Costco is my favorite store for the same above reasons everyone mentioned. Additionally their filet's are very well-priced and excellent in quality. The Honolulu and Japan Costco stores carry sashimi, sushi and seaweed salad... <big sigh....> Actually the Japan Costco is like being in a dream... California Costco's will carry seasonal items like Mooncake. Anyways, Costco has great prices on tires and gas as well. Costco used to be the best place to purchase fresh aji and wild Sockeye and Keta salmon.

Geo wrote:TODC and I made a quick run through the Costco in Montreal/Anjou last night, mostly stocking up on stuff to run the new flat. Canned seafood was amazingly long--5 different kinds of tuna??

All in all, I was very pleased at the potential--it's neat to see the regional/cultural differences.

Geo

I agree, its very neat to see the cultural differences! I make it to canada several times a year, and if I'm driving I always make a point to stop at Costco there.. There are some great things in Canada, some of which just can't be gotten here.

I've been to 4 or 5 different Costcos in Canada ... It seems that there are a number of products where there is a HUGE selection of various types of the same thing... whereas in the US there is really no choice in a lot of things (its that brand, that flavor, what they have is what they have)..

in canadian costcos, there are a gazillion different flavors of Lays potato chips... 5 or 6 different types of Kit Kat and other candy bars we're familiar with, but didn't know they made "flavors" of... a gazillion different types of sausages... etc..

A "must get" for me is Heinz ketchup.... even though Heinz makes the ketchup in Canada, its a different formula than they use in the US. the basic difference is ours is made with High Fructose Corn Syrup and Tomato concentrate, and the Canadian version is made with liquid sugar and Tomato paste. you can get this anywhere in canada, but its by far cheaper at costco in canada.

another thing I always see in Canadian Costco's is a product that Trader Joe's carries... Vaccuum sealed frozen french onion soup.... TJ's sells 2packs for $5... in canadian costco they are in 4 packs and are half that price. the packaging even LOOKs the same, so i'm pretty sure its made by the same vendor.

one thing that's obviously lacking in Canadian Costcos is liquor/wine/beer... which of course is only sold in gov't stores or at the actual winery that makes it...

dddane wrote:in canadian costcos, there are a gazillion different flavors of Lays potato chips...

Whereas locally, they seem to have stopped carrying Lays altogether.

Good News!

Marantha Organic Peanut Butter is back in stock at Costco-Oakbook. $6.99 for a 2 pack. Just in time for me... I'm almost out of my very last jar.

Keli

HI,

At the Glenview location yesterday, they were selling six Cedar planks sized 7 x 15 inches for $9.99. I also bought an empty propane tank for my turkey fryer for $20.

Regards,

Has anyone else tried the Bialetti nonstick pans? My nonstick pan wore out, so I bought the set of three(small, medium and large) for $20. I didn't expect anything from them, they were so light and cheap. They turned out really nice, though. They're aluminum coated in teflon stuff, and they heat up very evenly and slowly. Nothing sticks, and food browns well. After a month of heavy use they're still like new.

Hi,

Costco in Glenview is selling frozen 2.5 pound boxes of Wagyu hamburger in 5 ounce patties for around $12.

Regards,

I just bought the Cook's Illustrated Best New Recipe cook book for $20. It retails for $35, so that's a pretty good deal. They also had the CI Side Dishes and Light Recipes books, both $20.

HI,

I saw what appears to be a fuzzy logic rice cooker at Costco for $29.95 last week. It had settings for white and brown rices, oatmeal etc. IF someone sees it who knows more about these machines, then please comment if it is what I think it is and whether it is worth purchasing.

Regards,

Cathy2 wrote:I saw what appears to be a fuzzy logic rice cooker at Costco for $29.95 last week. It had settings for white and brown rices, oatmeal etc. IF someone sees it who knows more about these machines, then please comment if it is what I think it is and whether it is worth purchasing.

I have a friend with one of those (what brand/model did you see?) and it's one of the few "single-function" appliances she will tolerate because it can do more than just cook rice and grains. She really likes it. It was her husband's idea to get it, and she didn't want to, but now she is glad she has it.

ps - which Costco, Glenview? wonder if they have them at the one near me (Damen and Clybourn)

HI,

I was in a race to get going so I didn't take down the info (or take a picture). It was in the Glenview location I saw it.

Regards,

Speaking of steals at Costco, did anyone else pick up the iron outdoor dining chairs for $18.97 apiece? After picking up 4, I later noticed the same chairs at the outdoor space at Volo in Roscoe Village.

This week at Costco:

800 mL Maille dijon mustard - $4.49

Any two club-sized ruffles chips (we got all dressed) $5.56.

Oh, and the dining area had montreal smoked meat sandwiches (mediocre) and poutine (gravy was a little watery).

Needless to say, this was in Canada.

As a counterpoint to the anti-Warehouse Club rant over on Non-Food (and I believe he's speaking about the actual place called Warehouse Club specifically), I had a wonderful Costco-fueled dinner tonight.

Lamb loin chops at $6.99/lb. The smallest package had 7 of them at a little over 2 pounds, and we were both reasonable eating two each.

A quick 20-minute marinade with three cloves of garlic shredded on a microplane, some good olive oil (also from Costco, now that I think about it), and minced some oregano that springs up all over my garden, salt and pepper... didn't have a lemon so I squeezed a wizened lime. Thankfully the lime didn't overly perfume the chops.

Grilled over a gas grill, with a bottle of Il Bastardo Sangiovese and a loaf of sourdough... great meal.

JoelF wrote:As a counterpoint to the anti-Warehouse Club rant over on Non-Food (and I believe he's speaking about the actual place called Warehouse Club specifically)

No, I was referring to Sam’s Klub and Cosko in my rant here – the Warehouse Klub went out of business over a decade ago.

(The practice of deliberately misnaming a/o misspelling well known people and institutions is a long practiced literary device probably first employed to avoid lawsuits by corporate behemoths wishing to protect their highly leveraged copyrights. Other writers have used this technique to entertain and uselessly thumb their nose at big business. Its use may be considered smug and can cloud clarity. I’ll probably continue to do it though, and I’m not alone.)

Aside from trying (and perhaps failing) to entertain my point was:

Many people shop at these places thinking they are saving money when they are really not. They buy more, travel farther, and spend more time than they normally would. They succumb to impulse buys. The prices are low, but better prices can often be found by watching the sales at places that tend to be more local.

Now I’m not burning my membership card or anything, just advising a little prudence amidst the fervor.

-ramon

The deliberate misspelling does make it hard to find via a search, though.

Ramon wrote:Many people shop at these places thinking they are saving money when they are really not. They buy more, travel farther, and spend more time than they normally would. They succumb to impulse buys. The prices are low, but better prices can often be found by watching the sales at places that tend to be more local.

I guess I'm lucky: Costco is actually as close to me as Jewel.

Every once in a while we buy one of the mass-quantity items and wonder what we will do with it all, but 2lbs of white cheddar is hardly an excess. Going several months without a kitchen we've made a hefty dent in the tower of plastic cups and bushel of plastic forks.

On rational purchases: My sons and I being all near 2 meters tall, I'll never buy any of their clothing (MrsF might). Even though we own bookstore, on occasion they've got a deal we can't beat... but we know those rare occasions when they're selling for less than our distributor sells to us. Their DVD prices are rarely good on new releases.

On bulk: we bought almost everything we needed for Thing1's graduation barbecue there. Just about every boy scout outing needs a tray of muffins or something like that.

And Costco at least is a good corporate citizen: they reportedly pay good wages, support their communities... I like 'em.

I had never heard or tasted beef tri-tip till moving to the West Coast. It is ubiquitious here. It's a reasonably priced cut of beef (please don't ask) which people serve when entertaining a large group of people. Costco has a marinated tr-tip available in Reno and Carson City, which I've also found in Florida. However, I've also purchased it down in Florida. Generally, I'm pretty anal about seasoning and marinating my own food, but I love the Coscto tri-tip. Throw it on the grill and serve. I would urge you to seek it out and give it a try. By the way, I don't work for or have any financial interest in Costco.

Rev--

Funny you should mention tri-tip. Made my first trip to Costco here in KC after my return from Montreal last week. Spent some time talking to the butcher, who was all excited about having succeeded in diverting some t-t from the West Coast ("They get it ALL" he said) and making it available for the first time here in the heartland. I tried it. Overcooked it--it's a bit delicate about that--but it was still tasty, albeit a bit too toothsome. I'll be more careful next time.

Where's it from on the beast?

Geo

Pish, all the Chicago costcos have the tri-tip also. Just none of the marinated stuff, from what I've seen.

The tri-tip is a specialty cut from the bottom sirloin.

Ramon wrote:Aside from trying (and perhaps failing) to entertain my point was:

Many people shop at these places thinking they are saving money when they are really not. They buy more, travel farther, and spend more time than they normally would. They succumb to impulse buys. The prices are low, but better prices can often be found by watching the sales at places that tend to be more local.
-ramon

With a few clearance items which the warehouse clubs price to move, I have never seen anything that represents a great deal. Having said that, I don't shop at the grocery oligarchies (read as Krogers/Albertsons /Safeway/ SuperValu). Having seen some of the prices in THOSE stores, I can see the attractiveness of the warehouse stores.

Of course, you are missing the point that a lot of us don't want to to buy a newspaper to find which megamart is offering saltines at $1.69 rather than their usual $2.29 when we can go down to Aldi's and pick up the same thing for 0.89. People who go from store to store spend more energy (fuel and effort) than people who stock up big time at one location.

jlawrence01 wrote:Of course, you are missing the point that a lot of us don't want to to buy a newspaper to find which megamart is offering saltines at $1.69 rather than their usual $2.29 when we can go down to Aldi's and pick up the same thing for 0.89. People who go from store to store spend more energy (fuel and effort) than people who stock up big time at one location.

Yes. Plus Costco is about as close to me as Cub and Dominick's (and I like Costco and Cub much better than Dominick's) - I have all 3 within a mile.

Yes, I can sometimes get Chicken breast on sale for $1.69 at the regular grocer. But when I do, I have a lot of trimming to do, and I still have to buy at least 3 lbs. The stuff at Costco is nicer. I go through huge bags of frozen berries and baby carrots in the winter (and those things are the same or cheaper than at the grocer).

If you don't like it, don't go!

I've gotten those packages of frozen chicken breasts twice now, and both times the texture of the chicken has been miserable. I don't get it. It's always been very stringy.

Anyone else experienced it? I've given up on it.

Driving around the city today, I noticed gas at from 3.47 to 3.63 per gallon for the least grade. Made me extra happy to know that I filled up at Costco yesterday for 3.09 while shopping for some great beef tenderloin.

gleam wrote:I've gotten those packages of frozen chicken breasts twice now, and both times the texture of the chicken has been miserable. I don't get it. It's always been very stringy.

Anyone else experienced it? I've given up on it.

If the frozen ones sit around they get freezer burnt. I was talking about the regular non-frozen ones. But the frozen ones are fine, you just have to make sure to look at them.

I'm talking the 6-packs of 2 cryovacked chicken breasts, so they don't get freezer burn. They just have a bad, bad texture.

Maybe I'll try the fresh stuff next time.

My husband works in Addison, and we live in Homewood. It's a horrid commute, and is costing us a fortune in gas and tolls each month. He feels better about the fact that he can stop at the Oakbrook Costco on his way home and fill up the tank for less money than we can near the house. And I usually can prevail upon him to run into the store and pick up something we need. Actually, the fact that he fills the gas tank there each week prompted us to get an Executive membership -- we're spending enough money every year to take advantage of the rebate! We are also fond of the two pound bricks of cheese and use a lot of the Kirkland brand products. We frequently find them to be as good as or even better than the name brands. I do feel I'm saving money, even if I'm buying things in mega-quantities, and it's amazing how many times we go back to buy more of those items we purchased in mega-quantities.

Suzy

There are certainly items at Costco that are priced well-below anywhere else. For me, it's the three-bottle pack of multipurpose saline solution (Renu). At $7.xx per pack, it's the cheapest. $3 and some change for a big bag of baby spinach? I'm there. $10.00 for kitchen waste bags? Sold. In the case of the waste bags, the package lasts me about a year. So in addition to saving $, I don't have to buy them that often. These types of items are worth the membership.

What I don't buy are the specialty foods, like frozen potstickers and breaded buffalo chicken bites, because the quantities are too large and after awhile, I'm sick of them. But if I stick with the basics, I'm good.

aschie30 wrote:What I don't buy are the specialty foods, like frozen potstickers and breaded buffalo chicken bites, because the quantities are too large and after awhile, I'm sick of them. But if I stick with the basics, I'm good.

I agree. Basics. If my partner started bringing home those prepared foods, I would buy a separate deep freeze for him to keep them in-- in the garage. When that got full he would have to eat or throw some away before buying any more. I feel the same way about Trader Joe's prepared foods, having tried a few out. Not worth the storage space.

Costco has replaced Jewel as my default market for basic stuff that I'm not going to buy at Mitsuwa or Sunset Foods or someplace. Jewel was becoming more hateful by the minute, very poorly stocked and difficult to get in and out of. It's easier shopping at Costco, plus I can fill the car up. I would do it even if it wasn't cheaper (and it really is, compared to shopping Jewel for those same items).

I usually don't buy a lot of fresh food there, but we got things for a huge tailgating party last week and I was very impressed with the red and yellow cherries. Sweet, and not a one of them was mushy or anything even though we were still eating them yesterday. The canned refrigerated crab was certainly serviceable for a dip, and miles better than the lookalike brand at TJ's. (How do they make that stuff at TJ's so remarkably flavor-free?)

I don't understand the shopping for fun (as opposed to by necessity) on weekends thing, whether it's Costco, WF or TJ's. TJ's especially is always full of the destination, shop for fun folk on weekends and it is very hard to get around the store at those times.

The tri-tip I've found in both Florida and Tahoe is Morton's of Omaha, tenderizerd with natural enzymes. The package was 3.2 lbs at $4.39 per lb. Try it if you see it. I always grill it but it cooks faster than sirloin, so keep an eye on it.