Is a Costco/BJ’s membership worth it?

[MrHT]

I’m a single guy that lives alone, so I never really felt the need to buy in huge bulks. Plus I don’t own a car since I live in NYC. So it’s not like I can buy a lot at once when I shop. But my uncle also lives alone and he tells me he exclusively does all his shopping at BJ’s because he said he saves a lot of money. He told me he buys a lot there because he has this attitude that the more you buy, the more you save. So he spends an average of around $500 per month there. When he tells me that, I can’t help but feel that those wholesale places are ripoffs. Since I live alone, I don’t usually spend more than $200 per month on groceries. In fact, if I spend $40 in a single week, that’s already a lot for me. So spending $500 sounds a bit excessive and doesn’t convince me that I’m going to really save by joining those places. And that’s another thing... the membership is an added expense as well.

So maybe there’s something I’m just not seeing. Will I really save a lot if I join Costco or BJ’s and shop there regularly instead?