ziggy wrote:I was at LP Costco last night and they were out of the Serrano. I did ask a few people, most of which had no idea, and one person looked into it and found that they were receiving 55 more today. I'm not sure if they did, bc I called the 'South Loop' store this morning due to it's proximity to my office, and they had 5 left so I just went and scooped one up. Can't speak to the quality just yet, but I can't imagine that I'll be disappointed at that price point.

Didn't ask about or see any Iberico at either location.

Had a bunch (Serrano) on the endcap at the Niles store last night. Somewhat depleted from a couple of days earlier.

Not food related, but has anyone seen Christmas trees at Costco in the area this year? I haven't been to the city locations since just before Thanksgiving, but found myself in Naperville over the weekend and stopped for gas/quick run in and didn't see any.

From what I can garner on r/Costco, they are having trouble sourcing them at a quality and price combo that they feel their members would value. Seems that they are available at quite a few locations across the country, but definitely not ubiquitous as in years past. I did see some mention of trees sourced from Wisconsin but the poster didn't mention their location...

We picked one up at the Bollingbrook location on Boughton/355.

$49.99 Douglas Fir, we are very happy with it!

North Riverside had them this past weekend.

Hi- Apparently there is a shortage of fresh Christmas trees this year. It takes 10 years for the trees to mature, and in 2008 a lot of growers were hurting financially and did not plant as many trees. I thought I heard the average tree is $72 this year. There also aren't as many people growing trees as there used to be. Hope this helps, Nancy

Hi,

What I have observed with Costco's Christmas tree offerings: they have a narrow window of availability, sell out and move on.

My family tends to put our tree up late, let it linger and take it down sometime in February. Yes, there have been years where the tree stood for two holiday seasons. It does make Christmas in July an easy task to pull off.

Regards,
Cathy2

Another thing with the Xmas trees I read in the Oregonian, 10 years ago, the suppliers of the seedlings for the Xmas tree growers didn't start enough, which is another reason they are in a short supply this year, thus driving the price up a bit.

Update on the Serrano ham. Very disappointing. Extremely chewy no matter how thinly sliced with an almost soapy lingering aftertaste. Returning for a refund tomorrow.

Rick T. wrote:Update on the Serrano ham. Very disappointing. Extremely chewy no matter how thinly sliced with an almost soapy lingering aftertaste. Returning for a refund tomorrow.

Interesting. Mine (regular, not the pata negra) has been good, if a little dry on one side of the maza. Not world class Spanish ham but good and a bargain.

Edited to say the knife that came with it is useless. I have a better ham knife that does allow me to cut it thin enough.

HI,

I was at Costco in Mettawa this evening.

On my list were dried beans, which I have seen at the Business Costco in Burbank. There were none at Mettawa. I have the impression there are Costco stores where dried beans are available.

Where have you seen any?

Thanks!

Regards,
CAthy2

Cathy2 wrote:HI,

I was at Costco in Mettawa this evening.

On my list were dried beans, which I have seen at the Business Costco in Burbank. There were none at Mettawa. I have the impression there are Costco stores where dried beans are available.

Where have you seen any?

Thanks!

Regards,
CAthy2

They may have sold out. I know here in Salem Oregon they sold out and don't know when they'll get more. And you are right, Costcos don't care the same things at the different stores. So annoying.

The store manager said the last time they had dried beans in the Mettawa store was maybe once about a year ago.

Yeah, not all quite stocked the same.

There are now limits for some items. The man in front had three gallons of milk. It occurred to me, I should have bought a gallon. When the checkout girl advised there was a two gallon limit, I suggested I would buy the third gallon. I intended to buy it for myself, but this guy thought I was buying it for him. I was debating whether to give it to him anyway, then I found him complaining loudly on the phone. I just left.

Food court tables were gone. The only offering from the food court was their hot dog and pop. Everything else was unavailable.

They did have plenty of flour and sugar. The Mariano's in Bannockburn had almost no flour and sugar.

Parking at both locations was no big deal. Gas was $1.65

Cathy2 wrote:Food court tables were gone. The only offering from the food court was their hot dog and pop. Everything else was unavailable.

On Saturday, the Mount Prospect (Randhurst) store had closed their food court. They were also devoid of all raw chicken (even frozen), and ground beef (except frozen premade burger patties), but with abundant quantities of tenderloin, boneless short rib, pork belly, etc. One whole row of refrigerated gondolas (the ones usually having chicken and fish) were empty; they'd also removed a row of shelving just before the registers, hopefully to give shoppers more social distance from each other while in line.
I violated my ethical boundary around buying southeast Asian shrimp -- needed to stock the freezer and it was stupid cheap ($12.49/2lbs for the larger ones).

Hi,

Last night, I finished my last container of Cascade dishwasher detergent from Costco. I carefully washed out the container, then weighed it dry this morning: 157 grams.

I weighed a brand new container, then subtracted the container weight:
3709-157=3552 grams

After I added dishwasher detergent to the dishwasher, I weighed the container again:
3552-3521=31 grams

I then weighed the difference and divided by 31 grams:
3552/31=114.5 loads

Typically do a load a day and sometimes twice, I hope this bottle will take care of us for the duration.

Regards,
Cathy2
(who really dislikes hand washing)

How can you not do a double-take at this Costco display?



The large print giveth and the small print taketh away.

JoelF wrote:I violated my ethical boundary around buying southeast Asian shrimp -- needed to stock the freezer and it was stupid cheap ($12.49/2lbs for the larger ones).

I don’t know if you have eaten Costco shrimp before. They are farm raised in Asia. I find them totally tasteless.

I don't think much of any of those Asian farmed Shrimp. I don't buy them. I recently made ceviche and my wife asked if I was going to use shrimp. I said not that junk, I will use a quality piece of halibut. Costly but very good.

lougord99 wrote:

JoelF wrote:I violated my ethical boundary around buying southeast Asian shrimp -- needed to stock the freezer and it was stupid cheap ($12.49/2lbs for the larger ones).

I don’t know if you have eaten Costco shrimp before. They are farm raised in Asia. I find them totally tasteless.

Well, I'll find out.
I figure they're destined for things like tom yum soup, stir fries, etc were there's lots of other flavors.

I tend to brine my shrimp, which improves their flavor and texture.

I like Serious Eats dry brine method of 1 teaspoon kosher salt and 1/4 tsp baking soda per pound for 15 minutes to an hour.

https://www.seriouseats.com/2015/10/how ... saute.html

The brine method is a couple of paragraphs down.

Costco is now limiting access to the store to two people per membership card per visit, and they are closing the stores at 6:30 pm M-F. They are now not taking returns on toilet paper, paper towels, wipes, and bottle water either.

NFriday wrote:They are now not taking returns on toilet paper, paper towels, wipes, and bottle water either.

Nor should they. Anybody who thought they were positioning themselves for resale profiteering was bankrupt morally and intellectually. Can't think of any other reason for a meaningful volume of returns on these.

bweiny wrote:

NFriday wrote:They are now not taking returns on toilet paper, paper towels, wipes, and bottle water either.

Nor should they. Anybody who thought they were positioning themselves for resale profiteering was bankrupt morally and intellectually.

I suspect many people bought a lifetime's worth of toilet paper and bottled water (insert eyeroll here) because they heard they had to because others were doing it, and they wanted to do something (however foolish) to presumably help themselves and their families during this plague time, and then, finally, they panicked.

Still, I think denying them the opportunity to return/exchange is appropriate.

Has anyone been in a Costco recently? Specifically Lincoln Park. I've been unsuccessful in finding a delivery slot through Instacart so might need to head in person next week as we are getting low on some staples.

The GP wrote:Has anyone been in a Costco recently? Specifically Lincoln Park. I've been unsuccessful in finding a delivery slot through Instacart so might need to head in person next week as we are getting low on some staples.

I've gone to get gas once and also checked another time. Both times there are lines out the door and people waiting with carts to get in. I don't know if that is because they are actively limiting the number of people in the warehouse at any one time - a la what Trader Joe's is doing - or if there is just that much demand.

No matter the reason, I basically just leave. I don't need anything in Costco that badly. Maybe I will eventually accept that shopping now just requires waiting in a line. I'm not there yet, though.

HI,

Costco in Mettawa has been easy to get to, park and get in.

The location on Damen in Chicago just has so many more people aiming at it.

Regards,
CAthy2

The GP wrote:Has anyone been in a Costco recently? Specifically Lincoln Park. I've been unsuccessful in finding a delivery slot through Instacart so might need to head in person next week as we are getting low on some staples.

I was at Costco Merriville,In today when they opened. It was senior shopping hours. The line into the store was at least the the length of a football field if not more. I was told the the wait would be at least an hour. I was going to go home when I noticed someone I knew that was fairly close to the front. I got in line next to her and we waited for maybe 15 minutes before we were allowed to go in.

It was an eerie feeling inside with almost total silence. There were employees everywhere monitoring everything. Only a few people at a time were allowed to enter the dairy or vegetable coolers. employees were stationed by the toilet paper & paper towels where there were limits of one each.

When I left there was very little of a line. An employee told me that the insane lines are only in the morning and that afternoons were much quieter.

There is also a new rule that only 2 people can come in per membership card.

Gasoline was $1.14 a gallon.

Artie wrote:Gasoline was $1.14 a gallon.

Gas heaven for the consumer and hell for the producer.

When I was 10, I fully recall 29 cent per gallon with the added bonus of a set of steak knives.

Regards,
Cathy2

Cathy2 wrote:

Artie wrote:Gasoline was $1.14 a gallon.

Gas heaven for the consumer and hell for the producer.

All dressed up and nowhere to go!

=R=

Cathy2 wrote:

Artie wrote:Gasoline was $1.14 a gallon.

Gas heaven for the consumer and hell for the producer.

When I was 10, I fully recall 29 cent per gallon with the added bonus of a set of steak knives.

Regards,
Cathy2

And they checked your oil levels and tire pressure and they pumped the gas.