In case it's not common knowledge --- according to my neighbor who works there, at the Mettawa Costco at least, the people who dispense samples are not Costco employees, they work for a separate company, but Costco has never minded having them there, because they do boost sales.

I almost always bypass samples, in Costco or anywhere else, but when I do stop for one, I feel a bit obliged to exchange a few words with the person dispensing them. It seems rude not to, and maybe that's what's going on with people you wish weren't lingering and talking so much. Even if it feels a little rude to say no thanks and move on, it's what's easier for me. Whether I want to steer clear of the unknown food item I wasn't planning on eating or the conversation I wasn't planning on having, I'm not sure, but I can see why some other people might feel obliged to interact more or indeed might seek out the interaction.

I would sometimes call up my Dad and tell him that I was taking him to the Club for the lunch buffet. I never understood why he always seemed disappointed.

This is a family joke, if the humor is not evident!

We discovered a new-to-us wonderful beef product at Costco. This is ‘Cuisine Solutions’ brand ‘Grass Fed Sliced Beef Sirloin’. It is already cooked, just open and enjoy. It came in a two-pouch pack, each pouch being around one pound.
The beef is cooked ‘sous-vide’ and then apparently sliced by some kind of magic laser slicer. Each package looked like a big chunk of beef but when peeled open were actually perfectly-precise less-than-quarter-inch thick slices. The sous-vide prep really shined as each slice was dark roasted color on the edge and luscious red-pink on the inside. Price was $9.79 a pound (in April – this has been waiting patiently in our deep-freeze) or $20.46 for the package of two.
There is a tiny bit of some sort of dark juices – tasty, but I felt the need to supplement with some teriyaki for what we were using the meat for. We polished off half a package with a big pan of sauteed pea pods, peppers, summer squash, zucchini and onion and poured it over some very nice brown rice. Before putting the dish together, I had wisely stashed half the package in the fridge. I am sure we could have eaten the whole thing if it had been out.
It is the nicest ready-to-eat food I have seen in a long time and I can see keeping this in the freezer for when we are pressed for time or energy will become a habit – if I can find this again!
Has anyone else tried this?

Joy,

Did you eat this at room temperature or reheat? Roughly what were the reheating instructions, if any?

Regards,
Cathy2

Hi Cathy! Here is what the label said about heating the slices:
Preparation Instructions:
If product is frozen, thaw overnight under refrigeration.
REHEATING IS OPTIONAL
Sliced beef is fully cooked and ready to eat out of the package. If reheating, be careful not to overcook.
STOVETOP
1. Open pouch and remove beef and natural juices.
2. Separate beef into individual slices. Discard plastic pouch and tray.
3. Preheat non-stick pan on medium-low heat.
4. Add beef slices and juices.
5. Turn continuously for 30 seconds to 1 minute or until desired doneness.
Since I was sort of sleep-walking while preparing our lunch/dinner, I thought the big chunk of meat was a solid piece that I could cut into chunks and throw into our stir -fry. I microwaved the whole piece and when I went to cut it, the precision laser-cut slices fanned themselves out. Wow!
Without reading the directions, I knew that these were delicate and over-cooking them would be a travesty. So, I sauteed up the skillet of veggies, laid the beef slices on top, took the skillet off the burner and put a lid on it for five more minutes while the rice finished cooking.
Perfect, except the slices did look incongruous in the stir-fry.
Now that I knew what I had, the following day, I teed up the remaining slices. I toasted some ciabatas from Costco (they call them something else, square guys), slowly caramelized three sliced onions, sauteed mushrooms and piled on six slices of the beef on each sammy together with some Horsey Sauce – creamy white from a bottle. WOW. It was quickly in competition for Best.Sandwich.Ever.
And we still have another chunk in the freezer!

I have been buying that beef for months now. It is fantastic. What I tend to do is take it out of the fridge an hour before using to bring it to room temp then add it quickly to my stir fry. I have also used it to make hot beef sandwiches - just dipped briefly in the hot liquid. Either way it has been fantastic and cheap for the price.

i bought this at the lincoln park costco this morning. haven't tried it yet...

I've only seen it twice in the time Costco has been in the area, but the Niles store had chanterelles yesterday, which made some great mushroom soup today. $10.99 for a 1kb package.

justjoan wrote:i bought this at the lincoln park costco this morning. haven't tried it yet...

yeah, delicious. it's sandwiches for me: dipped in the abundant juice, layered with roasted red peppers, horseradish, mayo, dijon and lettuce on sourdough. i guess i ate 3 or 4 this week and used up 1 of the 2 packages of beef that came in the box. thanks, joy, for pointing it out. i seldom buy costco's prepared foods, but this was money well spent.

WillG wrote:Pairs-

What is vegan sugar? or more to the point, non-vegan sugar? Something to do with the refining process? Do you mean raw sugar?

"Bone char is widely used by the sugar industry as a decolorizing filter, which allows sugar to achieve its white color. The bone char is made from the bones of cattle from countries like Afghanistan, Argentina, India and Pakistan. The bones are sold to traders who then sell them to the U.S. sugar industry.

Bone char is used in many types of sugar including brown sugar and confectioner's sugar."

What Makes Sugar Not Vegan?
Let’s start with why some sugars are not considered vegan. To make refined sugar from sugarcane, the sugar cane stalks are crushed to separate the juice from the pulp. The juice is then processed, filtered, and bleached with bone char. That pure white color we associate with sugar – yeah, that comes from the bone char.

Now it’s important to note that this type of sugar does not actually CONTAIN bone char. But because it is part of the process, most vegans would not eat this kind of refined sugar.

https://ordinaryvegan.net/vegansugar/
https://www.mydarlingvegan.com/is-sugar-vegan/

I was in the Oak Brook Costco yesterday for a quick shop. I don't know the layout of that store as well, but they definitely seemed picked over. No frozen wild blueberries. No tubs of Fage yogurt. I only noticed some Bounty paper towels but I wasn't looking for paper goods. On the plus side, they had pallets of the mixed bags of chocolate candies so we are set for Halloween!

Cathy asked me about this by message, so I hunted up the latest news, and then I thought others here might want to know.

Costco Opens in Champaign on October 22.

Costco store opening hours, 2000 N. Neil, Champaign, IL

On another site, I read that Costco went in on the west side of the Market Place Mall on the north side of Champaign, replacing the anchor store Bergners, which was torn down. I'm looking forward to checking it out next time downstate.

Well, my local Costco has Bacon Grease for sale now, only $9.99. I took some pictures, but they were terrible, so not posting them.

Was this refrigerated or somehow pasteurized and made shelf stable ?

lougord99 wrote:Was this refrigerated or somehow pasteurized and made shelf stable ?

I'm guessing you are asking me about the bacon grease and if so, I didn't read the back of the package, so I don't know if it was pasteurized or not. It wasn't refrigerated, but in the cooking aisle next to the olive oils. Next time I'm there, I'll try to get a better picture of front and back and post them here.

Not an expert, but growing up my Mom put leftover bacon grease into a ceramic bowl that stayed at room temperature for later use. Not so sure it isn't much different than lard which is room temperature.

Puckjam wrote:Not an expert, but growing up my Mom put leftover bacon grease into a ceramic bowl that stayed at room temperature for later use. Not so sure it isn't much different than lard which is room temperature.

Commercial shelf-stable lard has been hydrogenated which gives it a longer shelf life. Countertop pork fat will go rancid.

JoelF wrote:Commercial shelf-stable lard has been hydrogenated which gives it a longer shelf life. Countertop pork fat will go rancid.

Absolutely. I sometimes buy pork fat at Jimenez grocery in Wheeling. It is not refrigerated there, but has been produced very recently. It immediately goes into my fridge and I try to use it within about 2-3 weeks.

I save all bacon grease I create, but it definitely goes into the fridge.

Makes sense. More so as Mom used it quickly (makes everything a bit better) so it probably never had a chance to get rancid.

Costco Niles yesterday, Thursday, 9:15am, when (supposedly) only old people, like me, essential workers and a few others are offered early admittance. Decent crowd but not packed, masks lots of space between people etc.

Store was loaded, water to the ceiling, paper towels plentiful enough to dry the Titanic, enough Tee-Pee to wipe . . . You get the idea. Racks of lamb have reappeared and they were well stocked with frozen duck breast. I'd guess 7-bone standing rib roast is back as well but I neglected to look.

The main point of this post, aside from lamb rack, is when we left around 10:15 crowd was building fast and people had that ~look in their eye, like if you got between them and the Charmin they gut you like a fish. Speaking of which, it was one-only of Tee-Pee and paper towels, water no limit.

I'm guessing by 4pm the store was well picked over.

G Wiv wrote:I'm guessing by 4pm the store was well picked over.

I was there just before closing (I like to shop at Costco in the last hour of the day as crowds seem reasonable then).

I didn't do a thorough inventory as I was just there to pick up a few items. I did see TP in just about everyone's cart and picked up a pack myself. There were pallets of it from what I could see, no signage about 1 per customer, and no observable signs of panicky buying (at least to my eyes).

gastro gnome wrote:no signage about 1 per customer, and no observable signs of panicky buying (at least to my eyes).

I overheard the one per spoken to another customer.

I guess all the panicky people go when the door opens, a few wide eyed folks there when we left. We were simply doing our every two week (or so) Costco run, which includes gas, not much of a morning line there either.

When we go to the car I realized I forgot one of the main items I wanted, a two pack of heavy duty extra long foil. I did not consider for one second going back in.

Hi,

I was at the Business Costco in Chicago (just north of Bedford Park) yesterday. I last visited it in March on the very day the shutdown began. This is a restaurant business oriented Costco with a greater range of food than your conventional Costco. Note: they sell hot dog buns with poppy seeds, which I have not seen at conventional Costco stores.

This location closed to public during shutdown to morph into a distribution center to fulfill deliveries. It only reopened in early August.

Where the food court once was located has been remodeled out of existence. Where you picked up your food is now walled over.

There was more activity in this store yesterday than back in March. Bottled water was something people gravitated toward.

I was there to pick up specific items, so my cart was not particularly full. When I got in line, there was only one or two people in each line. Since many restaurants or small shops are replenishing here, some flatbed carts are loaded. You need to navigate to lines with more modest purchasers.

While standing in check out, suddenly there were long lines of people behind me. If a media photographer had shown up, it would have given the illusion of panicked citizens. Instead, it was just a matter of timing and very glad I was on the early side.

7300 S Cicero Ave, Chicago, IL 60629
Monday-Friday: 7 AM - 6 PM,
Saturday: 7 AM - 4 PM
Closed Sundays
Phone: (708) 552-9010

Joy wrote:We discovered a new-to-us wonderful beef product at Costco. This is ‘Cuisine Solutions’ brand ‘Grass Fed Sliced Beef Sirloin’...
Has anyone else tried this?

Another "thank you" for Joy.
Finally tried it last night, and it is a very decent product.

The Mount Prospect Costco was completely out of TP and paper towels Saturday afternoon. An employee said they were "looted" the night before.

G Wiv wrote:The main point of this post, aside from lamb rack

Costco lamb rack was delicious! 375° oven, 124° internal.

click to enlarge





Costco lamb rack, count me a Fan!

Looks great. What is your crust, Gary ?

lougord99 wrote:Looks great. What is your crust, Gary ?

Thanks!
Crosshatch, olive oil, dry rub.
Let sit out for an hour or so.
Dijon slather
Seasoned panko (panko mixed with dry rub)
Olive oil drizzle
Roast at 375°
Remove 124° internal
Rest at least 14 minutes
Slice, eat, repeat.

Zero idea how long it took.

Serrano Spanish Ham spotted at Costco,Merrillville,In. Right by the front as you walk in. I believe they were 99.00.

Glad you like it, Seebee!

Now the ironic part is that we were in Costco Glenview on Wednesday and we could not find the sous vide beef anywhere!

We noticed that a number of our regular products were not to be found. Many of the shelves and fridges had switched to holiday sorts of foods -- ready made dinner items (sure they always have some but this seemed more than usual), lots of nice appetizer-type items, more cheeses than usual.

There were plenty of people there but seemingly no limit on the meat items. I bought four chuck roasts (@@!) among other goodies. At home, I ground up two of them and portioned into half-pound portions and froze.

I swear, we did not see any turkeys. We must have circled the meat and fish area three times looking for the sous vide beef and, if we had found one, a smallish turkey breast. Struck out on both.