5 Grocery Items Minnesotans Should NOT be Buying from Costco
Don't get me wrong, I'm a big Costco fan! My husband is going to laugh at that comment because he had to drag me into Costco to get a membership but once I was in, I was HOOKED.
However, my Minnesota friends, there are some grocery items that you shouldn't be buying from Costco. It just makes way more sense to buy some of this stuff at other grocery stores.
Costco and Their Membership Crackdown
Over the past year or maybe less Costco has seriously cracked down on membership sharing. Now they check your picture at checkout (even at the self-checkouts) to make sure it's your card.
Their most recent crackdown: They've started requiring membership cards to buy items from the food court.
READ MORE: Costco Requiring Membership Card at Food Court
There are also some stores across the country that have started scanning memberships at the entrance. Personally, I think that makes way more sense than holding people up at the checkout.
READ MORE: Costco Testing Checking Memberships at the Entrance
Things You Shouldn't Buy at Costco
Costco is known for selling items in bulk for an affordable price. However, there are some items that should just be a no-go in most scenarios. I put together this list based on my personal opinions and also information I gathered from food writer, Su-Jit Lin.
Item one that you shouldn't buy from Costco: whole milk.
Buying whole milk at Costco can be more expensive than buying whole milk at another grocery store. My Instacart search for Costco milk revealed whole milk at $4.59 per gallon. At Target it's $3.89 per gallon.
The interesting thing from my research is that 2% milk is cheaper than whole milk at Costco, but still more than Target. Once you get to 1% milk, though, it's actually cheaper at Costco.
Su-Jit Lin told the Daily Mail that it's also smarter to buy milk elsewhere if you aren't going to use a whole gallon.
The next item you shouldn't buy from Costco: spices.
This one comes from Su-Jit. I was surprised to see this on her list! I buy some of my spices at Costco. Spices like onion powder, garlic powder, and cumin we use quite a bit in our cooking so we get them in big containers at Costco.
Su-Jit says that's not a good idea because spices "lose their potency over time". So if you aren't using up the spices fast enough you may end up with some sad garlic powder.
Another one from Su-Jit: raw chicken.
Another one that made me stop and think because we always buy our chicken from the frozen section of Costco just to have it in the freezer when we need it. Turns out, we've been overspending.
Looking at Costso's prices via Instacart, you can get the boneless, skinless chicken breasts in a frozen 6.5 lb bag for $21.99. That comes to about $3.38 per pound. The other frozen chicken option is the boneless, skinless, thin sliced chicken breasts. That comes in a 10 lb. bag for $33.99. That comes to about $3.40 per pound.
Let's price compare to Target. You can get a pound of boneless, skinless chicken breasts for $2.79 per pound.
Up next: fresh fruits.
BUT! If you're going to be, let's say, blending up a bunch of bananas for smoothies every day then it makes total sense. Or if you have a full house who loves strawberries.
Costco sells in bulk, so that means a ton of fresh fruit. Which is awesome but if you aren't going to go through it fast enough it's a waste of your money and food. So depending on the household you should probably opt to get your fresh fruit elsewhere.
The same thing goes for my third item: fresh vegetables.
It's just my husband and I in our house. There have been a few times that we've purchased the huge Costco box of salad greens. Then we end up not being able to go through it all before it goes bad.
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