Become a member or don’t become a member? Usually people who live near a big warehouse club store like Costco or Sam’s Club at some point consider whether they want to join. But if you are gluten-free you have an added question — Is it even worth it now that my food choices are more limited?
It’s true, people on the gluten-free diet won’t be hanging out in the Costco bakery any time soon, but I will tell you after a recent visit, I think a Costco membership is worth it.
What can you get at Costco that’s Gluten Free?
The answer is: more than you might think. When I visited the Costco in Maple Grove Minnesota, I found many things that are gluten free. Now as always keep in mind that products at these stores do change, but you can appeal to them if they discontinue a product — with enough demand they may bring it back.
GF Smoked Pulled Pork
With that said, here’s what I found. For years I have known that their pre-made rotisserie chicken is gluten-free. But now there’s a sign at the warming counter declaring it’s gluten-freeness! To celebrate, I bought one. And at $5.00, it’s a great deal (you can’t buy one and cook it for less)!
Of course in the meat section there are tons of steaks, hamburger and chicken to purchase — sans gluten. But I found a container in the meat cooler of smoked pulled pork! Gluten-Free is written right on the package of the Smoked Pulled Pork, by the Costco house brand Kirkland Signature. Again — I bought it to celebrate the great labeling! I haven’t tried it yet. I hope it’s good!
Other good features of Costco is the produce section. There is a lot of fresh produce. Sometimes buying that in bulk is great, especially if you’re having a party. But I’ve purchased more than enough there only to have extra go bad. So that’s something to keep in mind.
In the freezer section they carry Alexa Waffle Fries and (this one at least) carries Bell and Evans Gluten Free Chicken Nuggets. Moms in my ROCK group swear by them. Emma doesn’t really have a hankering for chicken nuggets. Update: I just got an email from Costco saying their Kirkland Signature Hot Dogs are gluten free. In the dairy section you can get milk for as much as dollar cheaper than a regular grocery store, plus you can get butter and eggs as well.
In the snack section there are Betty Crocker Fruit Roll-ups, dried fruit, nuts. I found these snack bars by Mrs. Mays, which also were loudly displayed as gluten-free.
Kirkland GF Vitamins
Then in the vitamin section we have been purchasing their vitamins for years. Especially the Children’s vitamins. I’ve found it hard to buy just regular chewable vitamins for my gluten-free gal so these are perfect. The three containers I have all say “no yeast or gluten”.
So while I am sure there is more. In fact, feel free to add any gluten-free item I may not know about or have overlooked or isn’t in my store in the comment section below. But at $50 for an annual membership, I think it’s worth it.
*I don’t have a membership at Sam’s Club so I cannot give you good comprehensive information about that warehouse club.
March 8th, 2010 at 10:34 am
I’m the CEO of Udi’s Gluten Free Foods. I was on your blog reading your review of our Lemon Muffins and Pizza Crust (I’m super glad your daughter liked them!). I wanted to comment about gluten free choices at Costco because we’ve been running a market test in the Denver Colorado area. You can currently find our gluten free muffins, breads and granolas at different Denver area Costco clubs. Costco has been very interested in seeing if they could offer more gluten free options to their members while adhering to their strict product performance guidelines. Costco won’t carry a product that doesn’t meet a minimum sales amount. Compare this to the fact that most food retailers don’t have this minimum sales guideline and you can begin to understand why Costco hasn’t offered more gluten free choices.
Bottom line for our current market test is if the gluten free consumers (and dollars) are there for Costco then they will slowly bring on more gluten free choices and, specifically in our case, bakery items. I’m hoping that our test finds some success because I think it can not only offer more choice (which is always good) to the gluten free consumer but it can also offer real cost relief. One of the reasons Costco is so successful is because they not only have THE lowest margin structure in the industry but they also typically cut out the middle man by buying direct. In non-industry speak, this means that Costco always offers better values to their members because of how they do business. We all know that the current costs of making gluten free baked goods are very high due to the limited supply of ingredients. If Costco chooses to get into gluten free you can be sure that the gluten free consumer will find some much needed cost relief. At Udi’s we think this will be good for everyone especially the gluten free consumers.
I welcome additional feedback. My email is below.
thanks,
Etai Bar-on
CEO Udi’s Gluten Free and Granola
etai {at} udisfood(.)com
April 4th, 2011 at 7:04 pm
It’s about time. I would LOVE Costco to carry more Gluten Free products! WhaaaHooo! Now if we can just get them to also carry GMO free products and grass fed meat. Buffalo would be great too. We need a place we can buy clean dairy, meat, eggs, grain & produce that hasn’t been modified, pumped full of hormones or otherwise mucked around with.
May 18th, 2011 at 12:18 pm
I love Udi’s products and would be SOO excited if Costco carried them because it would mean that I could eat more of my favorite Gf Breads and bagels!
PLease ,please come to Costco in North Carolina!!
July 15th, 2011 at 3:09 pm
Please please consider Canadian costco my children love Udi bread and muffins, in Canada I pay 8 dollars for a loaf of GF bread and 10 for the muffins!!
August 29th, 2011 at 12:00 am
Over the past year or so, I’ve found the Costco stores in the Denver area have added a huge amount of gluten-free products. My all-time favorite is a 2-loaf bag of Rudi’s Multigrain Bread in the freezer section for about $6.50. Yup, that’s just about half price of any of the local grocery stores. I wish they would carry more of the Udi’s products like muffins, bagels, pizza crusts, cookies, etc.
Sam’s Club is also seeming to catch up with Costco in the gluten-free area. Maybe stores are starting to catch on that this celiac thing/gluten sensitivity thing just isn’t going away!
The cure for the Costco hot dog craving – take your own hotdog bun made by Outside the Breadbox in Colorado Springs, CO & get a Kirkland hotdog carefully placed in your bun. Let the bun steam for a minute, add condiments & you’ll be in freaking magic hot dog land!
Who says gluten-free eating is awful? KEEP LOOKING, and ASK FOR WHAT YOU WANT!
October 5th, 2011 at 3:25 pm
Hey, thanks for this post. I’ve recently had to go gluten free and am gearing up to make a trip to Costco. I’m glad that I’ll have an easier time finding things than I hoped!
January 19th, 2012 at 10:12 pm
I found some great gluten free items at our Costco. We love the Casual Gourmet’s chicken sausages, Snikkidy Eat Your Vegetables chips, Organic Tortilla chips, Food Should Taste Good Brown Rice Crackers, Skinny Pop Popcorn, Hi, I’m Skinny: Sweet Onion Flavored Rings all natural and baked! and of course, their produce is awesome. Having a younger family new to the gluten, dairy, egg, sugar free lifestyle, these are some of my treasures that my kids are happy to eat. Sadly, no baked goods or bread yet though.