery store “organics” and about the top of my price range considering the amount of eggs we eat. We just got trader joes here but they are far enough away that they are maybe a once ever month or two trip for me. That said they are popular, were out mid week last week. I had been there Monday but had no room in the cooler for them and was not headed straight home, they had over a full cooler of them on Monday. Went back Wednesday to get my contacts I had ordered and they were out I live on land though and am researching raising chickens for truely fresh eggs that I will aslo know are corn free as I am allergic to corn.
We are getting our very own CostCo here in the fall. Along with a Trader Joe’s so I am very excited. AND I love the spreadsheet, but it is a really convoluted process to get to it, which can be discouraing.
Costco and Trader Joe’s are two of my favorites!
I was just there yesterday. I’m in Canada, and they don’t have organic or grass fed meat or eggs 🙁 The organic fruit and veggies are really sparse, I’d say salad greens and a couple of others maybe. Frozen is not much better, I’ve found organic corn, but I don’t eat corn, so, meh. I do still think its worth it, I get so many other things there. The organic coconut oil is amazing, organic lemon juice and organic coffee beans. I have bought organic quinoa and chia, and the hemp milk before I went grain free. It’s good for me, but for my husband it’s been not the best, he buys tubs of twizzlers and chocolate bars up the wazoo.
It’s interesting how much the inventory varies. I haven’t seen organic coffee at my Costco, but I’ll definitely look for it. I don’t drink coffee, but my husband likes the good stuff.
We switched our membership from Sam’s Club to Costco in January. I’m still feeling my way around, but have been really happy with the deals I’m getting, so far. The price on the Kerry Gold butter is the best I’ve found. I can buy frozen organic veggies for the same price that I was paying for the conventional ones at Sam’s. I buy the wild caught canned salmon when they have it. There are many more deals I get that have been mentioned already. I’m glad to hear about their olive oil. That’s on my list to buy next time I go shopping. I wish that our Costco had organic potatoes and carrots, but that’s not something I’ve seen so far. Maybe I’ll put in a request – didn’t know you could do that. 😉 Thanks for a great post!
It definitely takes time to find your way around Costco. I keep discovering new things each time I go. I love hearing what everyone gets at the different stores around the country.