Is Costco worth it for a two person family?

LOL at Costco representing the "finer things in life".
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You're a funny guy! (goodfellows) I am going to buy the cleanest clams for

Linguine Vongole before our Poker game Saturday, and I guarantee you the
Clams Costco sells are fine, fine clams. You rinse them but not much.
You don't have to purge them.

No sand in my Vongole! (linguini with clams, a killer dish, elegant and cheap.)
 
SonVolt said:
I'm speaking in relative terms here... Walmart vs Target etc. In this case, Sams vs Costco. if you need a block of Comté for Gougères you're probably not going to have much luck at Sams. Pick the store that fits your lifestyle.
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While I get what youre saying generally, the Sams Clubs around here actually have a better selection in their meat dept than Costco. Well, most that have received a remodel that is. They have wagyu beef, grass fed beef, prime, nice selectiom of cowboy ribeyes, good seafood selection, berkshire pork, etc. Their cheese selection is good too, maybe not Costco level but Im sure they have comte and gruyere. One even has a pretty high end liquor selection for sale that Ive never seen at a Costco around here.

I have memberships to both and pick and choose favorites from each. And for a long time it was just 2 of us, bought a vacuum sealer with my membership and it has been great ever since.
 
SonVolt said:
I'm speaking in relative terms here... Walmart vs Target etc. In this case, Sams vs Costco. if you need a block of Comté for Gougères you're probably not going to have much luck at Sams. Pick the store that fits your lifestyle.
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Yeah thinking of it in relative terms makes more sense to me. I think you can find decent products at any of the stores mentioned and I will agree that Costco does carry some higher end stuff. I just thought it was funny reading Costco and finer things. I apologize if that came off as offensive.
 
I've had memberships at all three clubs.



Although Costco has some great items and usually a better quality of meat, I find the other products are not always consistent. IE: two years ago they carried the large bottles of Stubbs BBQ sauce, then suddenly dropped it to pick-up Sweet Baby Ray's sauce. Products are often changing in the store, and if you want consistency, it may not always work out for you.


I haven't renewed my Costco in two years as I have been relying on BJ's Club and Restaurant depot with greater consistencies. You'll also find that from store to store in BJ's things differ. But the good side is that they will be happy to bring items in from other stores for you. IE: our store only carries the small cans of Bush's Beans, but if I go to customer service, they are happy to bring me in a case(s) of #10 cans of Bush's Beans.



If Costco is closer to you and you join, you'll definitely save and you'll find quality products you can't get at the local store. Paper products, electronics, and household items galore. They also have a great snack bar as you exit (something BJ's stopped) with reasonably priced food.
 
My wife and I have had Costco for years. We find that it is great for paper products and their meat department. Electronics and travel can be great savers as well. We did switch one year to Sams just to give it a try but found the selection lacking as well as the store just seemed darker. Not well lit and that made it feel more unfriendly. So we went back to Costco. We have the Executive Membership and it more than pays for itself every year.
 
Yes

My experience. Have had a Sam’s membership since they opened in my town. There are now two and one is less than a mile away. Gas is usually 8-15cent PG cheaper. After all these years Our basket pretty much looks the same. Meat* cheese eggs bacon sausage paper aluminum calcium chews-occasionally summer kick around shorts. The wife likes their bakery blueberry muffins. She cuts in half and freezes and they last a long time. We have quite a few things we buy there but seldom wander around and “shop”

*Meat: Beef seems to be what I buy most. Pork and chicken I prefer small packages. Ribs are 2-3 packs, butts are usually huge, chicken are two packs etc etc. Kind of made some dietary changes where I don’t cook much for supper. Losing that one meal reduced my cooking a lot.

If you have a dedicated or routine list like us or just like to hope to be inspired and shop they are a cool place to kick around. Pharmacy-hearing aids-car broker, the clubs do a lot of things besides sell bulk M&M’s
 
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We have both and have had both for at least 5 years. I have ALWAYS paid for my membership fee with the savings from both. It is MY opinion that Costco - generally - has slightly higher quality products than does Sam's Club. We buy more non-food items at both than food items. Just 2 of us and bulk food items don't always work for us. We also have an Amazon Prime membership and very few weeks go by each year that we don't get at least one delivery from them. :grin:
 
Hi All Just me and my wife here. I was thinking the same thing a few months ago, now I'm glad I joined Costco..Get my prime briskets and beef ribs there, going to try their St Louis ribs soon.. I use to shop for meat at RD,haven't gone back in awhile!
DanB
 
One of the great things about Costco is that you can join and if you decide it's not for you they will refund your entire membership fee any time up to 364 days. While we haven't had to take advantage of that we know a couple of people who did.

Another plus is that they stand behind everything they sell. We bought a stone tiled patio table, a rather large and expensive one at that. 3 years after we bought it the tiles started popping off. I asked them if they knew how to get in touch with the manufacturer to get repair information and they said "don't bother, just return the table and we'll give you a full refund". They did in fact refund the $1,500!
 
I have memberships to both Sams and Costco. I cherry pick items from both stores, but a bulk of my money is spent at Costco. If it weren't for Sams BB ribs, I'd probably cancel my membership.
 
jonfromjersey said:
One of the great things about Costco is that you can join and if you decide it's not for you they will refund your entire membership fee any time up to 364 days. While we haven't had to take advantage of that we know a couple of people who did.

Another plus is that they stand behind everything they sell. We bought a stone tiled patio table, a rather large and expensive one at that. 3 years after we bought it the tiles started popping off. I asked them if they knew how to get in touch with the manufacturer to get repair information and they said "don't bother, just return the table and we'll give you a full refund". They did in fact refund the $1,500!
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Yes, their return policy is very good, which is part of the reason I shop there, because I know if the quality ends up being substandard I have recourse other than "dealing with it". I recently returned some furniture that was prematurely failing and they took it back no questions asked, even though it'd been a couple years. I believe Sam's also has a similar policy.
 
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I have a membership to Sam's, Costco, and Restaurant Depot. Depending on what I want, and how much of it I need, I will shop at a particular one of these stores. Sam's is good for pork, Costco is good for beef, and Restaurant Depot is good for buying $1k plus of meat at a time.

The brisket at Sam's is OFTEN mis-labeled in that they have full Choice packers labeled as flats....so the price is $5.45/lb rather than the $3.10/lb it's supposed to be. I've argued with the butchers over it but they never seem to care. The briskets are also trimmed very poorly and OFTEN have fat that has already been cut off packaged inside the cryo-vac. Their pork is pretty good and their chicken is OK, but depending on what cut you want it's usually quite limited. Outside of meat Sam's is really good as they seem to have a bit more choice than Costco.

Costco has a much better selection of beef and the butchers seem to do a much better job when trimming it up. Their pork selection is a bit strange though as they only have St. Louis Style ribs and the only porkbutts they have are boneless. Obviously this is in my area (Wilmington, NC), so I'm sure it's different everywhere else.

All three places are fantastic and are definitely worth it for BBQ and especially the meat. It's hard to get anything besides Select beef at the grocery stores in my area, and when it comes to pork it's always Smithfields Extra Tenders which is injected to the moon with salt-water and other garbage.
 
SmoothBoarBBQ said:
I have a membership to Sam's, Costco, and Restaurant Depot. Depending on what I want, and how much of it I need, I will shop at a particular one of these stores. Sam's is good for pork, Costco is good for beef, and Restaurant Depot is good for buying $1k plus of meat at a time.

The brisket at Sam's is OFTEN mis-labeled in that they have full Choice packers labeled as flats....so the price is $5.45/lb rather than the $3.10/lb it's supposed to be. I've argued with the butchers over it but they never seem to care. The briskets are also trimmed very poorly and OFTEN have fat that has already been cut off packaged inside the cryo-vac. Their pork is pretty good and their chicken is OK, but depending on what cut you want it's usually quite limited. Outside of meat Sam's is really good as they seem to have a bit more choice than Costco.

Costco has a much better selection of beef and the butchers seem to do a much better job when trimming it up. Their pork selection is a bit strange though as they only have St. Louis Style ribs and the only porkbutts they have are boneless. Obviously this is in my area (Wilmington, NC), so I'm sure it's different everywhere else.

All three places are fantastic and are definitely worth it for BBQ and especially the meat. It's hard to get anything besides Select beef at the grocery stores in my area, and when it comes to pork it's always Smithfields Extra Tenders which is injected to the moon with salt-water and other garbage.
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I dont think either Sam's or Costco does any butchering of packer briskets in house...they come straight from the factory as is. If they're in a styrofoam tray or other packaging, then the butchers may touch them. Costco also mechanically tenderizes all their beef that is cut in the store. You can buy the whole ribeye subprimal, for example, and it won't be mechanically tenderized as it's still in the factory wrapper, same for brisket. I usually buy all my cut steaks at Sam's for this reason. The stores around me have a new "butcher counter" with a greater variety of beef as well. Additionally, Sam's sells cuts of beef that Costco doesn't, or stopped carrying, such as skirt steak, cowboy ribeyes, tri tip, bone in beef ribs, etc. It's good to have options :thumb:
 
Wife and I and one kid at home and our refund check was just over $1000 -- we have executive membership. Will get another check in a couple months -- there is one for the membership and another for the Credit card. Yes, that pays for the membership and a bit more. If you don't shop as much, one of the unwritten policies they have is that if your refund check (for executive membership) doesn't cover the membership fee, they will refund you the difference. Essentially, this means membership is free. This happened to us twice when we were living overseas. Products can be hit and miss, but gas is always much cheaper and meat is cheaper and better than we get locally. Oh, and those hot dogs!
Also, Costco does contact local businesses to supply them with items. When my wife worked for a catering company they were providing hummus for the local. This turned out to be one of their biggest customers. It was completely unsolicited. Costco just contacted them and asked them to do it. Whenever we travel, my wife likes to go to the local Costco and see what different things they have.
 
sudsandswine said:
I dont think either Sam's or Costco does any butchering of packer briskets in house...they come straight from the factory as is. If they're in a styrofoam tray or other packaging, then the butchers may touch them. Costco also mechanically tenderizes all their beef that is cut in the store. You can buy the whole ribeye subprimal, for example, and it won't be mechanically tenderized as it's still in the factory wrapper, same for brisket. I usually buy all my cut steaks at Sam's for this reason. The stores around me have a new "butcher counter" with a greater variety of beef as well. Additionally, Sam's sells cuts of beef that Costco doesn't, or stopped carrying, such as skirt steak, cowboy ribeyes, tri tip, bone in beef ribs, etc. It's good to have options :thumb:
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This makes sense, so it would seem that the packers for Sam's brisket in my area are the ones who do a poor job. You are also correct that Sam's has a few different cuts which aren't available at Costco. As you said options are nice, and that's why I have a membership to all 3 places.
 
Mike in Roseville said:
Every March they will send you a rebate certificate in your email. Best part is...you don't have to use it all if you don't want to. Say, if your certificate is for $250, you can buy a $50 brisket or a $10 shirt and get the rest back in cash on the spot.
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Even better. You really don't have to spend a dime of your certificate at Costco. Just take your certificate (or your smartphone with the email it came in) to the customer service counter. They'll scan it and hand you the full cash value right there.

Our reward this year was about $750, and shortly after it arrived our fridge died completely. I wanted to use the rewards on a new fridge, but you cannot use the rewards on Costco.com. I talked to people online and at the stores, they all told me just buy my fridge wherever I wanted (still ended up at Costco since they were cheaper by $100 than any local store, plus free delivery/install/haul away). I then took my reward in, got cash and put it in my checking account.

My answer to the original poster is pretty simple. If Costco is as convenient for you as you make it sound you'll easily pay for your membership in gas alone. I never buy gas anywhere else since my Costco is 10 mins from home. Gas is always .10-.20 cheaper than any other area station.
 
I love our Sams membership, just for meat alone. I can do in any time and have my pick of packers. Prime and Choice. Tons of ribs, babies and spares. Pork belly, pork butts, so on and so forth.

But the one on the other side of town? It's good, but not as much of a selection. I think it really depends on your particular store.

We have a Costco, but it's further. I only go there with my parents or my in-laws. It's okay, but I'd choose our Sams over our Costco for meat alone.
 
OK, I'll be the odd man out, :-D
Is it worth it?, maybe. We've had memberships in sams, bj,s, and now Costco, Here, I feel costco is better, but if we had a super Walmart, I'd probably drop Costco. Our regular Walmart is where we get all paper goods, cleaning supplies, canned goods, etc. Costco has the meats, but supermarkets have the better sales on meats if you hit them right, you can't beat costco for chicken leg/thighs/,breasts, in the cryovacs. and the STL ribs are good, plus it's the only place I've found pork belly,when they decide to carry it.

I'd say on avg. costco is a bit higher in price, Walmart can be a a wild card if their crack employees decide to not restock the shelves, both places can be crowded, service at costco is good, walmart can't spell "service."

They both, and the supermakets, have their place, so a membership isn't a bad thing, but I can get by without a Costco.
 
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