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I am trying to convince DH it is a good idea to go to Cost Co. I have only heard good things, the brands are supposed to be awesome and so much cheaper.
So, my question is - have you been there, are you a member - would love to hear your experiences (good and bad).
Also, what sort of baby brands do they stock?
Thx very much :)
I have been. It's okay. Got a good deal on laundry detergent that I only just finished using after over two years. But I wouldn't say it's worth the $60 membership for me.
If you haven't got somewhere to store stuff it kinda defeats the purpose! But having said that it was definitely worth the look. There were heaps of things there. The Veges were also sold in bulk as such we ended up throwing stuff away as there are only two of us for most of the week.
Still I'd say it was worth looking at and if we lived closer I suspect we'd visit more often.
I went for a look (they let you do that without joining if you go on a week day) and I didn't last long enough to get a good look at brands etc. It was a bit of a zoo to be honest. Maybe it's because the novelty value hasn't worn off the Sydney store yet, but I'd rather pay extra and shop in an environment of relative sanity!
When I visited a friend in Canada it made sense - they all have deep freezers and huge amounts of storage space in their basements, and it was good for party catering - seriously, a tub of sour cream as big as my head??? - but without a huge amount of pantry space here it just wouldn't be worth it for us.
I signed up today after having a look with my SIL last year. With three kids and three bathrooms for us it's worth it. I got toilet paper, nappies, wipes, conditioner and meat for the freezer. It means I can get a months worth of the staples in one go. I wouldn't get the vegies and salads etc as we wouldn't use it all but the chicken tenders that the kids love were $8 for a kilo instead of a tiny box you get at Coles.
Hmmm wonder if it would work for us.
Black Rose - the bulk meat, is that different cuts or bulk packs of say chicken fillets? And is the pricing much of a difference?
We love it save a lot on nappies and wipes.
We regularly buy frozen vegies in big bag, margarine, eggs, bread.
Meat you can buy a tray of lamb cutlets, tray of steaks, chicken fillets, pork, seafood etc etc. Massive pizzas that need to be chopped up to fit in oven LOL
They also have a lot of easy to heat meals that are handy to have! Butter chicken, chicken alfredo etc etc
I got chicken wings and tenderloins in three packs the wings were 4.50 for a kilo and tenderloins were $14. I also go chops to try. They have whole slabs of meat but I am not brave enough to tackle them but they have big packs cut up too same with sausages etc.
The meat was crazy cheap (like, $4 or $6 a kilo for chicken thighs and not much more for breast, $8 a kilo for diced beef ... it was nuts).
Brand name things (like Kleenex) were cheap, but not much cheaper than when on special at the normal shops.
Their homebrand stuff wasn't noticeably cheaper than Coles and Woolies homebrand stuff.
Fresh produce was very well priced (dairy, eggs, fruit, bakery, all of it) but obviously you can only buy so much.
There were various things which you just don't see much elsewhere, which were cheap (some toys, clothes, books ...)
Overall, I wouldn't buy a membership, am happy to fork out the petrol and parking, ITMS.
If I went more often (if it wasn't so far away) it would definitely be worth it, as I would do my normal fresh produce shopping there.
My MIL is a member. We go with her. We always have some staples that we get: toilet paper, paper towel, juice (long life), deodorant, tuna, pasta sauce, Bepanthen. Then we sometimes get laundry stuff, depending on what has run out. And then we get whatever specials they have at the time - special buys that is. In the centre of the warehouse they have seasonal special buys - books, clothes, toys that are very cheap! Good brand too like Step 2 and Osh Kosh - but you can't go looking for something, you just have to get lucky with whatever is there!
As someone else said, the grocery products are not much cheaper than the prices when on special at supermarkets but for me it is knowing that they are ALWAYS that price, as opposed to going "ooh cottonelle is on special at Coles this week, better get down there!" ITMS?
We haven't bought much fresh stuff - I got some beef mince to try and it wasn't that nice tbh.
Pac - we are thinking about getting our own membership, if we do you can come as my guest one time and check it out if you'd like!
That might be a good plan. I guess it's hard to know without actually going. Let me know if you do end up with a membership :):
we are members and buy stuff for our food van there all the time
we usually end up picking up stuff for home as well
Some of the stuff they have is nice and cheap but you have to know your prices.
Things we have found heaps cheaper as items such as
- patties party pies and sausage roll packs
-finger foods such as gyozas, nuggets, fish fingers etc
- washing machine powder
- tomato sauce and most condiments are usually at least half price
- cakes, muffins etc
-toilet paper if you use kleenex contonelle ( which we dont)
- corn chips and salsa
-some produce but you have to buy like 1.5kg of lettuce leaves for the same price as a 500g bag at the supermarket
- dishwashing tablets (60 for the price of 30!)
its just that you have to buy things in such big amount to get good savings
btw their prawn tail trays in the seafood dept are YUMMM