Costco Foods Without Palm Oil | Here’s What I Buy

Costco makes it easier and more affordable for my family to purchase organic and healthy foods. There are many Costco foods without palm oil. This isn’t supposed to be an advertisement for Costco. I am writing this to explain ways to eat healthy at home to avoid palm oil and processed foods. 

Why do we avoid palm oil? My son gets very sick from palm oil ingredients. To be in solidarity with him and because of the environmental issues with palm oil, we cook at home most days, eat less processed foods, and choose foods with as few ingredients as possible.  

My husband and I have been loyal to Costco for 20+ years in the different states we lived in. We have a long list of items we buy regularly, the majority of which we only buy at Costco because of the value and quality. It’s also a way for us to afford more organic options. While my family is not vegan, many of these foods are vegan and palm oil free. 

Costco Food Without Palm Oil

Certainly, Costco has loads of processed foods. However, they have many healthy foods as well. That’s what we focus on when we go. It’s a place we can buy organic eggs, grass-fed butter, organic cooking oil, and fresh and frozen organic fruits and vegetables. 

These are only some of our favorite palm oil free foods at Costco. They range from shelf-stable, refrigerated, and Costco frozen foods. Many of them are organic as well.  

Shelf-Stable Foods

Organic Quinoa Kirkland Signature

Their organic quinoa comes in a 2-pack. Each bag is 4.5 pounds. Quinoa is easy to cook and versatile for breakfast, lunch and dinner. You can add to it as you wish. It’s vegan and gluten free.

Enjoy quinoa for a breakfast without palm oil by serving it warm with diced fruit, nuts, honey, syrup, cinnamon… anything! As a side or main course, add scallions, raw or cooked vegetables, spice, beans, etc. Serve quinoa hot or cold; it’s a great rice replacement. 

Costco also sells bags of Non-GMO Project Certified, USDA organic rice we purchase. They are an excellent store to buy shelf-stable foods.

Organic Salsa Medium

Kirkland Signature Organic Salsa at Costco comes in a two pack with two 38 oz plastic jars. We keep extras in the pantry because they have a decent shelf life for something that tastes very fresh. We use this organic salsa on eggs, dips, on meat, and on top of salads instead of dressing.

Nuts: Almonds, Walnuts, Pistachios, Brazil Nuts, Pecans

One of our favorite things is Costco nuts. Costco has a wide variety of dry roasted nuts. You can buy them salted or unsalted. Their Kirkland Signature Dry Roasted Almonds come in 2.5 pound bags. They’re shelled, California grown and seasoned with sea salt. 

We enjoy Kirkland Almonds for a fast and easy source of protein for breakfast and an easy-to-take-with-you snack on the go. I pack them for my son’s lunch. We also buy shelled Kirkland Walnuts and Kirkland Pistachios in the shell regularly. We love using Kirkland walnuts for recipes such as candied walnuts and walnut pie. Yum!

I also buy Kirkland Signature Organic Whole Brazil Nuts year round. They come in 1.5 pound bags.

You will find Kirkland Signature Pecans around the holidays for baking which are always fresh. They come in 2 pound bags.

Most of the nuts at Costco are ideal snacks without palm oil.

Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Costco’s Kirkland Signature Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil is a 2 liter bottle (2 quarts 3.6 fluid oz). We love their organic olive oil.

The only downside to this product is it used to come in glass containers; now it’s in plastic. The bottle is dark which helps protect the oil. With Costco’s quality, you know you are getting unadulterated olive oil which you won’t always know with other brands.

S&W Organic Black Beans

We like buying this 8 pack of organic black beans. Each can is 15 oz (425 grams). Beans are easy to have on hand to add to salads, soups, chili, and for dips. Sometimes I’ll mix the Kirkland Signature Organic Salsa with these S&W Organic Black Beans. It’s so easy. Sometimes we add cilantro, lime and other ingredients like we do when we are making a white bean salad recipe. 

I buy them from Costco because I can get them organic for less than I can sometimes buy non-organic beans at the grocery store. 

Dave’s Killer Bread Organic 21 Whole Grains and Seeds

Costco sells several David’s Killer Bread products. We always buy the “green bag.” It includes two loaves totaling 3 pounds 6 oz.

This bread keeps well on the counter or in the refrigerator (or freezer for when we stock up). Anytime we have family visiting from out of state, we serve this as toast with butter. Each and every time our guests said they loved it; many now buy it at home. We love this bread for French toast, grilled cheese, and sandwiches. In addition to having quality ingredients, each slice contains 5 grams of protein which is an incredible benefit and unusual for bread.

Most packaged bread contains palm oil ingredients. This is the only bread my son eats. 

Nutty & Fruity Dried Jackfruit Organic

My son brings this dried jackfruit everyday to school. It comes in 20 oz bags. The only ingredient is Organic Jackfruit. I eat it as a snack as well. It’s not overly sweet but I find it addicting.

Pure Vanilla Extract 16 fl oz

I bake all of our desserts from scratch because prepared desserts are typically made from palm oil. This is because palm oil helps bakery stay shelf-stable longer. In addition, palm oil is cheaper than higher quality ingredients.

Pure vanilla extract does not contain Glycerin or Propylene Glycol which in extracts are often derived from palm oil. I used to buy small bottles of pure vanilla extra from Target, Walmart and local grocery stores, including Safeway, Albertson’s, Sprouts, Fry’s, Whole Foods, etc. However, it is expensive in small bottles.

Costco sells Pure Vanilla Extract in 473ml (16 fl oz) bottles. Unfortunately, it’s in a plastic bottle instead of plastic, but that is the only downside. It is excellent quality and a great value at Costco. It doesn’t have a brand name on it but it says it is distributed by Costco Wholesale Corporation.

RXBAR

Unfortunately, RXBAR’s Natural Flavors (the sources are not disclosed on the ingredient label) now contains Glycerin. Typically, when a food manufacturer uses Glycerin, that Glycerin is made using Palm Oil. They aren’t confirming what their Glycerin is made from. Usually, when it’s palm oil, companies do not want to disclose it. 

So, even though we bought these for years, we sadly no longer will support this company.

At Costco, you can find a 16-bar box with Peanut Butter Chocolate and Chocolate Sea Salt. Each bar is filling at 1.83 oz / 52 g and contains 12 grams of protein.

There are so many chemicals and additives in snack bars. We love RXBARS because they contain dates instead of palm oil. My son loves these bars in between basketball games as a healthy snack. He also eats them almost daily at home. They are also great for school lunches and snacks at work. Learn more about finding granola bars without palm oil. 

Costco Refrigerated Foods Without Palm Oil

Chobani Greek Yogurt – 20 pack

We aren’t vegan but we know many of our readers are. Many vegan foods contain palm oil and many palm oil free foods aren’t vegan.

We buy this yogurt from Costco because it’s palm oil free. Therefore, if you are vegan, please scroll down to the frozen foods at Costco.

You can buy these Chobani Greek Yogurt with fruit on the bottom individually in grocery stores but we get a much better price buying them in bulk at Costco. Chobani Greek Yogurt at Costco comes with five of each flavor: Black Cherry, Blueberry, Strawberry, and Peach which is great for variety. Each cup is 5.3 oz. 

I like that it’s natural and contains real fruit. So many yogurts contain additives and mix-ins, all with palm oil. These make for great snacks  or breakfast at home and are easy to pack on the go. 

This is a rather large box so be sure you have room in your refrigerator. When we get home from our Costco run, we open the box and take out the yogurts to stack in our refrigerator which saves space.

Organic Eggs

We eat a lot of eggs, and organic eggs are very expensive at our local grocery store. Costco makes it affordable to buy organic eggs. There are two dozen per carton. At Costco, the Kirkland Signature brand is Grade AA Large, certified cage-free.

At times, we’ve purchased other brands of organic eggs at Costco but it varies.

Costco Frozen Foods Without Palm Oil

Fresh Start Smoothie Blend Organic

Look through Costco’s freezer section for frozen fruits. We have purchased frozen organic strawberries and more. It’s a great way to have frozen organic berries on hand year round. And we know they are fresh.

We like when Costco has their Fresh Start Smooth Blend. This bag includes six smoothie pouches; each are 8 oz. Each bag contains blueberries, strawberries, raspberries, kale and spinach. It’s all organic. 

Buying organic berries is expensive but you can save money when you buy them frozen. You can blend these smoothie packs alone, add a banana, cooked sweet potato, etc. for a healthy breakfast or mid-day meal. 

We bought a Vitamix from Costco, and it’s been incredible. It is expensive but will last for years. It makes cooking from scratch a lot easier by saving time. Vitamix is on our list of items to make it easier to live palm oil free.

I also buy frozen organic fruit, including organic strawberries and organic frozen cherries. They make a great treat.

Fruits and Vegetables

Of course, Costco’s fresh fruits and vegetables are always palm oil free. In addition to the Costco foods above, we regularly buy fresh fruits and vegetables at Costco. We like their bag of organic Brussel’s sprouts, their organic apples, and their bananas. We regularly buy berries, tomatoes, organic potatoes, onions, greens, pineapples, watermelon, and more.

Sometimes near the produce section we’ll pick up their containers of dried figs and dates as well. We store them in the refrigerator for a healthy sweet snack. I also chop up dried figs and use the in this homemade granola recipe.

Costco Foods We Don’t Buy Because of Palm Oil

My hope is to help Everyday Consumers become aware of palm oil, to learn why palm oil in so many foods now, and to make some palm oil free substitutions.

There are hundreds of Costco foods we will never buy because of palm oil. I was interested to see someone started a petition encouraging Costco to use only RSPO certified palm oil in their Kirkland Signature products. It’s very encouraging and exciting to see people paying attention to the environmental impacts and the problem with palm oil by supporting this cause. 

For us, sustainable or not, we don’t buy anything with palm oil. This includes the following:

• Anything in Costco’s bakery: Breads, cookies, pies, cakes, etc. We make all of our desserts from scratch. See desserts without palm oil.
• Frozen pizza
• Ice cream products: See ice cream without palm oil for the brands we buy. 
• Anything in the Costco food court
• Costco prepared foods
• Costco finger foods
• Any of the protein or nutrition bars

One day I was browsing Costco aisles looking at all the snacks that contained palm oil ingredients. It was disappointing to see how many there were. There are some palm oil free options, such as nuts, but we need to avoid 95% of the snacks there.

Palm Oil Free Costco Foods

Because of my son’s palm oil allergy or intolerance, we cook at home most days and rarely eat at restaurants. Palm oil is in many foods under many ingredient names. Because of this, we try to keep ingredients simple and to eat as clean as we can. We find palm oil free foods at Costco helps us. 

We eat at home most meals because my son gets sick from palm oil. This is what my son typically eats: Eating Without Palm Oil List of Foods

Please note, we cannot guarantee these foods are palm oil free. To know a product is 100% palm oil free, it should be certified Palm Oil Free by the International Palm Oil Free Trademark Certification Programme or Orangutan Alliance. Both organizations certify products. There are hundreds of names for palm oil derivatives. Learn about palm oil uses and what palm oil is used for so you can avoid it.

See related:

• How to Use Less Palm Oil Each Week to Reduce Palm Oil Demand
• Palm Oil Free Products List
• Vegan Pantry Staples Without Palm Oil