Wirecutter - Our favorite things from Costco

Kirkland Signature

My family long ago mastered the at-home movie-watching experience, complete with surround-sound speakers and air-popped corn, drizzled with real butter my dad melted over the stove. Fast-forward to college, and my movie-watching quickly shifted to microwaving noodles and watching Netflix huddled around a 14-inch laptop. One evening, my college roommate casually pulled out a bag of Kirkland Signature Microwave Popcorn. It is, without a doubt, the freshest-tasting microwave popcorn I’ve tried. It brings me back to family movie nights as a kid, and it easily beats all of the cloying, overly salty brands of typical microwave popcorn. Once you’ve tried it, you’ll never go back.

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—Arianna Flores, updates writer

Kerrygold

Kerrygold is, in my opinion, the absolute best butter you can get, outside of maybe some really fancy French butters. It has a higher fat content than your average grocery-store butter. This means it’s soft and silky—not waxy and crumbly—even right out of the fridge. And it’s made with milk from grass-fed cows, which gives it a richer flavor and a beautiful golden color. Kerrygold is widely available in stores, but only Costco, as far as I know, sells a 2-pound box of it, at the best price I’ve seen. We’re a butter-heavy household, and we go through a box every month or two. My husband turns some of it into ghee for cooking, while the rest goes into baking projects or gets spread on my morning toast. At this point, I’ll never buy anything else.

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—Marguerite Preston, senior editor

Santa Barbara

Many Costco items have become staples in our home, but my favorite is the Santa Barbara Mango Peach Salsa. I love dipping tortilla chips in salsa, and this one hits a perfect combo of spicy, sweet, and chunky. Plus, it comes in a 48-ounce tub, so I rarely run out. This has been very sporadically stocked the past couple of years at my local Costco, so nowadays when I see a tub, I grab more than one.

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—Erik Erickson, director of platform engineering

Costco

In my family, my grandma is the one with the Costco membership. She generously takes requests the day before she’s planning a trip, and she always comes back with fun surprises for us. One day she casually passed me a bag of dried mangoes that she said was too big for her to finish on her own. I left them out on the kitchen table to snack on with some friends, and the entire bag was gone in an hour. Ever since, those Philippine Brand Dried Mangoes in the dark blue bags have been my go-to sweet fix. They’re chewy and sugary in the best way possible—think elevated gummy candy or fruit snacks. If you’re a fan of tropical flavors or mangoes in general, you’ve got to snag some of these.

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—Arianna Flores, updates writer

Costco

I’ve been buying Costco walnuts and its nut butter—which I can’t find online—for a couple of years. A half-pound of walnuts at my local grocery runs about $5. But a 3-pound stash at my local Costco sells for $15, and it lasts my husband and I at least three months. We love to eat them plain, toast them for salads, or make this walnut-caper salsa (which I’m absolutely obsessed with). Costco’s nut butter, which lists just nuts and oil as ingredients, is also well priced, and it’s a favorite of mine for spreading on toast or mixing into oatmeal. Since my local Costco doesn’t always stock it, my dad grabs me a jar whenever he sees it during one of his regular Costco runs.

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—Raquel Hamias, user research lead

Costco

I love to bake. But those teeny-tiny bottles of vanilla at the grocery store are expensive, and I burn through them pretty quickly. Although 16 fluid ounces of vanilla extract feels a little ridiculous, it keeps for a while and costs only about $2 per ounce. This vanilla extract’s flavor is well balanced, and it makes my chocolate chip cookies and brownies absolutely sing.

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—Annemarie Conte, deputy editor

Costco

When the Costco Warehouse Savings brochure shows up every month, if it’s got a sale on that 125-piece tub of Finish Powerball Max Dishwasher Tabs, I guarantee you I’ll get one—probably two—the next time I’m in the store. I will be ecstatic about it, too. It’s not because the Finish tabs are so great, either. They’re fine—they get the dishes clean. It’s because this kind of thing is exactly what my middle-aged dad brain craves: the lowest price possible on the highest practical amount of a daily essential that will never expire.

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When I reach under the sink and dig into my Finish tab stash, with another sealed container behind it and another behind that, I feel a sense of immense wealth and magnanimity. And if I’m down to the last bucket, I honestly start to worry, in this daily buildup of anxiety: How many more tabs do I have left? When am I going back to Costco? Will I have to get a small pack elsewhere at an exorbitant price per unit? And—the question that keeps me up at night—what if Costco just stops selling Finish tabs altogether? Truthfully, I’m not sure this is really about the Finish tabs. Maybe it’s more about me. But I’ll tell you this: The next time those things are on sale, I might have to get three.

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—Harry Sawyers, senior editor

Costco Travel

The savings from a couple of car rentals a year could cover the cost of Costco’s gold star membership. I use three to four car rental agencies’ rewards programs, and I still get better rates from Costco Travel, sometimes saving a few bucks, but usually up to $50 for a week’s rental. It’s best in competitive markets like Orlando or Los Angeles. But I’ve consistently received good rates from rental agencies away from the airports as well.

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—Joel Santo Domingo, senior staff writer

Costco

These are the best pair of sweatpants I’ve ever owned. They’re fleece-lined, and the sleek ankle cuffs make them versatile. Keep your look casual by adding a hoodie, or pair the Puma sweats with a leather jacket to make it a fit. The instructions say to not tumble-dry, but I have, and this pair hasn’t pilled yet after over a year of wear. The Puma sweatpants are quintessentially Costco: the best finds at an impressively low price point (I think Puma sweatpants are normally over $40). I love it when someone compliments my clothes and I get to say I got them from Costco.

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—Adri Tan, software engineer

Costco

An anti-fatigue kitchen mat is so important when you’re standing over the sink hand-washing dishes or getting in a good, long chopping session at the counter. But it’s also one of those things that I simply cannot justify spending more than 30 bucks on. Thankfully Costco has me covered: Its mat comes in a variety of colors and has just enough squish to keep your back from breaking.

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—Annemarie Conte, deputy editor

Costco

I threw these into my cart on my first trip to Costco, over 10 years ago, and haven’t let go. They’re very sturdy: They don’t unravel, fray, or bunch up, and you can remove five fingers of glitter nail polish with just one wipe. But the best part is that they feel so luxurious on your skin. A single box lasts me for a long time, so I never have to worry about running out of cotton pads. You don’t think about your cotton pads until you get your hands on the right ones, and these are definitely the right ones.

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—Polina Grinbaum, senior engineering manager, reader journey