Costco – Dinner One.

Another American giant has opened up in Australia, Costco.

I’ve shopped there a couple of times in the last month, and I have a few opinions I want to share.

Costco is not for everyone.  I think if you have a larger family, or throw a lot of parties it is IDEAL, as the non perishable items that you may usually buy several times a month, you are able to get in larger portions, for a fairly decent price.

For other people, couples or smaller families, I think a little research before you take the plunge is a good idea.  If you’re able, even tag along with a member to have a practice run before you commit (which is precisely what we have been able to do).

If you’re in the market for some electronic items, membership may pay for itself very quickly.  For example, the ASUS Transformer 16Gb (Tablet only) was available at Costco for $450 (ish) where other retailers are mostly still selling it for over $500.

We are mainly interested in the food aspect, so it was interesting to me to see how much we could get hot meals for (per serve).

Tonight’s dinner was Cottage Pie and Salad.  The salad comes in the form of bulk Mesclun mix, grape tomatoes and baby cukes.  The cottage pie started as an almost 2kg slab’o’food, but I cut it down to 4 single serves.   After our first serving though, I think it can be cut in half again, as it really filling.

Cottage Pie – $20.53 – per serve for 8 serves = 2.56
Mesclun Mix 1kg – $8.99 – per serve  for 50g = 0.45
Grape Tomatoes 1kg – $6.99 – per serve for 50g = 0.35
Baby Cukes 1kg – $8.49 – per serve for 50g = 0.43

Meal cost per serve = $3.79 (adding 2.56 for this first one will make it $6.35)

Because we spend a little more on The Boy’s special diet, it’s nice to know that we can eat well for not much at all.   These are also meals that The Husband is able to prepare, as no ‘real’ cooking is involved.

The salad will see us set for lunches and dinners for almost 2 weeks, adding some protein and carbs for balance.

So it seems for us, that joining Costco will actually be worth it.  I am sure that we would save more than the membership fee over the course of a year.