what to buy in Costco (UK edition)

Looking for somewhere cool to go in this heat? I give you Costco.

My absolute ideal girl-date is what has been coined as the “holy trinity.” A visit to the three sacred stores, IKEA, Dunelm and most importantly; Costco. I’m not sure whats happened to my group of friends but these days having a Costco card has the same cache as being the one who knew the doorman at Fez.

Costco is really, really good. Period. But here’s the stuff that blows up our Whatsapp group whenever one (or many) of us hit the store…

Lets start with the good stuff - the bakery. It’s easy to lose your mind in this section - but remember this stuff doesn’t last for long. It’s really good for parties - the cakes and sandwich trays are brilliant. Lets go with the rest…

• If you have a birthday coming up where there are a lot of people to feed, you cannot beat their enormous tray cakes.

• Obviously the big box of cookies are amazing. The oatmeal and raisin ones are a personal favourite. If you have a group event, or an office, buy one of them and leave them by the kettle. They’ll go down so well.

• The everything bagels are brilliant. Not so much the blueberry one. I buy the 2 for £5 thing, slice them in two and store them in the freezer.

• The aforementioned sandwich plates are really good. I’d level them with the M&S ones, but the bread is a bit sh*tter in a really nostalgic kids birthday party type way.

• In the freezer section they have ready made sourdough and pizza bases which are great (they also have croissants etc which I don’t think are that good).

• So moving on to nuts, they do these things in an orange bag called Cashew Clusters. They are like crack in my house. If I’m having a hormone driven day, or there’s a full moon - I would probably fight you for them.

• The Kirkland (meaning Costco’s own brand) bags of salted pistachios are great. The size of the actual pistachios does make you wonder what foreign substances have been used to make them grow to the size of grapes - but they’re tasty.

• The Forest Feast brands are often there, you can’t ever really rely on which kinds. If the mango or pears are, get them.

• Chocolates wise and you really can go wild with the choice. We often get the boxes of Kinder bars. They’re just big enough to scratch the sugar itch

This is the area I probably buy the most from, or at least spend the most. Especially around Christmas or party planning. Their meat quality is great and the ready-made meals are surprisingly delicious.

• They always have excellent cheeses. I buy the big brick of halloumi and sometimes the equally enormous block of cheddar. Around Christmas time there are loads of really good options.

• The kilo sized brick of Colliers’ mature cheddar is an absolute must.

• They have lots of butter but bizarrely never have salted options. Never.

• In this section you can get enormous tubs of sun-dried tomatoes, guacamole and hummus (they have that really good one, Hummus Bros?) which are great for the fridge.

• Oooh I forgot - the big tubs of fresh pesto are here, they’re really good.

• Meat wise I’ve bought lamb joints, beef mince and big trays of chicken breasts. All have been really good.

• The rotisserie chickens are brilliant (and having seen

  Anna Newton
  ’s suggestion of pairing a chicken with a homemade salsa in tortilla wraps I cannot stop thinking about making this).

• The packs of pancetta and bacon are really good value.

• You have not lived until you have had their ready made burritos. 4 in a pack, in a foil tray. They really are sublime.

• I’ve tried a couple of the curry options and was pleasantly surprised (the naan breads you can get in the bakery section are very good too).

• The absolutely enormous “ready to bake” pizzas are great for large gatherings (or solo sessions with a bottle of red and a crime documentary).

• In the freezer section the bags of seabass and frozen prawns are really good.

• The coffee is good. There has long been a debate over the beans being Starbucks coffee, personally I don’t see it. There are a few options (including well known brands) but I buy the Kirkland own in the green packaging and really like it.

• They often have 3 packs of the Leon aioli (if you haven’t tried you need to, the one in the green jar is much nicer than the purple jar).

• If you like peanut butter you will have a lovely time choosing from the enormous tubs. They have all the major brands.

• Cereals and musuelis are available in big boxes/bags.

• I am still working my way through the bucket sized tub of OXO cubes I bought during the Covid lockdown…

• They sell absolutely enormous Bonne Maman jams, Marmites and marmalades.

• Costco is great for olive oil - Kirkland own is really good.

• Jars of smoked garlic and peppers are handy for adding to sauces etc.

• You can buy enormous tubs of spices - however - a chef friend of mine told me to only buy these if I will use them within a year as they’ll lose their potency.

The wine and booze at Costco is extremely good. In the way that selling good wine for less was how Aldi broke into the middle class customer pool, I suspect this is Costco’s strategy. I feel like times are changing - turning up to a party with a bottle of Costo-best is now seen as quite smart rather than scroungy. Here are my recommendations (tried and, hiccup, tested).

• I have to say, Costco’s own Kirkland branded Cote De Provence rose is excellent. It is £10 a bottle and level with a Miraval (which they also sell for £4-5 cheaper).

• Another Kirkland branded Cotes Du Rhone is very good too at £8 a bottle.

• They used to sell a very good Montepulciano red which was so pretty I bought them as Christmas gifts for people, £7 a bottle if you ever see it.

• They sell The Chocolate Block for £11 a bottle, very good.

• The Kirkland brand Cremant is really great and absolutely passable for toasts and parties etc.

• Across the board their boxes of 6+ bottles of wines and spirits are around a third cheaper. I wish we’d done this for our wedding as we would have saved a fortune on champagne.

• Big trays of x24 fizzy drinks are good value for parties. Same for tonic waters etc.

Last time I went I exclusively needed antihistamines. Below is a picture of my summer supply, ha. In all seriousness there is a huge selection of every-day medicine cabinet stuff. Here are the things I’ve bought…

• As mentioned they’re great for hayfever tablets which are around the same price you’d pay for a single packet for a box of 12 packs.

• Things like Calpol, Nurofen and Voltarol are all available in similar quantities.

• If you’re a Huel fan they sell this by the bucket load for half price. Same with all the sort of bodybuilding stuff - creatinine and protein meal replacement things.

• I am told the nappies and wipes are very good value.

• Household product wise you can all the major brands in cleaning and washing for around half price, but in large quantities. I usually go halves with a friend and keep say, 3 bottles of kitchen cleaner rather than all 6.

• Enormous cling films, kitchen rolls and baking paper is a wise purchase if you do a lot of cooking.

• They do the fancy brand kitchen roll for 1/4 of the price. We got very excited about this last time we went.

This is where you can get super carried away - and it’s worth double checking the comparative of things online before you sling them nonchalantly in your trolley. Also, a lot depends on whether you are legitimately claim the VAT back on something. For example, the below Kitchenaid could be reclaimed if you are (for example) a chef, but if you just want it for your kitchen at home you couldn’t enjoy that extra 20% when you file your expenses…

Here are some other things I’ve always found good:

• Fans and Air Conditioning machines - they seem to always have the major brands when everywhere else is out of stock. The Dyson fan prices vary but generally they around 15% cheaper (excluding VAT).

• Mattresses - Weirdly, Costco is great for mattresses and pillows. Last time we went we saw Simba brand mattresses for half their recommended retail price.

• Tools and renovation equipment - Again they have all the major brands and very discounted. We have bought our power tools from there.

• Laptops - They sell Apple and PC brands, there usually is a slight discount but having looked closer it isn’t clear if you can buy Apple Care alongside them?

• Golf kit - Lord only knows if it’s any good but I have heard from a few people that the golfing gear is really good here.

• If you want to buy actual bars of gold they sell them here. Apparently not as daft as it sounds?

Phew, and we’re done. If I’m missing anything please do add in the comments. I am due to go back to get an enormous jam for a family picnic and am very up for adding things to the list!