I just got an email regarding wild mushrooms available at Costco in Utah:

One of our three local Costco stores has Canadian Chanterelles for $7.99 per pound, and they are fantastic. Check your local Costco.

If any show up in our local Costco's, then please advise!

HI,

I was at the Costco in Glenview today where they were providing samples and selling cases of Boylan Sparkling Beverages. They are from New Jersey and one of the few who make their soda pop with cane sugar.

They are in Glenview until Sunday. While they are there, you are allowed to mix and match your cases from at least 8 varieties of soda pop. After Sunday, they will be sold by the case in a fixed assortment at select Costco stores.

Regards,

What was their cost per case? I've never been a massive fan of Boylan (the stuff usually seems a tad weakly flavored/bland, especially the ginger ale and root beers), but cheap is cheap.

HI,

I tried only their black cherry and birch beer. I loved the black cherry, though I was not quite sure what to make of the birch beer. Spearmint was one flavor that came to mind. They also claim an addition of vanilla, which I could not sense but it was a small sample! The product description of the birch beer seemed to scream focus group, "The taste is upbeat, sweet and creamy -- qualities that all consumer groups find universally attractive."

Price was either $12.99 or 14.99 per case of 24 --- how does that compare to your experience? I'm thinking of buying a case for Thanksgiving.

Filberts by comparison is dirt cheap, which I also plan to buy a case for Thanksgiving, too.

Regards,

Either price is very good. It's often sold retail for $1.50/bottle or more, or $5/6pk, etc.

Two products from Costco we've been enjoying and which I haven't seen elsewhere. You might want to try before they discontinue them in the typical Costco way.


Essn is a sparkling beverage made from 100-percent juice. The blood orange and cranberry flavor is the only one I've seen at Costco. We like it a lot -- it's tart and refreshing. The Essn Website lists other flavors, but Costco hasn't had them so far. (I'd love to try the Meyer lemon.) They're sold by the case in the juice aisle.

Pinahs Curly Rye Chips are crisp rye crackers shaped like potato chips, and a good alternative to them. They come from a manufacturer in Waukesha, Wis. If you tend to hunt for the rye crackers in snack mixes, you'll like them. They're flavored with worcestershire and chives and they come in a clear plastic tub in the aisle with the crackers and cookies. We bought these for the first time last year, then Costco stopped carrying them; now they're back.

Thanks for the heads up on the Essn. I've never tried the Blood Orange, a flavor of which I am completely enamored.

I have tried the Meyer Lemon. It's not as good as the GUS version and it has about 50 more calories.

I don't do a lot of shopping at Costco; nevertheless, I do believe that it is worth the price of the membership. What do I buy:

- Paper towels and toilet paper - I know someone on this thread suggested that it's the same price as Dominicks and Jewel. That may be true; however, the Costco version is superior as the rolls are thicker.
- Philadelphia cream cheese - the best cream cheese for baking. Other gold standard products, Heinz ketchup and Grey Poupon mustard.
- Diapers.
- 5 packs of Carr crackers
- Cheerios and Graham crackers
- Giant containers of 409, which is a staple in my household.
- Canned crab meat
- Soap and contact solution
- And believe it not, cosmetics. For someone who, only a year or so back, purchased such things solely from boutiques, this says something about their products. Even the Kirkland brand, which has the Borghese name associated with it, is pretty good stuff.

Oh, and they often have good cookbooks, sometimes signed.

Costco also had a CHEAP "Asian" sesame/ginger salad dressing which I was only able to find at a selected Chicagoland stores...

And the Mango salsa is killer...

My local store was down to 6 packs of double-bottle Nutella ($6.99)... but since I'm not running a creperie, i had to hold myself back from clearing their stock...

in none-food items:
** the alumi racing jack for $99 is a VERY good deal for a low entry, high lift, heavy duty jack.
** 2 pack AMC no-limits, no-exceptions movie tix for $15.

Definitely a good day at Costco, having just returned.

Books galore. I picked up 3 that I will be giving as Xmas gifts - including two James Beard winners. Good cds, including a special edition of George Winston's Seasons, wrapping paper, Christmas lights and candles. Good time to stock up for the holidays.

This weekend enjoyed! an Indianapolis Costco chicken potpie piece: relatively complex gravy(not glue), meat chunks(not reconfigured, compressed cubes), buttery brown crust, crisp-esque veg.

dvds(of course) of Nip/Tuck first season and Dallas

and paperback of Dr. Strange and Ms. Norrell(the hype's been truly off-putting...i.e. "fantasy for people who prefer historical romance"). However, a good friend recommended it and shall bear the brunt of my wrath if it does actually suck in a wryly-suburban academic Oprah book club supping pedantic demographically-approved manner.

and razors!

The Indy Costco pizza's much suckier than the Chicago Costco brand.

LAZ wrote:...Pinahs Curly Rye Chips are crisp rye crackers shaped like potato chips, and a good alternative to them. They come from a manufacturer in Waukesha, Wis. If you tend to hunt for the rye crackers in snack mixes, you'll like them. They're flavored with worcestershire and chives and they come in a clear plastic tub in the aisle with the crackers and cookies. We bought these for the first time last year, then Costco stopped carrying them; now they're back.

Oh, my. I spent the first thirty-plus years of my life in WI so I grew up on these chips. I didn't see them at Costco last week but they're worth a trip so thanks for the hedzup.

If by "good alternative" you mean a nice change of pace from potato chips I couldn't agree more. If you mean that they're a more healthful snack I'd be surprised. They're definitely delicious but I'd guess that these tasty little slices of rye bread soak up far more oil than even the greasiest of greasy potato chips. This is hardly criticism in my book but I thought I'd mention it.

Thanks.

Kurt

LAZ wrote:...Pinahs Curly Rye Chips are crisp rye crackers shaped like potato chips, and a good alternative to them.

kvltrede wrote:Oh, my. I spent the first thirty-plus years of my life in WI so I grew up on these chips. I didn't see them at Costco last week but they're worth a trip so thanks for the hedzup.

If by "good alternative" you mean a nice change of pace from potato chips I couldn't agree more.

I picked them up last week at the Glenview store. And yes, I did mean a change of pace from potato chips.

MAG wrote:Thanks for the heads up on the Essn. I've never tried the Blood Orange, a flavor of which I am completely enamored.

I think the taste owes more to cranberry, with only a touch of blood orange. But it's not anything like the usual cranberry beverages. This has become my morning juice.

I concur with TonyC on the mango salsa. It's great with meats like pork and chicken. I roasted a pork loin with jerk-style seasonings and it was wonderful with that. I tend to find it a little sweet as a chip dip, but it's a good cracker spread when placed atop a block of cream cheese.

hello Costco! what happened to the 2 lb box of Kellogg Frosted Flakes?!? it's ok you discont. staples and pens but Frosted Flakes???

I love CostCo, but not as much as my dog. A few months back I grabbed a bag of Chicken Jerky dog treats. Basically it looks like dried raw chicken tenderloin, sort of a pink opaque color. It was a 2.5 lb bag for $10.99 I believe. My dog went nuts over it; sitting by the counter that has the bag begging for more at every chance (and she does not normally beg for anything). So as the bag neared empty I went to buy a replacement only to find it no longer stocked. Spent 2 months or so looking for it to no avail, until Friday I came upon a new display of Chicken Jerky. Snatched up 3 bags, and will probably go buy more every time I am at Costco till it is gone. Searched online and cheapest price I could find was $9.00 for 8oz.
Jamie

Maaaaann, youse guys are lucky! Our central city KC Costco *never* gets any of that good stuff y'awl are always talking about. (Well, we DID get the cheap sesame/ginger dressing once... and it was pretty good.) I mean, we get the Huggies and the Heinz ketchup and the Starbux coffee... but ESSN soft drinks? you kiddin' ?

Sigh.

We used to get bags of dry scallops, but even those don't come in anymore. Sheesh, you're driving me crazy.

Geo

Geo,

The local Costco store out here in McHenry Co. is very low-volume and therefore, they have a lot of closeouts. Lots of closeouts.

Some of the ones that I saw last night include:

ESSN soft drinks (about 0.50 a can)
El Torito Brand Green Salad dressing $2.97
Paul Newman vinigarette dressing $4.97

There are two or three others that don't come immediately to mind.

jlawrence1,

Do they have locations specifying close-outs? I've never seen one though it doesn't mean it isn't around.

Regards,

Cathy2 wrote:I tried only their black cherry and birch beer. I loved the black cherry, though I was not quite sure what to make of the birch beer. Spearmint was one flavor that came to mind. They also claim an addition of vanilla, which I could not sense but it was a small sample! The product description of the birch beer seemed to scream focus group, "The taste is upbeat, sweet and creamy -- qualities that all consumer groups find universally attractive."

I always thought of Birch Beer as soft Root Beer mixed with Cherry and have NEVER seen it out side of the Philly area. Occasionally I miss it. It was my grandmother's favorite soda (she was Pennsylvania Dutch so I thought it was an ethnic thing, since my other grandmother's favorite was Frank's Black Cherry Wishniak, which for sure is an ethnic thing

Leek,

Sunday I did a quick stop at Costco to buy the Boylan. I bought one entire case of the black cherry, my favorite. I bought a 4-bottle pack each of birch, cream and orange sodas with the remainder root beer.

I didn't taste the root beer, though I did taste the birch. The birch did not remind me of root beer beyond the color.

Regards,

BTW, in spite of my bemoaning the lack of cool stuff at our trés urban Costco, I must mention that I can always get hanger steaks there.

Yee-hah. Now THAT is a great cut o' meat.

Kansas City. Great cut o' meat. Makes sense.

g
PS. We can get some weirdo sodas around here, even in regular civillian supermarkets. Haven't ever seen birch beer, but there's some local (and St. Louis) stuff that is strange.

Cathy2 wrote:jlawrence1,

Do they have locations specifying close-outs? I've never seen one though it doesn't mean it isn't around.

Regards,

Cathy1,

Any Costco price ending in ".97" is generally a closeout. Generally, a $5.99 will be discounted to $3.97 and eventually to $1.97. If you go into the stores quite often, you will be able to guage whether the discounted product will move.

Any Sam's Club item ending in ".81" is a markdown. However, in many of the clubs, they have a separate area for markdowns. There are few food related markdowns.

This information was gleaned from a consumer website http://www.clarkhoward.com Clark Howard has a consumer radio program on WSB radio http://wsbradio.com/ from 12 noon- 3 pm CST each day.

Birch beer's readily found around Texas. I always thought it tasted faintly of wintergreen.

thought it tasted faintly of wintergreen

So that was the strange taste. I thought was spearmint (which may be related to wintergreen?) that I personally found off-putting.

Regards,

Well, I love, love, love wintergreen and disdain spearmint so hopefully my palate's not confused!

Since you love, love, love wintergreen and hate spearmint, then I will trust you identified the taste of wintergreen in the birch beer.

I found this recipe for birch beer which explains the origins of the wintergreen:

SWEET BIRCH (Betula lenta) also called Black birch, Sweet birch or Cherry birch has fragrant bark and twigs that smells of wintergreen. The sap flows about a month later than maple and much faster than maple. You tap the trees the same as maple but must gather about 3 times as often.

Regards,

Well, thank you very much for the info, Cathy. Once in a blue moon I'll spy some birch beer on a supermarket shelf and figure why not? Ahhhh...
wint'o'green.

Maranatha Organic Peanut Butter

My Costco in Oakbrook no longer carries the Maranatha Peanut Butter! Does anyone know where to buy it besides at Whole Foods?

I'm on my third jar from Costo--Clybourn. 2 lb. jar. [Mooney Farms Bella Sun Luci Sundried Tomatoes]

Ingredients: sundried roma tomatoes, pure olive oil, garlic, herbs, spices, (contains sulfites),

These keep in fridge for months if covered in oil.

Quite tasty.

From Chico, CA.
www.mooneyfarms.com

edit to highlight name of food being referenced

mby385 wrote:Maranatha Organic Peanut Butter

My Costco in Oakbrook no longer carries the Maranatha Peanut Butter! Does anyone know where to buy it besides at Whole Foods?

Last year, I bought 2 - 1# containers of the Maranatha Almond Butter for $1.97. The peanut butter was on clearance several months ago. I would be surprised if they brought it back as it was a real non-seller.

The ESSN juices have also been marked down further ... but still, they sit unsold.

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. But since we don't have either a stove or fridge yet, we went through the food in a rush. Nonetheless I saw enough to make my mouth water in anticipation. Lots and lots of cheeses you never see down South (including an artisnal Jura goat cheese that smelled wonderful). There are several types of brie and one of camembert, all made in Canada. Lots of charcuterie--including whole prosciuto chunks (!). Fresh fish was light, although there are 4 different kinds of frozen raw shrimp, and they've got the scallops. Canned seafood was amazingly long--5 different kinds of tuna??

Beef and pork looked high quality but were short in selection, but there's as much veal selection as pork, nicely enough. Lamb was the same selection as KC, but the prices were in CA$, so meant only 80%.

The fresh fruit and veg selection was much shorter, but given the number of fruit and veg shops around here, that's no surprize.

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

Geo