Spring Fever + Costco Staples

How's that for a combination of topics?

I spent a few minutes this week researching spring fever. Is this a real phenomenon? My children (girls) have been OUT OF CONTROL lately. They have boundless energy, are waking at the crack of dawn, and don't listen to a blessed thing I say. I've been feeling like all I do is yell.

We've also had some of the wettest weather I remember, so we're more cooped up than usual. Come on spring! It's almost Memorial Day!

In keeping with the theme of crazy, last week I took all three kids to Costco after school, which is right before George's afternoon nap. It wasn't my first choice—typically I'll take just one child, and in the olden days when Nick was more available to help me with errands he would go on his lunch break—but it needed to get done, and George had slept all morning while the girls were at school. So off we went.

There's no easier way to get lots of people to stare at you than have a Costco cart full of children. I personally don't know if I'd think anything of this, but the man who stopped me to tell me I'm only two kids short of a basketball team certainly did!

The trip itself was actually quick and uneventful. The novelty of the outing (I'm sure I've shared many times before that I generally don't bring my kids on many errands) pacified them and aside from Mimi's multiple attempts to get out of the cart, everyone was an angel.

Maybe more Costco trips are the cure to our spring fever!

I love learning what others buy at certain stores, so I've been wanting to do one of these posts for awhile. I've also been wanting to see if the things I generally buy there are actually a good deal.

Here was my haul (and HUGE disclaimer on the math—you can never trust it coming from me):

Kirkland frozen lasgana: two 6lb packages for $12.79 each (only slightly better priced than Stouffer's at ShopRite, which is on sale for $13.99 for the same size, but I like the Kirkland ingredients better)

Frozen spanakopita: $14.79 for 48 oz, or $0.31/oz (ShopRite doesn't always have these, but currently they're $8.49 for 8.4oz, or $1.01/oz, so Costco is a much better deal)

Goat cheese logs: $6.59 for 21oz, or $0.31/oz (ShopRite is $3.99 for 4oz, or $1.00/oz—Costco for the win!)

Organic blueberries: $7.99 for 18oz, or $0.44/oz (ShopRite is $3.99 for 6oz, or $0.67/oz)

Rao's pasta sauce, $10.59 for a pack of two 28-oz jars, or $0.19/oz (ShopRite is on sale for $4.50 for one 24oz jar, or $0.19/oz, so they're the same, but only when on sale for this price at SR, which doesn't often happen)

Caesar salad kit, $3.99 for 17oz (I don't typically buy this item at ShopRite but we buy a large Greek salad with our weekly Friday pizza takeout order, and I think it's about $8 for one night's worth, whereas the Costco salad lasted us two nights for half the cost)

Bonne Maman jelly, $5.99 for 26oz, or $0.23/oz (Shoprite is $3.99 for 13oz on sale, or $0.31/oz)

Mini Babybel cheese, $7.39 for 32, or $0.23 each (Shoprite is $9.99 for 18, or $0.56 each)

Stonyfield organic yogurt smoothies, $8.79 for 12 6oz bottles, or $0.12/oz (ShopRite is $7.99 for 12 3.1oz bottles, or $0.21/oz)

Kodiak cakes frozen waffles, $12.89 for 40, or $0.32 each (ShopRite is $5.49 for 10, or $0.55 each)

Organic applesauce, $12.99 for 140.4oz, or $0.09/oz (ShopRite is $2.99 for 23 oz, or $0.13/oz)

Goldfish, $8.99 for 58oz, or $0.16/oz (ShopRite is $8.99 for 30oz, or $0.30/oz)

I had a $20 Costco card they had mailed to me for renewing our membership with auto-enroll, so all of this came to $106.67.

Other things I typically buy at Costco:

frozen organic broccoli (in the winter only) frozen organic berries (for smoothies) Cheerios Annie's mac and cheese organic eggs organic butter (they don't always have this) Kerrygold cheese Olive oil (they don't always have the kind I like)