Walking through Costco feels like winning the lottery. Those giant boxes, the free samples, the $1.50 hot dog combo that hasn’t changed price since 1985. But here’s something most shoppers don’t realize until it’s too late—some of those massive containers sitting in your cart aren’t actually saving you money. In fact, you might be throwing cash straight into the trash can along with spoiled food and wasted products. While Costco membership holders love to brag about their bulk-buying prowess, certain items on those warehouse shelves end up costing more in the long run than if you’d just shopped at your regular grocery store.
That giant cheese block will go bad before you finish it
Cheese seems like a smart buy at Costco. The price per pound looks amazing, and who doesn’t love cheese, right? The problem starts when you realize that soft cheeses like brie only last about a week in the fridge after opening. Even if you’re having wine and cheese nights every evening, you probably won’t finish a Costco-sized portion before it starts growing fuzzy green spots. Freezing doesn’t help much either—soft cheeses turn into crumbly, watery messes when you thaw them out.
Hard cheeses do a bit better, lasting up to four weeks in the refrigerator and freezing more successfully than their soft counterparts. But even these undergo changes that make them less enjoyable to eat cold. The texture gets weird, they dry out, and eating them straight off a cracker just isn’t the same anymore. Sure, frozen cheese melts fine in cooking, but if you wanted cheese just for melting, you probably would have said so. Unless you’re feeding a small army or running a catering business from your kitchen, that massive cheese block is likely heading for the garbage disposal.
Fresh produce spoils faster than you can eat it
The produce section at Costco looks incredible. Mountains of avocados, bags of lettuce big enough to feed a restaurant, and corn on the cob bundled in packages that could supply a summer barbecue. The reality? Most of this stuff doesn’t last long enough for a typical household to use. Shoppers have complained online about buying perfectly ripe avocados that all go bad at the exact same time, making meal planning impossible. Some people report their avocados turning brown and mushy within a single day of bringing them home.
Bagged lettuce presents its own set of problems, with multiple shoppers mentioning that their greens were already turning reddish and slimy when they opened the package. Even corn on the cob, which seems pretty sturdy, has received complaints about tasting terrible compared to corn from other stores. The quality issues combined with the sheer quantity mean you’re often paying for produce you’ll throw away. Freezing doesn’t work well for most of these items either—frozen and thawed avocados turn to mush, and nobody wants previously frozen lettuce in their salad. Some intact produce like whole lettuce heads apparently last longer, but you still need to eat a lot of salad very quickly.
Cooking oil bottles are way too big for home kitchens
Those enormous bottles of olive oil and vegetable oil look like incredible deals based on the price per ounce. The catch is that cooking oil doesn’t last forever once you open it. Olive oil, for example, starts losing quality about three months after opening, even though it remains technically usable for up to three years if it still smells and tastes okay. For someone cooking normal-sized meals at home, using up a Costco-sized oil bottle within three months is pretty much impossible unless you’re deep frying something every single night.
What happens to oil that sits around too long? It goes rancid. And once that happens, you’ve got a huge container of gross-smelling, bad-tasting oil that you need to figure out how to dispose of safely. The problem gets worse if you don’t have ideal storage conditions. Oil needs to be kept in a dark, cool place to last as long as possible. If your kitchen gets warm or you don’t have proper storage space, your oil might go bad even faster than expected. Restaurants can blow through these big bottles quickly, but for home cooks, smaller bottles from regular grocery stores make more sense, even if the per-ounce price is higher.
Kirkland salsa jars are too large for most families
Costco’s Kirkland salsa comes in massive jars that seem perfect for taco night. The problem is that opened salsa only lasts about two weeks in the refrigerator. Unless you’re eating chips and salsa with every meal, or hosting frequent parties, finishing one of those giant jars before it goes bad is tough. And Costco sells them in two-packs, doubling the challenge. Some people can handle it, but many shoppers end up staring at half-empty jars of expired salsa, wondering why they thought they needed so much.
Freezing salsa is technically possible, but it doesn’t always work out well. The texture gets watery and weird when it thaws, making it less appealing as a dip. You can still use thawed salsa in cooked dishes like soups or marinades, but that requires having freezer space and remembering to freeze it in smaller portions. If you don’t have room in your freezer or you really just wanted fresh salsa for dipping, those huge Kirkland jars aren’t the deal they appear to be. Regular grocery stores often put smaller salsa jars on sale, and those sales can actually beat Costco’s per-ounce pricing while giving you an amount you’ll actually finish.
Spice containers lose their punch before you reach the bottom
The spice section at Costco features containers that look like they could supply a restaurant kitchen. For home cooks, these giant jars present a real problem. Spices don’t technically expire in a safety sense, but they absolutely lose their smell and taste over time. Ground spices typically stay potent for one to four years, while whole spices last a bit longer. If it takes you five years to work through a massive container of garlic powder, the stuff at the bottom is basically just colored dust with no real taste.
Most home cooks don’t use enough of any single spice to justify buying such large quantities. Sure, the spices remain safe to use, but what’s the point of adding flavorless powder to your cooking? By the time you’re halfway through one of these containers, your spices probably aren’t giving your food much of anything except maybe some color. Regular-sized spice containers from normal grocery stores cost less upfront and stay fresh for the entire time you’re using them. You end up with better-tasting food and don’t waste money on spices that lost their punch years ago.
Soda prices aren’t actually better than regular stores
Seeing a 35-pack of soda cans at Costco makes it seem like you’re getting an amazing deal. But shoppers who actually did the math have found something surprising—the price per can at Costco is often higher than what you’d pay at regular grocery stores, especially when those stores run sales. Multiple people online have compared prices and discovered that buying a few six-packs on sale at their local supermarket actually costs less than buying the bulk pack at Costco. Some stores even offer buy-one-get-one deals that blow Costco’s pricing completely out of the water.
There’s another issue with buying so much soda at once. Even sealed cans can go flat over time. And if you store those cans somewhere that gets too cold, the soda can freeze. Frozen soda expands and damages the cans, causing leaks when everything thaws out. So not only are you potentially paying more per can than at regular stores, you also risk ending up with flat or damaged soda if you don’t drink it fast enough or store it properly. Unless you’re throwing a huge party or have a serious soda habit, buying smaller quantities elsewhere makes more sense financially.
Muffins and breads require serious freezer space
Costco’s bakery section is dangerous. Those giant containers of muffins look delicious, and the price seems reasonable. The problem is quantity and storage. For years, Costco required customers to buy two containers of six muffins minimum, meaning you walked out with a dozen enormous muffins. Even though they recently changed to selling single containers of eight smaller muffins, that’s still a lot of baked goods for most households. Muffins, quickbreads, and yeast breads do freeze well, which sounds like a solution—until you remember that freezer space is limited.
If you’ve just filled your freezer with bulk meat, frozen vegetables, ice cream, and whatever else caught your eye at Costco, where exactly are you putting a container of muffins? Many shoppers have complained that the muffins go stale after just a couple of days, making them basically inedible if you don’t freeze them immediately. For people living alone or in small households, finishing eight or twelve giant muffins before they go bad is nearly impossible. Buying bread in smaller quantities from regular bakeries or grocery stores means you actually eat everything you purchase instead of playing freezer Tetris or throwing out stale baked goods.
Kirkland organic peanut butter keeps disappearing from shelves
Costco shoppers absolutely loved Kirkland Signature Organic Peanut Butter. It was sugar-free, reasonably priced, and came in a convenient two-pack of jars. Then it vanished from warehouses for about two months, leaving confused and annoyed customers in its wake. Costco replaced it with Naturally More Organic Creamy Peanut Butter, which got mixed reviews at best. Some shoppers absolutely hated the replacement, complaining about weird texture, strange taste, terrible oil separation, and a consistency that was somehow both too runny and oddly pasty at the same time.
This disappearing act has apparently happened before with the exact same product. Back in 2021, Kirkland peanut butter temporarily vanished and came back a few months later. Customer service claims the product is still an active item and should return eventually, but nobody knows exactly when. For shoppers who relied on this specific peanut butter and don’t like the replacement, this creates a real problem. Vendor issues might explain the shortage, but it doesn’t help when you’re standing in the aisle trying to figure out what to buy instead. The inconsistent availability makes this item unreliable, even when it’s theoretically a good deal.
Kevin’s frozen meals get terrible reviews from shoppers
Kevin’s is a line of frozen, ready-to-eat meals that Costco carries, marketed as keto-friendly options. According to many shoppers online, these meals are consistently disappointing. Multiple people have complained that all of Kevin’s products taste the same—bland, flavorless meat with unappetizing toppings. One person described them as garbage, while another quoted what seems to be a running joke in the Costco community about how Kevin’s packaging promises more than the actual food delivers.
When frozen meals get this much consistent criticism, it’s worth paying attention. Costco has plenty of other frozen food options that people actually enjoy, so there’s no reason to waste money on meals that disappoint. The price might seem reasonable for ready-made food, but if you end up throwing it out or choking it down just to avoid waste, you haven’t actually saved anything. Checking online reviews before buying frozen meals at Costco can save you from bringing home dinners that nobody wants to eat. Plenty of other brands offer better-tasting options, even if they cost slightly more.
Shopping at Costco can absolutely save money on the right items. The trick is knowing which products actually make sense for your household size, eating habits, and storage capacity. Those giant containers might look like incredible deals, but they’re only bargains if you actually use everything before it spoils, goes stale, or loses quality. Before tossing another bulk-sized item into your cart, think about whether you’ll realistically finish it. Sometimes paying a bit more at a regular store for smaller quantities means you waste less food and actually spend less money overall.
