Costco, the ultimate bulk-buying store. Traditionally, bulk-buying doesn’t translate to healthy eating, but things, they are a-changing at Costco these days!

I will confess that I am not a regular Costco shopper. I go there a couple of times a year to stock up on paper towels and toilet paper, but since we are mostly empty nesters, it’s not often we need apples that come in packages big enough to feed a small village or artichoke dip that can feed 50 people. That being said, I have a lot of friends who love to shop there and they have asked me to please tell them what they can buy that is healthy.

I was skeptical that Costco had anything that could be considered healthy by my holistic, culinary nutritionist standards because bulk food is often highly processed (translation: stripped of nutrients, added chemicals to improve shelf life) and rarely organic or fresh. It is even sometimes wasteful - - even when you buy a bag of thirty organic pears at a great price, if you can’t eat all of them before they go bad, then you’re just being wasteful and no money is really saved. Okay, back on track . . .

I rose to the challenge of “what can I buy at Costco that is healthy?” and headed off to Costco to see if I could answer that question in a meaningful way. After spending longer than I planned cruising through the warehouse, I was surprised to find that not only did they have healthy options, but enough of them that I could come up with a list. I chose the least processed items I could find and selected only those I would actually buy. So for my Costco junkie friends and anyone else who loves to shop there, enough waiting, here you go:

1. Kerrygold grass fed butter

2. Perfect Bar protein bar multi pack (see my review on Perfect Bar here)

3. Okami Organic Edamame

4. Fresh organic blueberries, raspberries and blackberries

5. Earthbound Farm Organics vegetables (various options to choose from)

6. Suja organic fresh pressed juices

7. Silk Almond Milk

8. Dave’s Killer Bread- organic, 21 whole grains and seeds

9. Frozen organic blueberries

10. Kirkland organic extra virgin Olive Oil

11. Kirkland 100% real maple syrup

12. Nutiva chia Seeds

13. Seeds of Change pre-cooked quinoa and brown rice packets

14. Wild Planet sustainably pole and line caught wild albacore tuna

15. Organic Tortilla Chips

16. Clif Kid Organic Z Bar multi pack

All Costco stores have a little variety in what they carry; this list is not comprehensive and I’m sure there are more possibilities that could be added.

Do you see any of your favorites on this list? Is there something you’d like to see on this list, but isn’t there? Let me know in the comments below.