Costco faves/ disappointments- 4th quarter 2015

My biggest Costco disappointment is their hot dogs.

They are super super nasty. Disgusting, even. They taste like liquid smoke, with a soupcon of something disgusting and unidentifiable. The texture is rubbery and grainy at the same time, entirely unpleasant. And about every other bite I hit gristle and/or bone bits.

They are the most gaggamous hot dogs I have ever had the misfortune to experience.

On the plus side - I love their cheese! I need to add it to the permanent Costco list. I got some Jarlsberg that was just delicious. Also a large wedge of Gouda. I made short work of the Jarlsberg, even though it was a huge wedge. Must have more!

I love their Kirkland all-beef hot dogs despite all the salt. They taste, to me, identical to the Best Kosher brand, which they used to sell but which no longer is made. I have never found gristle or shards or anything else foreign in them. I’m not sure whether or not that is the kind to which you are referring.

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Those are the ones. I don’t remember them being this nasty - or nasty at all, actually - but these are without a doubt the worst hot dogs I have ever had the misfortune to find on my plate. Absolutely disgusting! Possibly my Costco is sourcing them from a different factory than yours, but even my son won’t touch them with a ten foot pole.

Of course you have to buy them like 5 lbs at a time - I forget, they came prebundled in a 3 or 5 lb package I think. We tried, we really really tried to finish those off. My son is much less picky about his hot dogs than I am (when he can’t get what he wants, he usually can eat whatever he got without complaint), and finally even he threw the towel in and told me to just go ahead and throw the rest away, if there were still any left in the freezer (there were). Even hidden at the bottom of a bowl of pork & beans, these were virtually inedible.

Too funny, I actually love that the costco apples are so huge! Especially the honeycrisp apples…but then again often i’ll have one with a bit of nut butter and call it lunch.

What coffee…? Kirrkland brand? My costco in harlem nyc usually has Peet’s as well as Starbucks and several others- i’ll get the Peet’s once in a while (major dickenson blend)

I’ve been buying Suja “mighty greens” juice at costco, $10 for 59oz which is a huge savings over purchasing multiples of their smaller bottles. It’s not sweet at all and has a nice balanced flavor. I often make my own juice and it likely costs the same when i make my own.
Honeycrisp apples and pomegranates are in store now (harlem, nyc) as well as a new asian salad kit (didn’t try that yet) and some really delicious seedless black grapes

I don’t know if your local Costcos were selling and serving the same better brand before the change as we got here in SoCal, but here they were Hebrew National All Beef Franks. They’re still available in most markers. At the time the story was that a factory had closed and that HN could no longer supply Costco.

I tried their dogs right after the change and found them pretty unremarkable though not anything as bad as described above. Since the change I’ve been buying Costco’s Polish dogs. While they’re not great I find them to be much better than the regular dogs. At $1.50 with a drink and sauerkraut it’s the best deal around.

The Kirkland brand chicken stock is quite good when it’s around (currently at the Avon, OH store). Sold in 6 1-quart tetra packs.

No idea if this is a new item but I tried a dark chocolate covered caramel with sea salt that was highly addictive! The caramel wasn’t too hard or too soft - Goldilocks would have approved. Comes in a clear plastic cylinder.

I also tried their house made stuffed peppers. Generous amount of beef with a little rice stuffed into pepper halves. The seasoning is slightly sweet, vaguely reminiscent of Cincinnati style chili. Really nice value for the cost and time savings. I make stuffed peppers regularly but otherwise would happily purchase these.

Thank you for posting this, I had no idea Costco carried Suja green drinks, " mighty greens" is my favorite. I will definitely pick this up at the Harlem store.

It’s an awesome deal! Still there as of last week. It’s probably not ideal but i’ve frozen it (after transfer to different container so it has room to expand) and no noticeable taste difference

Today I stopped into the Yonkers store which is located off the NYS Thruway. I assumed they didn’t carry the suja mighty greens juice because I had never seen it in the store… I don’t drink fruit juices so I rarely bother checking out the aisle that has the chilled juices… duh…They do have it and it was $8.99 for the 59 oz container. Thank you again for bringing this to my attention, I would have otherwise not known it was available.

Went to the San Francisco Costco this past week. They had 1lb packages of chanterelles so I couldn’t resist. They were completely flavourless. Such a disappointment.

Oh no! I just bought some today and hadn’t seen your post. How did you cook them? I was planning on just sautéing with garlic and EVOO. Maybe roasting will help concentrate the flavor?

I sautéed in butter with shallot and garlic. When almost done, I added parsley and some cream and let it simmer a bit. Served on toast. All I could taste was shallot. Button mushrooms have WAY more flavour than these. Hopefully yours will be delicious!

I know these aren’t new to all, but I found the Delici Dark Chocolate mousse cups in the Dedham, MA Costco last week. I thought they were quite good - nice, dark flavor, with a slightly bitter finish - just the way I like my dark chocolate.

Bought a bag of the little necks (about 5 lbs) for hotpot on Xmas. I was nervous that they would be tough or dead, given the size of them and how many of them had cracked shells. To my surprise, not a dead clam in the whole bag and after much rinsing and soaking, fairly grit-less as well. The only hesitation is the size of them - the largest little necks I’ve had. Some reminded me more of quahogs.

The caramels are gone - seems to have been a short term special. But I recently tried the caramel/chocolate covered macadamia nuts and they are wonderful!

Costco’s retune policy applies to food as well as pretty much everything else, but our local Costco asks you to return at least half of the package.

2 posts were merged into an existing topic: Costco Q1 and Q2 2016

A post was merged into an existing topic: Costco Q1 and Q2 2016