My wife and I, along with our toddler, absolutely LOVE going on "Costco dates" (ahhh the romance). Two slices of pizza, a hot dog and a drink, and if we're feeling spicy, one of their acai bowls, all for 11 dollars.

Doesn't get better than that.

The absolute key is to eat BEFORE you shop, because otherwise you end up with at least 30% more food that you probably wouldn't get if you weren't hungry.

We have two toddlers (1.5 and 3) and we LOVE Costco. Besides the food (which everybody loves) they have huge isles. Big carts. Lots of stuff for the kids to look at. If we’re overwhelmed we seriously just toss our kids into the back of the van and roll in there. They love being there and it’s a simple way to spend an evening together.

In Poland, when I lived closer to IKEA, I used to go there just for the hot dogs. The IKEA hot dogs are the pinnacle of perfection: a bun, a sausage, ketchup and mustard. Tasty, cheap, and without all the bullshit ingredients everyone else adds just to justify jacking up the price or to pretend to offer a healthy snack.

I like the chicken bake.

Nothing wrong with that - $1.50 for a hot dog with a la carte garnishes and a large drink? The value is nearly unbeatable.