jpschust wrote:Has anyone seen the Kirkland scotch this season?

Just saw it today at the Clybourn/Damen location.

If anyone was thinking of trying the "Chicken Taj Mahal" in the refrigerated, pre-made section:
Think Flintstone sized all white meat (blech) chicken chunks, in a reddish brown curry that you hope might be a real deal butter chicken flavor, but is basically lemony and flowery to the point of, "This might make a nice bathroom cleaner."

IMO, not good, but it was worth a shot. I tossed it with very little remorse of the waste.

The 9.99 deep dish pizza in the refrig section is totally worth it, imo.

Another thing I spotted which struck me as odd:

In the refrigerated meat section, there was a cooler with lamb. On one side there were "lamb leg roasts." On the other side were packages of lamb chops - little tiny ones that looked like itty bitty t-bone steaks. Generally, each package had around 4 lbs of chops. Now, I looked a little closer at the chops, because, I spied with my little eye, that about half of the packages of chops were labeled "Lamb leg roast," and were priced per lb as the roast price which was a few bucks cheaper than the chop price. I hemmed and hawed for a few minutes wondering if I was nuts, but I came to the conclusion that the chops were indeed mislabeled as roasts, and that it was time to buy the lot and bust out the vacuuum sealer when I got home.

seebee wrote: but I came to the conclusion that the chops were indeed mislabeled as roasts, and that it was time to buy the lot and bust out the vacuuum sealer when I got home.

Customer walks into a tailor shop run by two old country brothers.

Customer:
How much for a suit?

Tailor in the front of store to brother in back of store:
Moisha, how much for a suit?

Moisha to brother in front of store:
$49.99

Brother to Moisha:
What? I can't hear you, speak up, I don't have my hearing aid in

Moisha to brother:
In a very loud voice, $49.99

Brother to customer:
$19.99

30 minutes later, transaction complete, customer walks out of store smiling.

Moisha, in back of store, to brother in front of store.
In a normal to somewhat quiet tone:
So?

Brother:
Three suits with extra pants, 8 shirts and a dozen ties.

Told to me a half century ago by my great grandfather.

Hi,

At the Costco in Mettawa, their French ovens aka Dutch ovens were marked down $20 to $59.99 with an asterisk indicating this was the last of the lot.

Regards,

I have always enjoyed shopping at Costco and their products but our dinner this evening, I posted this to their Facebook page and sent a copy to corporate.

"You may want to do a QC check at the meat area in the Niles, IL store. In the past 4 weeks, I have had stuffed salmon that was bad (packed that morning they claimed), rotisserie chickens that were either so well done the were dry and falling apart without touching or it was still raw at the bone. Tonight's disappointment was the pepperoni pizza. It was incredibly greasy, and very little cheese under all the sausage. And the dough stayed raw even after 30 minutes at 400. Yes, my ovens is calibrated and running true to temp. I am getting tired of returning items and am seriously considering dropping my membership."

Got another of their take n bake deep dish pizzas. This time, it was inedibly salty. Go figure. I'll try it one more time.

"Angus steak tips with vegetables" in the prepackaged refrig section (not house made:) After a long sledding trip with jr, we were looking for something quick and hearty. This one had a 2 buck off sale price, so we grabbed it along with a premade caesar salad. Waste of $ even for the 7.00 price tag. Veggies (taters and carrots) were rubbery, the steak parts were not melt in your mouth. Flavoring of the gravy was grade school cafeteria. Luckily, I had some leftover chili oil from Katy's to make it worth the effort of chewing.

I did make a round of the lamb chops mentioned upthread. Simple seasoning (some random penzey's rub - need to replenish my Wiviott's Rub from Spice House) and high heat on the grill pan to a pretty close to med rare. Holy flippin yum.

That Chicago Mix popcorn in the big ass white and blue bag in the chip section is some dangerously good stuff! It's not Garrett's or anything, but for under 6 bucks in the Flintstone sized bag, it is well worth it.

Getting the best deals at Costco
While this comes up here from time to time, each variable is documented with a picture in this blog.

Regards,

So we went a samplin at Costco today to grab a few things.

Any brisket peeps lookin at this? They had whole, prime grade briskets at 2.79/lb. They had choice grade next to them at 4.69 lb. The whole, prime grade ones were about twice the size as the choice ones. Was this an insane bargain? Or after trimming, would there be a ton of waste?

It sounds to me like the choice brisket was just the flat piece, point removed. It's hard to fathom a $2 per pound difference in price, with the Prime being that much cheaper. Most folks use the flat for oven roasting and the full brisket for q'ing.

seebee wrote:So we went a samplin at Costco today to grab a few things.

Any brisket peeps lookin at this? They had whole, prime grade briskets at 2.79/lb. They had choice grade next to them at 4.69 lb. The whole, prime grade ones were about twice the size as the choice ones. Was this an insane bargain? Or after trimming, would there be a ton of waste?

There has been a lot of discussions on this on the BBQ bulletin boards. When I saw this, I bought 3 of them because this is the price that you see at Wal-mart for selects grade and the occasional choice grade.

Now i smoke mine and I really don't trim very much off - maybe a 1/2 to 3/4 pound of fat per 14 lb. brisket. You got to remember though that you'll get about 40% shrinkage when you smoke a brisket.

BTW, if you do a search on You tube for "Franklin BBQ brisket", you'll see some excellent videos on brisket prep and cooking a packer brisket.

seebee wrote:So we went a samplin at Costco today to grab a few things.

Any brisket peeps lookin at this? They had whole, prime grade briskets at 2.79/lb. They had choice grade next to them at 4.69 lb. The whole, prime grade ones were about twice the size as the choice ones. Was this an insane bargain? Or after trimming, would there be a ton of waste?

Which Costco?

Sale brisket Costco was North Riverside. They had four or five of them. Sell by date was 1/22, but on the choice briskets, and other beef cuts, most of the sell by dates were the same. I'm gonna go back tomorrow to check for discounts on those other cuts. Talked to my brisket guy at work, he says that was a decent deal, though he has been burned by funky meat when close to the sell by date, even in cryovacs.

Seebee, thanks for the info. From this page a .79-ending price usually means a manufacturer's promotion. Sounds kind of odd, but shouldn't mean end of code or discontinued item. I'll definitely keep an eye in the Mount Prospect one, as North Riverside is a little outside of my range.

OK, it was a *tremendous* long-shot, but, for a whole prime brisket at $2.79/lb, what did I have to lose?? so downtown I went.

NOTHING TO LOSE!! as it turns out! There they were: three of the beasties! I pounced, grabbed one, then looked around guiltily, wondering if I weren't robbing someone.

Yea and Verily: your deal has extended all the way to Kansas City!

Tnx folks for the heads up!!

Geo

North Riverside last night:
Kirkland Maple Nut cereal 97c -
Obviously a "Kashi" cereal ripoff. They had plenty of it. I tried a handful, and it's worth the 97c, easily.

Ocean Spray Cranberry Salsa - 97c.
Big ass jar. I had to buy it. Too sweet for me. I might blend it and use it as like a bbq glaze. They had plenty of it.

Casa De Mia Gnocchi - 97 c.
We'll see. At 97c, again, had to buy it. They had plenty of it as well.

All of the dates were short, but all were MONTHS away. I think the nearest was July.

Never noticed this before, but they now sell shredded rotisserie chicken breast for 11.99 for about a 2.5 lb package. Also, they have unrefined cold pressed coconut oil again (it is the Kirkland 2-pack brand).

This was at Schaumburg.

Is it only the Clybourn (Lincoln Park) one, or have they all stopped carrying frozen OJ? Manager confirmed they are no longer carrying it.

Costco Glenview : Glenlivet Nadurra, 16 year cask strength for $50. Nice deal.

jpschust wrote:Costco Glenview : Glenlivet Nadurra, 16 year cask strength for $50. Nice deal.

Indeed. Good price.

leek wrote:Is it only the Clybourn (Lincoln Park) one, or have they all stopped carrying frozen OJ? Manager confirmed they are no longer carrying it.

A little while ago, I saw the dreaded * (meaning last pallet as in discontinued) on the frozen orange juice pricing label.

Regards,

I noticed Costco selling French macarons, 15 for $11 - chocolate, coffee, pistachio, raspberry and passionfruit. That's about as inexpensive as you'll find macarons so I figured what the hell, give them a try. They certainly didn't appear to be perfectly constructed, but they didn't look that bad.

Well, I tried them so you don't have to. I was very unimpressed. The flavors taste very artificial. The passionfruit is the only one that tasted remotely decent. The pistachio and raspberry were my least favorite - very artificial tasting and the raspberry had no detectable berry flavor. So you're welcome - I hope I've saved you $11.

BR - Thank you for taking one for the team.

***

It is vegetarian sample day at Costco in Mettawa today.

***

Volcano lime juice is next to Volcano lemon juice on the shelves.

Regards,

I just returned from Costco and a number of items had a green label showing the price. Some were the .97 cent markdowns but not all. Any idea what the green tag means, if anything?

Hi,

The green tags indicate these are organic products. Or at least that is what I have observed at the Mettawa store.

What were the 97 cent items? Which store?

Regards,

Thanks Cathy! Darned if I can remember the .97 items though at the Niles store. Sorry.

And they are finally getting a gas station there. I was told it should be up and running by mid September.

I was at the South Loop location tonight and saw that they had moon cakes. The brand was Joy Luck Palace, Union City, CA, made in Taiwan.

4 double yolk, white lotus paste moon cakes for $11.88. I had never seen these carried at Chicagoland stores before. My mom said she already had some so I didn't buy them.

The Lincoln Park Costco has Oktoberfest beers back in stock again. So far they have Paulaner, Leinenkugel, and Hacker Pschorr. If past years are any indication they should be stocking a few more over the next couple of weeks.

I noticed the craft beer selection was cut back a bit as well--not sure if one has anything to do with the other or if the craft section is just stabilizing to include the most popular varieties.

NB: the cases of Oktoberfest show it's from last year's festivities, with "use by" dates during the fall of '14.

I was in Munich last week, and nary a fest beer in sight yet, so I was surprised to see them in Costco, until i saw the dates. Nothing wrong with it, but be aware it's not "fresh" and not for Oktoberfest '14.