When you think Costco, you probably think large bulk items for large families. Well, you’re right.. kind of. See RJ and I love Costco and we are no large family. It just takes a little extra planning, smart thinking and smart shopping to love Costco Shopping for Small Families.
Knowing what to buy and what to avoid can help small families on any budget love their Costco membership without throwing out bags of trash after each visit. Today I’m sharing our Costco shopping for small families hacks and favorites!
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As a fun freebie, I’m also sharing our ‘Costco Shopping for Small Families’ Must Haves list! But first, here are a few of my tips for shopping smart and saving $$$!
Skip the Produce or Grab a Friend! I’m always so tempted by Costcos produce section. It makes me set some wild goals, like suddently I’m a yoga instructor on the shores of Bali only eating Acai bowls for a month. But realistically, my husband and I don’t eat that much fruit. It’s just two of us and we often reach for the chips over the berries #Guilty. My solution? Skip the produce or see if a friend wants to split it. It cuts down on cost and keeps you from tossing over half of it. If you’re the type of people to eat a fruit everyday, definitely grab some, but this works better for us.
Meat + Your Freezer = True Love. We LOVE buying meat at Costco. It’s so affordable, often already separated by servings and can be thrown in the freezer! Below you’ll find the meat we love to stock up on, everything is freezeable (including the meatballs!). The chicken already comes pre-portioned for a night’s servings (2 breasts per pack or a 2 serving of wings) but we like to buy hamburger meat that isn’t individually packed. It’s cheaper and I can easily throw it in baggies and into the fridge once home. One trip to Costco for meat can last us 1-2 months!
Kirkland Brand Home Goods are Majorly Underrated. The home goods at Costco are incredible, and also remind me I’m getting old because suddenly detergent excites me. We stock up on all our detergents, paper products and garbage bags here. We can usually buy one of each and lasts us months. Don’t go brand name either, Kirkland’s is where it is at!
Go Crazy in the Frozen Foods Section. Also in this section worthy of stocking up? Butter! We love buying our butter here because it’s cheaper and one of the items that won’t quickly go bad. In addition to butter, go crazy in the freezer section. There are so many great things that typically last a while. A few of our favorites are the Frozen Steam in Bag Broocoli, Frozen Zoodles, Breakfast Sandwiches and Amy’s Burritos when they have them.
Additional Costco Shopping for Small Families Tips:
- Think about thinks that won’t go bad quickly and buy those
- Buy things that you find yourself stocking up on often at the store. Don’t forget things like Olive Oil, Garlic and Spices – we love all these in the Kirkland’s brand!
- Try not to buy things that aren’t on your list. Every once in a while, we will find something that we LOVE and grab it but usually those are the things we never end up using.
PS. We recently bought Kirkland’s brand Chicken Tortilla Soup and it was DELICIOUS. It was $7 for 2, 2lb Tubs and had a long expiration date. I highly recommend it!
What do you think of my Costco Shopping for Small Families tips? I would love to hear any Costco Must Haves that we should try! Let me know if this is helpful or if you use our list. You can check out more ‘Grocery Hauls’ on my Instagram Story Highlights (@RileySitton). XO
Check out my guide to ‘Stocking a Healthy(ish) Fridge’ here!
My husband and I love to shop at Sams for meat! We’ll go and grab a pack of chicken and ground beef to stock the freezer and that’ll last about a month. It’s crazy how much more cost effective it is than buying from the regular grocery store.
Yes!! It’s so nice. It’s worth the whole membership just for the meat.