These Are The Most Nostalgic Costco Foods

If you want comfort, go to Costco. It might sound like a slightly strange thing to do, but there's something warming and cozy about being under the halogen lights of its warehouse and traversing its endless aisles. Perhaps that's because Costco, despite its industrial feel at points, reminds us of being kids, wandering around for hours in this palace of bulk-buy goodies and begging our parents to buy those massive jars of jelly beans. Well, Costco's not blind to the effect it has on customers, and it reflects that somewhat nostalgic feel with an equally nostalgic selection of food. It's not all about massive boxes of diapers and toilet paper, folks: Costco's got an excellent selection of homely meals and snacks on offer, and you can purchase a whole load of them at once.

Somewhat pleasingly, too, you can find a lot of nostalgic name-brand items in Costco. Everyone from Kellogg's to Kraft Heinz put their products in Costco stores, with items like Rice Krispies Treats and Lunchables Stackers reminding you of childhood. Costco's Kirkland range also offers a wide selection of nostalgic entrées, and a lot of them are more affordable than you think. Grab your cart, and let's take a trip back to our pasts.

Do meals get any more nostalgic than mac and cheese? We really don't think so. Few things make us feel more like a child again than tucking into a huge bowl of creamy, cheesy noodles, ideally with a crunchy topping, and feeling as though the only thing we have to worry about is what homework we had to do that day. Costco's well aware of the power of mac and cheese, and it's even more aware that when it comes to this dish, the bigger the better. That's why its heaping tray of Kirkland Signature Mac and Cheese, which contains 12 servings, is the one to beat.

We've gotta be honest here: This multi-cheese affair isn't the most visually appealing of all of the store-bought mac and cheeses out there. There's no breadcrumb topping (although you could easily add one yourself), and the shredded cheese on top doesn't quite incorporate into the pasta. However, that's not really the point here. This meal is all about easy comfort, and that's exactly what you get with it. All you do is cover it in foil, pop it in the oven, and cook until hot and gooey. Then, grab your fork, relax, and dig in.

There's something about lasagna that feels very personal. It's the kind of dish that you figure out the more you make it, and the kind that has its recipes passed down from person to person, from family member to family member. It's also intensely cozy: Few things feel more calming than slicing out a large piece of lasagna and savoring every mouthful. However, a classic lasagna can also take hours to make, and not all of us have the time to make it from scratch. In those moments, you can reach for a pack of Giovanni Rana Beef & Short Rib Lasagna. 

Each heaping tray weighs in at over 2½ pounds, and while you can microwave it, we recommend oven-cooking for the best results. This lasagna is incredibly rich and perhaps a little fancier than the kind your grandma used to make, but its gourmet approach means that it really hits the spot flavor-wise. It's so well-regarded that judges for the Specialty Foods Association have picked it out as a must-buy item when shopping at Costco. Hey, we don't need telling twice!

Whether they were in your lunchbox, at a neighbor's barbecue, or served as a midmorning snack when you started to get cranky, we're willing to bet you had a lot of Rice Krispies Treats when you were growing up. Plus, unless you had the kind of mom who would make homemade Rice Krispies Treats whenever you wanted (and if so, lucky you), we're willing to bet that you ate a lot of the Kellogg's version. If you're sick of buying individual portions of Kellogg's Rice Krispies Treats, though, you're in luck: You can grab a pack of 60 from Costco.

This mammoth box of Rice Krispies Treats includes three different flavors: Original with Sprinkles, Chocolatey Drizzle, and Rainbow. With the amount of treats you get in each box, you won't have people fighting over them all. Their classic flavor feels largely unchanged since the first Rice Krispies Treats were invented in 1939 by Mildred Day, who was tasked with inventing new snacks by Kellogg's, eventually putting together this classic. While they might be a bit more colorful than the original recipe asked for, they still have marshmallows and crunch at their core.

We don't think any meal is more comforting than chicken pot pie. This nostalgic crowdpleaser isn't exactly hard to put together, but it does take a fair bit of time that a lot of people don't really have. Luckily, Costco has you covered, in typically massive proportions. Costco's Kirkland Signature Chicken Pot Pie is a real whopper, weighing in at over 5½ pounds and containing 18 servings. Made with all-white meat, it's ready to bake the moment you get it home, and offers a depth charge of coziness in every bite. Plus, it's pretty tasty. 

Costco's foods can sometimes be a little hit and miss, but when it comes to its chicken pot pie, it's done a great job. The pie has a delightfully creamy interior, which comes studded with all the veggies that you expect in this dish, as well as the meat itself. Although it can be a tad salty for some people, for most it'll be just right. Just bear in mind that thanks to its mammoth size, it needs a fair bit of time to cook: You'll need just under an hour for it to bake fully.

It was always a great day when you got Lunchables in your school lunchbox. Well, who says that kids have to have all the fun? If you want to take a real trip to the past, grab yourself some Lunchables Snacker Crackers from Costco. The retailer sells this item in packs of both four and six. Either size will give you two different flavors, with both ham and turkey paired with American cheese.

Lunchables are now almost 40 years old, meaning that we've come full circle with them. While we once used to get served them by our parents, now we serve them to our kids. To this day, they've retained their 90s feel, with even the packaging feeling vaguely familiar, much like the type we had when we were young. You don't just have to give them to your little ones, though: Grab yourself a Lunchables box and enjoy that feeling of being young again. Just be aware that this is a pretty salty thing to eat, whether you're an adult or a child, with each pack containing almost 700 milligrams of sodium.

When did you eat Hot Pockets? Was it as a bite to eat when you got home from school, as a weekend lunch, or as a midnight snack with your friends during sleepovers? If you're anything like us, the answer there is "all of the above." Hot Pockets have been a comforting snack ever since they first came out in 1983, and Costco isn't missing out on offering them to folks who want a blast from the past. Just make sure you have plenty of room in your freezer, though. The retailer offers Pepperoni Pizza Hot Pockets in a massive 20-count pack, so you're never short on them. To be honest, we don't know if we can get through that many, but hey, we'll give it a go.

At present, Costco seems to only offer the pepperoni flavor, which comes with a garlic butter crust. Although we'd love a little more choice, we're not complaining too much. The Pepperoni Pizza Hot Pocket has been praised as one of the best flavors, if not the best flavor out there. The pepperoni has a nice spice to it, and they really don't skimp on the cheese. If your local Costco is sold out of these, though, don't worry: You can still make homemade Hot Pockets with canned biscuits.

We don't know about you, but in our house, Saturday night was takeout night. That could only mean one thing: There was a lot of Chinese food on the table. The meal didn't feel complete if there wasn't an order of orange chicken in there, either. However, these days, times are famously pretty tough, and so we need to find a way to evoke that sense of childlike excitement without draining our bank accounts. Luckily, Crazy Cuizine Mandarin Orange Chicken is the way to do that. This hefty entrée comes in a two-count pack at Costco, and each one has a heaping pile of battered chicken inside. You can air-fry, oven-bake, or pan-fry the chicken pieces, and then just pour the sauce over them and let them stand for a few minutes.

Although this isn't the crispiest chicken in the world, where Crazy Cuizine really nails it here is with the look of its food. These orange chicken pieces look almost exactly like takeout, and each bite has a great amount of meatiness in it. Plus, the sauce is sweet and sour without being too cloying, and the packets offer a relatively light coating. Serve with some steamed rice, prawn crackers, and a fortune cookie or two.

If you thought we had listed all the nostalgic foods there were yet, we were saving the big one: Apple pie. Yep, that's right, people, the ultimate in nostalgic foodstuffs is readily available at Costco in a size that will feed not just a family, but a small village. Costco's Kirkland Signature Apple Pie has 16 servings per product, and it weighs almost 5 pounds. We'd like to say that we're splitting this pie up evenly, but let's be honest, most of the time, we're just digging straight in with a spoon.

Although the Kirkland Signature Apple Pie's sugar content is fairly high, Costco does really well with the balance of flavors. The pie is sweet without being too intense or sickly, which makes it feel more homemade than you might expect. The crust contributes to this, too. It isn't overly uniform or bland, but is instead flaky and a little rustic. Plus, Costco knows how to use spice in this pie, with both cinnamon and nutmeg notes shining through. This one's a winner.

Man, we love Bagel Bites. This snack (or lunch, or dinner) was massive in the 1980s and 90s, where it was advertised in typically frantic fashion, with the bites displayed as being the ideal snack for sporty days. We personally prefer to eat them with our feet curled up underneath us on the sofa, piled high on a plate. If you're like us, then you'll love getting your Ore-Ida Bagel Bites at Costco. The store serves them in a massive 72-count pack, so you'll never run low on them.

The Bagel Bites that Costco offers only come in a Classic Cheese flavor, but why mess with a classic? You can always top them yourself — at least, if you can beat your kids to eating them, that is. If you're worried that Bagel Bites have declined in quality since you were a kid, too, you'll be pleased to hear that they're still pretty good. Reviewers praise how easy these little pizza-like snacks are to prepare. Whether you like to eat them by themselves or enjoy them with something else for dinner (they go well with tomato soup), your kids will love these tasty treats while you enjoy the delicious flavor of nostalgia, fresh from the oven.

A Jimmy Dean breakfast feels like coming home. When the Jimmy Dean Meat Company was founded in 1969, Mr. Dean himself could hardly have known that he was going to create an American institution. Soon enough, both his meat products and his frozen breakfast sandwiches took off. Perhaps the shining jewel in the company's crown is the Jimmy Dean Sausage, Egg & Cheese Croissant, which is guaranteed to remind you of cozy Saturday mornings — you know, the kind where Mom couldn't drum up the energy to cook. We don't blame her, either.

Jimmy Dean Sausage, Egg & Cheese Croissants are available in abundance at Costco. You can get a sizeable box of 12 for just over $16, and each 4.5 oz sandwich provides a hearty breakfast. Oh, and if you're worried about getting through them in time, don't worry. Jimmy Dean frozen sandwiches can last for 210 days in your freezer, so you have more than half a year to enjoy these breakfast treats.