The Fresh Reason You Should Never Buy Sour Cream At Costco

As any frequent Costco shopper knows, this chain holds plenty of treasure trove items, from the $5 rotisserie chickens, to really any of Costco's bakery items. Other products may seem like a great deal, but upon second thought, are a bit ridiculous if you aren't intending to use them in a commercial setting.

For instance, who actually needs 60 pounds of honey or 50 pounds of lard? And sure, Nutella is great, but does anyone need a seven-pound tub of it? And perhaps worst of all, who is going to Costco in search of a 208-liter barrel of olive oil? There's simply no way anyone could use up all of these products before they went bad.

And this is precisely why you should avoid buying sour cream at Costco. Like everything else in that massive warehouse of a store, the sour cream will reel you in with a low price, but trust us, it's not worth it.

Costco is a great place to stock up on nonperishable goods, or even to save a few bucks on smaller, fresh items. That being said, you definitely don't want to make the mistake of buying your fresh or refrigerated items in bulk. It's not going to end well.

Just as Costco produce comes in quantities much too large for any single family to eat before it spoils, so does Costco's sour cream. The store sells the stuff in three-pound tubs, and as one chef pointed out to Insider, even if you use the sour cream generously, it's still going to go bad before you can finish it off.

You could store your giant tub of sour cream in the freezer if you feel so inclined, but keep in mind that freezing and then thawing it will likely change the texture. You should also still use the sour cream within a few months of buying it, as the risk of bacterial growth only increases over time. Our recommendation? Just do yourself a favor and buy a smaller tub at another store.