There are many benefits to having a Costco membership, and saving money on groceries is definitely one of them. By my estimates, I bank hundreds of dollars in the course of a year by purchasing essential grocery items in bulk instead of paying a higher price per ounce or unit at my local supermarket.
But even though I shop at Costco every week, I’ve stopped buying certain products there. Here are three that no longer have a place on my shopping list.
1. Avocados
Because we have a few avocado fans in my family, I used to like buying them in bulk from Costco. The price would typically be cheaper on a per-avocado basis than buying them at a different store.
The problem is that bringing home six avocados at a time isn’t helpful for meal-planning purposes. What I tended to find was that all of those avocados would ripen at the same time, leaving me with too many to use at once. At the same time, I often had to wait a while for those avocados to ripen, leaving me devoid of my beloved guacamole for days on end.
I’ve realized that avocados aren’t the sort of thing I can buy in bulk. It’s one thing to buy fruits or veggies in bulk that are ripe right away, but with avocados, there are too many question marks.
Now, what I do is try to look out for when avocados are on sale at my regular supermarket, and then try to hand-pick two or three at a time with varying levels of firmness. At Costco, you don’t get a say in your assortment — they come pre-bagged. And while buying avocados at a regular supermarket costs me extra per fruit, I save money by avoiding food waste.
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2. Spices I don’t use every week
I do a fair amount of cooking at home, and there are spices like onion and garlic powder I tend to use every week. But for spices I only use sparingly, Costco isn’t the right source.
I didn’t know this initially, but spices can, in fact, get stale over time or lose their potency. So if it’s a spice like rosemary or thyme that I may only use for a specific recipe, I just buy a smaller quantity at my regular supermarket.
3. Rotisserie chicken
Costco’s $4.99 rotisserie chicken can’t be beat. At my local supermarket, I might pay almost double for roughly the same amount of meat. But I’ve stopped buying rotisserie chicken at Costco for one big reason — my family doesn’t like it.
My husband and son are the only people in my household who eat chicken. But the last few times I brought home the Costco one, they complained about the taste.
I’m all about saving money on food — but not at the expense of my family members having to eat food they don’t enjoy. I’d rather pay more for store-bought chicken they actually find appetizing.
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But it also doesn’t make sense to buy items in bulk if you won’t use them up before they go bad, or if, in the case of fruits or vegetables, you’re apt to run into issues with them being too ripe or not ripe enough. And while Costco’s $4.99 chicken is an unquestionably good deal, if you’re not a fan of the taste, then you shouldn’t torture yourself just to save a few bucks.
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Motley Fool Money does not cover all offers on the market. Editorial content from Motley Fool Money is separate from The Motley Fool editorial content and is created by a different analyst team.Maurie Backman has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Costco Wholesale. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.