8 Costco Bakery Tips And Hacks Everyone Should Know

The Costco bakery is one of the most tempting areas in the warehouse, touting fresh croissants, huge muffins, and colorfully decorated cakes. It's impossible to stay away — but are you getting the most of this aisle? Many Costco shoppers don't realize there are some tips and tricks to guarantee you're getting the best bang for your buck at the big box store.

These strategies come from longtime shoppers and employees alike, shared on message boards and threads about Costco. Learn how to stretch the packs of massive baked goods past their expiration date, or buy your baked goods frozen and make them at home. Hosting a large event? Get your cake pre-scored and up your hosting game by giving everyone a perfectly equal slice. If you play your cards right, you might even get a free cookie for your little one who likes to come along on your shopping trips. With the right hacks, this section of Costco may become your new favorite.

Whether you're dreaming of a glamorous wedding or a small, backyard affair, the cake is often one of the most expensive things on a wedding receipt. Costco's custom cakes have become a cult favorite among those planning a wedding on a budget. While Costco doesn't market itself as a wedding cake bakery, it does offer custom cakes in varying sizes, including sheet cakes for events with higher guest counts. Costco actually has an entire wedding section on its website, offering not only cakes but also flowers and other wedding accoutrements.

You can purchase sheet cake in white or chocolate, frosted and filled with cheesecake mousse or chocolate mousse, respectively. One popular option on wedding forums is purchasing large sheet cakes for guests to eat and ordering a smaller, custom-decorated cake for the newlyweds to enjoy. Ordering a cake from Costco is extremely affordable and has been highly rated for both taste and appearance. Forum users also note that their guests rarely guessed that their wedding cake came from a warehouse store, so the couple was able to have the day they dreamed of while still saving a bit of money.

One of Costco's most beloved perks isn't listed anywhere officially, but longtime Costco devotees are abuzz about it on online forums and Reddit threads. This perk is a free cookie from the bakery for kids. Costco shoppers love talking about how this experience made the whole shopping trip with their parents worth it, because they had a fresh-baked cookie to look forward to. The type of cookie given out is never the same; it usually relies on what was in stock and fresh that day, but all you have to do is ask, and a bakery employee will most likely hand you a cookie for your troubles.

This practice isn't as universal as it once was; following the COVID-19 pandemic, many stores temporarily ceased their free samples, and the free bakery cookie was something that never quite made its way back to many stores. However, it never hurts to ask. Several warehouses still keep up this tradition, making a tiring afternoon of shopping a bit easier on the kiddos you may have in tow.

Because Costco sells such a large quantity of food, many things in the bakery section are pre-made or come to the warehouse frozen. But a few select items are made in-house fresh daily from scratch, ensuring a fresh and homemade taste. Among these scratch-made items are Costco's famous pies. Seasonal pies, like pumpkin and pecan, are some of the store's most popular, but the year-round pies such as lemon meringue, cherry, and blueberry are made in-house as well. These are one of the most popular items, as fresh-baked pies always taste best. Most of the store's bread is made from scratch as well, so the garlic bread or multigrain loaf you pick up for the week is guaranteed fresh.

Some items are made fresh, then frozen and driven to the warehouse. This applies to items like croissants and muffins. If you order a custom cake from the Costco bakery, you'll be happy to know that the frosting is made fresh, and the cake itself is made in-house, although not entirely from scratch, as pre-made mixtures of dry ingredients arrive at the store weekly. You can also always ask the bakery employees which items were made that day, and they'll be happy to share.

Costco items are famous not only for their quantity in a package but also for their size. Finishing a full-size container of muffins or croissants before they go stale can be a challenge, but you still want to be able to enjoy the bulk pricing. Many Costco shoppers on Costco forums recommend buying the large container of baked goods and freezing anything you might not use within the week. If you purchase a pack of eight of Costco's famous blueberry muffins, try slicing them into quarters and popping them into freezer bags so you can enjoy them for weeks to come. If you have leftover cupcakes, freeze them to celebrate later.

Users have freezing recommendations for almost every product available at Costco, but these tips are especially helpful for the sweet treats that you don't want to go to waste. If your family has something to celebrate but won't eat an entire cheesecake in one sitting, use Costco's handy score marks that come on cakes, portion the cake into slices, and freeze whatever is left over. You can also easily freeze Costco croissants, which heat up well in the air fryer and taste fresh-baked after just a few minutes. This tip is especially helpful for when Costco has two-for-one deals on baked goods, so you can score the low prices while knowing you won't be wasting any food.

Many shoppers don't realize how flexible the Costco bakery ordering system is. If you're planning a birthday party, an event for work, or another occasion, you can order baked goods like cookies, cupcakes, or sheet cakes in advance. If you've spaced on a potluck and forgot that you were the one who was supposed to bring dessert, you can also get bakery items delivered right to your door through the Costco Same Day delivery portal.

To order an item like a custom cake in advance, you can go to the bakery counter and fill out one of their custom forms. For items like custom-decorated cakes, it's wise to order two or so days in advance, but other stock items like cookies can be ready even quicker. Even if you aren't planning an event and are just craving some Costco tiramisu, you can order through the app or website and, through a partnership with Instacart, you can have your Costco sweets on your doorstep within an hour or two of ordering.

One of the lesser-known hacks of the Costco bakery section is asking for frozen baked goods to buy in bulk. Since not every bakery item is baked in-house, the bakery counter often has a large stock of frozen items baked there, such as croissants, cookies, and Danishes. If you love Costco cookies but are worried you won't eat them all before they go stale, buying frozen is the perfect hack. If you ask the bakery employees, they might sell you frozen cookie dough in bulk to bake as you like.

This isn't something that will necessarily happen at every Costco warehouse. It's mostly worked for people who have just asked the bakery employees nicely, so if you're unsure whether your store practices this policy, the best thing you can do is ask. This isn't limited to basic bakery items, either. Some Costco stores will sell frozen tuxedo cakes, turnovers, and cheesecakes, as well. It all comes down to what they have in stock and if they have that item priced to be sold frozen in bulk. But, if you're lucky, you'll walk away with a cart full of treats that you can use at your leisure without worrying about them going stale.

Serving cake to a large group of people can quickly become chaotic, but Costco offers a simple solution: ordering your cake pre-scored. A full-size Costco sheet cake can serve about 96 people, and trying to figure out how to evenly slice a cake that large can feel impossible. But, if you simply request on your order form that you'd like the cake scored, Costco bakers will include light marks in the frosting that indicate where you should cut it to make sure everyone gets the same-sized slice.

These score marks aren't visible from afar, but make cutting much easier when it comes time. You don't have to order a huge cake to feed the masses, either. Costco will score their smaller cakes as well, so even if you're hosting a small get-together for a birthday or graduation, you don't have to stress about wonky slices of cake. This is a small detail, but it shows the brand's commitment to convenience.

Costco has a famously generous return policy, one that extends even to food and bakery items. If you're unsatisfied with a bakery item, whether due to taste, freshness, or another reason, you can return it to the store, with one caveat: There must be at least 50% of the item remaining. So if you had a slice of cake that you didn't like, you can return the rest. But if you try to return the last bite of something, they most likely will not honor the return.

Reddit users in Costco message boards report that usually this policy is followed reasonably, with customers only returning things that truly have issues with taste or quality. Bringing back items that have spoiled before their expiry date or items where the quality is truly diminished helps build trust between the customer and the company, demonstrating that Costco does care about the quality of the items that are for sale. Once in a while there will be a wild-card return that employees cannot honor, but Costco employees report that often the return process goes by smoothly. This makes customers feel more comfortable buying in bulk, knowing their purchases have a safety net.