The Costco Food Court Hack You Need To Get Frozen Groceries Home In Good Condition

Costco may be a wonderland for buying in bulk, but as any regular Costco shopper knows, buying in large quantities comes with foibles. That's particularly true for frozen items. It's one thing to buy them, it's another trying to keep them frozen on a long drive home. Fortunately, an easy hack can help customers keep all their cold Costco items good and chilled.

Costco's food court is famous for its pizza, but it also has an ice machine alongside its soda machine. That's where customers need to go to fill a container with ice for the long drive home. A 20-ounce soft drink is included in Costco's famous $1.50 hot dog deal, so customers can fill their cups and then fill other containers for their frozen foods.

It's an easy hack on paper, but it still requires some advance planning, namely having a container that can hold ice. Costco doesn't sell grocery bags, so customers should bring a bag or two, preferably insulated, so the ice stays cold. Second, the food court can get crowded, so timing is key so customers aren't holding up a busy line trying to fill multiple containers.

Costco doesn't appear to have a policy for how much ice a customer can take. In lieu of a bag of ice, some Costco employees encourage filling a plastic meat bag with ice at the food court since the ice is free. But going overboard or abusing the lack of rules (i.e. taking all the ice) may get a customer stopped by a manager (not to mention dirty looks from fellow customers), so this is one hack to use with care. As some customers on Reddit have noted, it's a helpful hack, but one that could very easily be frowned upon in the wrong circumstances.

There are other easy ways to snag ice from Costco to avoid stares and scoldings from management. While Costco doesn't sell frozen water bottles, customers have reported getting them in online orders packaged with cold items or goods that risk melting. Other retailers like Trader Joe's sell inexpensive frozen water bottles for exactly this reason — it costs less than two dollars to fill multiple bags with makeshift ice packs.

The other way to get ice at Costco is simple, buy a bag of ice where it's available. As customers have noted, some Costco self-checkouts have laminated bar codes for bags of ice, so those can be scanned and ice can be picked up heading out of the store. From there, the ice can be dispersed between multiple bags or put into a cooler along with your favorite cold Costco goods.