Fresh Produce
How could you pass up the chance to buy a giant package of lettuce or a bag of avocados for something like just $5? Fresh produce is best eaten...well, fresh-and chances are your fresh produce will lose its nutritional potency or rot before you're able to consume it.
"Costco produce is always sold in bulk," explains Kelsey Pezzuti, MS, RD, retail dietitian and nutrition expert. "The 4lb box of tomatoes may seem like a bargain, but if you don't have a big household, you probably won't use all of them before they start going bad. You can try removing any large pieces of stem and storing the tomatoes stem-side down on a flat surface to buy a few days."
Additionally, a normal family is likely never going to get through the quantity of food that Costco offers, especially for things like fresh produce.
If you live by yourself, opting to buy Costco's 1-pound container of fresh spinach doesn't make sense-even though it's a total steal at under $5! Even when stored properly, fresh spinach doesn't last much longer than a week, and this holds true for other popular fresh produce items such as blueberries, avocados, broccoli and cucumbers.
Unless you gorge yourself on fruits and veggies, you'll end up throwing out the bulk of what you just bought.
On the flip side of things, buying something unhealthy at Costco means "you'll be stuck with ALOT of it, and this can make it tempting to eat it all, even if you shouldn't," warns Heather Hanks, a nutritionist with Life Insurance Star.
This might include something like a Costco-sized supply of Jif peanut butter, which equals two jars (48 oz). "The problem with Jif peanut butter is that it contains sugar, molasses, and partially hydrogenated vegetable oil, which are three inflammatory ingredients that can lead to weight gain, blood sugar problems, hormonal imbalances and more," Heather adds.
The bottom line? Watch what you're buying in bulk, and when it comes to fresh produce, maybe just think through what you need for the week ahead of you.