7 Things I Never Buy At Costco As A Regular Shopper

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Like so many others, I make the bimonthly slog to Costco to take advantage of bulk buys, competitive prices, and a little treat from the food court every now and then. And in my time as a Costco shopper, I've learned what my staples are. Sure, I like trying new products, but I also have my tried-and-true classics that I rebuy basically every time I set foot in the store. At the same time, I've also learned that some items at Costco just don't make sense for me to buy. Generally, this is due to the quantities that the wholesaler sells. As someone living in a household of two, I find that there are a lot of products at Costco that go bad before anyone in the house gets the chance to use them.

So, let's take a closer look at the things I never buy at Costco. If you live in a smaller household or you're shopping as a single person, you may avoid these same items. On the other hand, if you have a larger family or live with roommates, these items may make perfect sense to buy. Either way, it's always fun to compare your own grocery experience to that of other shoppers.

I'm not going to say I've never purchased fresh fruits or vegetables from Costco — that would be a lie. However, every time that I have decided to bite the bullet and get a massive bag of asparagus or an actual tray of grape tomatoes, I've regretted it. It's not that Costco doesn't have good produce. Most of the product I've bought has been fresh. It's just that I'm getting so much of it that it's hard to use before it starts rotting in the crisper drawer of my fridge.

Could I freeze my leftover fruit and veg from Costco? Sure. But this limits what you can do with it. For example, if I freeze a container of blueberries, I'm going to have to use it for smoothies or cook the berries down into a jam or syrup since they're not going to taste very good after being thawed. Plus, I don't want to pay a premium for fresh fruits and vegetables only to have to freeze half of my produce haul anyway. Unless I'm planning a very specific recipe that calls for a ton of one ingredient, I skip Costco's fresh produce section entirely.

I love salsa just as much as the next person, and don't get me wrong — I can eat a lot of it. But there's basically no way I'm going to be able to eat enough salsa to justify buying a jar from Costco, especially if we're talking about the Kirkland Signature Organic Medium Salsa. You get two 32-ounce jars, which are just too big, unless you plan on eating salsa with every meal or if your household is a lot larger than mine. Honestly, they might be too big even if you are throwing a party, considering that you can only keep store-bought salsa in the fridge for about two weeks after opening.

If I were the kind of person to eat chips and salsa every day or I just really liked adding salsa as a topping to my favorite dishes, I might consider buying these containers, even though they are massive. But as it stands, you're not going to see me putting such huge jars of prepared salsa in my cart. I'd rather just make my own salsa from scratch, even though it's not as convenient as this jarred option.

Bagged salad kits can sometimes come in handy when I don't have a lot of time on my hands but I still want to put something green on the table for dinner. That being said, you're not going to catch me buying bagged salad kits at Costco as a regular shopper. 

These salad kits are huge, making them hard to use up before they go bad. If all I wanted to eat for several meals in a row was salad, then I might consider buying them, but there's no part of me that craves this kind of salad across multiple meals. 

And honestly, bagged salads just aren't very good in the first place; they certainly can't compare to a fresh, homemade salad with freshly chopped vegetables that haven't been sitting in the bottom of a plastic bag for several days. I think this is true of all bagged salads, not just those found at Costco. Therefore, this is one item that I have no problems passing by.

There are some spices that I specifically seek out at Costco because I know I usually go through them quickly. For example, I'll get huge containers of crushed red pepper and garlic powder, which I use every day, so I'm not wasting money on smaller containers. But there are plenty of other herbs and spices at Costco that you won't see me buying because I know I'm not going to use them up in time. Although I use cumin and paprika, for instance, relatively frequently, it still takes me a few years to go through a small jar. 

Although spices aren't going to go bad in your pantry, per se, they'll definitely lose freshness, potency, and flavor intensity. Most herbs and spices have a shelf life of between one and three years. If I don't have a plan to use a lot of a specific spice in that timeframe, I'll look for smaller containers at other grocery stores instead of stocking up at Costco.

Not long ago, I did buy raw chicken from Costco. In fact, it was the place where I stocked up on it the most. I appreciate the affordability of its chicken breasts, thighs, and ground meat. But the last several times I bought chicken from Costco, I've been disappointed. I've discovered woody chicken breasts, which seem to be a common problem for Costco shoppers. Instead of getting the tender and uniform texture I expect, the breasts are often stringy and chewy.

While I haven't discovered any major textural issues with Costco's ground chicken, I've found that it goes bad quickly. The last time I bought its ground chicken, I had to throw most of it away because after a couple of days in the fridge, it turned grey and had an off-putting aroma that let me know it wasn't safe to eat. While the price of the chicken is competitive, the savings don't amount to much if I have to trash the chicken anyway. I buy my poultry elsewhere from now on.

I visited Costco after starting a new nutrition plan to look for lean proteins. Egg whites seemed like the perfect option. Although many consider them to be rather boring and flavorless, it's an ingredient I like working with. As long as you season them or add sauce, they can be delicious. I picked up an entire case of cartons from Costco thinking that I'd be able to work my way through them before the best-by date.

For the next few weeks, I ate egg whites in basically everything. I scrambled them for breakfast, steamed them for lunch, and added them to ground beef to increase its protein content even more. Still, I never managed to finish all the cartons before they went bad. And at this point, I don't think I ever want to taste egg whites again.

I'm not saying that you should also avoid buying egg whites from Costco. If you have a larger family who eats them all the time or you use them for baking, Costco's option may be worthwhile. But you'll never catch an entire case of egg whites in my Costco cart ever again.

I find myself in the mood for cereal occasionally. I'll usually eat it after dinner for dessert — not breakfast — and I enjoy it more than a chocolate treat a lot of the time. When I'm in one of these moods, I might eat a bowl of cereal a day (or maybe even two), which means I can go through a box relatively quickly. But when I say a box, I mean a regular-sized box — not the massive ones you tend to find at Costco. For example, you can get an 8.9-ounce box of Cheerios at another local grocery store in my area, which is a reasonable amount of cereal to eat in, say, a week. But at Costco, you get a whole pound in one bag, and each box comes with two bags. That's a ton of cereal to eat before it goes stale.

If you really want to take advantage of the bulk pricing discounts at Costco, then I can see where this may be a smart purchase. Using a resealable container for your cereal might be a good way to maintain its freshness. But as the sole cereal-eater in my household, I can't be bothered; I'd rather just buy a smaller box at another one of the grocery stores I frequent.