If You’re Shopping Solo, These 5 Bulk Buys From Costco Aren’t Worth It

Shopping for groceries at Costco can offer some serious savings thanks to the store’s bulk buys. You can stock up on pounds and pounds of grains, cuts of meat, and yes, non-food items like toilet paper. And while that certainly drives up the value for your most in most cases, those who aren’t shopping for a large group or family might actually be getting less for their money.

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That’s because Costco’s bulk groceries are, just like any others, still perishable. So, if you aren’t able to use all of your fruit, meat, or freshly-baked goods quickly, you may wind up wasting money and throwing food out. If you’re shopping just for yourself or for a small household, save yourself some money and don’t buy the following Costco items.

Fruit and Veggies

Costco’s wide selection of extra-large berry boxes, supersized bags of mixed veggies, and other fresh produce options are one of my favorite perks of shopping here. But when you’re buying for one (or two), you’re actually better off skipping the fresh fruit and vegetables altogether and buying them at a typical grocery store. 

If you pick up bulk-sized strawberries, broccoli, avocados, and multiple heads of lettuce for Costco, odds are you’ll feel like these fresh items spoil particularly fast, even with proper produce storage practices. While the quality is typically quite good, it’s the size that matters. If you aren’t eating these fresh foods quickly enough, you’re spending extra for servings you’ll never have a chance to eat.

Save yourself the pain of dumping fresh produce into the trash can and literally throwing your money out — don’t buy an excess of fruit and vegetables from Costco unless you can finish them in a week or less.

Lunch Meat

Costco’s supersized packs of lunch meat are solid in quality and taste, and if you’re someone who eats a lot of sandwiches, this bulk buy might seem like a smart investment. But when you break it down, are you really going to eat roughly 2 pounds (or more) of meat before its expiration date arrives? If you don’t want to waste your money on slimy, past-its-prime meat, skip the Costco bulk packs.

Deli meat can turn on you quickly, so it’s a tough product to buy in bulk. While you can freeze it to make a bulk-sized package last longer, the thawed result isn’t always as good. Ham and cured meats like salami may do particularly well going from fresh to frozen to thawed, but turkey, chicken, and roast beef tend to fall apart literally and figuratively, so it’s not exactly the best option.

Bagels and Sliced Bread

I’m a big Costco bakery fan, but only because I have a carb-loving household — multiple bags of bagels don’t stand a chance. However, if you’re shopping for one or for a smaller number of people, don’t pick up bagels or loaves of sliced bread from Costco. You’ll essentially throw money away.

Costco’s bagels and loaves of sliced bread are typically good deals, but they do come in larger packages than the grocery store versions. You have to buy a dozen bagels at Costco, and you’ll wind up with two loaves, not one when it comes to sandwich bread. Unless you’re making an awful lot of sandwiches or eating multiple bagels per day, odds are these baked goods are going to start growing mold before you make your way through the packages.

Thinking about buying them anyway and freezing some? You can do that, but as someone who’s frozen bread and bagels firsthand, it’ll change the texture. I don’t love the way bread products taste after a long stretch in the freezer, and that can result in worse value overall if you aren’t going to eat them.

Fresh Garlic

Costco sells garlic in a few forms, including fresh, minced, and powdered. While this is one of the easiest seasonings to use (and I myself use a ton of it), you really don’t need to buy it in bulk if you’re shopping solo or for a small number of people. 

Like any fresh produce or herb, fresh garlic has an expiration date. And while it’ll last longer than, say, a box of blueberries, it’ll still spoil if you don’t use it up in time. At Costco, your only choice for fresh garlic is a 2-pound bag of the stuff — and that’s an insane amount of garlic to use in a single week or two. 

Opting for the minced stuff instead? That’s a better choice, but remember: That will also spoil at some point. And once you crack open the 48-ounce container, you’ll need to refrigerate it like most other perishables. Odds are you’ll wind up throwing out a good amount of that 3-pound container.

Cream Cheese

You have two options when it comes to cream cheese at Costco: name brand and private label. But no matter which you choose, you’d better be prepared to use a lot of the stuff. Available in a massive 48-ounce container (multiple 8-ounce boxes, if you opt for the name brand), that’s enough cream cheese for you to whip up multiple cheesecakes — or smear onto an awful lot of bagels.

Unfortunately, though, if you’re shopping solo or for a small household, that’s far too much cream cheese to consume. Cream cheese typically goes bad in about two weeks once it’s opened, so you have a limited time to consume it all. And odds are you’ll find that you waste these blocks and your money when you can’t use it up before mold starts encroaching.