Why You Should Think Twice Before Buying Oranges At Costco, According To Reddit

In general, the internet holds Costco in pretty high regard. The eternally low price of the hot dogs sold in the warehouse chain's food courts is a particular point of praise, but all over the internet folks are always sharing their techniques for how to save money by shopping at Costco. One particular item doesn't fit this bill, however, and shoppers are not shy in telling the world about their negative experiences buying Costco oranges.

A quick trip to Reddit turns up loads of threads with negative reviews. Users upload photos of entire bags of oranges and mandarins that have gone moldy within, they say, as little as two days after being brought home. Other Reddit posts show photos of low-quality oranges that, when peeled, reveal dry and tasteless fruit. So, what's the deal here? Should you altogether avoid buying fresh fruit at Costco the next time you go grocery shopping?

It is tough to give a hard-and-fast answer to this question based solely on the anecdotal evidence of Reddit posts, but there is one reason in particular that warehouse-style grocery stores could be to blame for this problem: bulk storage. Costco sells everything in large sizes. Rather than picking out an orange or two, you are looking at a 10-pound bag of the fruit. This already creates a scenario in which one fruit in the bag could be starting to mold, followed suddenly by the rest being infected with mold spores. But this issue is compounded by the store's displays, typically piled high with these hefty bags, from which any single rotten fruit is capable of spreading its infection to the whole lot.

Really, the problem extends beyond Costco and can better be put down to bagged fruits in general. When you shop at a standard grocery for just a few fruits or vegetables, you probably pick them up and inspect them for obvious issues before adding them to your cart. When you buy produce in large bags, this is not so easy to do. You can try to test a few around the outside to make sure that they are neither too hard and likely tasteless nor too soft and close to rotting, but it is nearly impossible to inspect every fruit.

There may even be an already moldy fruit in the middle of your bagged produce that you just don't see until days later when all your oranges start to turn. In truth, your best bet is just to pick up your citrus fruits at a store where you can have a look at each of them before buying. But, if you're a die-hard Costco shopper, there are ways to make the best of it.

For starters, you want to inspect the fruits as best you can before buying. But the real work happens once you get home. The absolute best way to store oranges is to remove them from the bag, rinse them to remove any spores they may have been exposed to — a wash with a touch of vinegar can help with bacteria too — and keep them in the crisper drawer. Selected and stored like that, you should have much better luck with your Costco oranges than the folks you see complaining on Reddit.