I'm an executive member who's exclusively shopped at Costco for 10 years. These are the 10 staples I'll always buy.

Business Insider

5 days ago

My family only buys groceries from Costco — we've shopped there once or twice a week for 10 years.
We always buy Sara Lee bread, frozen fruit, ice cream bars, and Taylor Farms salad kits.
We'll drive to another location to buy our favorite Vietnamese coffee concentrate.
I fell in love with my husband because of his Costco executive membership. Come on — how many 21-year-old guys have four Costco beverage options and at least two Costco snacks in the back of their Corolla?
Jokes aside, we both hate cooking, love a good deal, and have managed to spend the last decade subsisting entirely off of Costco's groceries. We still have an executive membership today, and we shop at least once a week, usually twice.
Now, 10 years after we first started dating, we even have a kid who sits in the cart and grins at everyone like Costco is his own personal parade. We buy all our groceries here and have our shopping routine down to a science.
Not only do we have a specific walking path through the store, but we keep strict rules about when we can or cannot buy something based on whether it's been marked down to that sweet, sweet clearance price.
Some of our staples have been on the shelves for years. Still, every now and then, a new favorite enters our lives.
These are the 10 products we always keep in our pantry, fridge, and freezer.
We'll drive to the second-closest Costco location to stock up on Lee's Vietnamese coffee concentrate.
Coffee is the life force of our household. My husband and I go through so much of it that we're probably more caffeine than human at this point.
With our voracious need for fuel, we've perfected our at-home coffee order. The star ingredient? Lee's Vietnamese coffee concentrate, which is the perfect blend of coffee divinity and sweetness.
Typically, we'll mix a splash of it with Kirkland Signature Colombian Supremo beans and Silk almond milk.
Lee's is a newer addition to our local Costco stores. We used to drive over an hour just to buy Lee's in bulk, and even now, we have to go to the second-closest location to us — but it's worth it.
We get a lot of mileage out of Kirkland Signature Greek yogurt.
In our family, we prioritize easy, fast, and simple. Fruit smoothies and DIY parfaits are breakfast and lunch staples — and for both of those, we'll use Costco's Kirkland Signature Greek nonfat yogurt.
It's an easy, protein-packed ingredient, great value, and the perfect neutral base for any fruit-centric meal.
Sara Lee's Artesano sliced bread is one of the few groceries we keep in our freezer.
If we're not in the mood for yogurt parfaits, our backup lunch is good old PB&J. Sara Lee's Artesano sliced bread is untouchable in terms of "yum" factor and price.
My husband usually insists on eating only fresh (and not frozen) goods. This is an easy enough rule to follow since our local Costco is within walking distance and we make the trip so often.
The Artesano bread, though — which comes in a pack of two — is our one freezer exception. The taste and the price are unbeatable, but it often takes us a while to get through two loaves.
Frozen fruit is always on our shopping list.
The frozen fruit selection at Costco is the perfect place for us to get smoothie ingredients.
Between Kirkland Signature's frozen blueberries, frozen triple berry blend, and the rotation of different frozen mango options, we nearly always have a few bags of fruit on hand.
The Kirkland Signature frozen blueberries are probably my favorite. Growing up, blueberries were always the "special" berries in my house, so buying them in bulk feels like I'm living a life of luxury!
We love buying salad kits from Costco, and use them for easy dinners.
Over the years, we've gone through a few different dinner phases. These days, we've been on a salad kick — and by these days, I mean the past five years.
We split one salad kit a night. While we mix it up occasionally, the Taylor Farms Mediterranean Crunch chopped salad kit is our go-to.
I personally love the crunchy flatbread strips, and I could almost drink the basil balsamic vinaigrette — it's that good.
Fratelli Beretta's Antipasto Italiano cured meat selections are great for at-home charcuterie boards.
Costco's Fratelli Beretta Antipasto Italiano cured meat selection is absolutely divine.
We're avid travelers, and indulging in some delicious coppa and prosciutto at the end of each day makes us feel like we're living the European dream.
Prosciutto can get so expensive in the US, and Costco's bulk options make it possible to enjoy imported deliciousness all the time.
Of course, we always buy Cara Cara oranges when they're in stock.
When oranges are in season, we typically stock up at Costco — especially if we can find Cara Cara ones.
In fact, Cara Cara oranges from Costco were our baby's first solid food. He's a Costco baby through and through.
Kirkland Signature's ice cream bars will always have a spot in our freezer.
Sweet treats are a must in our household, and nothing beats the Kirkland Signature ice cream bars. Nothing.
My husband and I taste-tested them next to the name-brand bars Costco carries, and the Kirkland Signature ones won by a landslide. The ice cream is creamier and the chocolate shell is just the right thickness.
We never make a trip without buying sparkling water.
A small way to jazz up our water consumption, we always keep our top refrigerator shelf devoted to the green, yellow, and pink cans of Kirkland Signature sparkling water.
Occasionally, we'll mix things up and grab a case of Waterloo or La Croix (when they're on sale), but we always come back to the variety packs of good old Kirkland Signature.
Kirkland Signature's creamy almond butter is a hit with our baby.