Best Things to Get at Costco

Costco Toilet Paper

Let’s get this one out of the way right off the bat. There’s a reason why Costco stocks mountains of their Kirkland Brand toilet paper – practically every Costco member buys it! I’m not going to tell you that this stuff will change your life, but hey, it’s pretty great toilet paper and you can’t beat the price.

Nutritional Supplements and OTC Meds

Costco sells an amazing variety of supplements and over-the-counter meds – like aisles full of them! Their everyday prices are great, but I always scan the monthly sales flyers. When I find something I take on sale, I stock up. I try to buy a year’s worth at a time so I don’t have to run out and get something when it isn’t on sale. Using Costco’s online shopping feature is super convenient for stocking up like this as sometimes things run out in the actual clubs.

Small Appliances

One of my FAVORITE things about shopping at Costco is the generous return policy. It makes trying new things or new appliances so risk-free. Thing broke down? Return it. Hate the thing? Return it! Plus, Costco usually has great prices on these items and all kinds of sales. Years ago I bought a Vitamix at Costco. Dropping 5 C’s on a blender made me plenty nervous, but I knew if I thought it wasn’t worth the price I could return it. [Spoiler alert: a Vitamix is totally worth the price – I loooooove mine! ❤️💕] Some of the other small appliances I’ve bought at Costco include a FoodSaver, a WaterPik, our Sonicare toothbrushes, an HP color laser printer, and of course, an InstantPot. The return policy and the great pricing make small appliances some of the best things to get at Costco.

Anything Apple/Mac

I am a complete Apple stan. iPhone, iPad, MacBook Pros – I’ve got them all. In fact, the only computers I’ve ever owned in the last thirty years are Macs! Love them, but hey, I get it – they are pricy (good thing they last forever and never break down!). When Costco started carrying Mac products it was a happy, happy day for us! Apple products are a smart thing to buy at Costco. Everything Mac I currently own I bought on sale at Costco. Now, if you’ve shopped at the Apple store you know that stuff doesn’t go on sale unless it’s about to be dumpstered to make room for the latest and greatest. Well, the newest Apple products are always on sale at Costco! Not only are Costco’s everyday prices on Mac products less than they are at the Apple store, they occasionally go on sale and get even cheaper! swoon.

Leggings & Yoga Pants

Leggings and yoga pants seem to be about 90% of everyone’s wardrobe lately. Good thing Costco’s got you covered on that front. They have a never-ending, always-changing assortment of leggings and yoga pants, and the online selection is even greater. Kirkland brand leggings are good basics, but I especially appreciate the other brands they occasionally carry. I’ve gotten some super nice leggings at Costco at like half the price I found them elsewhere. When you see something you like, grab all the colors! 😁

Bonus tip on buying leggings: I only buy leggings that have a pocket on the side (for my iPhone, natch). It’s super convenient not to have to hold your phone when you’re taking a walk!

Outerwear

One of the best things to stock up on at Costco is outerwear. They have the bangin-est selection every year of puffer vests and coats, fleece jackets, flannel jackets, raincoats, and other outerwear. Their fab prices on puffer coats and vests means I can indulge my deep love of jackets and buy them in tons of colors. I am a total jacket junkie. I don’t wear sweaters, but I own dozens of jackets. 🤣 They also occasionally have higher-end things too. Last year I bought a fab Pendleton raincoat.

I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve been wearing a puffer I got at Costco and some stranger will tell me how cute my jacket is. Er, I admit it is a little weird when someone compliments your clothes and you’re l like “uh, I got this at Costco” but hey! Costco for the win!

The Famous Costco Rotisserie Chicken

I have to admit it took me a couple of years to get on the Costco Rotisserie Chicken bandwagon. I’m pretty good at roasting a chicken myself so I didn’t see the allure. Well, I don’t know why I bought my first one, but all the love for the Costco Rotisserie Chicken 🥰. These things are super tasty and HUGE! We can get several meals from one of them. In fact, I did a deep dive on how I get 5 meals for the two of us from one Costco Rotisserie Chicken.

And here are some recipes I have for using any roasted chicken leftovers:

• Curried Chicken Salad
• Cheese and Veggie Enchiladas (just replace or supplement the veggies in these easy enchiladas with chopped rotisserie chicken).
• Chicken and Biscuits – scroll to the bottom of this article for a quick way to turn leftover chicken into a kind of deconstructed chicken pot pie.
• Chicken Broth/Soup – Also in that same rotisserie chicken article I share how I turn the scraps from a Costco rotisserie chicken into a fabulous broth/soup using my InstantPot.

Avocados

Costco is a great place to grab your weekly avocado stash. What, you don’t go thru a sack of avocados a week like we do? Unless you live in California where avocados are practically free, Costco has great prices on these green orbs of fatty deliciousness. And hey, before you pick up your next sackful, check out these great tips for buying and storing avocados. You and your avocado toast will thank me!

Nuts

We go through so many nuts at my house sometimes I think I’m married to a squirrel. We don’t eat a lot of meat, so I will say nuts are a big source of protein for us. Yeah, that’s it! 😉 Thankfully Costco has such a great selection of high-quality nuts at great prices. Their mixed nuts are legendary. We bought the regular salted variety for ages, but we kinda hate one of the nuts in that mix – Brazil nuts. Ick. The unsalted mixed nut blend doesn’t have them, so I gave them a whirl one day. New favorite.

While I miss the macadamias that are in the salted mix, the unsalted mix has my other fave – pistachios. I have NO CLUE why the nuts aren’t the same in the salted and unsalted varieties, but whatever! The honey-roasted mixed nuts are also the bomb diggity.

Organic Green Tea

Okay, I’m a bit of a green tea snob. I worked for a Japanese company for several years and one of my coworkers’ family owned a green tea farm in Japan. He used to bring me fresh green tea all the time and it ruined me for the stuff you can buy here. That is until I found the Japanese green tea they sell at Costco! I actually discovered this gem on a glacier cruise in Alaska. It was flipping freezing (surprise!) and I was served this tea to warm up. It was so delicious I actually asked where it came from and was totally surprised to hear that they bought it at Costco. This stuff is glorious both hot and iced. If you think you don’t like green tea, go grab a box of this. You’re welcome.

Bake at Home French Baguettes

Another blogger turned me on to these babies and am I ever so glad she did! These crunchy on the outside, pillowy on the inside wonders are imported from France, where they know from bread. They are in the freezer case and come in a box of 10 (5 packs of 2). I LOVE being able to have hot, crusty bread in a few minutes for when I want a quick lunch of soup and bread or a “lazy” supper of spaghetti and frozen or jarred pasta sauce.

One HUGE tip here with these baguettes: bake them until they are really well-browned on the outside. In fact, I bake them at 400 instead of the 375 the package instructs just to get them extra-crispy. The first time I made them I took them out a little too early and we both thought they were lame – like wonderbread. But the next time I baked them till they were well-browned all over and SWOON. These are great!

Fresh Baked Bread

Another great thing to buy at Costco is their bread. The rosemary loaf makes fab garlic bread and we love their whole wheat seeded loaf (pictured above) for avocado toast and just plain ol’ peanut butter toast. When you can find them (our store doesn’t always have them) their ciabatta rolls are also the bomb. I split them open, toast them, rub them generously with fresh garlic, slather them with butter and sprinkle on some crunchy finishing salt. Sigh. One of our favorite snacks. Yes, I am very blessed to be married to a man who loves raw garlic as much as I do! 🤣

Costco Bakery Desserts

I saved the best for last. Okay, y’all know I’m pretty much a make it from scratch kind of girl. But even I have to admit, Costco makes some pretty fierce desserts. Key lime pie? Delish. Cheesecake. YUM! And it freezes well! Even their plain ol’ vanilla sheet cake is worth the calories. But the pies de resistance is Costco’s Tuxedo Cake. OMG. Buy one, stat!

It’s got layers of moist chocolate cake that actually taste like chocolate, layers of white and dark chocolate mousse, chocolate chunks, and chocolate ganache. And it’s only $16. It would take me all day to make this thing and the ingredients would cost more than that. Those mousse layers are the best. The flavor and texture are somewhere between mousse and cheesecake. And guess what? This thing actually freezes pretty well. I wrapped individual slices in saran wrap and froze them. Hey, there’s only two of us!