With the emergence of USA grocery giant Costco in Australia our supermarket landscape changed. The member-only warehouse provides a space where buying in bulk is easier and according to most sources more affordable. The rapid expansion has seen eleven Costco locations open in Australia. You can find three in NSW, two in Queensland, Four in Victoria and one in both the ACT and South Australia.
With all their boasting of cheap prices, my curious and budget savy mind wanted to know more. I wanted to know if there was any benefit to a Coeliac having a Costco membership. Of course you may have a Costco membership because of non-food reasons, you may have gluten-eaters in your house and find it cheaper to get food there. All those reasons aside, I wanted to focus solely on some of their gluten free products and compare the pricing. Before I get into that though, let’s talk membership fees. The membership fee is an annual $60 for a household.
Of course, the first place to start is whether or not Costco even sells gluten free products. If you’ve been around for a little while and in any of the community groups you’ll probably already know the answer is yes. Not only do they sell gluten free by ingredient products, they have a decent number of gluten free labelled products to. For the purpose of this article though, I’ve only gone through a few of the ones I’ve found. Therefore, this isn’t an exhaustive list of everything gluten free at Costco.
The warehouse itself can be very overwhelming, so I’ll go section by section to try and break it down. First of all, it should be pretty obvious but the fresh bakery area itself is completely off-limits. They bake most of it on site, there is too much contamination to even consider it. However, when you get to the pre-packaged bread section, you’ll find the Lifestyle Bakery Gluten Free bread in white and multi-grain two packs.
These two packs will cost you $6.99 which equals $3.50 a loaf. The fruit loaf which is the only variety currently available in Woolworths will cost you $5.50 a loaf. That’s a $2 saving, but aside from that, Costco is the easiest place for me to get the Lifestyle bakery bread which is my favourite store-bought bread at the moment.
Moving on from the bread section and into dairy there are lots of products to choose from. However, I’m just going to focus on a few. For those who can’t have dairy they also stock the Dairy Free Down Under slices and shreds for $12.95 a pack.
These packs are 625g and 650g respectively. Let’s compare that to the Bio cheese slices at $8.00 for 200g. Then we can compare the shreds which are again $8 for 200g. While they both do have different flavours and will appeal to different people the numbers don’t lie and the Dairy Free Down Under at Costco is better value. They are very different in flavour though, so it’ll come down to what your preference is.
Into the pantry area, there are loads of gluten free products. I am starting with the Barilla pasta bulk packets of penne. As seen in the photo above the bulk packs contain 3 boxes for $7.99. Woolworths currently sells Barilla at $3.80 each. 3 boxes at that price would be $11.40. Costco will save you $3.41 on Barilla pasta.
Another pantry staple is the Carman’s Bars which are available in packs of 20 for $15.49. At Woolworths a pack of 5 of either variety will set you back $5.60, therefore twenty of them would be $22.40. That is a saving of $6.91. Other products that you can save on include the human bean co faba beans. Gravox rich brown gravy in the 1kg tub will cost you $9.99. Furthermore, brands like Vege Chips, Food For Health, Hart and Soul and Kez’s Kitchen all have bulk packs available as well.
In the fridge section, you’ll be able to grab a 1kg tub of Nuttlex for $4.69. A 500g tub at Woolworths is $3.30 which is a saving of $1.61. Another product is the wicked sister desserts including rice pudding and creme caramel.
Finally, the freezer section also has a lot of great gluten free finds. They have the Twisted Frozen Yoghurt, especially in watermelon which I believe is a Costco exclusive flavour. Another dessert option is the Gelista gelati which are gluten free and vegan friendly. For those who love pizza, Costco sell the Julian’s pizza bases in a bulk 4 pack for $11.49. You can also get cheesy buddies, gluten free crumbed fish and gluten free vegan burgers.
As for whether or not Costco is worth it, will really depend on what you personally like to eat and buy. For me I love the Hart and Soul meal pots, so I stock up on those and the soups as well. I will definitely remember it for when I run out of pasta as well. However, if you don’t eat many packaged products, then it’s probably not worth it. In other words, there are lots of gluten free options at Costco that are Coeliac Safe and for me the savings cover the cost of membership. I have started a new Costco Review page, where I will be sharing reviews of products you can purchase at Costco, so be sure to check that out.
Until Next Time;
Ashlee; The Aussie Coeliac.
Super informative!