BIKE: Costco Cost Control
How to not blow your entire grocery budget on a Costco trip? Have you tried… forced portion control? No, this isn’t some diet nonsense. Eat as much as you want… but you can only put in your cart what will fit on your bike to carry home.
This obviously won’t work for everyone, but it’s one way to keep that grocery bill manageable (and save on gas)… ride your bike! Of course, we’re very fortunate, in that our closest Costco is only 10-15 minutes away… and it’s the same whether we bike or drive, because of the way the traffic and distances line up… on this trip, with the busy or one way streets and several long traffic lights (you still have to wait on them on a bike, but you can queue up to the front of the line), school pickup lines, and whatnot, the speed advantage of driving is almost nothing for us for this trip.
It means more frequent shopping trips rather than one big monthly stock-up, but they’re less of a hassle and no worries about waiting in the gas line! Your mileage may vary, literally, of course. But if you’re within a 3-5 mile radius on roads that aren’t too unsafe, you should give it a try!
I’ve gotten pretty good over the years at gauging what I can fit in my panniers, backpack, trailer, or bike baskets by how much space it takes up in my shopping cart or basket. However, sometimes the ride home is pretty rough if I overdo it. That’s one way to make sure you stick to your list (which is mostly bulk staples instead of prepared foods for us unless we have a really busy week coming up, or there’s a good sale on soup dumplings (never say no to soup dumplings, as long as you have room in your freezer)).
Pro tip: an Ikea bag *exactly* fits a bale of Kirkland toilet paper. Just in case you needed to know that… but it works much better if you have very full rear panniers or a flat cargo platform to strap it down.
Pro-tips for Bulk Shopping by Bike:
- Make a list! Stick to your list! If you put something extra in your cart, you probably have to take something else off (unless it’s tiny)
- Make sure you have a sturdy bike rack and panniers or baskets (none of these links here are sponsored… they’re just things that I’ve been using for years and can recommend without hesitation).
- My favorite bike racks (they’re spendy but after breaking a bunch of cheaper racks, it’s worth it if you haul anything with regularity)
- TUBUS RACKS: German engineering, beautiful builds, quality materials… not cheap but worth it. These are beautiful racks!
- VELO ORANGE: Classic styling, stainless steel builds, road tested. I’ve had my eye on their front Porteur rack for quite awhile… perfect for beer runs!
- OLD MAN MOUNTAIN: I have one of their earliest model racks on my trusty old winter hybrid Specialized commuter (which was once my only bike), and the rack has survived thousands of miles of hauling ridiculous amounts of stuff, a crash that totaled the front fork (and my face lolsob) plus plenty of other little spills (including being hit by at least one car), years of winter salt, and more. If you have a mountain bike or hybrid and you want a rugged rack, these are your guys.
- For panniers, there are lots of great options but it’s hard to do better than the classic ORTLEIB setup, especially for shopping. At Costco, lock them to your bike and load your panniers in the parking lot, or after they’ve checked your receipt against your cart or you’ll make the door-folks sad (you can bring them in if you prefer, just wait to load ’em up until after your receipt is checked).
- Bring a couple extra sturdy canvas or other reusable bags in case you end up with too much to fit in your panniers.
- Don’t forget the bungee cords (a cargo net can be really helpful too if you have one.
- A bike trailer can make this super easy… just load up your shopping bags like a regular trip, then throw them in the trailer. You can often find good deals on older used kiddie trailers that might be past their prime for hauling precious child cargo, but perfectly serviceable for bring home your groceries or big bags of dog kibble, chicken feed or bird seed, cases of soda or beer, a bale of potting soil, or that giant palm tree you couldn’t pass up? Just don’t try to haul all those on the same trip!
