A Year and Three Months of No Costco Membership

What did the monthly Costco trip bring to my life?

I used to enjoy a half-day Costco trip every month. Coming home with a chuck full of stuff mostly dry and frozen food makes me feel abundant and rich.

Even though I shopped only once a month, my pantry gradually becomes bloated with dried walnuts, pecans, pistachios, and almonds; dried apricots, figs, and mangos. My freezer was also always full with a pack of six trouts, a bag of frozen three-berries, a big chunk of imported lamb.  Whenever boredom raised its head, a trip to the pantry guaranteed a reward and suppressed it. Whenever I would like to reward myself for a week of hard work, I would cook a heartfelt meal on weekend—steamed trout with sliced ginger, fish soy sauce; a medley of sliced lamb, and colorful vegetables. or I learned to bake using the dried fruits, nuts and a 25 pound of flour from Costco that seemly can never be depleted.

There were only four problems. 

• One,  my goal of weight loss cannot be ever reached despite my effort of walking, running, and cycling.  I attributed my failure mainly to my pantry trips.
• Second, my pantry and freezer gradually become bloated.  In spring or summer, moths started to fly about in the pantry. I had to throw out half of three- or- five pounds of nuts that are eaten by moths. Freeze became messy because I would find excuses not to clean it since it was full always.
• Three, because of the cluttering of the pantry, I sometimes purchase the same thing on my next monthly trip, and this aggravates food waste and money.
• Four, this was a most serious consequence; I lost appetite for foods that were used to be my delight and comfort such as lamb, trout, nuts, and dried fruits.  Man craves varieties by nature.  The business model of Costco is bulk sales at lower prices. Unless you have a big household, it won’t take long for your appetite to dissipate for things that are available in large quantities all the time.

In conclusion, if your family size is small, the bulk sales at lower prices sold to you by Costco are opposite to the lean concept in business that originated in Japan and is now embraced by many leading manufactures in the US.  It will clutter your food storage space, contribute to food waste,   contribute to overeating and therefore health problems, and gradually kill many of your delights originated from food.  

As a one-person household, bulk shopping clutters my pantry and freezer,  dissipates my usual love for food such as nuts, dried fruits, fish, and lamb, bringing in moths in warm months. As someone growing up in Chinese where a much larger variety of vegetables, fruits, and meats are available in wet or supermarkets, I find the variety of vegetables, fruits, and meats in the US  supermarket are already very limited. Losing appetites for the few foods I love is tantamount to losing an important source of joy and therefore the joy of living.

I did not renew my Costco Membership since the lockdown in March 2020

Half-year into Costco membership, shopping at Costco was becoming like everything else in life; you pay a price for the benefit you enjoy.  The motive of joining was to save money mainly; with wastes due to the short shelf-life of good,  whether this goal was achieved by becoming a Cost member is highly doubtful.    Then, in March 2020 came the lockdown. I took the opportunity not to renew my membership, and reverted to my old way of shopping: Aldi supplemented by Chinese grocery stores.    Now one and a half year has gone by.  What has changed since?

1.   My pantry becomes very roomy; I replenish only after current bags of dry goods are consumed.  It becomes easy to locate the stuff.  There is no longer moth-spoiled food. 
2.   My freezer finally has breathing room, and it becomes much cleaner.  I do buy bags of frozen blueberries sometimes when I like to have a change in my diet. I don’t have to eat trout that had been in the freezer for more than a month.  As Chinese, we prefer buying fish that is swimming in a tank.  whenever I like to eat fish, just buy one at the Chinese grocery store.
3.   I no longer need to spend one afternoon or one morning every month to make a trip to Costco—- the nearest store is a 30-minute drive away.
4.   I never spend more than $100 a time when grocery shopping. Although I do not keep detailed records of grocery spending. Judging from less food waste, I probably spend less on groceries without Costco than with it.

For perishable goods such as food, Costco is not such a good idea for the sake of maintaining your appetite for the food you love even if it saves you money. Hopefully, my interest in nuts, dried fruits will return after not eating them long enough.

Going forward—–clothing shopping ban to reduce waste and free up closet space

Perrhaps I can try the same method for my wardrobe by starting a clothing shopping ban.    Clothing is not perishable though; to declutter our closets, merely not letting new items coming in will not suffice; eventually, I will need to say goodbye to pieces I no longer wear.   I have been refraining from buying clothing for some time except cycling wear. Since I now work from home, many of my official or business casual clothing do not get a chance to be loved, shorts and t-shirts are my main staples now.    It remains to be seen how to open a breathing room for my clothing closets.