EAT WELL
Heads up: the Costco product links below pay me nothing, I added them so you’re not hunting for anything. The only referral link in this post is my Instacart code. I only ever link things I actually use.
★ THE SHORTCUT
Want Costco without the warehouse and the two hours (or more??) it eats when you go? Shop it through Costco Same-Day, which is Costco’s own delivery, powered by Instacart (but it’s not actually Instacart). You get to it by going to Costco.com or opening the Costco app and choosing Shop Same-Day. BONUS: if you don’t have a membership, you can still get everything on this list, I’ll show you how down below.
The text that started this
Back in June I was at book club and Costco came up. Somebody had to go and she was dreading it, just sort of complaining about having to go. And I said, “Oh, I haven’t gone to Costco in years, I just do it online.”
She said, “Yeah, but isn’t it hard or like a million dollars?”
So I gave her the whole spiel. She said all right, I’m going to try it.
A couple days later, the text at the top of this post landed. Then this:
I had assumed this was common knowledge, but I was wrong apparently. I’ve been doing it for years so I figured it was one of those things everyone had already found. Apparently not. So, in an effort to spread the word to those that didn’t know, I bring you today’s post.
The one time I set foot in a Costco
I’ve been shopping at Costco for years, since I bought the membership online back in 2020 during COVID, and I only walked into a physical Costco for the first time earlier this year. People don’t believe me when I say that, but it’s true!
The one time I did visit, I wasn’t even going there intentionally. I was running another errand and there happened to be one right in the same parking lot of where I was going. There isn’t one super close to my house, so I figured I’d go check it out while I waited. I was also always a little curious whether there was something in the store I wasn’t getting access to by only shopping online. Even though I knew what it was going to be like inside, I was intrigued to see if all the Costco internet hype had any merit to it.
I grew up going to BJ’s, so I know the warehouse thing. Pallets stacked floor to ceiling, the giant carts, the crowds, the food samples (the way I eat doesn’t lend well to Costco samples lol). Before kids, I LOVED to browse - grocery store, Target, anywhere really, I’d go up and down every single aisle to see if anything piqued my interest. Post-kids I just don’t have time for that, so I’ve done pretty much all my shopping online for years, especially groceries.
So anyway, in this inaugural trip, I walked around for a while and I figured out two things. The first is that the cart is really heavy when it’s full (I know, shocking). The second is that I didn’t find a single product that was new to me that I actually wanted to buy. Everything I wanted was stuff I’d already been buying online.
And when I stood in the LOOONG checkout line the only thing I could think was “THIS is why I shop online.”
There was really no benefit to going in the store.
What an order actually looks like
I have a recurring task on my task management system every Friday to order groceries (mostly automated as part of my meal plan system), but right next to it, a recurring task to check whether we need anything from Costco. So I don’t actually order every week, but I check every week, and then I decide whether we’re low enough or whether we can wait. Usually it works out to an order every couple of weeks, and for stuff we go through fast I’ll just order more at once.
Fair warning: the first time you order DOES take longer than just a few minutes. I want to be honest about it because it’s exactly what made my friend stick to just what she needed instead of exploring. I went category by category, which is the same as walking up and down every aisle. I know not everyone shops like that. My Libra brain wanted to explore all the things and weigh all the options LOL. I searched keywords like organic and paleo to pull up snacks we’d actually buy. I filtered produce by “organic” because I knew that’s all I would buy from there. I searched some specific products I’d seen people posting about (so much Costco content out there!). So yes, it took a while, but still less than going to the actual store.
Having said that, the app does split into categories pretty well, so you can click through fast if you’re looking for something specific, or even if you’re not. Do I need drinks? Yes. More specifically, do I need water? Sports drinks? Soda? We don’t really drink soda, so I skip that whole section. I knew I wasn’t buying supplements there, so I skip those too. And it’s set up to be easy to just scroll and click while you’re watching TV or lying in bed.
Now, after using it for a while, it remembers everything I’ve ever bought. I sign in, click “Buy It Again”, and everything we’ve purchased before is right there to add back. Then I click “What’s New” (every single time I shop) because I’m always curious what they’re carrying now that I might want lol. It filters it for you so you don’t have to search every category. Anything new that piques my interest goes in the cart, and next time, it’s in “Buy It Again”.
With those two filters (Buy It Again and What’s New), our whole Costco order takes me under 15 minutes, usually sitting on the couch while the kids are playing.
So to recap if you’ve never done this:
On your first order, go category by category once, focusing only on the categories you care about, the way you’d walk the aisles.
If it helps to narrow things down, use keywords to pull up the things you’d actually buy (“organic”, “paleo”, “sugar-free”, etc).
Every order after that, focus on “Buy It Again”, add what’s low, then check “What’s New” to see what you might be missing. Two buttons and you’re done.
My rec? Click “What’s New” every single time, even when you don’t need a thing. That’s the part of going to the store that was actually FUN, and Costco put it all in one category so you’re not hunting for it aisle by aisle.
Why I pay the markup and the tip anyway
I want to be straight with you about the money, because I don’t want you to be surprised. Same-Day prices are slightly higher than what you’d pay standing in the warehouse. Slightly. Costco says so right on their own page, that item pricing covers the service and delivery, which means the fees are built into the price rather than piled on at checkout. I haven’t done a line-by-line comparison (because I don’t go into the store) but from what I’ve seen, sometimes it’s just a few extra cents to maybe $1-2 here and there, depending on the item. Even with the markup, the pricing is still a HECK of a lot cheaper than the same items at the regular grocery store so I always feel like it’s still a good deal. AND if you went straight through Instacart instead, they mark up the prices even MORE and plus you pay the Instacart fee on top, so going in through Costco.com is the cheapest of the delivery options by a decent margin.
So yes, it costs more than pushing a cart around yourself, but here’s how I think about that.
I’m not carrying giant packs of paper towels. I’m not doing the cart-to-car, car-to-front-door shuffle. Costco doesn’t have bags, so if you go in person you’re packing everything into boxes you gathered yourself. Just that alone is worth the tip I pay my shopper.
And yes, I’m paying somebody to do the shopping for me. I think of it like I hired an assistant hourly and sent her to the store. There is a cost for hiring help. My time is worth something too. If I go to the store myself, what else could I be doing with the 2-3 hours it takes to get there, shop, pack it up, drive home and unload? What would that time cost me? I’m happy to pay somebody else to handle it!
You can also schedule the delivery ahead, which is really helpful when you’re planning for a holiday or a vacation or something. Often when we have family reunion trips as part of my trip prep I make a Costco order and schedule it for delivery at the vacation house for a few days later when we are actually there. I don’t want to waste my vacation time ordering groceries.
How we actually eat, so the list makes sense
I’ve been gluten-free for the better part of 15 years, and my kids have been gluten-free since they were born. My husband is not. As I’ve cleaned up my gut over the last 10 years I can occasionally eat gluten now, but I really limit it, and when I do it’s high-quality homemade sourdough-type gluten, or a really amazing dessert out if I’m treating myself. It’s not a regular thing and it’s not something we keep in the house at all. That’s why my cart looks the way it does.
We were dairy-free for a while, so I still don’t shop the cheese section much, but there are a few goat and sheep milk cheeses now that I do buy. I go grass-fed on beef and butter. I try to avoid refined sugar where I can. I aim for mostly organic, and I filter for it, because that’s how I prefer to feed my family.
None of that has to be your list. If organic isn’t where you want to spend, or you’re feeding people who’d riot over sheep’s milk cheese, there are lots of sections I’m not even browsing when I log in, and your version of this is going to have things in it that mine never will. That’s the actual point. Buy It Again builds itself around whatever YOU put in the cart, so the second order is fast no matter what you eat. Take the time once to do it right the first time, and the system starts working for you the very next time.
Before you click anything below
Every product below links straight to the Costco Same-Day listing. I do not get any commission from these links but added them for ease of shopping. If you’re logged in to your Costco account, it goes right to the item. If you’re not, you’ll land on a page that offers a login OR a “browse as guest” button, so click browse as guest and you’ll see it.
If you don’t have a Costco membership and you’ve been considering one, it also knocks $20 off an annual Instacart+ membership, $99 down to $79, if you use Instacart for any other stores.
And if you don’t have a Costco membership and you don’t want one, you can shop Costco through the Instacart app instead, with Costco selected as the store. You don’t need a membership at all. It’s the most expensive way to do it, but you can still get every single item below delivered to your door, so if something here looks worth trying, or you need just a one off shop for a special occassion, just search the product name in Instacart with Costco as the store. It’ll cost more, but for a lot of these products it’s still worth it compared to regular store prices. New to Instacart? My code KMATHER1B6C9 gets you $10 off.
THE HAUL
Fresh produce
I pretty much only buy organic produce from Costco, and only things we’ll eat quickly. Costco quantities and produce are a bad combination if you’re not honest with yourself about what your family actually finishes, but my kids can scarf some berries.
Organic green kiwi, 4 lbs – they last a long time
Organic squash, 3.5 lbs - this is the zucchini and yellow squash mix
Organic butternut squash, 2 lbs - already peeled and cubed
Golden pineapple - the one thing I buy conventional from Costco. Pineapple sits at the top of EWG’s Clean Fifteen, and Costco’s are usually big, delicious and cheap.
Frozen
Jesse & Ben’s tallow sea salt house-cut fries, 32 oz - clean ingredients, made with tallow instead of seed oil, and they come out perfectly crispy in the air fryer. A great find on busy nights.
Nature’s Touch organic 4 berry blend, 3 lbs – for smoothies
Purely Frozen organic riced cauliflower, 4-count – 4 packs inside the big bag
Kirkland organic blueberries, 3 lbs - the frozen ones, separate from the fresh
Meat and seafood
Teton Waters Ranch polish sausage, 2.25 lbs - the Teton Waters ones are grass-fed. If we’re going to eat processed meat, and my kids still love hot dogs and sausages, I’d rather it be 100% grass-fed.
Kirkland grass-fed beef patties, 15-count - if I have time to make my own grass-fed burgers, I do. In a pinch we keep these in the freezer and throw them on the grill frozen.
Jones Dairy Farm organic chicken sausage links, 2 lbs - not squeaky clean, but a clean enough protein for my kids who need something extra in the morning.
Kirkland wild mahi-mahi, 3 lbs - I only buy wild-caught fish, and this one lives in the freezer and defrosts fast.
Deli
Citterio 18-month prosciutto di Parma, 2-count - just pork and salt. Again, if I’m eating processed meat, I want it as clean as possible.
Plainville organic oven roasted turkey, 3-count - we don’t do a ton of lunch meat, but when we do, the ingredients are just organic turkey and salt.
Dairy and cheese
Most of what’s here is sheep or goat, which is not an accident.
Trimona organic A2 whole milk Bulgarian yogurt, 2-count - I buy this for my husband. I like that it’s organic, full fat, and calls out that it’s A2.
Kirkland organic Greek feta, 28.2 oz - organic feta is harder to find, and this is sheep’s milk.
Kirkland pecorino romano - not organic, but sheep’s milk – for ALL the pasta!
Kirkland Spanish manchego - again not organic, but sheep’s milk, and the price here is so much cheaper than a grocery store.
Garcia Baquero Spanish cheese selection, 3-count - a mix of goat and sheep options, and it’s great for a charcuterie board in a pinch.
Kerrygold Dubliner - grass-fed
MALK organic unsweetened almond milk, 2-count - one of our favorites. Just organic almonds, water and salt, which is really hard to find in a clean organic almond milk. SO much cheaper than the store
Olives, pickles and dips
Grillo’s pickles dill spears, 52 oz - clean ingredients.
Lindsay Naturals black pitted olives, 6-count - cleaner than most olives you’re going to get.
Gia Russa organic kalamata olives, 33.68 oz - these have a couple of additives even though they’re organic, but for the rare times we use them, organic makes up for it.
Kirkland organic hummus cups, 20-count - clean ingredients.
Pantry
Wild Planet albacore tuna, 6-count and Safe Catch ahi yellowfin tuna, 6-count - these are the only two brands of tuna I’ll buy, and both of them test for mercury. Safe Catch tests every single fish to a limit of 0.1 ppm on the ahi (the FDA’s action level is 1.0). Wild Planet runs an annual testing protocol and reports their albacore averaging around 0.17 ppm. Great protein to have on hand, my kids will eat it, and when I’m leaning more keto it’s a great lunch option.
Chosen Foods organic avocado oil, 1 L - I know avocado oil has had a lot of controversy lately. The big UC Davis study that made the rounds tested products made WITH avocado oil, the chips and the mayo and the dressings, not the bottled oil itself, and 89% of those failed. Chosen tests every batch internally and does external testing quarterly. Combine that with organic, which is really hard to find in avocado oil at all, and this is one is a winner!
Kirkland organic maple syrup, 33.8 oz and Kirkland raw unfiltered honey, 3 lbs - organic and raw. These two are my go-tos for cutting out refined sugar in our house and we always have both on hand.
Kirkland organic ghee, 27 oz - it’s just clarified butter, but organic and grass-fed, and it’s shelf-stable.
Kirkland organic peanut butter, 2-count and Nuttzo organic 7 nut and seed butter, 26 oz - organic nuts and salt, that’s it. The prices can’t be beat.
Kirkland almond flour, 3 lbs - it’s not organic and I wish it were, but almond flour can be so expensive. When you’re gluten-free, and for a while we were grain-free, this is what a lot of our baked goods are made of. We keep it on hand even though it’s not organic, because it’s for a treat.
One Degree organic sprouted rolled oats, 80 oz - this is the only brand of oats I’ll buy. Oats are one of the biggest crops for glyphosate and cross-contamination with gluten, and even organic oats can be contaminated. One Degree third-party tests theirs and carries BioChecked Non-Glyphosate Certification, and they’re certified gluten-free through GFCP to under 20 ppm. They’re also sprouted, which is easier on digestion.
Himalayan pink salt, 30 oz 2-pack - one of the salts we use, for the added minerals.
Roli Roti organic ginger turmeric chicken bone broth, 2-count - really clean ingredients, and it’s refrigerated rather than boxed. I’ll stick them in the freezer too. These are great if you’re sipping bone broth rather than cooking with it. I think the flavor is better.
Nuts, seeds and dried fruit
These are all single-ingredient and organic, and we keep all of them on hand for various things.
Kirkland organic hemp hearts, 32 oz - I use a lot of hemp hearts to add protein to literally anything. Pancakes, smoothies, any kind of baked goods.
Organic pitted Medjool dates, 24 oz - we use these for sweetening.
Kirkland organic whole cashews, unsalted and unroasted, 2.5 lbs
Snacks
These are all treats we keep for the kids for when we’re out of the house and I need cleaner packaged snacks. Better not perfect.
Nature’s Garden organic trail mix snack packs, 24-count - they’re organic. I don’t love that there’s some sunflower oil in the dried cranberries, but it’s a protein and fat snack my kids will eat.
Simple Mills honey cinnamon sweet thins, 14 oz, Simple Mills chocolate brownie sweet thins, 14 oz and Simple Mills almond flour sea salt crackers, 2-count - this is a brand you can find everywhere, these are just bigger packages, because they’re kind of expensive and small at regular stores. They’re not squeaky clean and they’re not organic, but they’re gluten-free and a nice treat. The brownie ones come in and out of stock.
Country Archer grass-fed beef stick minis, 28-count - grass-fed beef, clean ingredients, smaller size is great for kiddos.
Sweet Nothings organic squeezable smoothies, 16-count - sort of like push pops but with clean organic fruit only.
Tropical Fields organic coconut rolls, 11 oz - clean, short ingredients list.
That’s It organic fruit crunchables, 21-count - just organic fruit, dried.
That’s It mini fruit bars, 24-count - not organic, but just fruit.
Solely organic fruit jerky, 16-count - just organic fruit.
UNREAL dark chocolate variety pack, 15.4 oz - cleaner, not perfect. They’re copycat versions of Snickers, Reese’s cups and peanut M&Ms. We keep these for treats and it’s what I hand out at Halloween. Whatever doesn’t get taken, my kids can actually eat, or they use it to swap out clean candy for some of the other junk in their bucket.
Boulder Canyon beef tallow sea salt potato chips, 22 oz - just potatoes and tallow. Not organic, but fried in tallow instead of seed oils, which is a winner for us to have sometimes.
LesserEvil organic cheddar space balls, 17 oz - these are definitely not very clean, but they’re cleaner than regular cheese balls, so this is a very infrequent treat for my kids. It is junk food, but it’s cleaner junk food.
Chifles organic plantain chips, 20 oz - great if you want something crunchy and organic, and they go really well instead of tortilla chips. I also use them for a Christmas crack, which I’ll write up closer to the holidays.
Seven Sundays cereal snackies, 20-count - not organic, not perfectly clean, but a good snack for my kids when on the go.
Drinks
Spindrift sparkling water, 30-count - the only sparkling water I buy. I try to avoid anything with natural flavors (which is almost ALL other sparkling waters). Spindrift uses real fruit.
Kirkland organic raw kombucha, 8-count - my husband likes kombucha sometimes, and this organic raw one is a great cheaper alternative in the Kirkland brand.
Kirkland organic coconut water, 9-count – Some brands of coconut water I like and some brands I don’t, but I do like this one. Just organic coconut water, no other additives. We keep it in the fridge in case somebody’s sick.
The stuff that isn’t food
I’m leaving these in because people are always surprised by what else turns up in a Costco order. This is the category where I’m least disciplined, and I’m fine with it.
Blueland dishwasher detergent tablets, 110-count - Blueland is a cleaner brand and they’re plastic-free.
Unitex 100% cotton terry towels, 52-count - 100% cotton, great for cleaning, and it’s nice to just have rags around. Cheap and you get a lot of them.
Con-Tact shelf liner, 2-pack - this is what I use to line my pantry shelves.
MIU silicone freezer trays with lids, 5-pack - a dupe for Souper Cubes. Great for freezing things and you can pop them out into a bag.
USPS Forever stamps, 100-count - little-known fact, Costco sells Forever stamps, usually at a very slight discount. But more importantly they get delivered to my house, so this is where I buy stamps now.
Apache Mills entry mat, 30 x 47 inch - I also occasionally buy floor mats, a new pan, random mini appliances that show up in my feed. Same-Day doesn’t carry the full span of the store in these categories, so anything small enough to fit in a cart you’ll find, but you’re not buying a mattress this way.
What I don’t buy at Costco
Supplements. We don’t buy them there. Quality really matters and I won’t find the kinds I take.
Most household and cleaning stuff. We’re fragrance-free here and I don’t want anything with fragrance. In the store I can’t even walk down those aisles. The Blueland tabs above are the exception, because they finally have a cleaner brand available. I always check the “What’s New” section hoping to find more clean options.
The organic chicken, and the grass-fed ground beef. I used to buy both in bulk and I thought it was a great price. The chicken just comes out so stringy, such a weird texture, that I stopped buying it. I know people who buy it and haven’t noticed an issue, so this might just be me. The grass-fed ground beef is fine, but I found that the farmers market grass-fed ground beef I can get isn’t really any more expensive, and local is almost always better. Most of our meat now comes from Open Pasture, which does chicken, beef and pork and ships nationwide but is local here in Charlotte.
Anything in the bakery. There’s really nothing gluten-free in there, so I don’t even look, but even if I weren’t GF I know the ingredients used likely are not very clean.
Before you go
What’s your best Costco find? Post the actual product in the comments, not just the category, so the rest of us can go add it to our carts. I’m always looking for something new to ME that maybe isn’t new to the store.
Talk soon,
Kristen ❤️
For my area, just doing a simple organic whole milk comparison puts it at $19.23 for same day. In warehouse it’s $13.99. So the $5.29 markup is a bit much when I’m one of those full shopping cart people as I’m feeding our family of 7 (and hosting young adults every other week). Alas for me I’ll be skipping it, but I did look into it as I was so looking forward to not braving the store 😜😂
I love Costco, but if you live by a BJs, they will shop your cart for free (no markup), often have the same items as Costco and will deliver for free or you can pick up and they will bring it to your car. If I run in to get items, I scan as I go along in their app and check out without going to the register.