A few years ago, we got a Costco in my hometown of Sarasota, FL. It’s connected to a Westfield Mall, so for a busy mom like myself, it’s an amazing experience. I’m asked frequently what real food is at Costco, so I decided to make a list. Keep in mind that they add new products all the time and different locations carry different things.

My children and I were at our location just this morning. It was jam-packed!! We had an experience trying to navigate through the main aisle. With five kids in tow, we are our own circus. Of course it’s high season here, which is the time when the snowbirds from up north relocate down here to stay warm during the cold months. There were also plenty of really excited retirees shopping for their Super Bowl parties. I’m going to be honest here, though. I don’t follow sports and the only team I know that is playing is the Carolina Panthers. The only reason this is on my radar is because I lived in Charlotte, NC during a large portion of my childhood, got married and had my first two children there.

For me, Costco doesn’t replace my local farmers or my supplier for grassfed beef. Not everyone has easy access to such things and it’s a great place to fill in gaps. Some things listed, I do personally buy, others I personally don’t, but they are great products.

Fats:

Avocado Oil (they have the absolute best deal around and I use it to make our mayonnaise)

Coconut Oil (it looks high-quality, it is the kind that will taste very coconutty as opposed to expeller pressed which has a neutral, buttery flavor)

Organic Olive Oil (this stuff is the real deal from what I can tell, many are actually fake and mixed with other vegetable oils)

Kerrygold Butter (a butter from cows actually living on pasture)

 

Produce:

The organic fresh produce from my particular location is pretty limited. Today I saw organic apples, organic spinach, organic carrots and organic beets

The organic frozen fruits and vegetables are convenient and freezing them preserves vitamin content that would typically fall through such long travel. I’m a big fan of frozen in this case. If it isn’t local, frozen gets tossed in my cart all the time. Today I saw these frozen:

Organic Strawberries

Organic Mixed Berries

Organic Mango

Organic Mixed Fruit

Organic Broccoli

Organic Green Beans

Canned in Glass: Organic Marinera aka spaghetti sauce or in my house it’s made into pizza sauce

Various Organic Dried Fruits

Not organic but still great as a natural sweetener for smoothies and things: medjool dates (these are in the produce department at ours).

 

Wild Caught Seafood: These are found in the frozen section

Scallops

Flounder

Salmon

Cod  (sometimes I see this, sometimes not)

Shrimp (sometimes I see this, sometimes not)

In the grocery section: Canned wild-caught salmon, you know, to keep that hurricane cabinet stocked.

 

Meat:

Organic chicken (whole chickens, chicken pieces, wings [I bought plenty of wings for the big game because my husband will be watching]). I typically buy pastured chickens, but they only come with two wings, so….

Organic Ground Beef (a great option when grassfed beef is unavailable or unaffordable)

 

Grains:

I haven’t seen organic white rice at our location, which is my preference, only brown.*** hint, hint for any Costco people reading this***

Organic quinoa

Supposedly some locations carry a two-pack of some awesome sprouted bread. Ours doesn’t.

 

Sweeteners:

Organic White Sugar (I use this for making kombucha and your scoby eats the sugar)

Organic Maple Syrup

 

Dairy:

They carry many varieties of imported cheeses. I prefer imported because the EU has different policies on GMO’s and a lot of European cattle are raised on pasture, so, pass the gouda!

 

Nuts:

Almond Butter

Packages of Walnuts

 

Herbs and Spices:

Organics in this category are very limited, however their container of mixed herbs is awesome!

Pink Himalayan Salt

 

Cultured Foods:

Supposedly some locations carry glass bottles of kombucha. I’ve never seen it at ours or I’d buy some to sip on the way home.