The 12 Most Expensive Foods And Drinks At Costco

Do you want to enter a world of big-box groceries, discounted liquors, and $1.50 hot dogs? Of course you do. And a membership card is the only key you need to unlock the wonders that await inside your local Costco. But don't be fooled by Costco's famously low prices. There are some truly extravagant items hidden behind the $10 rotisserie chicken and family-sized cereals.

In the towering aisles, vast meat freezers, and glass liquor cases, there are gems that some foodies can only dream of. And as any adventurous Costco shopper knows, some store locations offer different products than others, making the search for an elusive champagne or caviar all the more exciting. Even Costco's website is harboring eye-poppingly expensive products. From extremely rare red wines to 72-pound cheese wheels, Costco is home to unexpectedly lavish foods and drinks, and all you need is a membership card to see them for yourself... and a small fortune. We've ordered this list from decently expensive to "Oh my God" expensive, so it's up to you to decide whether these foods and drinks are truly worth the price. Prices may vary by location.

If you like your bourbon rich and mysterious, then look no further than Pappy Van Winkle. You'll probably have to look much further into your local Costco's offerings if you even want a chance at securing a bottle of the rare bourbon. In fact, Pappy Van Winkle bourbon is notoriously hard to find, so much so that we made a list of 10 potential ways you can score a bottle of Pappy Van Winkle. And if you're lucky (like, really lucky), you just might find your coveted bottle for a bargain at your local Costco.

In July 2023, a resident of Bellingham, Washington happened upon a bottle of 10-year-old Rip Van Winkle for the mouth-watering price of $64.99. When they posted about their discovery on Reddit, it was clear that this was no ordinary big box store find. Another lucky person found a bottle of Pappy Van Winkle Family Reserve 23 Year for $289.99 at their Massachusetts Costco. According to the sly Redditors, the key to nabbing a bottle of the rare bourbon at a discounted price is to beeline over to Costco's glass liquor case, which can contain rare, sought-after spirits. There's no guarantee that you'll find the famous bourbon at your local Costco, or that you'll find it for less than the cost of an arm or leg. But isn't the search half the fun?

When you put "cake" and "Costco" in the same sentence, chances are you immediately think about the famous sheet cakes. If your parents were card-carrying Costco members when you were a kid, then you definitely celebrated a few birthdays with a Costco sheet cake as the centerpiece. There are some well-known truths about Costco sheet cakes: They're extremely customizable, they can serve over 40 people, and at a steady $25, they're as easy on your wallet as they are on the eyes. But did you know that you can bring your childhood cake to the next level at Costco?

Available online only is Costco's "Special Occasion" cake, a two-tiered marvel that's filled with exquisite lemon curd and tart raspberry jam. The white buttercream frosting makes it the ideal canvas for whatever your definition of "special occasion" is, whether it's a baby shower, an engagement party, or even a regular birthday party. It's even elegant enough to be served at a wedding. The price is steep at $299.99, but with its charming floral design and respectable serving size (up to 22 servings), is it any wonder the cake costs so much? The cake comes from Gwendolyn Rogers' The Cake Bake Shop, so you can expect there to be a delicate dusting of edible glitter on your Special Occasion cake.

Whether you're in the dog days of summer or are craving a warming wintertime meal, nothing hits the spot quite like surf and turf. The fact that it checks both the "red meat" and "seafood" boxes in a single meal not only makes it sumptuous, but effortlessly cool. After all, it's not every day that you find yourself peering over a plate piled high with lobster and beef that's dripping with butter. And when it comes to Costco's surf and turf offerings, the options are plentiful. From packs of filet mignon and crab cakes to premium steak burgers paired with lobster tails, Costco may be the unexpected champion of surf and turf. The thing is, the price of its most expensive surf and turf pack is as cool as it looks: $379.99.

The sky-high price isn't exactly surprising given the high-quality meats involved. A single A5 Wagyu Surf & Turf pack consists of two 20 to 28-ounce cold water lobster tails and, yes, two 6-ounce Japanese A5 Wagyu filet mignons; four packs all together is what gets us to the grand total of $379.99. Wagyu steak has quickly become one of the most coveted types of beef thanks to its exclusivity and high-quality flavor, and its reputation has only made it more expensive. In fact, depending on the amount you buy and where you buy it from, wagyu steak can cost thousands of dollars. $379.99 doesn't look so bad now.

From $1,000 steaks to $17,000 Champagne, it can seriously feel like people are spending way too much of their hard-earned cash on the gourmet foods you can buy at Costco. But here's something we can all agree on: You can never spend too much money on cheese (...right?). Well, you can put your undying love for all things cheesy to the test with Costco's whole-wheel Parmigiano Reggiano. As a Costco customer, you're undoubtedly accustomed to filling your cart with family-sized packages and big-box products, but we don't think anyone quite expects to discover the warehouse's coveted 72-pound wheel of Parmigiano Reggiano. Even more unexpected? The number "$949.99" on the price tag.

But hear us out: The mind-boggling price doesn't come without reason. Not only is the cheese aged 24 months for a fuller flavor and more crumbly texture, but it hails from Italy, aka the original home of Parmigiano Reggiano cheese. You know it's legit from the words "Parmigiano Reggiano" that have been burned into the rind. In fact, when determining how authentic parmesan is different from the American version, the price is one of the most obvious indicators. The fact that you can order authentic Parmigiano Reggiano from Costco for under $1,000 means that it's already been discounted.

Expensive things often come in small packages, and this food item is one of the most notoriously expensive-yet-tiny foods out there. To the untrained eye (or even to a trained eye, if we're being honest with ourselves), a small bowl of caviar doesn't look very special, or even very appealing. In fact, those who don't have a stomach for seafood would probably go out of their way to avoid coming in contact with these minuscule spheres of briny goo (sounds appetizing, right?). For the rest of us, though, the allure of fresh caviar is impossible to deny – nor should you. At Costco, you can buy a 35.2-ounce pack of Plaza Golden Osetra Caviar for "just" $1,999.99.

What makes this caviar worth mortgaging your house, you ask? The answer lies with how caviar farmers — and the good people of Costco, apparently — obtain the coveted fish eggs in the first place. Two of the most popular types of caviar are Beluga and Osetra, and there are important differences between the two. Costco's extravagant offering comes from Osetra sturgeons, which are endangered. Because of this, the process of procuring roe is contained to a farm. The fact that the roe is farmed and carefully matured for over 10 years makes it a more accessible product, and therefore a more affordable one, all things considered. You'd be hard-pressed to spend over $2,000 on a more luxurious item.

These days, you can never be too prepared. Costco offers doomsday-ready survival kits for individuals and families, and you can't go wrong with stocking up on emergency food. Why not grab an entire warehouse pallet of emergency food while you're at it?

At Costco, you can do just that for $6,999.99. It's the online version of walking into the Costco warehouse and emptying an entire floor-to-ceiling shelf of food into your cart. The Mountain House Emergency Food Pallet contains 246 #10 cans of food for a total of 2,814 servings, according to the Costco site. This is enough food to last the average person a full year. Even though it's all freeze-dried, you won't be eating badly: There's granola and blueberries, chicken and rice, and spaghetti and meat sauce, to name a few. Best of all, there's nothing wrong with buying the pallet, storing it in your basement, and forgetting about it for a decade, because the emergency food has a shelf life of up to 30 years.