We all know about the wholesale retailer, Costco. Lauded for its low prices on bulk food items as well as their legendary food court, there’s more to this popular store than meets the eye!
Did you know you can get your printer ink cartridges refilled for about 50% less than it would cost to buy a new one? How about their eyewear section where you can typically find frames for 75% less than other stores? For a longer list of Costco shopping secrets, check out this article.
Today, we’re focusing on the Costco bakery. There are some pretty spectacular deals to be found pretty much everywhere you look around Costco, but let’s take a closer look at their fresh-baked goods and break down the actual money you’re saving!
Sheet Cake
You probably already know about the amazing Costco sheet cakes, but I had to mention it on this list, so why not start off on a strong note? In case you’re unaware, the sheet cakes sold in the bakery are delicious and extremely inexpensive, considering what you’re getting.
Sure, you only have two options when it comes to sheet cakes at Costco – vanilla or chocolate – but what they lack in variety, they make up for in taste and price. A sheet cake from Costco weighs a whopping 9.5 pounds, whereas the industry standard is about 6 pounds. Not only that, these sheet cakes are almost half the price of other cakes of similar quality. You might think of these cakes as basic, but you can always dress them up yourself!
Giant Muffins
If there’s one thing better than a blueberry muffin, it’s a gigantic blueberry muffin, am I right? You may be tempted to skip this offer since it might be hard to finish off all 12 muffins that come in the package, but there’s a solution!
You can freeze muffins as well as some other ginormous bakery treats like Costco’s famous pumpkin pie. Coming in at 12 inches in diameter over three-and-a-half pounds, this masterpiece only costs $5.99! It’s best to let the frozen pumpkin pie thaw out, but the frozen muffins can be reheated in the microwave on 50% power.
Tiramisu
Looking for something a little fancier to serve up for dessert? Costco has just the thing. I mean, look at this amazing tiramisu! If you’ve ever attempted to make this classic Italian dessert, then you’ll know just how time-consuming and tedious the process can be.
For starters, you have to brew a strong pot of coffee and soak the ladyfingers to give them that rich coffee taste. Then, you’ll need to make the creamy filling, with consists of egg yolks, heavy cream, and mascarpone. Next, there’s layering, cocoa powder, and finally letting it sit in the fridge for a few hours before you can finally enjoy the tasty treat.
This hefty dessert weighs in at two and a half pounds, which means there’s more than enough to feed a crowd, especially considering how rich and filling it is. At $15.99, it’s probably not something you’d get all the time, but all in all, the cost is far less than you would spend if you made it yourself. And don’t forget all the time you’re saving.
Bread
Like most other things in Costco’s bakery and the entire store, for that matter, the bread often comes packaged in bigger quantities. Even French bread comes in packs of two! Again, you may be tempted to skip over these deals, but don’t let the quantity scare you off. You can always store the bread in your freezer to reheat at a later date.
What’s more intriguing, however, is that The Kitchn did a deep dive into Costo bread vs. Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods. Costco consistently came out on top for its quality and quantity.
Pre-Frozen Items
This may sound strange, but hear me out. Getting fresh-baked cookies from the bakery is a great deal – 24 for $7.99! But the pre-frozen cookie dough disks are $34.99 for 180. Talk about a good deal!
Plus, even though the fresh-baked cookies are less of a hassle, I think we can all agree that warm, oven-fresh cookies beat packaged cookies, even if they were made earlier that day.