Why do people like Costco so much?

[Captante]

 

[Muse]

wha?
they turn into shorts if you rip off the legs? ala Magic Mike?

They got zippers. I've used that feature a time or two. Anyway, they're cargo pants and I'm totally into all them pockets. The price was right too, I bought 5 pair all in all but they stopped stocking them.

 

[Muse]

I am not saying you should wear them, but you should be aware of them.

They are handy on a golf course.

 

[Zorba]

Do the math on membership expense and similar. Their variety isn't what it used to be and they made a move towards massive amounts of frozen junk food optimized for microwave cooking. Tons of "seasonal" items of which are "one off" items. They seem to be buying close out bulk clothing and similar items and marketing them as "seasonal". Do the math. Costco isn't for everybody...

I really don't buy much there, and only stuff I know is cheaper than my grocery store. But just in gas, produce, and a handful of other things it pays for the membership. I have a blueberry addiction and it saves me $5-10/wk right there.

Other things, like meat, don't seem to have any discount and I buy that at my normal store because I prefer the smaller packages and thinner steaks.

 

[Muse]

I really don't buy much there, and only stuff I know is cheaper than my grocery store. But just in gas, produce, and a handful of other things it pays for the membership. I have a blueberry addiction and it saves me $5-10/wk right there.

Other things, like meat, don't seem to have any discount and I buy that at my normal store because I prefer the smaller packages and thinner steaks.

Costco bought organic blueberries in frozen 3lb bags is IMO a great deal. I always have a bag in the freezer. EXNT added to smoothies. Yesterday, using microwave, I heated up some on plate with refrigerated banana and apple for a quickie fruit salad snack. Of course, blueberries enjoy a great reputation for being healthy food. Anti-oxidants.

 

[MrSquished]

Costco bought organic blueberries in frozen 3lb bags is IMO a great deal. I always have a bag in the freezer. EXNT added to smoothies. Yesterday, using microwave, I heated up some on plate with refrigerated banana and apple for a quickie fruit salad snack. Of course, blueberries enjoy a great reputation for being healthy food. Anti-oxidants.

Yeah they have great deals on organic frozen fruit there. It's definitely a great resource if you make shakes.

 

[Zorba]

wha?
they turn into shorts if you rip off the legs? ala Magic Mike?

They are great for hiking. Start early when it's cold, then dump the legs once it warms up a bit. I use them for the same reason when I go to Disney World in the winter.

 

[Zorba]

Costco bought organic blueberries in frozen 3lb bags is IMO a great deal. I always have a bag in the freezer. EXNT added to smoothies. Yesterday, using microwave, I heated up some on plate with refrigerated banana and apple for a quickie fruit salad snack. Of course, blueberries enjoy a great reputation for being healthy food. Anti-oxidants.

I've never gotten into frozen blueberries or smoothies for that matter. I much prefer the texture of fresh.

 

[MrSquished]

They are great for hiking. Start early when it's cold, then dump the legs once it warms up a bit. I use them for the same reason when I go to Disney World in the winter.

Yep, they are perfect for hiking and backpacking due to temp changes due to time of day as well as elevation. Kuhl makes some great convertible hiking pants. I've had them for like 10 years. https://www.kuhl.com/kuhl/mens/pants/renegade-cargo-convertible/

I've never gotten into frozen blueberries or smoothies for that matter. I much prefer the texture of fresh.

Yeah, fresh is always better, and I might guess even a bit healthier perhaps, but to keep around for shakes, frozen is just much more convenient to me. And more affordable.

 

[Muse]

I've never gotten into frozen blueberries or smoothies for that matter. I much prefer the texture of fresh.

I like fresh. But smoothies with frozen fruits have the advantage of always ready. Fruit, there's always the issue of is it ripe yet, is it past edible? Is it optimal. I freeze a lot of my bananas (peel, bag, freeze) for this reason. Bananas have a pretty narrow window for ripeness. Mostly I make smoothies in warm weather. Great after a workout.

 

[Muse]

Yeah, fresh is always better, and I might guess even a bit healthier perhaps, but to keep around for shakes, frozen is just much more convenient to me. And more affordable.

Frozen produce can be cheaper than fresh because the freezing is done on-site and issues of transportation, handling, all the knarly stuff they have to do to keep produce sellable isn't in the cost equation. So, you can go to Costco and buy fresh blueberries, but you will find that buying a 3lb bag of frozen organic blueberries is by far the cheaper way to go.

And the funny thing is that I am particular about how I like my fresh bananas. But a banana that's past where I like it fresh, if frozen and used in smoothies I still really do like.

I'm sure the same sort of thing applies to lots of other produce.

I also will buy a fresh pineapple, and slice off the rind, slice and cut into chunks and freeze in bags. I like it fresh, of course, but over-ripe pineapple is nasty (and a pineapple doesn't stay good for long)! It doesn't get that way in the freezer. I can add the frozen chunks to smoothies, stir fry's, put on my homemade pizzas.

 

[Geekbabe]

I miss Costco, I used to love the food sampler station, also liked their deli, frozen foods & bakery

 

[Muse]

I miss Costco, I used to love the food sampler station, also liked their deli, frozen foods & bakery

At my Costco the food sampling has been cut back and at times non-existent because of the pandemic. I was there 3 days ago and I got one sample, a little Clif-Bar. I found a place with no company, pulled my mask off, scarfed it and put my mask back on. I didn't notice any other food sampling going on.

 

[IGBT]

I really don't buy much there, and only stuff I know is cheaper than my grocery store. But just in gas, produce, and a handful of other things it pays for the membership. I have a blueberry addiction and it saves me $5-10/wk right there.

Other things, like meat, don't seem to have any discount and I buy that at my normal store because I prefer the smaller packages and thinner steaks.

Have you noticed any short term / long term memory improvement via the blueberries??

 

[Muse]

Have you noticed any short term / long term memory improvement via the blueberries??

I remember eating some this morning!

 

[Geekbabe]

At my Costco the food sampling has been cut back and at times non-existent because of the pandemic. I was there 3 days ago and I got one sample, a little Clif-Bar. I found a place with no company, pulled my mask off, scarfed it and put my mask back on. I didn't notice any other food sampling going on.

I haven’t been in a store in about 2 years, not sure how I would act if I could return 😂

 

[Zorba]

Have you noticed any short term / long term memory improvement via the blueberries??

I cant say I've really noticed any health changes since I started eating about a cup and half a day.

 

[nakedfrog]

Didn't see any Andouille at Costco, didn't expect to, either. The only sausage I've been buying for a few years is from my local indy supermarket, being Dibrova Andouille in 16oz packages. I really like it. I was there about a week ago and saw they have Aidelle's Andouille (12oz, costing more than the 16oz Dibrova) and bought a package of both.

So, I ate both varieties different nights this week and determined that the Dibrova is way more delicious. It's also way less fatty. So, I'll stick with the Dibrova. Both companies have many sausage offerings in the store, but I haven't tried other than the Andouille.

I haven't seen that brand, saw they're from Lodi, CA, so probably I won't unless I'm in the area.

Zippers. You must live in a cave if you don't know about this. They were popular in the mid 80s.

I had a pair in Y2K!

We went this AM. Half way through the store and the cart is still empty. YEAH!

Then we hit the cold/frozen section.

$270 at the checkout.

Granted, I did get 6 bags of coffee.

Damn, that's a lot of coffee.

 

[Fritzo]

At my Costco the food sampling has been cut back and at times non-existent because of the pandemic. I was there 3 days ago and I got one sample, a little Clif-Bar. I found a place with no company, pulled my mask off, scarfed it and put my mask back on. I didn't notice any other food sampling going on.

I literally used to go to Costco for lunch sometimes Just walked around and ate like 20 samples...free buffet!

Now they don't have so many samples (I heard due to staffing shortages), and most of the samples are in individual bags/containers to prevent contamination.

 

[highland145]

Damn, that's a lot of coffee.

I use about a cup of beans/day and my son has decided he likes it too so it doesn't take that long to go through.

 

[Aikouka]

I really don't buy much there, and only stuff I know is cheaper than my grocery store. But just in gas, produce, and a handful of other things it pays for the membership. I have a blueberry addiction and it saves me $5-10/wk right there.

Other things, like meat, don't seem to have any discount and I buy that at my normal store because I prefer the smaller packages and thinner steaks.

Ugh, I was buying at least 2-3 of their cartons of blueberries each time I'd stop in there. I think they were somewhere around $3.80 for 18oz (or something like that), which was quite good. I will say that the quality was a bit of a mixed bag at times. It wasn't uncommon to get a few berries in a row that just had no flavor at all. When growing up, my cousins had a blueberry patch, and I was quite used to the taste of fresh blueberries. So, getting the ones that taste more like flavorless mush is... not great. Last I saw, the price recently shot up to around $5 per carton. I'm assuming they're out of season?

EDIT:

It's cheap, they have everything, and a good return policy. Pretty simple in my opinion.

I think that they really need to work on the cohesiveness of the online and physical presences though. I was debating for a while to buy the Anova sous vide cooker as a gift. It was a good price at $150 ($50 off the original $200 price) as it came with the middle-tier cooker and the tub, which cost well over $150 if you bought them off Amazon. Unfortunately, by the time I decided to buy the cooker, it was out of stock at the warehouse. So, I just ordered it online! However, I ran into a problem rather quickly after receiving my order... they shipped me a garbage disposal instead. I wish that were some sort of joke, but the people at the warehouse were rather perplexed as well. I brought the item into the warehouse hoping that they could just work some voodoo magic to get things fixed and have a new one sent out to me, but they filled out some wrong item form and gave me a refund.

What made it all worse was that the item was now in stock in the warehouse, but it was no longer on sale. I asked if the warehouse could just give me the item for the original price, but they said they couldn't since the online and physical entities are technically separate. To resolve the issue, I had to order the item (at full price), and get the customer service department to credit me the $50 back. Fortunately, I did get the correct item the second time.

 

[Zorba]

Ugh, I was buying at least 2-3 of their cartons of blueberries each time I'd stop in there. I think they were somewhere around $3.80 for 18oz (or something like that), which was quite good. I will say that the quality was a bit of a mixed bag at times. It wasn't uncommon to get a few berries in a row that just had no flavor at all. When growing up, my cousins had a blueberry patch, and I was quite used to the taste of fresh blueberries. So, getting the ones that taste more like flavorless mush is... not great. Last I saw, the price recently shot up to around $5 per carton. I'm assuming they're out of season?

Blueberry prices and flavor change all the time. Price at Costco have also been lower than Target or my local grocery any time I've check both close together. I generally get 18 oz for less than 12 oz elsewhere.

The changes in flavor is annoying with blueberries, but I don't think that is a Costco problem. It depends on where they are from and how big they are. In general I find Driscoll's to be the worst.

 

[IGBT]

Blueberry prices and flavor change all the time. Price at Costco have also been lower than Target or my local grocery any time I've check both close together. I generally get 18 oz for less than 12 oz elsewhere.

The changes in flavor is annoying with blueberries, but I don't think that is a Costco problem. It depends on where they are from and how big they are. In general I find Driscoll's to be the worst.
You might try growing them...my neighbor grows them in a Earth Box..the soil needs to be alkaline I believe..seems to be an interesting hobby.

 

[Muse]

Blueberry prices and flavor change all the time. Price at Costco have also been lower than Target or my local grocery any time I've check both close together. I generally get 18 oz for less than 12 oz elsewhere.

The changes in flavor is annoying with blueberries, but I don't think that is a Costco problem. It depends on where they are from and how big they are. In general I find Driscoll's to be the worst.

Do you guys ever try the frozen organic 3lb bags of blueberries at Costco? How do they compare with fresh?

 

[Zorba]

Do you guys ever try the frozen organic 3lb bags of blueberries at Costco? How do they compare with fresh?

I've never tried the Costco frozen, but have others. I just don't like the texture of them. Can't get past that long enough to think about the flavor.