Hellobee Boards

it's 50/year.
we don't shop there often anymore but used to stock up on tp, paper towels, water, vitamins, food items..
they actually have lots of organic stuff now and frozen fruits.
I think it'll be worth it for you!

We think it's worth it. Like chopsuey119, we stock up on paper products mostly, but we love their fresh meats/fish. Their Salmon is amazing. We buy it there and cut it up into strips and freeze two at a time so that we can pull it out of the freezer at any time. If you eat red meat, their beef cubes are also amazing.

We also have electric toothbrushes, and get the tooth brush heads there. LOs formula is also there, so we buy in bulk with that as well.

Oh and wipes! How could I forget those! We loooove Huggies Natural Care wipes (I find they're thicker than Pampers) so we get those there too.

I think our membership is like $55/year. But we have a Costco Business Amex CC. That gets us like 2% cash back so that is nice.

We buy organic ground beef there and its about $4.29/lb which I think is an ok price. We really like the flavor. It comes in 1.2lb packages (pre-divided).

We don't go through enough of any one fruit/veggie to buy from there although it is often fresh and ok prices. I don't know that much of it is organic.

We also buy our shredded cheese there but again, not organic.

Just an FYI, we found their organic whole milk to be much more expensive than our local grocery store.

@Arden: Yay Costco!

So I believe a standard membership is $55. We share an executive membership with my parents from when my dad owned his own company and I worked for him part time. They get 2% cash back because of this. I think you can also consider a Costco Amex which also gives you cash back.

Our favorites are meat (because we have a chest freezer, and the quality of their meat is great!), bread and bagels (again, chest freezer), some fresh produce (only things that will last as long as it takes us to eat them, like apples), rotisserie chickens ($5.99 dinner for 4, can't beat that!), paper products (paper towels, toilet paper, napkins, paper plates, paper cups, plastic utensils), cereal, organic eggs, yogurt, cheese, frozen vegetables (chest freezer!), frozen chicken breasts, butter... I could really go on and on. And a lot of their personal care products can't be beat as well, if you use one of their coupons. (they don't take manufacturer's coupons but they have great coupon books every month, so when ther'es a coupon for something I stock up.)

For us it's worth every penny, but we have a LOT of storage space for stuff, especially with the chest freezer.

For the things you listed that you would need to buy, I know for a fact they have everything. I believe they have quinoa. They purchase based on demand, I believe. I've seen products disappear then come back years later.

For fresh produce we stopped buying most of our stuff there because it goes bad before we get a chance to eat it all. But the quality of their produce is outstanding. The grapes are always sweet, etc. They have an amazing assortment of red, green, and yellow peppers that we love. If your'e batch cooking with these veggies and freezing, it would be perfect for you. The pork chops I posted about earlier are a staple for us... I buy it, open it up and slice all of them in half (they're like 2 inches thick!) and freeze them in ziplock bags, about 3 whole chops per bag. Then the night before I can put them in the fridge and it's a perfect serving size for the two of us for dinner and lunch the next day.

My favorite thing about Costco is their guarantee. You can bring back almost anything and they'll give you your money back. A lot of people actually take advantage of this. They'll bring back clothes they've worn for 2 years and washed hundreds of times just because they don't like it anymore or it's stretched or faded, and Costco still gives them their money back. Even store credit because your account always shows what you have purchased in the past.

@Arden: You can get a free 1-day shopping pass from BJs (I don't know if Costco has the same program, but I wouldn't be surprised!). Then you could check and see if they have stuff you like.

ETA: Actually, the free pass might last for more than 1 day.

The membership is worth it for us just for buying diapers, wipes, cat litter and paper goods alone. We also buy canned beans there and they are cheaper than buying through a grocery store.

@mrs. wagon: wow. A novella about Costco?! That's some passion for bulk shopping ; )

@Arden: I think so; I think they have them at the service desk. If you know any BJs members, they send one of those free-pass thingys in the coupon book they send out every month or so. I can check when I get home and see if I still have mine.

Oh and another thing. For us the Costco gas is about 10 cents cheaper than the other stations around here. Because of my husband's long commute the membership pays for itself even if we only used it for gas.

@Arden: yes costco will let you walk around and not buy anything. BJs actually does free 60 day trial memberships.

ETA: as Wago said Costco checks your card at the door but just go to the membership counter and tell them you are considering joining and they will allow you in to walk around.

My parents pay for our membership... I'm not sure if we would get it on our own.

We get yogurt because lo needs it for snack daily to mix probiotics. Paper products like toilet paper, paper towels, tissues (we still have the same tissues from over a year ago), shampoo, soap, shaving cream, razors, etc. Dh gets some food, granola bars, green tea, animal crackers. Dh doesn't like leftovers though so buying fresh food in bulk isn't always great for us.

Oh, shampoo! The Kirkland brand shampoo and conditioner is so great!

Oh and just to add, I love Kirkland brand wipes! They are seriously the best and really cheap!

I think they are like $20 for a case of 900 wipes (in 100 count containers).

They also carry huggies wipes for about $25.

@Arden: Totally worth the $55 annual membership!!! We get gas there at least every other week, and it's usually at least 20 cents cheaper per gallon than the other local gas stations. We go to Costco almost every week, ever since they opened one up about 2 miles from us... dangerous!

I ALWAYS buy lots of produce and very little processed foods! Examples of what we buy:

- Fruits - pommelos, oranges, strawberries, melons, watermelons, grapes
- Produce - romaine lettuce, mushrooms, spinach
- Dairy - eggs, half and half,
- Meat - chicken breast, rotisserie chicken (theirs is the BEST and only $5!!), rib-eye steaks, pork tenderloin
- Seafood - frozen salmon, frozen shrimp
- Coffee K-cups
- Dog food
- Canned foods - canned corn, canned tomatoes, chicken broth

Phew, I love Costco.

We got our membership last summer so we could buy stuff for our wedding. We got all the plates, silverware, cups, beer, soft drinks and other miscellaneous wedding stuff for around $200!

We took a break shopping there for a few months but recently started shopping again. Like other posters have said we get the packages of sealed organic beef, shredded cheese, 24 pack of organic eggs ($7! at our store) and other various items. I bought the BEST smoked Gouda there a few weeks ago. Plus I love walking around and eating their samples