I've been shopping at Costco for over 30 years. Here are 9 things I get there to make easy meals for my household of 2.

Of course, a Kirkland Signature rotisserie chicken is No. 1 in my book.

Many shoppers — including me — hardly ever leave the warehouse without a tantalizing, aromatic chicken in their basket. I divide the best parts (the breast meat and thighs) on a plate, add hickory-smoked baked beans and coleslaw, and dinner is served.

The rest of the meat goes into the freezer for chicken stock.

Hand-pulled rotisserie-chicken breast meat is another one of my favorite poultry buys at Costco.

Each no-frills pouch weighs nearly 3 pounds, so I like to repackage the chicken into three small Ziploc bags and freeze them.

I like to smother it with barbecue sauce for sliders, glaze it with Kinder's teriyaki marinade and sauce for rice bowls, or simmer it with noodles for a chunky homemade soup.

This 2-pound bag of farm-raised raw shrimp is another great find.

We grill shrimp with lime and Mexican-inspired spices for fajitas, sauté them for scampi, or toss them with seasoned breadcrumbs and oven-bake them for dippers.

Each bag gives us three meals for two people.

This jarred pesto is so good I've stopped making my own sauce. After I've used a bit of the jar, I spoon the remaining sauce into an ice-cube tray and freeze it.

Each cube is the perfect size for a dollop of flavor in a soup or sauce.

There are so many ways to use this pesto — we add it to a creamy spinach linguini, summertime pasta salad, or grilled shrimp with spicy red-pepper flakes and a squeeze of lemon juice.

This 21-ounce jar of Better Than Bouillon organic roasted-chicken base is great for when I don't have time to create my own stock.

The roasted-chicken base comes as a paste and can be mixed with hot water. I like to add it to soups, sauces, and even risotto.

The brand's beef and vegetarian varieties are also good, but there's always a jar of the chicken flavor in my fridge.

This USDA-prime tri-tip beef loin has abundant marbling for tender, juicy meat.

My technique for cooking tri-tips has remained the same over the years: I carve out one small oven roast for an upcoming dinner, then slice the remaining meat into various-sized steaks for grilling.

We freeze these tender steaks to barbecue for family-style dinners or use them for meals when it's just the two of us.

When our son lived with us, we'd slice up this master-carve half ham for family dinners with potato salad.

Now, we use part of it for two smaller dinners and chop the rest into slices, individually wrap them, and freeze them to add to mac and cheese, quiche, or scrambled eggs.

The bonus knobby-end piece of ham goes into the slow cooker with beans and other aromatics for an easy, hearty soup.

I like the Kirkland Signature solid-white tuna because it's full of nutrients. I use it in basil pasta with peas, crunchy tuna cakes, and cheesy sandwiches with capers.

If the recipe calls for oil-packed tuna, it's not a problem. I just flake the tuna, add a drizzle of Kirkland Signature olive oil (I always keep it on hand) and crushed garlic, and marinate the fish for 15 minutes.

Each box comes with eight cans of tuna.

You might think this three-pack of pasta would take two people a year to polish off. Not at my house.

The different shapes — farfalle, shells, and rotini — mix up our meals, and they're delicious when tossed with Rao's homemade marinara sauce. This trendy sauce is savory and not too acidic, with a consistency that clings to pasta without being overbearing.

This meal is also a lifesaver for dinner-malfunction days (when I forget to defrost my frozen pesto cubes).

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