Tuesday, April 19, 2022
Hey, come along with me on a trip to Costco!
I have been a member since ours opened. In fact, I joined before it even opened. I was excited! I have used Costco for glasses, contact, Christmas cards, Christmas gifts, tires, winter coats, furniture, dog food, and so much more. I have a love/hate relationship. I love not having to think about trashbags, toilet paper, papertowels, Kleenex, and dog food very often because we buy in bulk. I always buy the Costco brand which is called Kirkland, by the way. I hate that I feel like I can hardly leave without spending $300!
On this trip, we really didn’t need those paper product staples. We were after food items. And, specifically, I was looking to add healthy food items that we needed or that I was planning my meals around.
I am low key obsessed with frozen cauliflower rice. Do not buy fresh. I repeat, do not buy fresh. It tasts like ground up packing peanuts.
I like this because it comes with four individual bags inside. I let one fully defrost on a towel or paper towels. Yes, I take it out of the package and let it sit naked. You have got to get that water out. Then, when it is fully defrosted, I put it in a skillet with some olive oil and add salt, pepper, garlic powder, and whatever else I want to add. I use this as a base for my burrito bowls, my buffalo chicken bowls – anywhere you would normally use rice.
I must have a stash of frozen veg. I like to roast these on a sheet pan. I also keep frozen corn, frozen peas and carrots (for fried cauliflower rice), frozen french fries, and tator tots sometimes.
This is amazing! They really taste roasted like they say. I like to have these with some turkey sausage or with some of my healthy noodles pasta. I have put them in an omelette, too.
I really like this turkey breast. I freeze half of it because I am really the only one eating it right now. Tom is a ham man. I like to make wraps with this in my low carb La Banderita flour tortillas. I usually just do pickles and mustard to save points, but you can also do Laughing Cow wedges or a light cream cheese or really whatever!
This is new to me. If I had to tell you one thing that really is wearing me down right now I would say cooking.so.much.chicken. I also cook chicken for Ernie. Don’t question it; it started during the pandemic when we all were doing questionable things.
This is good. It doesn’t taste weird or slimy like a lot of pre-cooked chicken I have tried.
Ah!!!! My beloved noodles. This comes in a box with 6 packages of noodles. All you do is rinse them with cold water in a colander and then they are ready to go. I have found that I don’t want to over cook them. I make a sauce on the stove and just toss right before I eat. Tom approves of these noodles, too! I know that the picture features a pad thai, but they work with italian style pasta, too. These are zero WW points for me.
There’s always gonna be an impulse purchase and this was mine:
You can often find this brand at TJ Maxx and I think the bottles are so pretty.
Are you a Costco person?
What are your favorite things to buy?
Amy
Coffee and Cocktails at the Casa 
We don’t have Costco near us so I make do with Bj’s and we just started buying their pre-cooked chicken strips too and I am loving them!! Though next time I want to portion them out into smaller bags before I freeze them. This last time I also found what they called lunch shrimp; they are small pre-cooked, and fully peeled and are perfect for sprinkling on salads or into stir- fries. I can’t believe I didn’t think to see if they had cauliflower rice though.
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I have never been in a BJs. I think they are not in my area. I am going to always keep these particular strips on hand. They are so good and really taste grilled. That is a great idea – I need to do more of the portioning with everything before I freeze. I have seen those lunch shrimp at Kroger. They are cheaper, too. I really like having a lot of cauli rice on hand!
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I like Costco but don’ go nearly enough. I have been seeing so many influencers (Tik Tok) who love all the frozen veggies. I need to try those and those noodles!
xo,
Kellyann
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I have been going more now that I am eating healthier. I feel like there are some really great things for me now! I am able to avoid most tempting things.
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We have memberships to both Costco AND Sam’s Club. Every year we say we are going to drop one, (one’s up in July, one in November) but then never do. I like the meat, produce, and paper products more at Sam’s Club but the prepared food and bakery items more at Costco. And the gas. Costco is very close to us so we probably pay for the membership with gas alone — 5 drivers in this house! Frozen veggies are the way to go, for sure. I’ve never thought to thaw out the riced cauliflower ahead of time — I’ll try that. My last “impulse purchase” at Costco was one of their variety potted plants! I get one every year — I am NOT a gardener and never know what to put together so these are perfect for me 🙂
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That is interesting and it is ok to have both since you use both! Yes, we get our gas at Kroger and get major rewards, but I can see Costco gas being super attractive if we didn’t have that. Our gas lines are so long at our Costco, though! Yes, I am just learning just how great frozen veg are. You can save so much money by not wasting. I need to look at the plants! Those seem to go very quickly! I am the same!
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We do a monthly shop at Costco. Its for meats and anything that catches our eye. We rarely come out under 300.00. I’ve previously looked for the Healthy Noodle but did not find them. What department do you find them in?
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That is about what we do. Same – it is really hard to spend less. The noodles are in the refrigerated section with the sausages and deli meats, soups, etc.
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I have both a Costco and Sam’s membership. I like Costco for their extended warranty on things and travel deals. However, I don’t shop there very often because all our Houston stores are insanely crowded at any time of day. When I saw the picture of the empty aisle at Costco at the top of your post, I literally laughed because you would never see that here. Sam’s is less crowded and I use the scan and go app. Have a wonderful week!
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The Sam’s is in a really bad location for me, but I can see that having both might work for some. That is crazy! I went on the Thursday that school was cancelled and I was let in a little before 10. I think I will try to always do a weekday in the summer. I don’t know what scan and go is, but that sounds like a time saver!
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I buy batteries, golf skorts (ha!) frozen salmon, frozen mahi mahi, bananas, blueberries, raspberries, frozen chicken breasts, red vines (Tony), the same turkey you buy, (and I freeze half too) the deli chicken noodle soup, rotisserie chicken (I know they are bad for you, I dont care – they are delish) watermelons, pineapples, (their fruit is the best) Rao’s marinara sauce. And probably many more items that I cant think of right now. And of course, TP, Kleenex, paper towels, Tylenol, nuetrogena face wipes, sunscreen. We discovered the cinnamon butter bread – OH EM GEE and I sampled the cinnamon pull apart rolls yesterday and WOW!! No I didnt buy any!
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Yup, I forgot some of the same things you buy. I have resisted samples since they have been back from the pre-Covid days!
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We used to belong to Sam’s but that was years ago…& my issue is having a place to store bulk. I do love seeing what all they have. I’m always surprised everything they have – I remember buying the kids footed pjs and books at Sam’s
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