Flavored syrups

One of the very best buys at Costco is their flavored syrups. If you are in the neighborhood of a business Costco you get an even better deal from their 30+ offerings of flavors! You can spice up your daily latte in no time with these.


A bottle half this size costs twice as much at your local grocery store. And they usually only have vanilla. These also can be used to make awesome Italian sodas. Yum!!!


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Pre-Cooked Pot Roast

Hmmmmm. And that's no Mmmmmm. I know I need to lower expectations for these precooked meals, but this meal left much to be desired!



Morton's Beef Pot Roast comes fully cooked and in a bag. So your options to reheat are microwave or throw the bag into boiling water. We microwaved. It says "with Gravy" but the gravy was more like juices with oil on top.


It did taste better than it looked but that's only because it looked horrible! Was seasoned ok. Not too salty but the meat tasted old and almost gamey (and not in a good way). At 2.39/lb it's decently priced except when you consider at least a third of it's weight is from the so called gravy. Eating this was a good reminder to just get that slowcooker out and use cause it would be way better then this! Not buying again.

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Keeping up with Costco

Ok, getting back on track. Really wanted to review at least one product a day. Plan thwarted by 1 month old not sleeping more than an hour and a half at time for five nights straight - was walking zombie at best! But baby sleeping better now and I am rejoining the world with renewed goals and dreams, including my very important Costco diaries!

First up, a visit down the condiment aisle.


A1 sauce in 33oz bottle is available for...



A pretty good deal. We go through a lot of A1 at this house. The DH is a big sauce on steak guy and it's great in marinades. A
10oz bottle goes for $4.25 ($.425/oz) at Safeway so you are saving about 16 cents/oz by buying at Costco.



Next up French's Mustard. Have you seen their commercials lately? Apparently you can cook any gourmet meal in minutes by adding mustard - I'm in!!







Let's see $4.58 for 2 30oz bottles. At Safeway a 14oz bottle is $1.99, so almost a 7 cents/oz savings.


Hmmmm this per oz savings doesn't mean as much to me as these factors. Is it worth having a larger amount, and more importantly do I have the space for it?! We have a decent pantry but a small refrigerator. So for items like mustard where the extra one can be stored in the pantry. And considering my 2 year olds current affinity with dipping everything in mustard, it's a definite buy for me. But a restaurant sized amount like this:



I'm leaving on the shelf, even if it does give an extra 4 cents savings per ounce.


More from the condiment aisle tomorrow! And we'll review the food items from the latest coupon book before they expire!

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Whoa Costco!!

Walking the aisles of Costco today I became slightly overwhelmed by the enormity of my Costco project. So many aisles and so much food products to try. I better get busy!! And will try to define some parameters to make it an organized attack. Will plan on providing and reviewing
Pricing
Convenience
Value
Taste
Will work on some sort of rating system too.

On another note the new Costco coupon book is out. Will be reviewing that. And our local Costco is carrying Almond cookies and Chinese sausage for Chinese New Year. What are your plans to celebrate the upcoming year of the Rabbit?


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Chocolate croissant

Now this is the best of Costco!! From my travels in Paris I crave freshly baked chocolate croissants. It's the one baked good I try at every cafe and order with my coffee. And although I have yet to find one as tasty as those in beautiful Paris, the idea of having something close enough to be baked in my very own oven... I might have gotten a bit giddy, ok downright stupid with delight when I saw these in the Costco freezer aisle!!



Now I admit this wasn't my first turn with frozen ready made croissants. I had tried the four pack available at TJ's. But at 4.99 they are a bit pricy and it requires you to take them out the night before to rise. Which I could never remember to do! But not with these!! Directions include taking them out for 20 minutes then baking at 340 degrees for 17 minutes and then allowing them to cool for 15.



Your reward for following these greatly detailed directions? Pure deliciousness!!!



Mmmmmmmmm! So good! I think the only thing missing is a view of the Eiffel Tower!

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Up first Jack Daniels Tri-tip

As mentioned before, am really looking for that magic, easy, quick to make, already prepared meal. And while they're at it, making it healthy and all natural would be even better! Let's see how the Jack Daniels Tri tip weighs in.
Preparation was easy enough, turn on the oven and open the bag. They even include a warning to not use the bag In the oven! After heating it for 20 minutes as directed the meat was still not heated through. It took about twice as long. I spooned some of the Jack Daniels glaze over the cut Tri-tip.



Looks yummy, right?! Unfortunately it left much to be desired. The meat was still pretty tough and the sauce was really to sweet (and I didn't taste any extra flavor from the supposed JD whiskey either!!) we left the leftovers in the oven for another half hour and it seemed the meat became more tender but at that point I may as well be cooking it from scratch.
As for value at 5.95/lb it's well priced for being already prepared.


Overall not worth the purchase and will not be buying again.

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My Costco Challenge

As a mom of four kids shopping at Costco has become a necessity. And as a full time mom and a full time business owner I am always looking for great tasting, easy to prepare snacks and meals. I love shopping the cavernous aisles of Costco but always wonder if I am indeed getting the best deal. Or if this package of 300 waffles will taste good enough for the purchase investment. At these quanities we're talking quite a commitment, right? And sure they have this great money back guarantee but with food items it never seems worth it. Plus that membership services line jumps to a line of 30 strong any time I need to take something back, just sayin! And so I decided to log my trials, however long it takes, of the many food offerings of Costco. I will be the help I always wish I had...