We have a Sam's here in town and last week a new Costco opened. I've been a long time Sam's Club shopper, both in-store and online but have never lived close enough to a Costco to make it worthwhile to even check out. Some people swear by Costco, and I know it's a good company to work for and the quality of fresh and pantry groceries offered is great, too. We plan on a visit just to see what they've got/what's different from Sam's. The interesting thing is they located the new Costco very close to the Sam's Club, and on the same side of the street. Competition is a good thing.
As I make my Sam's list, I have the Sam's website open and will open up the main categories just to see if they've added anything new that I don't already have on the list you can make in your online account. Last weekend I noticed they're offering canned roast beef in beef broth (not gravy) for shipping only. I'd never seen it offered before, so not sure how long they've carried it. I'm not sure if it's an item that's available in-store at other locations or not, which is sometimes the case. Anyway, it looked very similar to the canned roast beef available at Walmart (when it's on the shelf, many times it's been picked clean), and I decided to order some. The brand is Butterfield Farms, and I've had some of their smoked ham pieces in the smaller 5.5 oz cans, and it was just as good as the similar size cans of Hormel smoked ham pieces.
The order got here yesterday. My thinking is that the size (12 oz.) is not that much smaller than the small cans (14.5 oz.) of Keystone beef and would be well-suited for making beef and noodles, vegetable beef soup, any recipe where you'd want more meat than one of the smaller cans. I'm going to make beef and noodles tomorrow and will report back on taste, etc.
$16.78 / $4.20/ea
(prices will undoubtedly vary nationwide, that's the price I paid)
Here's a cost comparison:
Keystone
$0.38/oz (PLUS shipping, which will vary by location shipped to)
SAM'S / Butterfield Farms
0.35/oz (FREE shipping with Sam's Plus)
If the product quality and taste is reasonably comparable to Keystone, the savings could be considerable.