Costco's 12-inch cheesecake is a staple in the warehouse's cakes and pies section.

Although $19 is a good price for such a big cheesecake, it's one of the most expensive items I purchased.

I liked that this cheesecake wasn't dense. Instead, it was incredibly fluffy with a texture that reminded me of a soufflé.

It was so light that it started to fall apart when I pulled a slice onto my plate. The taste made up for the messy slice — this cheesecake was super creamy and not overly sweet, with a slight tanginess to balance its flavors.

I can't wait to try it again with fresh fruit.

During one shopping trip, I looked at desserts just a few weeks before the Easter holiday.

I found a pretty bar cake with layers of carrot cake and cream-cheese frosting, plus a smattering of toasted walnuts on top.

At $19 for a cake that's almost 3 pounds, it seemed like an affordable option to bring to a holiday gathering.

I love carrot cake, but I wished this one had more flavor and moisture in the cake layers.

In my opinion, they were quite dry and tasted a bit bland. I wished the cake had a more spiced flavor.

For the most part, I could only taste the sweet, tangy frosting, which was nice but a little too much for the cake.

The banana cream pie was about as big as the other cakes in this section, which are 10 inches, and cost $16.

The pie had a good balance of flavors and textures. The crunchy graham-cracker crust held together well and added a contrast to all the creamy layers.

I liked that the banana pudding had a natural taste, not an artificial one. The caramel on top added some depth in flavor, but it was subtle.

I wish there had been more caramel, and I think I'd slice some fresh banana on top for serving next time, but overall this was one of my favorite Costco desserts.

The chocolate-covered strawberries were in their own little cooler toward the front of the bakery section, and they were marked down from $13 to $6.

On this trip, I went to Costco one day after Mother's Day, so I assumed these were leftovers from the holiday.

Some of the strawberries looked a little worse for wear, but I managed to find some that didn't look past their prime.

The strawberries selected for this dessert were impressively big, yet they were no match for all of the chocolate they were dipped and drizzled in.

With each bite, I only tasted the rich, hardened chocolate, despite how ripe and juicy the berries were. I'd probably skip these in the future.

Although this dessert was among the most expensive desserts I tried at $19, it was well worth that price based on presentation alone.

It has really pretty layers of strawberries, cream, and vanilla cake, plus striped white-chocolate decorations on top.

This cake seems to be a seasonal one that Costco sometimes brings back in the summer months.

I wished this one tasted as good as it looked. I expected it to be sweet — it is dessert, after all — but this cake was too overly sweet to me.

I think it would've had more balanced flavors if it had a little less strawberry filling and thicker layers of cream.

Like the strawberries-and-cream cake, the tuxedo cake is a long, rectangular layer cake with a pretty design and white-chocolate decorations on top.

I loved the look of this $18 cake and thought it was the most attractive dessert I purchased.

This dessert is extremely rich and dense, with chocolate in mousse, ganache, and cake forms.

There were fudgy, brownie-like pieces between the layers of mousse and they ended up being my favorite part of the dessert.

I'd like more of the vanilla mousse filling to balance out all of the chocolate, and I'd probably serve this with some strawberries for a fresh element, but this is a tasty and impressive dessert I would buy again.

The chocolate-chunk cookies are a staple in the bakery section of Costco. I got 24 cookies for just $10, and I thought they'd be perfect to pick up for a potluck or other gathering.

They looked great, too — they seemed soft with some crispness on the edges.

Although I prefer baking my own cookies when my sweet tooth strikes, these were a fine alternative.

The cookie was soft without falling apart, and I liked that the chocolate had a strong, sharp flavor to cut through the sweetness of the cookie.

However, these cookies were a little dry, so if I bought them again, I'd also get milk to serve them with.

In the bakery section, I saw a pack of what looked like six cupcakes, but once I got closer, I realized they were pretty large cupcakes or "mini cakes."

The Mini All-American Cakes are seasonal, and a few packs were available during my shopping trip to Costco.

One cake in each pack had a red frosting heart. Most of the packs had the red frosting stuck to the container, but I did find one package with an unblemished frosting heart.

Every mini cake included a generous portion of super fudgy frosting on top, and the pack of six cost $9.

I thought the tuxedo chocolate-mousse cake was chocolaty, but these mini cakes put that dessert to shame in terms of chocolate flavor.

It was so intense and rich I could only take one bite, and the chocolate flavor lingered for a long time in my mouth.

These mini cakes are best shared, and I'd need a lot of milk to finish even half of one. In the future, I'd skip these and instead grab a full-size chocolate cake.

The 10-inch chocolate cake with chocolate mousse was available in a few different designs — no personalization needed.

There was a plain option, a birthday option, and a really cute springtime design with floral frosting decorations, which is what I ended up selecting.

This massive cake, which had light cutting guidelines for 16 slices in the frosting, was $16.

Although the chocolate cake and the mini cakes are similar, the chocolate mousse layer in the full-size cake added a much-needed lighter, creamy element to balance out the fudgy icing and rich cake.

Because of the added mousse, I'd be more likely to buy this cake again, even though I wasn't a huge fan of the mini cakes.

I picked up Costco's 2-pound lemon-blueberry loaf in the spring.

The loaves looked incredible, with heaps of crumble topping and an icing drizzle all over. It also seemed like a good deal at $9.

I cut out a slice and was happy to see blueberries toward the top and middle of the loaf — they hadn't all sunk to the bottom.

The loaf itself was light and spongy with a good lemon flavor, which paired well with the chewy blueberries and crunchy crumble topping. I'd happily buy this dessert again, and I'd love to try it warmed with a scoop of vanilla ice cream on the side.

I love vanilla cake and cheesecake, so I was particularly intrigued by Costco's 10-inch white cake filled with vanilla-cheesecake mousse.

The entire cake seemed like a great deal, too, at $16. It had a wavy frosting design that could easily be personalized with a message.

This was an instant favorite of mine, and I knew right away I'd buy it again for any celebrations I have coming up.

The cake was so light it reminded me of angel-food cake, and the cheesecake was rich, a little dense, and creamy. The thin frosting layer on top was just the right amount to keep the cake from being overly sweet.

It would be even better with fresh fruit on top.

I was intrigued by this springtime pie, which is filled with apples, strawberries, and raspberries. It had a lattice crust that looked perfectly golden along the edges, but it was a bit pale in the center.

At $16, the pie was one of the more affordable desserts, especially considering how large it was at nearly 5 pounds.

The Kirkland Signature apple-berry pie will certainly satisfy a sweet tooth.

I found the filling, which was very thick, gooey, and sticky, to be extremely sweet. Even just a couple of bites of this pie felt overwhelming to me.

The outer parts of the crust were perfectly crisp and buttery and melted in my mouth. However, the paler center pieces were soft and slightly soggy.

I could see pieces of strawberry and apple in the filling, but the raspberries seemed to have broken down entirely. I also noticed a lot of seeds in the filling; I didn't taste or feel them in my bites, but they didn't look the most appetizing.

Still, the pie was good, at least in small quantities.

Costco's classic cheesecake was a hit for me, so I had high hopes for a tiramisu version of it.

This variety had a simple, but pretty, design with piped whipped cream around the top and a light dusting of cocoa powder to mimic tiramisu.

This was the most expensive dessert I tried at $24, but it seems like it could serve a pretty big crowd, given it's 4 ½ pounds.

Costco's tiramisu cheesecake was certainly worth the price.

The cheesecake had a crunchy, chocolaty base with a thick layer of coffee-flavored cheesecake and a top layer of whipped cream.

Its combination of fluffy whipped cream, rich and tangy cheesecake, and crunchy chocolate worked both texturally and flavor-wise.

The only things that would improve this cheesecake would be a side of sliced strawberries and a mug of piping hot coffee.

Overall, this was one of my favorite desserts from Costco.

All in all, I'd buy nine of these 13 desserts again.

There's a tie for my favorite between the banana cream pie and the white cake with vanilla-cheesecake mousse. Both the classic and tiramisu cheesecakes are also high on my list.

I'd skip the chocolate-covered strawberries, strawberries-and-cream bar cake, the carrot bar cake, and the Mini All-American Cakes.

Of course, regardless of which desserts I'd buy again, I'd make sure to get them when I plan to be with friends or family because most of them were massive.

This story was originally published on June 3, 2024, and most recently updated on April 11, 2025.

I was a vegetarian for nearly 10 years, but recently began incorporating meat into my diet for health reasons.

However, I was quickly appalled by how much money meat added to my grocery bill, even when splitting costs with my partner.

To use less meat while still ensuring our meals would be satisfying, I decided to load plant-based protein sources and produce into every dish.

Instead of expensive eggs and breakfast meats, I started my days with oatmeal and yogurt topped with fruit I wanted to use up and seeds or nuts for protein.

I also used lunches and dinners to load up on produce and reduce food waste, from cooking veggies close to spoiling in quick curry sauces to tossing them onto store-bought frozen flatbreads.

Whenever I felt like I didn't have much time to prepare meals, I relied on premade ingredients.

For example, it's easy to spruce up a frozen flatbread with my favorite toppings. Jarred sauce, boxed pasta, and pre-grated cheese can also be great in a pinch.

This was rarely the most cost-effective option, but premade items helped me stay on track on especially busy days. There's no shame in not making every component of a dish from scratch.

The month of this experiment included a lot of celebrations, including multiple date nights.

I was worried they wouldn't feel as special if we didn't go out, but we made restaurant-worthy meals and shared special moments — all while saving money.

One date-night meal included chicken cutlets, lemon-garlic pasta, and Broccolini, and another featured lamb chops, asparagus, and smashed potatoes.

Either of those dishes would easily be over $25 each at a nice restaurant. The groceries to make them cost less (and sometimes gave us leftovers).

With at-home date nights, we saved money by sharing bottles of wine at home instead of ordering marked-up glasses while out at dinner.

Since we were home, I also had the time and resources to make mocktails using sparkling water that I made with a carbonator. This was way cheaper than ordering spirit-free drinks at restaurants, which often cost almost as much as a cocktail.

Overall, eating at home helped curb expensive food (and bar) tabs while still allowing us to treat ourselves and celebrate.

During the experiment, my mom and younger sister visited for a weekend. Instead of dining out, we took time to cook together.

We made homemade pasta, which we paired with kale, mushrooms, and jarred sauce. Then, we finished our meal with chocolate-covered and cheesecake-filled strawberries. They were ugly and messy, but delicious.

I was pleasantly surprised by how quickly our dishes came together and how fun it was to make them with my family.

When my partner is out of town for work, I usually treat myself to takeout. Instead, I decided my treat would be preparing myself easy but delicious homemade meals.

I made white-cheddar pasta with apples, kale, and bacon; Parmesan-crusted grilled cheese with basil-tomato soup; and an easy spaghetti dinner with lentils.

All in all, it was fun to find new ways to make dinner feel special that didn't involve complex recipes or ordering food online.

In a typical month, I eat nearly every breakfast and lunch at home, but dinners easily veer off track.

When my partner and I are tired from a long day, we often ditch whatever dinner we'd planned to make at home and go out to eat instead.

So, this month, I had to learn to embrace leftovers when I was tired of cooking. To keep myself from getting bored, I looked for ways to spruce them up.

I found certain leftover foods, like cooked chicken or roasted vegetables, were easy to turn into something fresh by changing up my sides and sauces.

Finding new recipes to throw in the mix helped me prevent boredom in the kitchen.

Throughout the month, I tried lots of new recipes, like a carrot-and-arugula salad, coconut-crusted chicken tenders, and lamb cutlets — all of which are now in our regular rotation.

Plus, keeping fruits and veggies in the freezer and staples like seeds, nuts, beans, and legumes in the pantry made it easier to throw together simple dinners when I didn't feel like cooking.

My partner and I typically dine out casually one to three times a week (about $30 to $50 each time), and go on a nicer date night around once a month (easily $150 to $300 a meal).

Before this, I'd estimate we usually spend at least $100 on dining out a week in addition to regular grocery spending.

Groceries certainly aren't cheap right now, but when they were our only food expense this month, we saved so much money.

Much to my surprise, our grocery spending (typically around $70 to $120 a week) didn't increase much over the month — probably because I spent more time planning our meals. We also wasted less food.

It's a lot easier to not let produce go bad or forget about it when you're pushing yourself to cook every meal at home and not giving yourself an easy out by ordering delivery from a restaurant.

Throughout the month, I loaded up on a lot more veggies and fruit than I would've had I been regularly dining out.

I felt a lot more energy toward the latter half of the month, which I attributed partially to the healthier meals (and partially to some warmer, spring-like weather). I found I was able to go for longer walks and spend more time at the gym than usual, too.

I'd also argue having mocktails at home instead of ordering cocktails out contributed to my feeling better physically over the month.

Ultimately, from the start of the year until the end of the cooking-from-home experiment, I lost about 10 pounds and felt much better mentally and physically.

After a month of eating only home-cooked meals, I saved a lot of money and felt much more energized, but I never felt left out of any celebrations.

I love dining out, but this process reminded my partner just how much we could save by making meals at home. I feel inspired to save going to restaurants for fewer, more special occasions — especially now that I've added so many great recipes to our repertoire.

Although cooking can still feel like a chore, I learned combining new recipes with repeat staples is my ideal way to keep meals feeling exciting and appealing.

Plus, I realized just how much leaning on premade ingredients, like jarred sauces or frozen flatbreads, can make cooking more accessible, especially on busy nights.

Fortunately, these results were so impressive that it's already been easier for me to cook more meals at home since the month ended.