Costco shoppers stock up on ‘boxes upon boxes’ of butter

Monday, 19 May 2025

Butter at the wholesaler was $9.99 per kilo and Auckland shoppers were making the most of it.

Costco shoppers are stocking up on ‘boxes upon boxes’ of cheap butter as the price for a block soars.

Mike Bloemendal told Stuff he thought the Auckland wholesale store would be quiet at 10am on a Monday.

The North Shore man works for himself and has the flexibility to pop in when it’s not going to be so busy, but got snarled in a butter buying frenzy.

He saw dozens of people stocking up on “boxes upon boxes” of $9.99 per kilo blocks of butter.

“It’s like a shark feeding frenzy,” Bloemendal said.

Shoppers are stocking up on boxes and boxes of $9.99 butter at Costco in Auckland.

“[A] staff member told me it will be gone in an hour and no more for two weeks. Seems you can buy up to 10 boxes per person.”

Recent figures from Stats NZ show that climbing butter costs are hitting Kiwis in the wallet. Prices have leaped by 65% in just a year, or $3 more for a 500 gram pack.

Infometrics’ chief forecaster has said this is due to high demand for butter overseas, which is pushing up local prices.

Woolworths own brand butter was $8.50 for 500g, with Anchor’s costing $11. It was on sale on Monday for $9.90.

People loading up their trolleys with boxes of butter at Costco.

One hack a mum shared to Facebook for saving money on butter, was buying cream and making the butter herself.

In about 10 minutes you can turn a 500 millilitre bottle of cream and a pinch of salt, which would set you back no more than $5, into a block of homemade, spreadable butter.

To make it yourself, you need to whip the cream in a bowl as if you’re making whipped cream, then keep going and going and going until the butter forms. If you have the arm strength you can even just shake the bottle of cream until it goes solid.

The cream will then separate into a liquid and solid form, with the liquid being buttermilk. You can keep it with the solid butter or strain it for other recipes such as fried chicken.

But, if you were wanting to make a full 500 gram block of butter, you’d need at least one litre of cream, which cost between $8 and $9, so a block of butter might not be so bad after all.

Especially not if you’re one of the people braving the crowds at Costco to get it cheaper.

A Costco spokesperson said its management declined to comment.