Earlier this week, I posted on Facebook that The CEO had purchased us a Costco membership and it made me feel very grownup. Many of my friends responded that they too felt incredibly adult when they got a similar membership so I suppose an annual commitment to a discount club is a HUGE deal. Whatever the case, The CEO and I set out to Costco in Brooklyn yesterday and I was so excited to see what they had to offer.
When we arrived, we stood in a frustrating line while the employees argued with people about who could join a membership together. I knew that Costco requires proof of co-habitation to issue two cards. So I brought a bill in both of our names (knowing our IDs don't show our current addresses). It was easy and the blonde lady above was so impressed with my ability to check the qualifications on a Web site. I don't think they pay her enough.
After getting our cards:
We set out to explore Costco. We looked at televisions (we need one), jewelry (me), cameras (The CEO) and other things. I have been wanting a Vitamix very secretly and desperately lately and they had a blender called a Ninja that looks like it might fit the bill at a 5th of the price. (Mom: Christmas present maybe?)
We quickly decided to go upstairs and get some food shopping going on. I was both thrilled and disappointed in the food section. Here are some highlights of what I liked:
- Quinoa is cheap. It is $8 for 4 lbs. At my local grocery store, it is $10 for 12 oz. At the fancy grocery near The CEO's work, it is $7 a pound. I was dancing for joy.
- 10 lbs of lentils for $10. Sold.
- Chicken stock and chicken broth come in at like $.50 a can. I use tons of chicken broth and stock.
- Cans of beans come in at like $.70 a can, which is half of what I normally pay.
- The meat and veggies at Costco are gorgeous. We ended up with tons of ground beef, chicken thighs for $.99 a pound, organic chicken sausages and a tray of absolutely gorgeous figs. I would have liked to have gotten more but our budgets and freezer space dictated some caution.
I also really like Costco's offerings in the way of organic, cruelty free (when possible), pure ingredients food at low prices. It was kind of meat nirvana. They had some shockingly good cheeses as well.
Things I found a let down:
- I was shocked that lentils were the ONLY dried bean they had. I mean, its great for the might lentil but kind of odd in general. The canned beans were limited to black beans, kidney beans, and chickpeas. I was hoping for some cannelli or great northerns. Maybe it depends on the season.
- Some of the bulk packaging was silly. I needed tomato sauce. We use it often as a base in crockpot meals and in chili. But the sauce came in one giant metal (non-resealable) can. How am I supposed to use this? It seems like only someone making a giant pot of sauce would find this useful.
- Things that I thought were kind of obvious were missing. Maybe my expectations were high but no big blocks of Velveeta. Next time I am in the Philly suburbs with The CEO I am checking out the Costco there. If they don't have either Whiz or Velveeta there I will fall over.
I'm in shock and awe of the junk food there. I saw many families there buying giant bags of candy bars for their kids and there were literally NO fruits and veggies in the carts. I wanted to say "did you see the figs...OMG...those taste better than snickers!"
In the end, we did pretty well and are planning a housewarming party (finally) now and know we can find some excellent options here.
Here's the stuff once we got it home:
My favorites are probably the stuff we picked up at the pharmacy (generic Zyrtec is $15 for 365 pills). We further got some awesome tupperware with 4 way snaps so The CEO can take food to lunch and save us even more money (and give me even more of an excuse to cook).
In the end, our freezer looked like this:
All up, I am excited about Costco. What do you buy there that I missed?
Up Next: Cheesy black quinoa bites and asian meatballs
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| The line looks unassuming.... until you realize that people are very very special |
When we arrived, we stood in a frustrating line while the employees argued with people about who could join a membership together. I knew that Costco requires proof of co-habitation to issue two cards. So I brought a bill in both of our names (knowing our IDs don't show our current addresses). It was easy and the blonde lady above was so impressed with my ability to check the qualifications on a Web site. I don't think they pay her enough.
After getting our cards:
 |
| Proof of adulthood. Right here. |
We quickly decided to go upstairs and get some food shopping going on. I was both thrilled and disappointed in the food section. Here are some highlights of what I liked:
- Quinoa is cheap. It is $8 for 4 lbs. At my local grocery store, it is $10 for 12 oz. At the fancy grocery near The CEO's work, it is $7 a pound. I was dancing for joy.
- 10 lbs of lentils for $10. Sold.
- Chicken stock and chicken broth come in at like $.50 a can. I use tons of chicken broth and stock.
- Cans of beans come in at like $.70 a can, which is half of what I normally pay.
- The meat and veggies at Costco are gorgeous. We ended up with tons of ground beef, chicken thighs for $.99 a pound, organic chicken sausages and a tray of absolutely gorgeous figs. I would have liked to have gotten more but our budgets and freezer space dictated some caution.
I also really like Costco's offerings in the way of organic, cruelty free (when possible), pure ingredients food at low prices. It was kind of meat nirvana. They had some shockingly good cheeses as well.
Things I found a let down:
- I was shocked that lentils were the ONLY dried bean they had. I mean, its great for the might lentil but kind of odd in general. The canned beans were limited to black beans, kidney beans, and chickpeas. I was hoping for some cannelli or great northerns. Maybe it depends on the season.
- Some of the bulk packaging was silly. I needed tomato sauce. We use it often as a base in crockpot meals and in chili. But the sauce came in one giant metal (non-resealable) can. How am I supposed to use this? It seems like only someone making a giant pot of sauce would find this useful.
- Things that I thought were kind of obvious were missing. Maybe my expectations were high but no big blocks of Velveeta. Next time I am in the Philly suburbs with The CEO I am checking out the Costco there. If they don't have either Whiz or Velveeta there I will fall over.
I'm in shock and awe of the junk food there. I saw many families there buying giant bags of candy bars for their kids and there were literally NO fruits and veggies in the carts. I wanted to say "did you see the figs...OMG...those taste better than snickers!"
In the end, we did pretty well and are planning a housewarming party (finally) now and know we can find some excellent options here.
Here's the stuff once we got it home:
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| Note: small dog not purchased at Costco. |
In the end, our freezer looked like this:
 |
| We even had to relocate some of our vodka from the freezer. |
Up Next: Cheesy black quinoa bites and asian meatballs
Your Costco has organic, cruelty-free meat?!?!?! Ours didn't have much of anything organic, but I haven't been in about a year. Maybe I shall have to check again.
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