Why do people like Costco so much?

[Zorba]

Last visit I noticed they have Ivar's Clam Chowder. I like it in the restaurant a lot so I gave it a try, for store bought soup it was pretty good.

 

[Muse]

yeah, i bought those on sale and guac was on sale at same time.
that combo was tasty!

btw-what does chips have to do with your initial sentce of sausages?

No relevance, I just thought I'd piggy back the ideas partly because the thread had sat fallow for a while. I mean anyone can address either of the segments of the post.

Yes, those chips rock! Don't need guac to rock!!!

Went to costco on sunday last week. I got there shortly after it opened and was kind of surprised how uncrowded it was. Not sure if was omicron scaring people away or just all the old people were in church still. I know people keep posting empty shelves but everything looked fully stocked to me. I should have bought one of those rotisserie chickens but my fridge was really way to full.

I couldn't believe how crowded my Costco was this last Thursday around 1PM. I go there every other week on a Thursday and I've never seen it THAT crowded. The lot was fuller than usual too, of course. Shelves are full.

I stopped buying their rotisserie chickens when I saw online that they are so high in sodium. They squirt a solution into the birds before cooking. I started buying their frozen chickens and have one in the freezer now.

 

[Torn Mind]

No relevance, I just thought I'd piggy back the ideas partly because the thread had sat fallow for a while. I mean anyone can address either of the segments of the post.

Yes, those chips rock! Don't need guac to rock!!!

I couldn't believe how crowded my Costco was this last Thursday around 1PM. I go there every other week on a Thursday and I've never seen it THAT crowded. The lot was fuller than usual too, of course. Shelves are full.

I stopped buying their rotisserie chickens when I saw online that they are so high in sodium. They squirt a solution into the birds before cooking. I started buying their frozen chickens and have one in the freezer now.

Sodium ion intake is a somewhat overstated problem imo. The kidneys will always regulate levels. With that said, it is probably good to eat potassium sources along with it as they interact with each other.

With that said, DIY chicken prep lets you add better salts like sea salt, herbs, etc.

 

[PingSpike]

Even though there was hardly anyone in Costco it didn't stop the guy behind me in line from crowding the shit out of me and acting like if he just crawled up my ass enough that would somehow move things along faster. Sometimes it's sardines in there and you have no choice but it was as empty as it ever is.

Costco is always full of space hogging idiots though. It's a warehouse basically but old people always seem to try to park their carts across the entire isle anyway because they're to important to be bothered to avoid taking up space. Easily the most irritating thing about going there to me.

 

[ultimatebob]

The 1/4 pound hot dog and soda combo is still just $1.50, which is amazing.

 

[sdifox]

The 1/4 pound hot dog and soda combo is still just $1.50, which is amazing.

It's C$1.50 here

 

[Muse]

Sodium ion intake is a somewhat overstated problem imo. The kidneys will always regulate levels. With that said, it is probably good to eat potassium sources along with it as they interact with each other.

With that said, DIY chicken prep lets you add better salts like sea salt, herbs, etc.

I'm still trying to figure out why sea salt is considered a better idea than regular old NaCL (with iodine). I suppose there are some minerals in sea salt, is that it??? I mean, you can get your minerals from plenty of other sources...

 

[sdifox]

I'm still trying to figure out why sea salt is considered a better idea than regular old NaCL (with iodine). I suppose there are some minerals in sea salt, is that it??? I mean, you can get your minerals from plenty of other sources...

Not to mention a lot of places make table salt from sea water.

The Stunning Qigu Salt Mountain and Jingzijiao Wapan Salt Fields in Tainan - Nickkembel Travels

Everything you need to know for visiting the Cigu Salt Mountain, Taiwan Salt Museum, and Jingzijiao Wapan Salt Fields in Tainan, Taiwan!

www.nickkembel.com

 

[lxskllr]

I'm still trying to figure out why sea salt is considered a better idea than regular old NaCL (with iodine). I suppose there are some minerals in sea salt, is that it??? I mean, you can get your minerals from plenty of other sources...

Because it sounds romantic and "artisan". There's no health benefit with sea salt. Sea salt can taste better. Regular iodized table salt tastes "sharp" to me. I like Bretagne salt particularly, but others are good too. It's cheap and fun to taste salt from around the world.

 

[fralexandr]

Not to mention a lot of places make table salt from sea water.

The Stunning Qigu Salt Mountain and Jingzijiao Wapan Salt Fields in Tainan - Nickkembel Travels

Everything you need to know for visiting the Cigu Salt Mountain, Taiwan Salt Museum, and Jingzijiao Wapan Salt Fields in Tainan, Taiwan!

www.nickkembel.com

The vast majority of table salts have microplastics in them (National geographic says 90%), which might indicate they're sourced from seas/oceans, though microplastics are also found in the air.

The presence of microplastics in commercial salts from different countries - Scientific Reports

The occurrence of microplastics (MPs) in saltwater bodies is relatively well studied, but nothing is known about their presence in most of the commercial salts that are widely consumed by humans across the globe. Here, we extracted MP-like particles larger than 149 μm from 17 salt brands...

www.nature.com

 

[JEDI]

The 1/4 pound hot dog and soda combo is still just $1.50, which is amazing.

they sell those hotdogs in the refrigerated section next to the bacon at my costco.

They're like $1.25/each, which makes the soda .25.
incidentally, they also sell hebrew national hotdogs which are slightly cheaper per pound

 

[sdifox]

The vast majority of table salts have microplastics in them (National geographic says 90%), which might indicate they're sourced from seas/oceans, though microplastics are also found in the air.

The presence of microplastics in commercial salts from different countries - Scientific Reports

The occurrence of microplastics (MPs) in saltwater bodies is relatively well studied, but nothing is known about their presence in most of the commercial salts that are widely consumed by humans across the globe. Here, we extracted MP-like particles larger than 149 μm from 17 salt brands...

www.nature.com

we have this

Windsor Salt Mine - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[MrSquished]

Because it sounds romantic and "artisan". There's no health benefit with sea salt. Sea salt can taste better. Regular iodized table salt tastes "sharp" to me. I like Bretagne salt particularly, but others are good too. It's cheap and fun to taste salt from around the world.

I liked Baleine french sea salt but then I saw this Belgian brand called Hain that is sea salt which is also iodized.

It's much cheaper than the french one somehow. I'll have to do a taste test. But the Baleine was really good.

 

[ultimatebob]

they sell those hotdogs in the refrigerated section next to the bacon at my costco.

They're like $1.25/each, which makes the soda .25.
incidentally, they also sell hebrew national hotdogs which are slightly cheaper per pound

Costco is probably paying someone $18 an hour to cook and serve those hot dogs, though. There is no way they're still making money off of these.

 

[MrSquished]

I also like Costco for their pharmacy.

 

[Muse]

I bought a 5lb jar of Himalayan Pink Salt at Costco (item# 1003291) a few years ago. I don't often use it, maybe I should. Says it was mined from deposits in the Himalayas from the Jurassic era. I figure there can't be much plastic in it! However, right on the front label it says "this salt does not provide iodide, a necessary nutrient." I suppose it has to say that by law. However, looking, my Costco (Kirkland) adult mature multi tab provides 150mcg iodine, 100% daily requirement.

Some years ago I bought a case of those cylinders of Leslie iodized salt, I mean a decades supply!!! That's what I use for salt usually. However, recently I often just reach for my Old Bay Seasoning, which is largely salt.

 

[nakedfrog]

Looking in my data I see Costco was selling this FSTG chips product back in 2018, had a $2 discount on it when it was selling for more (i.e. $6.00 before discount). I bought Late July instead. Now, LJ isn't available there. Still, Costco seems to have the best price on these by a mile.
Which variety is that?

Could be a regional offering, but it was the Bavarian Meats Seattle-style smoked sausage.

Say hello to the Official Sausage of the Seattle Kraken! Our Seattle Style Smoked Sausage is made with lean cuts of high-quality whole-muscle pork and stuffed with cream cheese, bacon, jalapénos, and onion to add even more flavor.

The jalapenos were much more prominent flavor-wise than the cream cheese or bacon, IMO.

Aidell is the chicken sausages, but usually Costco only has the chicken and apple or the cracked pepper options (cracked pepper may actually be a different brand). I'm quite partial to the andoullie (sp?) "flavor" but don't think I've ever seen them at Costco.

They don't have the cracked pepper one here, they do have the pineapple & bacon, which I tried as a sample, so I knew I wasn't into it. Generally, chicken sausage is always pretty "meh" to me.
The andouille variety is a mainstay in my fridge, best andouille I've found in standard grocery stores.

Last visit I noticed they have Ivar's Clam Chowder. I like it in the restaurant a lot so I gave it a try, for store bought soup it was pretty good.

I tried the Ivar's potato soup, no matter what I did, the potatoes never really felt fully cooked to my liking.

 

[UNCjigga]

I don’t know much about sausages, but Costco is usually the spot to get unseemly quantities of brats on the cheap for summer grilling season. Their brats are decent, nothing special, but not horrible either.

 

[JEDI]

I don’t know much about sausages, but Costco is usually the spot to get unseemly quantities of brats on the cheap for summer grilling season. Their brats are decent, nothing special, but not horrible either.

brats tastes like hot dogs but costs more

 

[Muse]

brats tastes like hot dogs but costs more

One day I went looking for corn dogs at Costco (used to get them there). I asked and the coolest female ever there (IMO! ) suggested I get the corn dog style sausages instead, which I did. After that, I'd get 'em all the time, they came if a box like the corn dogs. But they stopped carrying them eventually, same as they just stopped carrying my favorite chips only weeks ago.

It's one of the downsides to Costco, they can just stop carrying something. They also have a very nasty habit of moving their stuff around so you don't know WTF it is. They do that constantly!!! How many times have I gone all the way to the front of the giant warehouse, waited to find a person who will deign to serve me and ask them to look up my item, see if it's there, find out where it is, and if they don't have it, determine if and when they will have it again or which particular warehouse has how many of the item? Many times!!! Still, I love the place.

 

[JEDI]

Waiting for Costco to sell these new Lay's chips. (they're my current favorite chips)

New Lay's Layers chips (pretty good)

https://www.snackandbakery.com/articles/98053-lays-introduces-layers-chips The reason i love kettle chips is that some of the potato chips curl up for a unique texture, like so: Well now, now every chip has that texture. I've only had the sour cream version and it's good!

forums.anandtech.com

 

[GodisanAtheist]

IMO Costco absolutely kills it for virtually all non-perishable goods (buy a lot of it, store it somewhere, never worry about it going bad).

Not a fan of buying perishable food in bulk, rather go to my nice upscale corner market for that, but buying durable goods/detergent/LED bulbs etc Costco is hard to beat.

Their car batteries and tires are pretty decent as well, although their installation services leave something to be desired.

 

[GodisanAtheist]

I'm still trying to figure out why sea salt is considered a better idea than regular old NaCL (with iodine). I suppose there are some minerals in sea salt, is that it??? I mean, you can get your minerals from plenty of other sources...

- I was using sea salt at my wife's insistence for ages. Ran out one day and used some iodized Mortin's instead and was amazed at how good and actually salty it tasted.

Sea salt has a sort of subtle/gentle saltiness to it, while Morton's has a nice sharp salty quality that really pairs well with "big dumb flavor" foods like burgers and fries (i.e. if the delicate flavor of the food is supposed to be the star of the show, use sea salt, but if the saltiness is supposed to be the star of the show, use table salt).

I've been secretly using it on my cooking days and getting consistent compliments from the family on my cooking...

 

[JujuFish]

While we're on the topic of salt, I'd like to add that MSG is awesome.

 

[MrSquished]

We don't have the Ivar's new England clam chowder by me, we have the legal sea foods brand clam chowder, which I find pretty darn good. I just don't buy it often because it's not very healthy and I'll eat one container in one sitting.

Gotta keep my figure svelte