BJ's Wholesale Club Vs Costco: Which Has The Best Food Deals?

They are two wholesale retail chains from opposite U.S. coasts: Costco was founded in San Diego in 1976 (as Price Club) and BJ's Wholesale Club first opened in Massachusetts in 1984. Although Costco has about 600 locations throughout the country, as opposed to BJ's roughly 280 locations, the two companies are constantly in comparison — and competition — with each other because of the nature of how they do business. As they are — along with Sam's Club — the only members-only mega-retailers around, the battle will always be on. 

Their contrasting location breadth in the market is what gives each of these big names unique advantages. Costco, being bigger than BJ's and with further reach, can offer a wider range of national products. BJ's, meanwhile, can focus on more local suppliers, which can enhance the quality of its offerings and sometimes provide better deals since products don't require the same long-distance transportation that a lot of Costco's inventory needs. All of this culminates in what amounts to a discount showdown for consumers trying to choose between the two. And accordingly, some items are cheaper at Costco, whereas others are cheaper at BJ's. 

So, how to decide between the chains? Well, we've isolated 13 popular products to compare. Now, prices do fluctuate, so much of this reflects the cost at time of writing — as well as being based on quantity breakdown, when applicable. But hopefully this will give you a good idea of who's doing what, and therefore help you make your choice.

Let's start with a basic veggie. Baby spinach is incredibly handy. You can use it in salads, you can put it on a sandwich, you can sautée it, you can make spanakorizo with it — it's just an all-around advantageous leaf, and something that many of us toss into our grocery cart on a regular basis without even thinking about it. But are you doing that inside of a BJ's or Costco? Or rather, where should you do it?

This is where BJ's emphasis on local produce pays off. Costco operates on a transnational basis with many of its goods, even greens. The gasoline used for transportation alone is going to drive up the end cost. As a result, BJ's organic spinach turned out to be nearly $1 cheaper per pound compared to Costco's.

At the time (and location) of writing, Costco is charging $5.66 for a 1-pound bag, while BJ's brand, Wellsley Farms, has its 16-ounce version selling for only $4.99. BJ's has the better deal on this, in a straight-up contest that is like-size for like-size. And because of the locality of the spinach, it's possible BJ's is also of a higher quality — but that's for the individual shopper to decide.

We all need fish sticks in our lives, especially if you're a parent of young children. This goes back a generation or two as a go-to weeknight meal for families, as they're quick, easy, relatively healthy, and nothing to think about. So, which wholesale-style grocer offers the best price on a giant bag of frozen fish sticks?

This is where the size differentiation gets a little tricky. Both Costco and BJ's sell the Trident brand of frozen fish sticks. But whereas BJ's purveys a 3.5-pound bag of the breaded Alaskan pollock, Costco has a 4-pound bag in stock. You might think that Costco automatically wins out here because, well, you're getting more. But what you're not getting more of is bang for your buck.

At BJ's, the bag of fish sticks is going for $13, while Costco's is retailing for $17. What that means when the math is done: BJ's is actually selling its fish sticks for 50 cents less per pound. Unless you really, really prefer to go for quantity over pound-for-pound cost, it looks like BJ's is the better deal here.

Chicken in a can is a reliable protein that you can keep in your pantry for ages until it's called upon when needed. You can use it to make chicken salad, add it to an actual leafy salad, and treat it like any other ingredient in a number of creative recipes. (Just remember, draining and rinsing canned chicken first makes it taste so much better.)

Both BJ's and Costco sell a version of canned white meat chicken under their respective house brands. The fact that the Kirkland and Wellsley Farms varieties are both sold in the same exact quantity (a pack of six 12.5-ounce cans) makes the comparison pretty straightforward. So, who has the supreme deal out of the two?

Costco retails its bulk package of canned chicken breast for $14.74 at time of writing. BJ's is pricing its iteration at $15.99. As you can plainly see, that's well over a dollar more. And when every dollar counts, that's pretty significant. With those savings, Costco's canned chicken shouldn't be a hidden gem. It's just more bang for your cluck.

One of the absolute necessities of cooking, sea salt is often taken for granted. But as soon as you're out of it, you have no idea what to do, and there's nothing in the world that can replace it except the real thing. That's what makes it a good idea — no, unmissable — to stock up on sea salt when you spy a deal. Between BJ's and Costco, which giant gives you the optimal way to save money on this foundational spice?

It looks like some more prorating is going to have to happen here. BJ's sells its Wellsley Farms sea salt in a 45-ounce container, while Costco sells its Kirkland Signature sea salt in a 30-ounce container. That's a pretty significant difference in volume when you think about it — 15 ounces more of salt. (Hey, you'll eventually use it, right?)

The difference that really matters, of course, is the price. BJ's larger offering is $5.49 at the time of writing. Costco's slightly more diminutive product costs $3.99. What does that mean after some basic division? Wellsley Farms wins the deal duel: roughly $0.12 per ounce to Kirkland's $0.13 per ounce. That's not a huge deficit, but a victory nonetheless.

This is one of those items that feels like it's just always on hand. When all else is depleted from the freezer, there before you is the clear, plastic packet of dinner-saving slabs of chicken. You can build any kind of meal around them, anytime. Once defrosted, they're all ready to go. This convenience makes them a fundamental buy for grocery shoppers. But from where should those grocery shoppers buy it? 

A package of the Kirkland Signature brand of fresh, boneless, skinless chicken breast from Costco turns out to be about 6 pounds on average. Compare that to the Wellsley Farms tenderloins (which are Perdue chicken breasts, by the way) that are usually in the same poundage range. At time of writing, BJ's product broke down to $3.99 per pound. Costco's worked out to $3.39 per pound. There's a clear winner by exactly 60 cents, and it's Costco. 

It's a good thing that Costco finally fixed its chicken breast packaging after many customer complaints. A single perforated seam can go a long way. How many folks were getting theirs at BJ's just to avoid the unpacking hell?

Here's another one that's for the parents (though we have absolutely no judgment for the childless adults partaking in these little packets of snacks). They know that, if you run out of Goldfish for the kiddos, those kiddos may grow angry, revolt, and topple society as we know it. Whether society needs that is a debate for another time and place. In the meantime, mom and dad have enough to worry about when keeping the children satiated. Although it should be again noted that it's not only children who love Goldfish. In fact, culinary icon Julia Child famously loved Goldfish crackers, often having some with another favorite of hers: an upside-down martini. (That part's not for kids.)

So, who's currently winning the Goldfish cost war between BJ's and Costco? (And can we please name this contest The Julia Child Bowl?) Both stores sell the same giant box of 45 packets. Both seem to keep them well in stock. But only one can come out of the fight with the W — and it looks like Costco's going to be putting this one in its victory column. At the time of writing, Costco is selling its mass of Goldfish for $15.99, while BJ's has it priced at $17.99. It's been a tight matchup so far, so a $2 difference is practically a blowout.

There's little worse than reaching over when starting to cook, only to realize that you're out of olive oil. You wind up shaking the bottle over the pan like it's somehow hiding the nectar from you. You may even look with one eye into the spout out of desperation. In other words, madness takes hold.

Costco and BJ's both sell a 2-liter bottle of extra virgin olive oil, under the Kirkland Signature and Wellsley Farms labels, respectively. There are actually many olive oils sold at Costco, including multiple bottles under the Kirkland brand. For this one, we went with the organic extra virgin olive oil, being that it's often cited as its best and most popular.

In terms of pure quantity, this is an easy tale of the tape between Costco and BJ's. Just like with Goldfish crackers, it's kind of a blowout — an even bigger one, in fact: BJ's sells its version for $24.99 at the time of writing, while Costco's retails for $20.99. A $4 difference in price is significant enough to make the latter of the two stores the only one to get your olive oil.

This is a food item that has to be broken down a bit when comparing Costco's and BJ's pricing. Since most people don't spend the time to acutely examine the sizes of the muffins (they might have better things to do), we'll do it for you — at least in this binary capacity.

At some point, Costco changed up its muffin quantity, making it an eight-pack instead of six. It's likely a little bit of deception meant to make you think you're getting more. This tracks with Costco's soft tactics when it comes to manipulating its clientele. For example, Costco likes to change the organization of its stores around to disorient regular customers and force them to wander, buying things they normally wouldn't. And then there's the way that Costco tucks its best deals in the center of the store. Thus, in this mold, it makes sense for six big muffins to become eight smaller ones.

BJ's has stuck with the six-pack (refraining from the psychological games). But its muffins are more robust than Costco's, meaning that you're actually getting more muffin from BJ's, despite the individual count. This makes the retail price of $6.99 (against Costco's $7.93, at time of writing) look even more lopsided. BJ's is on top when it comes to muffins.

Based on the authentic gravy from one of New York City's most famous (and impossible-to-get-into) Italian restaurants, this seems to be everyone's new favorite ready-made tomato sauce. While Rao's was originally launched in the late 1800s on a corner of East Harlem, it only relatively recently released its renowned red sauce into the retail space. But it's quickly become an automatic buy for many. In fact, it's turned into a multi-billion-dollar product since it was bought by Campbell's and placed in grocery stores everywhere.

It's no secret that Rao's pasta sauce is expensive compared to many others on the shelf — so saving a few bucks on it becomes all the more important. Costco and BJ's both sell jars of Rao's. But what's interesting here is that they sell slightly different sizes: They are 28 ounces at Costco, and 22 ounces at BJ's. The former has its 2-pack priced at $13.61 at the time of writing, while the latter is $9.99. This shakes out to BJ's being about 3 cents less per ounce. But it's close one, and possibly negligible to the shoppers who already have their pasta boiling.

As recently as 2024, bananas were the most popular fruit in America. They still remain a top seller, so ubiquitous that they feel like a part of the decor in many kitchens. Such a fundamental buy can make some shoppers pay little attention to the price. But others pay a bit more mind, as the cost of a bunch can vary greatly among grocery stores.

BJ's and Costco, known to supersede traditional supermarkets' wholesale limitations, can usually offer this yellow staple on the cheap. And both stores' bananas seem to be of a much higher quality than you'll find at other chains. For example, many shoppers say to avoid buying bananas at Aldi, which has baffled customers with bananas that stay green for weeks while still managing to go bad — but Aldi gripes are for another list. Back to the topic at hand, which of these two members-only warehouses has more affordable bananas?

It looks like BJ's proximate produce practices gives it the price precedence once more. A 3-pound bunch of bananas there costs $1.49 at time of writing. The same amount of bananas from Costco: $2.26. That's a whole lot more for the same fruit — making BJ's much more (and forgive us for this pun) a-peeling here. (Backspace, backspace, backspace.)

Strawberries are the top-selling berry in the U.S., and one of the best selling fruits in general. Although quality can vary greatly from store to store, and it largely depends on the time of year, that doesn't seem to stop people from picking up a container as part of their regular grocery trips.

The thing is, depending on the season, the price of strawberries can skyrocket — with some supermarkets charging upwards of $8 or $9 for a container that maybe has 12 strawberries in there. (Here's a tip: You can get more value out of strawberries by cutting off and saving the tops to infuse into liquid, and also utilizing the juices in all kinds of meals.)

So, should you get your strawberries (and their suddenly useful tops) at Costco's or BJ's? It turns out that 2 pounds of strawberries is significantly cheaper at BJ's, at least at the time of writing: $4.99 to Costco's $6.80. Those are both pretty good deals, but one is the clear champion of strawberries. (What would that trophy look like? Presumably like the Lombardi Trophy but with a strawberry instead of a football.)

Seafood can be expensive — so much so that it often prohibits people from incorporating this tasty, healthy, and quick-cooking category of protein into their diets. Shrimp is the exception. Frozen shrimp can be an affordable oceanic offering that's versatile when it comes to cooking, and accessible when it comes to eating — even for those who don't usually go for seafood.

Going to Costco or BJ's for your frozen shrimp can be eye-opening. And there's perhaps a surprise winner when it comes to the better deal on the little sea critters. Both chains sell 2-pound bags, all peeled, deveined, and left with the tail on. But only one (at the time of writing) is nearly $5 cheaper than the other. That would be BJ's, where bags of frozen shrimp go for $14.99. Costco's, meanwhile, has its bags priced at around $19.30. It seems like BJ's is the option here — but you can still stop by the other one to see why Costco shoppers love its frozen panko shrimp.

Who knows if it's the rock n' roll mullet on the packaging, the thin-slice option that allows for extended use, or the presumed health benefits? For whatever reason, Dave's Killer Bread has risen in the market over the past several years. Smart, quirky marketing and the public desire for nutritious carb options have certainly contributed to this ascent. But depending on where you shop, Dave's can sometimes be the most expensive loaf on the shelf. So, where is it less expensive — Costco or BJ's?

It turns out, this is another example of Costco being able to do better on big, national brands due to its wider reach across the country. At the time of writing, it is selling a loaf of Dave's for $10.20, against BJ's $11.49. This starkly illustrates BJ's limitations. It simply can't compete with the grandiosity of Costco, although it puts up quite a plucky fight on other price-point fronts. 

Ideally, if you're choosing between Costco and BJ's, and you possess memberships to both, it might be best to divide your shopping list between the two stores. That way, the real winner is you, the customer. Cue the confetti parade.