10 Sam's Club Foods That Taste Homemade

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Most of the time, we don't expect supermarket food options to taste homemade. After all, if we wanted our dishes to have a homespun, made-from-scratch flavor, we'd roll our sleeves up and start cooking. Prepared foods from grocery stores offer convenience but don't necessarily promise cozy, homemade vibes. That's why it's so satisfying when we stumble upon foods that somehow combine a ready-made nature and a homemade taste, and you'll probably find more of these than you might think at Sam's Club. The big-box supermarket and Costco rival is already a great place to grab holiday items, but we can now confidently say that it's also a one-stop shop for a host of authentic-tasting foods that won't cost the earth.

The sheer breadth of items that taste homemade at Sam's Club might surprise you, too. The store's especially good at nailing the homely flavor of pies and soups, but sides like its mashed potatoes and dinner rolls also hit the spot and feel both fresh and comforting. It even manages to create homemade-tasting spanakopita that could well fool your guests into thinking you made it yourself. Plus, as all of these items come from its Member's Mark brand, you can expect them to be available in most Sam's Club stores across the country.

We don't think there's anything as comforting when the weather turns cool as a bowl of soup, and clearly, Sam's Club feels the same. Its Member's Mark Autumn Squash Soup feels like it's designed with pinpoint precision to make folks feel warm and fuzzy. If it had gotten its flavor wrong, it would have quickly become disappointing. Thankfully, it didn't. This soup has been heralded by customers for its homemade vibes. "Yummm, so flavorful and creamy. I love this soup!" said one review on the Sam's Club website. "It tastes homemade and can't wait for it to come out each fall." Some folks have even said that it's the best squash soup they've ever had, and considering that it's a supermarket item, that's enormous praise.

On a flavor level, Member's Mark Autumn Squash Soup is a bowl full of exciting contrasts. It balances sweetness and curried notes, with the two tied together with a lovely creaminess that isn't too unctuous. It's got a nice, vibrant color, but that vibrancy doesn't look artificial. Oh, and it's super easy to jazz up with your favorite soup toppers: chopped or fried herbs, crunchy seeds or nuts, or a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil would all go very well here.

There's nothing more disappointing than a bad store-bought chicken pot pie. At its worst, a ready-made pot pie can taste artificial, oily, and overly salty — and it's very easy for manufacturers not to put the work in to make their products actually taste good. That's why it's all the more impressive when they do, and Sam's Club definitely sticks the landing with its Member's Mark Chicken Pot Pie, which customers adore for its homemade flavor and the ease with which you can get that authentic taste without any effort. Some people have even compared it to their mom's homemade chicken pot pie, and if that isn't a glowing review, then we don't know what is.

Member's Mark Chicken Pot Pie also has a delightfully rustic appearance, which pairs with its homespun taste. The pies are made with a lattice lid, and the pastry is both thick and ever-so-slightly irregular, with the filling peeking out from underneath as it cooks. Inside, it's got nice, chunky chicken pieces and tons of fresh-looking veggies, which are cubed up enough to eat easily but not so small that they disappear. When making a chicken pot pie from scratch can take hours, why not make life easier for yourself and grab this one the next time you're in the store?

We've all had good mashed potatoes, and we've all had bad mashed potatoes — and in our experience, the latter have often come from supermarkets. Those packs of ready-made mashed potatoes may be convenient, but they can often have a strange, cloying taste and an overly oily texture. Luckily, Sam's Club doesn't mess up its recipe as much as other manufacturers have. Its Member's Mark Yukon Gold Mashed Potatoes are instead lauded for their freshness and authenticity. "I love these mashed potatoes. They taste more like homemade mashed potatoes than any other similar brand," said one reviewer on the Sam's Club website, just one of many positive assessments of this product from customers.

When you take a look at the ingredients for these mashed potatoes, you'll see why they taste so good. Member's Mark Yukon Gold Mashed Potatoes contain a refreshingly minimal amount of components, with milk, butter, sea salt, natural flavors, a preservative called nisin, and black pepper (as well as potatoes, of course). Because it's all pretty simple, the individual ingredients are allowed to shine through, just as they would when you make mashed potatoes at home.

Bad store-bought broccoli cheddar soup can be a disaster, and in the worst cases, it can be downright offensive. Anyone who's ever had the displeasure of eating overcooked, mushy broccoli and cheap cheese can attest to that. Member's Mark Broccoli Cheddar Soup, however, is a cut above the rest. This item has been dubbed "a grand slam" by one customer on the Sam's Club website, with others chiming in that it's the best store-bought soup they've ever purchased, particularly when compared to homemade options. Some have reiterated the closeness of its flavor to a homemade feel, while others still have simply pointed out how tasty it is.

Whatever way you look at it, though, there's no denying that Sam's Club has done a good job with this product. Unlike a lot of other broccoli cheddar soups, this Member's Mark soup actually includes visible pieces of the vegetable, giving your teeth something to grab onto. Combine that with a thick, creamy consistency and a rich flavor, and it's pretty much unbeatable. It's robust enough to enjoy as a meal on its own, or you can serve it up as an appetizer to your family.

It's pretty special when a supermarket cherry pie looks and tastes as good as the one you'd make at home. Sam's Club manages to offer its customers that sense of occasion with its Member's Mark Cherry Lattice Pie, which has a homemade feel and quality that customers have highlighted as a real selling point. This fan favorite certainly looks the part, with a rustic feel to its lattice top that leaves a lot of the cherry filling exposed. It's not too neat, which gives it a serious charm, and the slight bleed of the pie filling onto the pastry as it cooks gives it an authentic feel.

As for how it tastes — well, Sam's Club gets that just right. There's a slight sourness to this pie's filling that gives it a homemade feel, and it manages to pack a good amount of whole fruits in, which makes a change from those jellified cherry pies that some supermarkets offer. That sourness is balanced with a good dose of sweetness, too. The crust, meanwhile, is sturdy and doesn't go soggy the moment you start to cook it. All in all, it's hard to beat.

The allure of a good dinner roll is hard to beat, but its simplicity presents a problem. Because this food is made with such few ingredients, there's nowhere to hide, and store-bought dinner rolls that are full of additives and taste artificial immediately stand out. Sam's Club's a bit too intelligent to make that mistake, though. Its Member's Mark Yeast Dinner Rolls are instead baked goods that both look and taste homemade. They give people the ability to serve up a rustic accompaniment with no work at all. "Because of Sam's I can afford to add a homemade bun taste to our get togethers," said one reviewer on the Sam's Club website, with others saying that they might even be better than some of the homemade versions they've tried. Talk about a slam dunk, Sam's Club.

Member's Mark Yeast Dinner Rolls come in hulking 24-count bags, so they're superb for larger occasions like Thanksgiving, Christmas, or even just a family Sunday lunch. As you'd expect from dinner rolls, they have a delightful chewiness to them, but you can also firm them up easily in the oven. Each roll has a lovely shine on the outside, and they're baked with real skill, giving you a good consistency from roll to roll.

Pumpkin pie is one of those things that usually only comes out a couple of times a year, and so it's a sin to serve a bad one — and it can be a real risk to dish up a supermarket version for family and friends. If you opt for Member's Mark Pumpkin Pie, though, you can feel safe in the knowledge that you'll be getting a homemade-like option. When it comes to this pie, customers can't seem to agree, but in a good way. Some of them say it tastes homemade, while others say that it tastes even better than that. When people are arguing over whether a pie is good or really good, then you know it's doing something right.

We're not quite sure how Sam's Club conjures such freshness in its pumpkin pie, but it gets it just right. It's got a smooth, balanced, mellow flavor, which doesn't lapse into being cloying. Its crust isn't especially pronounced, but that allows the taste of the filling to shine through even more. Its large dimensions mean that there's more than enough to go around, too. Grab this for your next holiday party — you won't regret it.

It can be difficult to find store-bought spanakopita that tastes like the real thing. All too often, manufacturers resort to filling their spanakopita with a glue-like mixture of poor-quality spinach and cheese and then wrapping it in way too much pastry. Sam's Club doesn't make that mistake. Its Member's Mark Spanakopita from the frozen section is instead a gem of a product, with customers stating that these may even be better than their homemade version. Others have said that the Sam's Club version could well stand toe-to-toe with the spanakopita served in Greek restaurants. Talk about an item with a lot of love, huh?

Sam's Club Member's Mark Spanakopita gets all of its components just right. Its filling is creamy and rich, with the spinach helping to stop it from feeling too dense. The pastry, meanwhile, stays crisp and crunchy once it's cooked — no soggy bottoms here, folks. Crucially, neither of these things is too dominant, and the balance of filling and pastry feels right. Throw in the fact that you get 36 spanakopita per box, making it ideal as a party appetizer, and it quickly becomes a must-buy.

When store-bought guacamole is bad, it's really bad — and it's pretty rare to find a good product out there. That's why you should run to Sam's Club for its Member's Mark Guacamole. This guacamole has won rave reviews for its authentic flavor, and customers are quick to point out how homespun it feels. "We had catered a fajita buffet for our guest at a recent special celebration," stated one customer on the Sam's Club website. "This guacamole was better than homemade guacamole! The guest enjoyed it — to the last scoop!"

Where Member's Mark Guacamole stands out is in its freshness. Supermarket guac can often taste stale and strangely metallic, but the Sam's Club version has a vibrancy to it that customers adore. It's not too spicy, nor does it lack identity. Member's Mark Guacamole also comes in 12-ounce serving pouches, which is perfect for shoppers who know that they won't get through it all in one go. You can snip one open and enjoy it at your leisure, and save the rest for another time, without fear of it going bad overnight.

We wouldn't blame you if you didn't love supermarket banana muffins. A lot of the time, they're plagued by an artificial banana flavor that clings to the tongue and tastes nothing like the real thing. Amazingly, Sam's Club avoids this with its Member's Mark Banana Nut Muffins, which customers say have a homemade feel to them. People have observed that they taste like the banana bread you'd make in your own kitchen, and they don't have any of that weird preservative flavor that supermarket muffins can also suffer from.

Oh, and did we mention that Member's Mark Banana Nut Muffins are big? Well, they are -– very big. These muffins are absolutely enormous, and yet somehow, Sam's Club doesn't skimp on their quality. They're perfect for sharing with a friend or simply enjoying on your own. The crushed walnuts on top give them a nice crunch, too, and stop them from feeling excessively doughy. Trust us when we say this: We think you'll be pleasantly surprised by these muffins.