Oh yeah… Purple Cafe and Seastar restaurant gift cards here! 20% off.
Seasonal at this time of year; but the baking parchment paper is fabulous..
Trying to think of what we buy at Costco that hasn’t already been mentioned. Dh loves calistoga flavored waters and we buy the 28 pack for so much less than we’d pay for fewer bottles elsewhere. We always have their parmesan cheese in the fridge. It’s just the two of us but it lasts a very long time. We also always have their mixed nuts on hand both for ourselves plus so easy to put in a dish when company is over. We compost and they have the perfect size compostable liners for the bin.
For the most part, I don’t even check other rental car options after they were the least expensive I could find time and time again (online). We buy their lamb chops and rib eyes and repackage them for the freezer. I don’t know if this is regional but the butchers prepare a seasoned tri tip that is delicious. We cut it in 1/2 and freeze; 1/2 is a perfect size for dh and me for dinner with just enough leftover to make a tri tip salad a couple nights later.
I always walk through the clothing section. I’ve gotten local sport team shirts and sweatshirts and often find something interesting. I think it was @HImom who mentioned $17 merino wool women’s shirts recently.
They have Kirkland brand 100% cotton sheets that are really soft. And I recently tried a couple of their packaged salads that are incredibly inexpensive and very good. Their sharp cheddar and manchego cheeses are also stapes for us.
Before we went on an HP program that monitors our ink levels and mails us new cartridges for $3/month, Costco was the least expensive place to buy cartridges.
I also used to get Cinemark movie tickets for $17/2 but now we’re part of Cinemark’s movie club which allows us to reserve seats in advance for $9/ticket. There are other gift cards that are good deals: local car wash, local restaurants at 20% off, Sees candy GC at 20+% off, etc.
Their gummy calcium chews are very well priced.
TP and paper towels, when they are on sale. San Pelegríno when it’s on sale. I really like their salads - Asian and kale. My son eats oats and yogurt every day any, so I buy those at Costco if I happen to be going, and I buy milk if I am heading home immediately after Costco. Razor blades are cheaper there. Crab meat in the summer. Organic chicken breast. Berries. Toothpaste when on sale. Toblerone bars for stockings (you have to buy six, but when they are on sale they are less than a dollar each). Kind bars, nut, pre-made soups (refrigerated).
We got a quote from Royal Caribbean on a Baltic cruise. My husband called Costco, and the cruise was the exact same price, except that if we booked through Costco we would receive a $1,300 Costco card (yes, it had to be spent there, but that was easy to spend!).
We use the Kirkland brand laundry detergent - it was just on sale for $12, I think (compared to Tide for $24).
I’m new to Costco, too, and haven’t bought much yet. But I did but the cauliflower crusted pizza. It was wonderful, you couldn’t tell it wasn’t regular. Low calorie, too! Sometimes I do doctor it up a little by adding more pizza sauce and crumbled bacon bits.
+1 to the parchment paper. I bought it yesterday since I’m getting low. The double box/roll package will probably last a couple years - around $10 and the rolls are huge.
Real Maple Syrup and Milk by the gallon (free of antibiotics and hormones).
No better deal anywhere for these products. I find that the milk stays fresh well passed the expiration date.
I joined Costco just to buy tires. They’re always having specials on high-quality tires. And they rotate and balance the tires free of charge for the life of the tires. With two cars, this is an extraordinary savings well worth the cost of the membership.
We also take advantage of the inexpensive glasses and also really happy with the cost of contact lenses.
Some other favorite products:
Kirkland Pesto in the refrigerated section
Kirkland 100% Colombian Coffee
Happy Shopping!
I would also add that sometime after the holidays you might enjoy it more when it quites down “a bit” - cause Costco is usually always somewhat busy - it’s fun to watch the seasonal stuff come in for the front of the store - all those Christmas decorations will give way to other stuff in January!
Tte Merino wool socks for men and women are a great deal as well—$20 or less for 6 pairs!
They have nice coats, cardigans, an assortment of sweaters and pants and even underwear! My BIL admits he buys most of his clothes at Costco, I do as well.
Their 32 degree heat T-shirt’s & bottoms are nice lightweight thermal shirts currently discounted to $6.99 apiece! Comparable undergarments generally run $20+!
Butter. butter, butter!
Pantry staples like chicken broth, diced tomatoes, and tomato sauce. Spices.
Souvenirs. No kidding! When we were in Kauai Costco had all the local stuff to take home to friends at a fraction of the gift shop prices.
Check their website. They have high end cosmetics at great prices.
Things not to buy at Costco. I bought a roll of Christmas wrapping paper 20+ years ago. I still have more than a lifetime left to use it.
I woulld never buy dog food at Costco.
Is the ravioli fresh or frozen? Where can I find it?
I booked a Norwegian cruise through Costco Travel recently for a similar deal as you, @MaryBarbara58. I still don’t quite believe that there is no catch to the $1,500 Costco Cash card that will arrive after we take the cruise!
Another big ticket item we recently bought at Costco online was a set of patio furniture. It cost about one third less than elsewhere, and they also offered a white glove delivery service for a very nominal fee. I was a bit hesitant to buy something so big and expensive without seeing and touching it first. Fortunately we liked it, but the delivery crew said that if we didn’t like it they would take it back right then at no charge.
Lots of ravioli choices in the refrigerated section - not frozen. There may be some in the frozen section too but def in the refrigerated.
I have both Costco and Sam’s Club memberships that basically meet all my family’s needs. They both send us regular discount coupon booklets, so we target shop for those whenever we can. You can save quite a lot just by target shopping, enough actually to recoup the annual membership fees. During this past summer’s re-flooring project where I changed out old dirty carpet and replaced with all high quality laminate woods, Sam’s offered $7 off a box deal. My project needed about 100 boxes, so that was quite a saving. There was 12-box per membership limit, so I enlisted the help of several friends with the membership cards.
The quality of meat and seafood is better at Costco, so that’s where we go for those…
For eye glass frames, depending on which frame style…
Electronics in general are better, more selection, and better warranty at Costco…
For canvas prints, I always wait for 50% off sale at Sam’s Club. I still have yet to see such a matching sale at Costco. Yesterday was one such sale and ordering two 24x36 canvas prints saved me about $80…
Can’t beat getting your passport photos for $4.99 at either Sam’s or Costco…
For gas, 5% reward at Sam’s beats 4% at Costco. Sam’s is nearer to my house and the line is much shorter than at Costco, so works out great for me. Line is always shorter, too, for those European cars with the gas refill opening on the right side of the car…
For restaurant dining, both Sam’s MC and Costco’s Citi Visa offer 3% reward, so whichever comes out of my wallet first…
And, as I joked to my wife, if you swing by both Sam’s and Costco, particularly on Saturday, there’s enough free food samplings to take care of your free lunch for the entire family. A joke aside, Costco does offer much better free food samplings than Sam’s. For either stores, we tend to avoid visiting on weekends. It can get crazy busy there.
I buy the fresh ravioli. At our store it’s in an aisle near the cheese aisle.
@LVKris - I was worried about the cashback cads, but they arrived in the mail (countertops and carpets). The cards had to be activated by calling Costco and punching in our membership number.
Socks!! My family loves their wool blend socks which are offered seasonally.
Leggings and other workout wear. Great quality and you can get about 8 pairs of leggings for the cost of one pair of those citrus fruit ones.
Down puffer jackets. Our’s has had Patagonia jackets on occasion. They go within hours.
Packages salad mixes.
We are a bit of a hipster location with a huge organic selection. Supposedly ours has the highest volume of furniture sales in the larger area.
They are also my favorite travel agency. Exceptionally easy to work with since the agents aren’t on commission. You always reach a real person. Their packages have excellent pricing. And yes, the fact that the second driver is free if rented thru Costco is a big benefit.
Peet’s coffee cards. $100 worth for $79.99 and sometimes there’s an additional $5.00 off.
We are empty nesters so a lot of packages are just too big for us. We buy non perishable items such as paper towels, tissues and toilet paper. I also get the K cups for my Keurig. We buy meat and freeze it.
I don’t buy any clothing as the few times I have I found I was not happy with the quality.
The toughest part is seeing things that are so cheap it is tempting to pick up items you don’t really need or won’t use up. Luckily I’m pretty good at resisting the temptation.
car tires