I've had Costco's executive membership for 16 years. My family swears by purchasing these 13 products.

• I've been an executive Costco member for 16 years and I love shopping there for my family of four.
• The produce section is great and Costco has some solid gluten-free products, too.
• We buy frozen fish, chicken nuggets, and ice cream at Costco.

I've had a Costco executive membership for 16 years — and I've recently been going to the warehouse chain more than ever.

When the cost of groceries went up for my family of four — me, my husband, two teens (16 and 13), and I decided to buy all of our food at Costco.

Although some grocery prices are cooling down, we're so happy with Costco that we're sticking with it. Our executive membership is a huge reason — it costs more than a standard membership, but we get an annual 2% back on eligible purchases. It basically pays for itself and then some for us each year.

We typically head to Costco once a month since the warehouse is about 35 minutes away. Here are the buys that keep my family going.

Prices may vary by location.

We stock up on fresh produce at Costco.

Both of my kids snack on veggies and dip, so I buy mini cucumbers, baby carrots, mini peppers, and assorted bite-sized tomatoes at Costco.

A lot of the produce is much cheaper than it is at our local grocery stores, and they come in larger quantities, which is important when we need them to last the month.

We're able to use a lot of it before it goes bad by getting creative. For example, if we have extra tomatoes, I use them for feta-and-tomato pasta bakes .

I especially love the price of carrots at Costco.

At Costco, we can get 4 pounds of baby carrots for just over $6.50.

It's a lot of carrots, but the price is so good. My kids like to pair them with dip, and sometimes I mince them and add them to sloppy Joes for a nice texture and sweetness — plus an extra serving of veggies.

If we're not eating the carrots fast enough, my daughter feeds them to the horses she rides.

My kids love Caesar salad.

My children are huge fans of Caesar salads, so I like that we can get 24-ounce Earthbound Farm kits for $9 at Costco.

I find these salad kits stay fresh longer than others I buy, and my kids enjoy putting them together.

I buy seasonal fruit at Costco, but the real bargains in the produce section are the berries.

At our local supermarkets, berries come in tiny, ridiculously expensive containers.

Fortunately, my Costco has 12 ounces of raspberries for just under $6, 12 ounces of blackberries for $4.50, and 18 ounces of blueberries for $5.50.

My daughter can't have gluten so we buy Udi's gluten-free whole-grain bread.

Gluten-free bread is typically expensive, and it comes in small packages that aren't conducive to keeping the bread fresh.

So, we get the two-pack of Udi's gluten-free bread at Costco for just $9. We find it lasts longer than most gluten-free breads we've tried.

My daughter, who can't have gluten, likes to pair it with Kirkland Signature oven-roasted turkey breast, which we also buy at Costco, for school lunches .

We get three 14-ounce packages of turkey for just under $12, which is much cheaper than cold cuts at our local supermarket.

Lotus Foods millet-and-brown-rice ramen is a gluten-free staple for us.

When I had a leaky gut, I needed collagen from bone broth (also available at Costco) every day. So, I started "Souper Sundays," where I'd make lots of soup and eat leftovers for lunch the rest of the week.

During this time, my family fell in love with noodle soup — especially ones made with the millet-and-brown-rice ramen noodles from Lotus Foods. They have a perfect taste and texture.

At our local supermarket, the noodles cost $6.19 for 10 ounces, but at Costco, we pay $9 for 30 ounces. I usually boil six bricks of noodles for a large pot of soup for the family, so the big Costco pack lasts us two batches.

Kirkland Signature salmon is quite affordable for us.

The Kirkland Signature farmed Atlantic salmon comes in 3-pound bags for $35.

We grill it from frozen most of the time and serve it over some fresh spinach or arugula with a simple vinaigrette of olive oil, red-wine vinegar, salt, pepper, and dill.

We go through a lot of the Just Bare lightly-breaded chicken-breast chunks.

The Just Bare lightly-breaded chicken-breast chunks — which some say are dupes for Chick-fil-A's nuggets — make it into our cart on every shopping trip.

The packages are much bigger than the ones we'd find at the supermarket, which is good because we go through them quickly for easy meals.

They're a steal at $18 for 4 pounds of bites.

Annie's mac-and-cheese variety pack is a staple for us.

Boxed mac and cheese is a great easy meal that my kids can cook on their own, so we stock up whenever we go to Costco.

We like to get the Annie's variety 12-pack for $17.

We get lemonade at Costco, too.

We regularly buy the two-pack of Kirkland Signature organic lemonade, and it's gone in a week.

Costco also carries a seasonal strawberry lemonade from Grown Right that our kids request year-round.

The mini chocolate-chip cookies from the bakery section are a family favorite.

We buy mini chocolate-chip cookies on every trip to Costco .

We used to buy the big ones, but we'd find them scattered around the house, partially eaten, so we switched to the small ones.

These are better for sharing — though we still sometimes find cookies scattered around the house.

The variety pack of Nestlé ice cream is a great buy.

The Nestlé ice-cream pack is big, but it's actually broken into smaller boxes by variety. This helps us store everything in our freezer.

My family likes having Drumsticks, ice-cream sandwiches, and ice-cream bars to choose from, too. We get 40 pieces for $18.

Ghiradelli brownie mix is always a win.

Ghirardelli triple-chocolate brownie mix is a lifesaver when we need a quick dessert to serve company or something to bring to a last-minute event.

I like that this box from Costco comes with six bags of mix.

Click to keep reading Costco diaries like this one .

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