The Glenview Costco most always has a manned seafood kiosk on Fridays. I just bought a 5 pound bag last Friday and used half of the bag and gave the other half to my son who prepared them on Saturday. They were good but small and didn't need very much cleaning-only about a tenth of them had beards.

NFriday wrote:Hi- When I was at the Evanston farmers market this last Saturday, I bought a half gallon of tart cherry/ apple cider from Seedlings, and it is not my all time favorite.

Nancy, when you wrote "it is not my all time favorite," did you mean to write "it is now my all time favorite"? The overall positive tone of your post makes me think that "not" is a typo, but I can't be sure. Learning the answer will help me to know whether Seedlings' cider is something I should try.

Hi- Seedlings cider is not bad, but the sour cherry is my least favorite of their ciders. All of the ciders they had at the Evanston farmers market were $5 a half gallon anyway. This last Saturday I got a half gallon of cider from Kublick's which I liked better, and was $4.50 a half gallon or I believe $6.50 a gallon. All of Seedlings ciders were only in half gallon containers. They told me that they did have gallon containers of the regular apple cider a few weeks ago. They also have mutsu apple cider and apple cider with pear juice and maybe one or two more that I am forgetting. Not all of Seedlings cider is made from their own apples. When they press cider for Costco, there is no way they could grow all the apples needed themselves. I am sure they use #2 apples when they make the cider too. Everybody used to use apples that had fallen to the ground when making cider, and then one year there was some cider made and sold out West some where, and a bunch of people got sick off of it. They don't know if the apples came in contact with some horse manure or if something else happened. Nobody uses drops any more when making cider, even though it made better cider.

The Sour cherry cider is not sweet enough for me, but you might like it. My father used to make the best apple cider in the world, and I am spoiled. He would use the same recipe every year, and he would test the apples for sugar content. I assume my sister still uses the same recipe, although I don't know if she did last fall, since she had such a small crop of apples. With our cider, I believe it contains 60% delicious apples, and then I think it contains winesaps and Jonathan apples and one other variety whose name escapes me right now.

Thanks, Nancy, for the answer, and all the background on cider, which is very interesting to me.

Seen Wednesday at Niles Costco: whole frozen halal New Zealand lambs. IIRC $3/lb. Make me wish my oven were big enough!

I know what you mean Eva! We've got a couple of supermarkets in Montréal that sell whole frozen lambs to the local Greek population. I've lusted for them for ever. Where is G Wiv when we *need* him? Can't imagine how wonderful a job Gary would do with a whole lamb...

Geo

Eva Luna wrote:Seen Wednesday at Niles Costco: whole frozen halal New Zealand lambs. IIRC $3/lb. Make me wish my oven were big enough!

Makes me wonder how hard it is to butcher one. If you can find a friend or two to go in on it and help with the butchering it could be a great deal.

Eva Luna wrote:Seen Wednesday at Niles Costco: whole frozen halal New Zealand lambs. IIRC $3/lb. Make me wish my oven were big enough!

Saw these at the Orland Park Costco a couple months ago. I made a similar comment to my wife.

Hmmmm, whole lamb. Makes me think in terms of making an outside grill thingy.

Geo

zoid wrote:

Eva Luna wrote:Seen Wednesday at Niles Costco: whole frozen halal New Zealand lambs. IIRC $3/lb. Make me wish my oven were big enough!

Makes me wonder how hard it is to butcher one. If you can find a friend or two to go in on it and help with the butchering it could be a great deal.

Well, I can't think where I could even safely defrost the thing in my side-by-side fridge to get it to the point where it would be possible to butcher it without a chainsaw. And I live in Albany Park, so there's not exactly a shortage of lamb around here

How big are these critters? That's a nice price.

Also, in case anyone is interested in whole animals generally, there are always goats, lambs, and of course, pigs along Lake Street and Fulton, including Grant Park Packing, to offer one good example.

JeffB wrote:How big are these critters? That's a nice price.

Wasn't paying close attention just then, as the primary purpose of that trip was the pharmacy. I'll probably be back there over the weekend, though. Too big to fit in my fridge or oven, anyway.

Hi,

I will bet these lambs were available for Eid, which is being observed presently.

Regards,

JeffB wrote:How big are these critters? That's a nice price.

Also, in case anyone is interested in whole animals generally, there are always goats, lambs, and of course, pigs along Lake Street and Fulton, including Grant Park Packing, to offer one good example.

Niles had a sign stating 30-35 lbs on average.

A heads up - the Costco at Oak Brook is selling Excel Prime Packer Briskets at $2.59 lb. Some of the folks at BBQ Brethren were talking about this last week but this was the first time that I have seen it. Pick up 2 for myself and 1 for a co-worker.

Hi,

At the Costco in Mettawa, I saw single rolls of Kirkland parchment paper priced at $1.97. Costco is repackaging these into twin packs for over $9. I bought the equivalent of a twin pack for less than $4.

I also saw a keychain breathalyzer for around $22. Anyone have any experience on their accuracy?

Regards,

Hi LTH -
First, I apologize. I'm not reading a 28 page thread that started in 2005. I tried, I really did, but I have the attention span of a common housefly, and it just ain't gonna happen.

I'm getting a new Costco in just a few weeks. Already bought the membership. I'm not a silly shopper, not my first rodeo. I used to be a HEAVY couponer, as in, I knew how to abuse the codes at Jewel and Dominick's. I was in deep, and went shopping for sport. I used to pick which checkout person I would go to based on which one I thought would actually not look at the coupon, and just scan it, because I could use a gang of coupons that the system would scan without alarm, but didn't match the product bought. I was, basically, a thief. So, these days, I don't do that too much anymore, (well, unless it's just too juicy a scheme to pass up,) so, I never quite saw the big draw of Costco, because, well, free is better than "cheaper if you buy in bulk." I also like to cook a LOT, but lately though, I've been both lazy and buzy, and settling into a "sometimes it's just worth it to purchase quality pre-made food" attitude, and here we are. What I seek for the most part is this:

Big ass bags of side dishes I can put in my freezer (I have plenty of freezer space,) so I can pretty much just whip up a grilled steak, chop, or chicken part, steam some veggies, and then have this side dish as well.

I've been getting the TJ stuff like this, but I'm hoping to do it cheaper and hopefully as good at Costco. Some of the TJ things that are in regular rotation:
Sweet potato gnocchi
Polenta with peas and spicy cream sauce
Gnocchi with marinara and mozzerlla
Mushroom risotto
These are frozen bags of side dishes, that you can pretty much just throw in a pan, and stir for a few min, and you're done.

I also seek any other must-have items, in general, but the frozen side dish things are high on my list of wanna tries.

From this thread, here are some things I'll be looking for, but, seriously, I can't read this whole thing, and I'll bet some of the stuff mentioned has been discontinued:

EVOO Kirkland Estate
The Collier's welsh cheddar
The smoked whitefish spread
Amy's (now AmyLu's?) andouille chicken sausage.

Costco does have a lot of the same sorts of side-dishy things in the frozen or pre-made non-frozen catagory as does TJs, just in bigger bags. I am not certain that they are actually cheaper, since TJs manages to do these things very well and prices them well.

Since they are bigger bags, and you don't go through them as quickly, you might discover freezer burn. Depending on how many people you are feeding at once you could divide the larger bag into smaller ziploc freezer bags (also available at Costco).

For me, Costco is tricky. I tend to buy very specific things there and try to be careful about being tempted into "specials" since they aren't always that special, once you try to use them up before they expire Most of my shopping there is for my SO--giant bags of pistachios, Izze sodas, granola bars, snack type stuff, Advil, and the like. For regular cooking and household items, I really only buy booze (can save a few $$ on Buffalo Trace and Templeton), olive oil, parmesan cheese, peppercorns, paper goods, plastic items (bags, utensils, etc.) and some cleaning supplies. Where Costco is most helpful is when I'm cooking for a large group or event--it's great for that. And for gas--living in the city, it is definitely the cheapest place close to home, though not as cost-effective as buying in NWI when I'm down there or some suburbs.

Dlongs wrote:

JeffB wrote:How big are these critters? That's a nice price.

Also, in case anyone is interested in whole animals generally, there are always goats, lambs, and of course, pigs along Lake Street and Fulton, including Grant Park Packing, to offer one good example.

Niles had a sign stating 30-35 lbs on average.

FWIW, Niles still had 7 of them when I was there Saturday afternoon.

seebee wrote:From this thread, here are some things I'll be looking for, but, seriously, I can't read this whole thing, and I'll bet some of the stuff mentioned has been discontinued:

The smoked whitefish spread

Still available although I'm not sure every store carries it. I've seen it recently at Lincoln Park and the 1400 S Ashland stores.

seebee wrote:From this thread, here are some things I'll be looking for, but, seriously, I can't read this whole thing, and I'll bet some of the stuff mentioned has been discontinued:

EVOO Kirkland Estate
The Collier's welsh cheddar
The smoked whitefish spread
Amy's (now AmyLu's?) andouille chicken sausage.

The Kirkland Estate EVOO is currently out of stock, but will certainly return at some point. The Welsh Cheddar is also not available at the moment. I've seen both the sausage and whitefish spread in stock recently.

Attrill wrote:The Kirkland Estate EVOO is currently out of stock, but will certainly return at some point.

IIRC, the Estate EVOO is a fall item, pressed after the harvest. So it should be there soon.

Artie wrote:

seebee wrote:From this thread, here are some things I'll be looking for, but, seriously, I can't read this whole thing, and I'll bet some of the stuff mentioned has been discontinued:

The smoked whitefish spread

Still available although I'm not sure every store carries it. I've seen it recently at Lincoln Park and the 1400 S Ashland stores.

I don't ever recall NOT seeing it in Costco stores. It's a staple in our household. Had it yesterday smeared on New York Bagel & Bialy bagels.

spinynorman99 wrote:

Artie wrote:

seebee wrote:The smoked whitefish spread

Still available although I'm not sure every store carries it. I've seen it recently at Lincoln Park and the 1400 S Ashland stores.

I don't ever recall NOT seeing it in Costco stores. It's a staple in our household. Had it yesterday smeared on New York Bagel & Bialy bagels.

I've never seen it at the Merrillville,In store

The North Riverside Costco is open (26th and Harlem) and they have the 2013 EVOO.

The Lincoln Park Costco has 24 packs of Goose Island's Sixth Day brown ale for $22.99, Binney's is selling them for $9/six pack.

Has anyone seen the Kirkland scotch this season?

Not the Scotch, but the 7 year Bourbon...which I drink regularly...

HonestMan wrote:Not the Scotch, but the 7 year Bourbon...which I drink regularly...

i wasn't a huge fan of the bourbon- the scotch normally seems to come around at xmas time.