Earlier this year, I shredded good amount of body fat. Once the fat loss period was over, I started my “gain” phase with goal of eating more calories than what my body needs to put on muscles. I’m into 3 months of gain phase now and I eat about 3000 calories per day.
Eating such amount of calories has definitely increased my grocery needs. As I try to eat healthy high quality food as much as possible, I’d like to keep the costs down too.
Signing up for Costco membership for my groceries was a no brainer. But I never analyzed how much of a difference it would make compared to other options like Amazon Fresh.
This is analysis of my today’s grocery run.
TL;DR
Costco In-Person shopping wins.
| Costco In-Person | $121.13 |
| Costco via Instacart Express Membership | $153.03 |
| Amazon Fresh | $189.57 |
The Items and Cost Matrix
| Item | Costco In-Person | Costco via Instacart | Amazon Fresh *Items are Amazon Fresh version of the same product |
|---|---|---|---|
| Organic Bananas, 3 lbs | 1.69 | 2.18 | 2.53 |
| Nonfat Milk, 2 gal | 4.99 | 5.46 | 6.19 |
| Oikos Greek Nonfat Yogurt, 18 x 5.3 oz | 7.99 | 8.73 | 15.99 |
| Blueberries, 5 lb | 9.89 | 10.81 | 19.81 |
| Canned Pumpkin, 3 x 29 oz | 6.89 | 7.53 | 19.17 |
| Mission Soft Taco, 2 x 8 ct | 5.99 | 6.55 | 9.58 |
| Roasted Veg Melange, 4 lbs | 15.49 | 16.93 | 14.40 |
| Salmon Milano | 20.86 | 26.74 | 24.47 |
| Bread Organic 2 x 24 oz | 8.39 | 9.17 | 10.98 |
| Kodiak Cakes Flapjack Mix, 4.5 lbs | 8.49 | 9.28 | 25.56 |
| Organic Strawberries, 2 lbs | 8.49 | 9.28 | 9.98 |
| Mini Peppers 1.5 lbs | 5.99 | 6.55 | 7.28 |
| Organic Salsa, 48 oz | 4.99 | 5.46 | 11.31 |
| Organic Medjool Dates, 2 lb | 8.49 | 12.01 | 12.32 |
| Total 14 Items | $121.13 | $136.68 Cart Total $139.35 With Instacart Express Fee $153.03 With 10% Delivery Tip | $189.57 $208.52 With 10% Delivery Tip |
Notes and Thoughts
- This is not a scientific methodology and specific to my use case. But overall, I do find Costco the cheapest option.
- Why Amazon Fresh and not other grocery stores like Fred Meyer/QFC/Safeway/Walmart?
- I did analysis sometime back about this. Amazon Fresh has the best selection of all and has more-or-less same prices as other big selection grocery stores. Walmart is definitely cheaper in most cases, but I’ve had problems with the product quality from Walmart.
- Costco product quality is great. Their return program also helps if something is off.
- The $60 Costco membership fee can be recovered with one single trip to the warehouse.
- Selection of items at Costco can be limited. I have about dozen items which are not found at Costco but are available on Amazon Fresh. e.g. Ezekiel Bread
- I’d be going with model of weekly trip to Costco and order-when-needed from Amazon Fresh.
- Instacart Express membership is not worth it for me. With Amazon Prime, I get no-nonsense free delivery of Amazon Fresh.
Appendix
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