Calgary Dietitians’ Costco Top Ten
Okay, technically, there are 14 items on this list, because there were a few ties. Nonetheless, these are the foods mentioned by at least a quarter of the dietitians in my little unscientific survey, in order of popularity.
- Just about everyone mentioned fresh fruit and vegetables – a wide variety of them.
- Over half like the frozen fruit, especially berries.
- Also more than half get meat, fish, or chicken at Costco, but all different products.
- Five go for greek yogurt, of which some mentioned the Kirkland plain 3-pack, while the others go for Liberte or Oikos.
- Five do black bean spaghetti, which I’ve never been brave enough to try (in a Costco size)! (Note – this was not available last time I went to Costco, but hopefully they get it back soon.)
- Hemp hearts
- Crackers – all different brands and varieties (see below)
- Quick cooking steel cut oats
- Avocado oil
- Extra virgin olive oil
- Silver Hills bread
- Chia seeds
- Cheese
- Natural peanut butter
(If you’re curious about heart-healthy(ier) ready-to-eat dinner options at Costco, I’ve reviewed those here.)
Calgary Dietitians’ Costco Shopping Lists
Sarah Remmer, RD
President, Lead Consulting Dietitian, Writer/Blogger, sarahremmer.com
My faves are:
- Black bean spaghetti (pictured below)
- 3% oikos flavoured yogurts
- Tru Roots Chia Seeds (pictured below)
- Kirkland Organic ground beef 3-pack
- Lilydale organic whole chickens
- Natural peanut butter – 2 pack
- Bob’s Red Mill quick-cooking steel cut oats
Kristy Leavitt, RD
South Health Campus
- Pumpkin seeds – Costco sells a giant bag of delicious roasted pumpkin seeds for a pretty decent price. I love adding them to my oatmeal at breakfast and salads for some extra protein.
- Sprouted rice & quinoa blend (pictured below) – I love that this takes way less time to cook than regular brown rice, but is still super nutritious!
- The 3-pack of plain Greek yogurt (pictured below) – Greek yogurt that’s WAY cheaper than anywhere else!
- Frozen fruit – Costco’s frozen fruit section is the best, plus its cheaper than frozen fruit at most other grocery stores.
- Fresh berries – Costco has literally the most beautiful fruit, especially berries! I always load up on strawberries, raspberries, and blackberries (especially during the summer!)
- Natural peanut butter 2-pack – I go through a LOT of PB, so these 2-packs are great.
- Roasted chickpeas – These are great for a super convenient protein-rich snack (aka a snack that will keep you feeling full for a while!)
- Silver Hills bread – Aside from Cob’s bread, Silver Hills is my fav. Super nutritious and filling, thanks to the high-fibre and high-protein sprouted grains; plus you can’t beat $6 for 2 loaves!
Melanie Ksienski, RD
We love lots…
- Mary’s crackers
- Sweet potato crackers
- Tunisian organic extra virgin olive oil (pictured below)
- Natural peanut butter
- Almond butter
- Bob’s Red Mill quick cooking steel cut oats
- Hemp hearts (pictured below)
- Tamari almonds
- Frozen fruit, especially berries
- Most fresh produce
- Plain Greek yogurt (pictured below)
The green pea pasta. It’s great – kids love it too. Best when made fresh and eaten right away. Hardens in the fridge and not so good for leftovers. (Note – also not in stock right now, but hopefully coming back!)- Rio Mare Italian tuna – a fairly new item and so glad they carry it now!
- Coconut clusters
- Quinoa
- Kirkland no sodium added organic tomato sauce & diced tomatoes
Oh I could go on and on…
Streamline your Costco shop with a pre-printed shopping list mapped to the store. Start with mine and customize to make it yours. 
Ali Campbell, MSc, RD
Preventous Collaborative Health
Vincci Tsui, RD
vinccitsui.com
I know clients LOVE the sweet kale salad, snap pea crisps, roasted chickpeas and PB2 (pictured below). Our Costco staples are more boring:
- Chia seeds
- Walnuts
- Hemp hearts
- Meat
- We also like to buy the big bottles/jugs of shredded parmesan and keep it in the freezer.
- Oh, and I like to keep a bag of BarkThins in the freezer too
If we didn’t get Squirrelly bread (pictured below) through SPUD we would probably buy it at Costco.
Sarah Cross-Leu, RD
Love the Cloud 9 Gluten-Free granola bar mix!
Chelsey Love, BSc, RD
Registered Dietitian for Simply For Life
chelseylovenutrition.com
- Brown rice / quinoa blend
- Avocado oil (pictured below)
- Mary’s Crackers
- Silver hills bread (pictured below)
- Frozen berries and mango
- Perrier water
- Vanilla hazelnut coffee beans
- Crumbled feta cheese
- Huge avocados
- Cherry tomatoes – AB grown!
- Frozen wild sockeye salmon
- 4-pack ground turkey
- Flat of free range eggs
- Kitty litter lolCarolina Leon, RD
- The black bean spaghetti – My kids love it and I tell them is Batman pasta. ?
Evelyn Cheng, RD
Owner at Eatuitive Nutrition
Consultant at Imagine Heath Centres Downtown
- Olive oil – about half price compared to regular grocery stores
- Hemp hearts
- Greek yogurt (Oikos or Liberte)
- Vegetables – especially the little potato company, bell peppers, asparagus & mushrooms
- Fruits (especially berries)
- Coffee beans – haha not sure if this should be mentioned but this is also about half price
- Clif bars – about 30% off and sometimes they do $3 off
- Cheese – almost half price as well
- Bulk meats – up to 30% off sometimes with $3-5 off, but caution on price as sometimes equal to regular stores
- Spices – $3.99 for a big thing of Chili flakes, black peppercorns, pure vanilla extract (large and I think $22.99)
- English muffins – $5.99 for 24 but the caveat is they’re white – more than half off!!
As you can all see I love numbers 😉 Unrelated to food: ANKLE SOCKS!
Rachelle Vallee, RD
Diabetes Centre Calgary
- Organic black bean spaghetti and Pedon More than Pasta Green pea pasta – both are gluten free, high protein and fibre, low carb
- Hummus – I like the red pepper hummus because I eat a lot! But my clients often like the pre-portioned ones to help with portion control
- Silver Hills Little Big Bread
- 0% plain Greek yogurt (Kirkland)
To name a few!
Emma Train, RD, CDE (Certified Diabetes Educator)
inyourfacenutrition.com
- PB2 Peanut butter powder
- Cheese
- Butter
- 3 seed beetroot crackers (gluten-free)
- Bagged salads
- Small peppers
- Coffee
- Avocados
- Precooked beets
- Cooking oils (extra-virgin olive oil and avocado)
- Frozen free-range chicken breasts
- Bob’s Red Mill quick-cooking steelcut oats
- Canned no-salt added tomatoes
- Frozen blueberries
- Frozen raspberries
I generally only buy what I can carry and it’s usually everything on this grocery list once every three weeks.
Nicole LeBlanc, RD
Owner/Coach, Nutrition Renewal
- Chia seeds
- Organic broccolini
- Black bean spaghetti
- Artichokes
- Coconut oil
- Vega protein
- Bobs Red Mill quick-cooking steel cut oats
- Silver Hills bread
Cheryl Strachan, BSc, RD, MBA (me!)
Sweet Spot Nutrition
Here’s the list I had at the start, although I’ll be adding a few based on all of the good ideas above.
- Crunchmaster multi-grain crackers
- Hummus
- Parmesan or asiago cheese
- Fresh fruit and vegetables, especially cherry tomatoes, mandarin oranges, pre-washed spinach, portobello mushrooms, grapes, and whatever else looks good.
- Chicken thighs
- 4-pack ground turkey
- Trident wild salmon burgers
- Steelhead trout
Steelhead trout
- Frozen fruit, especially blueberries and cherries. We love these!
- Hemp hearts
- Chia seeds
- Quinoa
- Nuts, including almonds, walnuts, pecans, and cashews.
- Avocado oil and extra virgin olive oil
- Ocean’s Pole & Line light chunk tuna
- Boom Chicka Pop Sea Salt Popcorn – just 30 calories and 30mg sodium per cup, and my kids love getting it in their lunch
- Finally, occasionally, dark chocolate almond or pumpkin seed BarkTHINS, which I tuck away in the basement pantry.
What’s NOT On the Lists
Researchers have speculated that warehouse stores like Costco could be contributing to our growing waistlines. Eating behaviour expert Brian Wansink demonstrated in study after study that people consume more from large packages, whether food or not. There’s a reason manufacturers are happy to discount everything from giant shampoo to granola bars for Costco.
So, if you want to eat less of something, logic suggests not buying it in Costco-sized packages. That may explain why we didn’t see potato chips, pop, cookies, or candy on most of the lists. We didn’t hear about cold cereal (almost all of the cereal Costco stocks exceeds the 8g of sugar per serving criteria in my best cereals roundup). We also didn’t see highly processed entrees like pot pies or mini-tacos. As Vincci Tsui said, our Costco staples are a bit boring, and that’s a good thing. Dietitians may enjoy those things from time to time, but you won’t see us buying them in bulk.
One specific product I was pleased not to see was the fake healthy Veggie Straws (pet peeve alert). 
Unfortunately, I see these all over the school and at birthday parties, but they’re actually emptier empty calories than good old potato chips! Read the label. No veggie goodness in there.
Also, no dietitian mentioned Dave’s Good Seed Bread. While it’s a source of healthy seeds, it’s partly white flour (see the label below and refer to my Whole Grain Pop Quiz if you’re still scratching your head) and each slice has over a teaspoon of added sugar! If you want a better choice, look at the Silver Hills or even Dempsters breads. (Or hit your local Cobs bread instead – see my recent review here.)
When you go to Costco, use Brian Wansink’s research to your advantage and buy large packages of what you DO want to eat more of – fruit and vegetables, whole grains, nuts and seeds, fish, etc. Hope this gave you plenty of good ideas.
Thank-you to all of the amazing dietitians who contributed to this article. Anyone else, chime in on the Sweet Spot Facebook page and share your favourites.
