It's no secret that warehouse clubs like Costco have fantastic deals, especially when it comes to feeding a family. Whether it's olive oil, cheese, or something as simple as half-and-half, there are so many reasons why we love Costco! It continuously proves itself to be one of the best places to find deals to fit the budget and lifestyle of many families.

Watch on YouTube

https://youtu.be/FpfQI24xfIs

Why we love Costco

Watch any of my YouTube videos and you're likely to find that I'm not only using pots, pans, and ingredients purchased at Costco, but I'm probably wearing a shirt from Costco too!

In this episode we explore the very best food-related deals Costco has to offer, from nuts, oils, and cheese, to meat, honey, and seafood, we outline all the reasons why we love Costco!

Note: we did not receive any compensation from Costco and the opinions expressed in this podcast are solely our own.

Resources

Biscotti

Walnut Snowball Cookies

Pignoli Cookies

Braciole

Salmon Oreganata

Riso al Forno

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Transcript

Intro

James (00:00):Welcome back to The Sip and Feast Podcast. This is episode 19. We're talking Costco today. What exactly about Costco, Tara?

Tara (00:08):We're talking about the things that we love to buy at Costco because they're the best value possible. And I'd like to add here that, although we wish we were, this video is not in any way sponsored by Costco.

James (00:24):That's right. I mean, I often joke, I joke all the time on the main channel because we get a lot of comments, be like, "You keep shilling for Costco." Costco does not sponsor us one bit, and I don't know if they really sponsor anybody. They don't have to. They're just a great business. They're one of the best success stories of a business probably in the world, and they have extreme brand loyalty. People will travel. Not everything is like here in Long Island where we have a location every 20 minutes away. There's parts of America that people will drive two hours to get to a Costco and they do it because the deals are just phenomenal. And we're going to talk specifically about food deals for you today. We're not going to talk about office supplies and-

Tara (01:12):Tires.

James (01:12):… tires, landscaping equipment, cars. We're not going to talk about that. This is a podcast about food. So Tara, let's get right into it. We kind of bulleted these out and not priority-wise, but I think maybe you could tell by the tone of my voice what are the best deals and which I really think you should pursue.

Olive and other oils

Tara (01:33):First stop Jim, oil.

James (01:35):Okay. Olive oil. This is just an unbelievable deal at Costco. I recommend you wait to buy your oil until you get to Costco. Now that being said, we do use different types of olive oil. We use Partanna quite frequently, and that's the good extra virgin olive oil. That's a Sicilian olive oil. I use that a lot for when I want a high quality extra virgin but not the highest quality. And when I'm using the highest quality, that is Frantoia Barbera. So let's just get those two out of the way. Those you will not find at a Costco.

Tara (02:10):That's right. The brand that we are talking about is the Kirkland brand, which is Costco's own brand.

James (02:17):Yeah, it's their in-house brand. Obviously they're not in the olive oil making business, so it is probably one of the larger olive oil brands that Kirk is selling directly to Costco. And then Costco will put their Kirkland name on it, which they do for tons of products.

Tara (02:32):So we're talking their extra virgin olive oil, which is a great deal, but also their regular olive oil.

James (02:41):Yeah. So the regular olive oil, and I believe it's just their Kirkland. It's the one that probably has the largest display in the store. I think it's 90% olive oil and 10% extra virgin. They started doing that a couple of years ago to-

Tara (02:54):I know it's a blend, yeah.

James (02:57):Yeah. But it's just a phenomenal olive oil for cooking general use. And it, up until I think this year, used to be able to buy two three-liter bottles of it, large plastic bottles of it for $25. Now the price has skyrocketed. What was it last time?

Tara (03:14):That's right. So I actually just went to Costco last week and I was surprised. I even called you because I wanted to know if you even wanted me to get it, but it was a two count of two three-liter bottles and it was $40, which is a lot. But I guess if you're comparing it to regular grocery prices, it's a definite savings and you're getting it all at one time. So as long as you have the room to store it, it's a fantastic deal.

James (03:43):Yeah, that's right. So there's a olive oil problem worldwide now, so that's contributing to the really spiking prices. So, because essentially Costco is their own commodity exchange, where prices change, they'll update it in real time for the consumer, but it was very expensive that time. That all being said, that's still not a bad deal. It's not a bad deal.

(04:11):Now, can you go to Trader Joe's? Can you go to Aldi and get this stuff? Of course. And there are reasons maybe to go to those stores, but we're talking Costco today and Costco is definitely the place for, I would say, a family more so than those other two places.

Tara (04:26):I agree. I mean, I still think whether or not you have a family or if you have a very small family, I still think a Costco membership is worth it because you do get wonderful value, but yeah, I mean, if you're a single person, you're probably don't need to get two-

James (04:42):Six liters of olive oil.

Tara (04:44):… three-liter bottles of olive oil.

James (04:47):I saw a recent, I think it was Reddit, it might've been. It might have been a message board about olive oil skyrocketing prices and people who are on a budget, a lot of them have been saying that they're switching to sunflower oil.

Tara (05:02):Yeah, yeah.

James (05:03):So I still recommend just using your olive oil. Another way to make it more economical is if you put it in a spray bottle. They are a pain, the spray bottles, because they'll clog very easily, but you can really get more … Because a lot of times when you're pouring oil, maybe you're using too much than you should be. Let's go to the next one.

Tara (05:21):Okay. Well, before we do move on, I just wanted to just make a mention. They do have other oils, which are good deals like avocado oil, which is normally very expensive. You can get a two liter bottle for roughly $20 or so at Costco, and then they have that giant tub of coconut oil, for those of you who use coconut oil. It's the solid form of coconut oil, but that's also a good deal.

James (05:46):Yeah. They have peanut oil as well. They have vegetable oil, they have canola oil, they have a whole one side of the aisle is devoted to all their oils.

Tara (05:57):Yeah.

James (05:57):Great value there. This is the stuff that will save you money.

Tara (06:03):I wouldn't buy oil from really anywhere else other than, like you said, the Partanna and the Frantoia that we use-

James (06:09):Yeah, premium oils.

Tara (06:10):… for finish. That's a little bit different, but if you need coconut oil, avocado oil, olive oil, I would take the trip to Costco and deal with the hassle that I think Costco can sometimes present.

James (06:24):Yeah, Costco's a full-day experience for us, even though the Costco is only five minutes from our house because basically before we go there, we try to be really efficient. We make a good list, so we kind of have a plan of attack and then we have to clear out our current fridge here. Anything that's old, we need to make space for the new massive amount of ingredients that are coming into the home. And we really try not to go to Costco for a hundred dollars worth of things. Do they even have an express line now? They just introduced that.

Tara (06:54):They have self-checkout. I don't think the one by us does not have an express line.

James (06:58):Yeah. This'll vary by state.

Nuts

Tara (07:00):Yeah. Up next are nuts.

James (07:03):Nuts.

Tara (07:04):Nuts.

James (07:06):Okay, so you want to give a little bit on this or do you want me to go for it?

Walnut snowball cookies recipe

Tara (07:09):Yeah. So I think especially as we're entering that holiday baking season where we're going to be using walnuts for walnut snowball cookies, we're going to be using pecans or pecans. I know somebody's going to say-

James (07:26):Pecans.

Tara (07:26):… something about the way I pronounce it. We're we're going to be using those for pecan pie and all sorts of other holiday treats, shelled pistachios they have, which are also good for cranberry pistachio biscotti. I don't know. I'm just thinking of all the holiday-

James (07:48):Pistachio pesto.

Tara (07:49):Yeah, I'm thinking of all the holiday cooking that's coming up and just, I know from years of experience buying these things at Costco, it's just you can't get these deals anywhere else.

James (08:03):I mean, it will save you just alone because I'll often see people in our comment section, again, on the main channel and on other videos and maybe message boards and whatnot, saying, "I don't need a Costco membership. You're paying money essentially just to go to a store," but it will pay for itself, not even in one visit.