The Healthiest Costco Foods for Athletes, According to a Registered Dietitian

As athletes look to eat healthy while saving money, Costco has become the place for scoring mammoth deals on groceries. After all, who doesn’t love affordable groceries?

And yes, Costco has plenty of affordable healthy groceries. It might seem like they’re hard to find amid the colossal tubs of M&Ms and lifetime-supply jugs of ranch dressing, but nutritious options at lower price points are plentiful. You only need to be strategic about what you buy.

I worked my way through the Costco product lineup to round up the healthiest Costco foods for athletes. Add these to your shopping list the next time you are ready to push around that oversized shopping cart.

The best healthy Costco foods for athletes

Kirkland Signature Organic Peanut Butter  

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Costco’s in-house brand Kirkland Signature offers a two-jar pack of its creamy organic peanut butter for a smooth $13, meaning you can go nuts on the cheap. There are only two ingredients in this product – organic roasted peanuts and sea salt – so you side-step the not-so-great palm oil and sugar included in many brands of peanut butter.

Because peanuts are technically a legume and not a nut, peanut butter provides slightly more protein than spreads made from tree nuts (including almonds), plus peanut butter can help you achieve your daily fiber needs. Add quality calories by using peanut butter on everything from toast to oatmeal and smoothies to homemade energy bars. Or simply sneak a spoonful if you want to feel like a kid again – we promise not to tell Mom.

Chomps Original Beef Sticks

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Slim Jim they are not: These meaty sticks are made with grass-fed beef and a nice seasoning mix. With 10 grams of high-quality protein in each stick, they can certainly help you snack your way to muscle gains. The sodium is useful after you have worked up a hefty sweat, and the meat sticks are made with no added sugar, which is rarer than you might think in the dried-meat world.

Kirkland Signature Extra Fancy Mixed Nuts, Unsalted

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This bag contains a delicious mix of almonds, cashews, pecans, pistachios, and no extra fluff – all at a very reasonable $15 for 2.5 pounds. The beneficial fats and protein make a handful or two of this next-level nut mixture a great snack option to help hard-charging athletes meet their lofty calorie needs.

There is also increasing evidence that regularly consuming tree nuts, like almonds and pecans, can help lower the risk of heart disease. It’s likely the nutritional matrix of nuts that makes them a heart-health hero. To maintain freshness when you don’t plan to polish off a bag in short order, store some of the nuts in the freezer.

Wild Planet Wild Pacific Sardines in Extra Virgin Olive Oil

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They might be small, but sardines pack a big nutritional punch. They’re high in protein to aid with muscle recovery as well as a fantastic source of heart-benefiting omega-3 fats, vitamin B12, and vitamin D. The sardines from Wild Planet simply taste better than most of its competitor brands, in large part due being packed in extra virgin olive oil instead of cheap industrial grease. By purchasing them in this six-count package, you’ll save big on this pantry staple. Use in sandwiches and pasta dishes, or smash them on crackers for a post-workout protein punch.

Kirkland Signature Sunsweet Whole Dried Plums

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Dried plums (AKA prunes) are nature’s candy, with the bonus of providing valuable fiber, antioxidants, and the electrolyte potassium. Most people think of these fruits as a way to keep your digestive system running like clockwork, but a few dried plumes can be an energizing pre-workout snack. Simmer these plums with oatmeal, add slices to a bowl of yogurt or cottage cheese, blend them into smoothies for some recovery carbs, or use the naturally sweet dried fruit to replace some of the added sugar and fat in baked goods.

They’re also a fast-digesting, more natural carb source for workouts – a half cup delivers about 55g of carbs, which can certainly help you reach your hourly carbohydrate goal. Pitted dried plums tend to be more moist than other dried fruits, so they go down easier when you are pushing the pace. Just make sure you experiment using them during training to gauge tolerance.

Bobo’s PB&Js Oat Sandwich Bar, Variety Pack

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Chewy cookie, meet energy bar: BOBO’s takes the best of both for a delicious and nutritious snack. If you get burnt out on the standard energy bars and gels, these fruity-stuffed oat-based cookie bars are a delicious energy source when you going hard for a long period of time. They have the nutritional make-up to also help you recover like a pro, so stash them in your swim bag for a post-workout snack.

Kirkland Signature Organic Quinoa

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Ringing in at $11 for a 4 1/2 pound bag, this is likely the cheapest quinoa around. This fact alone makes it a more-appetizing option for for some quality carbs. Headlines trumpet the health benefits of quinoa for good reason: it’s packed with valuable vitamins, minerals, and fiber, and can easily be swapped with rice or pasta in many dishes. You may have also heard that the protein in quinoa is of higher quality than what is found in many other grains, making it an even more valuable healthy staple for athletes.

Go Raw Sprouted Organic Pumpkin Seeds with Sea Salt

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Though nuts get all the glory, seeds are also a nutritional treasure trove for athletes. In particular, pumpkin seeds provide solid amounts of plant-based protein, bone-assisting phosphorus, and magnesium, a micronutrient essential for dozens of vital bodily functions. The sprouting process of this product might make those nutrients in the pumpkin seeds more available. Enjoy a handful for a nourishing snack, or sprinkle the seeds on cereal, yogurt, salads, soups, and chili.

Crunchmaster Multi-Grain Crackers

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When it comes to crunchy carby calories, these crackers are a nutritional upgrade from most chips on the market (and certainly healthier than Cheeze-Its and Goldfish crackers). Made with brown rice flour and a range of seeds including flax and sesame, Crunchmasters are also a good option for those who need to steer clear of gluten.

Dietary guidelines suggest that most of us should be getting at least half of our grains from whole-grain sources, which is especially true for triathletes who may spend a lot of time pounding back the simple carbs when training and racing. Enjoy them with a smear of peanut butter, a chunk of cheese, or dunk the crackers into dips.

RxBar Protein Bars, Variety Pack

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Made with real food ingredients with a straightforward, simple ingredient list that contains no added sugar, these bars give athletes a healthy protein bar option without the proccessed foods. All the sweetness hails from dates and egg whites, wich are a clever way of working in high-quality protein without relying on the industry standard of powders or somewhat-strange soy nuggets. The carb-protein combo makes the bars a smart choice after a tough workout to help you bounce back faster or for a well-balanced snack, and there aren’t any ingredients that could bring on digestive woes for athletes.

Chosen Foods Avocado Oil Spray

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The avocado oil spray, sold as a duo of large cans that will last you a long time, is a great heat-tolerant option for greasing pans and baking dishes for fewer calories. Avocado oil contains mostly monounsaturated fat, which is considered more beneficial to heart health than detrimental. The spray (which relies on good old-fashioned air pressure only) contains expeller-pressed avocado oil and nothing suspect.

S&W Organic Black Beans

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Working out to a mere $1.25 a can, this eight-count pack of beans is a budget-friendly way to work organic plant-based protein into your diet. The nutritional clout of black beans includes a range of micronutrients including folate and magnesium, hefty amounts of fiber to support the microbiome, and the same health-hiking anthocyanin antioxidants you find in blueberries. These beans are packed in BPA-free cans, and their use knows no boundaries: add them to soups, chili, grain bowls, salads, dips, burritos, veggie burgers, and salads.