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Category: Costco: get it while you can Page 1 of 2

Costco Deals For March – Part 1

Costco Meat & Seafood Review with @Drberg!

Good one!

I eat a lot of the Kirkland 100% Grass-Fed Beef Patties, mentioned at 4:15. Delicious and important to not overcook.

New Fat Loss Foods at COSTCO | 22 Items to Eat & AVOID Right Now

NOTABLES:

25:15 Organic A2 Whole Milk (small bottles). Really good and healthy. It’s my second choice. Mom and I are getting Alaska Range Dairy’s Whole Milk Non Homogenized in returnable glass bottles at Natural Pantry. Has an AMAZING flavor even better than these Costco bottles. Spendy. [Homogenization wrecks the fat globules. This does not.]

Haig’s Tzatziki sounds great, but don’t know if our Costco has it. Will check.

27:15 is interesting. I got this organic yogurt a few days ago. It’s not as thick as regular yogurt, but it’s made from grass fed cows, which Thomas doesn’t mention. Grass fed makes the fat excellent.

I get and eat a lot of Costco’s grass fed beef patties in the frozen section — very healthy and great flavor (as long as they’re *not overcooked*. Since they’re frozen, there’s no danger of eating if not cooked long enough, since all of the critters are dead.

 

Grass Fed Butter Test: Kerrygold vs Kirkland

Fats in grass fed dairy and beef are far healthier than from corn fed animals, so this is important.

Kirkland has 25% less salt, so Kerrygold wins in a taste test.

But Kerrygold has 17% milk solids, while Kirkland has 10%. Milk solids cause butter to burn:

Milk solids are the reason butter starts to burn at a lower temperature than something like olive oil. When you clarify butter, you remove all the milk solids and water, but are left with the butterfat. This creates a higher smoke point, which makes clarified butter ideal for cooking and sautéing. (source)

Kirkland brand says 95% grass fed. I’ve read that Kerrygold cows are fed hay for a month or so during Irish winters, which is supposed to be why they are also not 100% grass fed. But they’re apparently not at anytime fed with corn, which changes the fats omega content to be less healthy.

Also, grass fed cows produce yellow colored butter from beta carotene in the grass. So the yellower the better.

– –

I was kind of excited to see a Kirkland® brand of grass-fed butter being sold at Costco, but is it better than KerryGold®? Watch this video before you buy grass-fed butter!

Costco Keto Breakfast Ideas – Keto Haul + 3 Recipes!

Good ideas here!

What I Eat in a Week from Costco – Thomas DeLauer Costco Haul

 

Over Age 40 Costco Grocery Haul – Top Foods for 40+

100% Grass Fed Beef *Patties* are half the price of the bison (grass fed) that he shows though, and also has the great fats. Super tasty if not overcooked!

In Anchorage, at this time, Costco doesn’t have the pasture raised OG eggs, just OG cage free.

OG seaweed is a great, nutritious, inexpensive bargain.

Their OG *frozen* blueberries (he shows fresh only) are relatively inexpensive and healthy!

Costco’s Kirkland brand D3 is useless. Get Nature Made D3 there instead.

 

Alaska Sam’s Club Last Stand – The 2-Hour Line — Costco Defeats Sam’s!

Waiting to get in — Sam’s Club east in Anchorage, Alaska — first day that everything was 50% off — at 5pm.

Back of the line are the people left of the trees! Inside, the register lines were another two hours — all the way to the back wall!

Mom is to the right of the corner of the building in the light blue coat, hand raised, chatting with a nurse.

Former NWA coworkers: Tommy was to the left of the flag (red hat). And I saw Don S. inside!

January 17, 2018

Olympus E-PL5

Alaska Sam’s Club Last Stand – The Racks

Anchorage south location — everything is now 75% off.

January 24, 2018

Olympus E-PL5

Alaska Sam’s Club Last Stand – Grocery Racks

Anchorage south location — everything 75% off except tires, owned by a third party vendor.

January 24, 2018

Olympus E-PL5

Alaska Sam’s Club Last Stand – Freezer Section

Anchorage south location — all items now 75% off:

January 17, 2018

Olympus E-PL5

Alaska Sam’s Club Last Stand – Furniture • Lightbulbs • Storage • Automotive • Cleaning Supplies

Anchorage south location — all items now 75% off.

North section:

January 24, 2018

Olympus E-PL5

Alaska Sam’s Club Last Stand – No Waiting

Anchorage south location — back to ‘no waiting.’ For years, the Sam’s Club stores were dead compared to Costco. I often wondered how they could stay in business. Costco’s buyers are brilliant.

January 24, 2018

Olympus E-PL5

Alaska Sam’s Club Last Stand – ‘Welcome’

Anchorage south Location — the sun emerged below the cloud layer as I was shooting to say a warm farewell.

January 24, 2018

Olympus E-PL5

Costco Defeats Sam’s Club in Anchorage, Alaska — Closing for Good

I commented:

The only thing I’ll greatly miss from Sam’s closing is Ghirardelli dark chocolate chips, 60% cacao.

Costco doesn’t have *dark* chocolate chips; otherwise, Costco’s items are either the same or superior.
Costco also has lots of organic! Their buyers are brilliant! Costco really has their act together.

I’ve wondered for years how Sam’s could stay open, because the store was almost always nearly vacant, with only two registers open, and needed — myself only going there for a few items once in awhile.

– –

Alaska Sam’s Club stores among dozens nationwide to be closed by Walmart

(music video) John Legend: Costco Song on the Late Show — HILLARIOUS!

HILLARIOUS if you shop at Costco!

– –

The good part starts @ 2:20

 John Legend Makes Mundane Things Sound Sexy

20 Organic Foods You Should Buy at Costco | Save Money Live Joyfully

ARTICLE

Costco’s Sweet Mesquite Seasoning — Out of this world tasty!

This seasoning may be the best I’ve ever tasted — contains robust “natural mesquite smoke flavor.” They don’t mess around!

I don’t know yet how it will store. Maybe it’s best to keep it in the fridge.

I’ll have to double check on the price, but I think in the store it’s only about $6.95 for a 20 ounce container. Really good deal!!!

Kirkland Signature Sweet Mesquite Seasoning

Costco Is Buying Over A Thousand Acres Of Land For Local Farmers To Grow Organic Produce

It may come as a surprise that Costco is one of the largest distributors of organic food products in the United States. In fact, according to CEO Craig Jelinek, Costco sells so much organic produce that they can’t keep up with their customer’s demand for it.

“We cannot get enough organics to stay in business day in and day out,” Jelinek told investors during a shareholder meeting.

In order to tackle the problem of not having enough produce, Costco came up with an innovative idea: To buy land and equipment for farmers so they could start growing organic produce for them.

ARTICLE

AWESOME New Cheese at Costco! – “Smoked Sharp White Cheddar” by Tillamook

AWESOME NEW CHEESE AT COSTCO!

Costco has product similar to this one, called “Smoked Sharp White Cheddar.” It must be a brand new product for Tillamook, because I can’t find it on the net. It looks like this one, but is aged 9 months instead of 2 years.

Made from milk from cows NOT treated with artificial growth hormone.

WONDERFUL! Highly recommended. Really strong natural wood smoke flavor!

“Get it while you can.”

$11.49 for 2 lbs.

Good Earth ‘Sweet & Spicy’ herbal tea at Costco — Super healthy!

Costco has this great, organic herbal tea! The first ingredient, Rooibos, is a yummy, South African tea that I discovered at a specialty tea shop.

These other ingredients also rock!

INGREDIENTS

Rooibos, chicory root, natural flavor, rosehip, cinnamon, lemongrass, peppermint, chamomile, ginger root, anise seed, orange oil, orange peel.

It must be super healthy, and probably even fights diabetes, etc.!

I don’t remember the price, but it’s less than $10 for four boxes of 18, each.

The tea bags are individually packed in their own flavor-sealed aluminum pouch, which is really important to maintain flavor and health benefits!

Highly recommended!

Toasted In-Shell Peanuts, 5 pounds for $6.55 at Costco — How to keep them fresh!

Update 1/14:

I’ve changed my mind, and have adopted the unsalted variety, discovering they rock with even more fresh taste. Many are luscious white, inside. Awesome!

– –

For a few years, I’ve been getting Hoody’s Toasted In-Shell Peanuts at Costco: a really good deal, currently priced at 5 pounds for $6.55!

I get the salted variety, because salt not only seasons, but also helps preserve the peanuts. Big Pharma has many afraid of eating salt, but it’s in the Bible as a seasoning, and is very healthy. It seems that it becomes unhealthy when foods are made with a lot of corn syrup or sugar, which they then balance with salt — like some Americanized Mexican food, for example.

I always get a package that is still obviously tightly vacuum packed. The bag should fit like a glove. Healthy fats go bad fast — rancid — especially at room temperature. And most of the bags seem to lose their vacuumed seal.

I used to vacuum pack them in jars, and store them in the fridge, but they still wouldn’t stay totally fresh very long.

One day, I saw my chiropractor at Costco, who told me that he freezes them, and even at 0° they don’t turn solid. This is a great tip, as long as we tightly seal the bag; otherwise, the flavors will flavor the freezer and not remain in the peanuts.

Really good source of calcium, protein and healthy oils. Put them into the freezer as soon as you get home.

jeff

Spicy Red Pepper Hummus at Costco — and five more

Costco on Dimond in Anchorage was giving out samples a few days ago for their six varieties of hummus from Garden Fresh Gourmet.

I particularly liked the Garlic and their Spicy Red Pepper offerings, and bought the Spicy Red Pepper: two 24 oz. containers for $6.99.

The second ingredient is sesame tahini (ground sesame seeds). Very tasty. Info here: gardenfreshsalsa.com/hummus-red-pepper

Good with Costco’s Kirkland brand organic tortilla chips.

jeff

Dr. Mercola: The Mineral That Helps Fight Fatigue, Stress, Pain, Cancer, and Wrinkles, Too — “With age, the flexible tissues in your body tend to lose their elasticity, leading to sagging and wrinkling of skin, stiff muscles and painful joints. A shortage of sulfur…”

The Mineral That Helps Fight Fatigue, Stress, Pain, Cancer, and Wrinkles, Too

By Dr. Mercola

Sulfur is the third most abundant mineral in your body, after calcium and phosphorous. It’s an important mineral element that you get almost wholly through dietary proteins, yet it’s been over 20 years since the U.S. Food and Nutrition Board (FNB) issued its last update on recommended daily allowances (RDA) for it.

In a study examining critical elements about how sulfur works in the body, researchers say the importance of this mineral may be underestimated, and that it’s possible that we may not be getting enough of it.

The Importance of Sulfur

Close to half of the sulfur in your body can be found in your muscles, skin and bones, but it does much more than benefit just these three areas. It plays important roles in many bodily systems.

Sulfur bonds are required for proteins to maintain their shape, and these bonds determine the biological activity of the proteins. For example, as explained in the featured MSM newsletter, hair and nails consists of a tough protein called keratin, which is high in sulfur, whereas connective tissue and cartilage contain proteins with flexible sulfur bonds, giving the structure its flexibility. With age, the flexible tissues in your body tend to lose their elasticity, leading to sagging and wrinkling of skin, stiff muscles and painful joints.

A shortage of sulfur likely contributes to these age-related problems.

[…]

MSM, an Organic Form of Sulfur

Methylsulfonylmethane, commonly known by its acronym, MSM, is not a drug. It’s an organic form of sulfur and a potent antioxidant, naturally found in many plants. While MSM is an important source of organic sulfur, it also has other unique properties. Common health complaints associated with low concentrations of MSM in your body include:

  • Fatigue
  • Depression
  • High sensitivity to physical and psychological stress
  • Degenerative diseases

MSM’s ability to neutralize inflammation is one of the greatest, and one of the most inexpensive, discoveries in the health field, and is thought to be particularly beneficial in the prevention of heart disease. It has been shown to break down the plaque in your arteries, which is associated with chronic inflammation.

Other health benefits associated with MSM include:

Reducing chronic pain Improving cellular uptake of many nutrients including vitamins A, B, C, D, E, amino acids, selenium, calcium, magnesium, coenzyme Q10 Preventing cancer Reducing or eliminating muscle soreness and cramps
Detoxification Alleviating symptoms of allergies Anti-parasitic action against Giardia, Trichomonas, roundworms, nematodes, Enterobius and other intestinal worms Improving lung function by allowing your body to more effectively take up oxygen
Preventing neurological disease by repairing oxidative damage and restoring cell membrane elasticity and permeability Preventing and reducing symptoms of autoimmune diseases by fighting chronic inflammation Preventing diabetes by promoting healthy insulin function Increasing strength and endurance, and reducing stress

Entire Article Here

Related:

Avoid knee surgery — glucosamine plus the SAME AMOUNT of MSM (Schiff states this is the clinically tested amount, and it works!) — available at Costco

Pyramid Snow Cap Winter Warmer (Seasonal Ale)

Snow Cap Winter Warmer is an awesome beer, and is absolutely a “get it while you can” item, sold only during winter months until it’s gone.

This doesn’t taste like a typical winter ale, which are often fairly bitter and sometimes even sweet.

I was surprised to discover that Snow Cap tastes somewhat like a porter. It’s probably made with at least some roasted barley, just the right amount, less than what a porter would have.

If I was Pyramid, I’d sell this year round, calling it something else. I think it’s a nearly perfect beer in the darker beer style, including having enough but not too much hops. Very balanced.

And for only about 1 dollar a bottle, it’s a really good deal. Comes in a case of 24.

Highly recommended!

jeff

P.S.: I just looked it up. I hadn’t recognized the chocolate, and it’s interesting that the chocolate is roasted.

From: pyramidbrew.com…

Deep mahogany in color, our full-bodied winter warmer is brewed in the spirit of British winter ales. Crafted with a flurry of roasted chocolate and caramel malts, and generously hopped, it delivers a smooth finish that makes this beer the perfect cold weather companion.

Original Gravity: 17.3

Alcohol by Volume: 7.0%

IBU: 47

Malts:
2-Row Barley, Caramel 80L, Chocolate Malt

Hops:
Nugget, Willamette, East Kent Goldings

Availability:
October – December

Pairings:
Shellfish, rich game and even rich chocolatey desserts

Costco “get it while you can” update

The previously mentioned and awesome Marie Morin crème brûlée is back in stock at least at the Dimond Costco in Anchorage. And I did find out from the clerk that it is a new addition to this store, which I had thought; though, some stores in the lower 48 had this tremendous delight for years.

Ground bison has jumped up in price from $14.99 to $22.99. Yikes! I’m glad I stocked up while I could, but this really quite the price hike, just like that!

Got them while I could: Moose Creek cotton-flannel lined jeans – $18.99

I’ve been waiting for Costco to get more, but they just don’t seem to be. There are only about 1 dozen pairs left, and they’re all 40 and 42 waist sizes. I bought 5 while I could in autumn, and will probably wear these every day this winter and next. I just love them, not being a big fan of long underwear unless absolutely necessary.

I’m surprised they’re not getting more in stock, since it’s only November, but if I see more I’ll let you know. They’re made in Cambodia by the way, and they’re fairly loose fitting and run a tad short in length.

Hershey’s Extra Dark Chocolate Assortment

Thankfully, they dropped the probably almost-void-of-nutrition milk chocolate pieces, so I thought I’d try them again. But these seem to have less of the rich dark chocolate that the previous ones had, and they are just too sweet to be extraordinarily healthy.

They don’t taste like “Wow!” — more like “Yuck.” Maybe they’re not made with the more unrefined, true dark chocolate. Or worse, maybe they’re made with the new GMO chocolate. I hope not. See:Chocolate’s Getting Jacked: 70% of World’s Raw Chocolate Soon To Be Genetically Modified. Not recommended.

The current brand of frozen blueberries — blahsville

Not worth getting. The antioxidant capability can’t be much, because their flavor is really blah. They don’t have a strong chemical flavor (pesticides?) like a previous brand. The brand before the chemical tasting brand was excellent, though. That’s how things roll at Costco. A lot of it is up to the buyers and how low the sellers are willing to go.

Organic frozen kernel corn — good!

I recommend the frozen kernel corn they’ve had for awhile now — grown in Oregon, organic, and tasty! Don’t overcook (it’s already cooked) or you’ll spoil the good-for-you corn oil. Good with some freshly cracked pepper.

That’s all for now, except, by the way, don’t go through the naked body scanners. Why not is thoroughly explained in my posts on this subject at ToBeFree. Click on the Naked Body Scanners topic in the Categories pull-down menu.

Power to the peaceful!

Jeff : )

Costco’s Male Castration and Breast Cancer Producing Bun Heater

I’ve written a lot of good things about Costco in this blog. The CEO has implemented some of John Wooden’s management strategies, and it shows. I’m thankful.

But Costco isn’t all rosy. Here are a few examples.

They keep track of all purchases on a permanent database.

Signs at check-out lanes tell customers to leave heavy items in the cart, but then management makes the cashiers transfer every single heavy item (some items weighing as much as the cashier!) into a different cart, and often these items are just inches off of the floor. They’d rather see employees injured than lose some revenue from some items that slip by not paid for?

The love of $money$ is alive and well at Costco. Look at this:

Here is a photo of their male castration/breast cancer producing bun heater. I used to enjoy the inexpensive Polish dogs with sauerkraut, onion, red pepper flakes and gourmet mustard until I noticed this.

They heat the buns in the bun heater right in the plastic bags, and they can’t claim ignorance because the truth about bisphenol A is widely known.

BPA contamination doesn’t get much worse than this: buns in soft BPA-plastic + heat + time.

Yum!

11/23/10

Here is the truth about what they’re doing from one of my BPA posts at ToBeFree:

Bisphenol A is found in most plastic food containers today. Not only is it found in plastic containers, but also in the lining of most cans. BPA is essentially a synthetic estrogen that enters the body when one consumes food or beverages out of plastic or plastic-lined containers. This is not only harmful to the male reproductive system, but has been found to also stimulate breast cancer growth in women. Knowing this, it should be of no surprise that the sperm count of the average Western male is on a steady decline as many males are becoming more and more feminine. What most people don’t know is that Bisphenol A was actually considered as the form of estrogen to be used in estrogen pills going back to the 1930s.

Another article:

Toxic BPA is present in virtually all canned foods and beverages – and the levels are even higher than in plastic bottles. BPA has been linked to an increase in the risk of cancer, diabetes, and heart disease

Related:

All 250 of my Health posts at ToBeFree

 

Crème Brulée at Costco

It may not be a new item, but I haven’t seen it before. My guess is that it’s new to Anchorage.

I found the Marie Morin crème brûlée in an end-cap of the shelved refrigerator unit near the specialty cheese case, in the meat section at the Dimond location.

A writer states:

Not only are the crème brûlée desserts themselves wonderfully delectable but the individual servings come in a cute little glass dish. The cups are easy to prepare in either the microwave or under the broiler in just minutes and are delightfully tasty. Or you can go the more traditional route and use a chef torch.

We get 6 cups for $10, which is reasonable considering the incredible flavor and what just one would cost in a restaurant, if they had something this good (I’ve never had a desert this good in a restaurant, but then I don’t eat out much, and when I do I rarely order deserts). And if we were to make our own, the video below shows what is required. Marie Morin must use a very high quality vanilla, because one of these with a home-brewed espresso really hits the spot.

Also, I’m tossing the caramel sugar packets, which probably have no food value, so they really don’t need to be cooked at all (purpose was to melt the sugar). And yes, I do believe this desert does have significant food value. Vanilla of this quality is very healthy, and we also need saturated fats. See link: Why people pig out on ice cream — Craving naturally SATURATED fats that they told us are unhealthy

Highly recommended.

If we were to make our own:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_16ZZtTH_Y]

Costco California Style

They eat outside down there

10/30/10

Costco food court

Goleta, California

Bella San Luci Sun Dried Tomatoes, 2 lb. for $7.75 — A Tasty BPA-Free Alternative

When I moved to Alaska in 1980, there were only a few things that shocked me. In the grocery stores, the price of milk was double (it no longer is), and the tomatoes were tasteless and not even red. They’re picked when they’re still almost green so they can make the long journey northward by dogsled : )

Many now buy hot house tomatoes. They’re red, but they don’t taste that good either, probably because they’re void of nutrients from NPK fertilizer (nitrogen/phosphorus/potassium – the 3 out of 70 minerals that make crops look good and grow well). Most crops are extremely deficient in nutrients. If veges don’t taste great they’re probably mineral deficient, and probably not that good for you. And this can happen with ‘organic’ products too.

The product I’m recommending here, Bella San Luci Sun Dried Tomatoes is probably also grown with NPK fertilizer, but it’s probably going to pick up more minerals from the rainwater than the hot house tomatoes will. And they can be picked ripe, because transport isn’t a factor. They’re full of flavor.

But the main reason I’m recommending this product is the lack of bisphenol A (BPA), the synthetic female hormone that almost all plastic is made with, which lines almost every ‘tin’ can, which is causing serious physical affects. And the acid in tomatoes leach the BPA from the can lining more than do most foods.

So it’s important to avoid canned tomatoes as much as possible. I still use tomato paste some, but I’m using these sun dried tomatoes more and more. I’m totally avoiding regular canned tomatoes. The average male in America has about half of the testosterone of our ancestors. Fluoridated water, soy, and bovine growth hormone are also factors. But this BPA-in-can-linings one is huge!

These sun dried tomatoes are packed in glass and in olive oil, which is non-GMO. They have a lot of flavor, and are a good bargain price-wise as well – 2 pounds for $7.75.

Highly recommended.

Incidentally, when Costco has them, the small, grape (size) tomatoes actually taste like real tomatoes, in my experience, but they’re spendy, compared to this alternative.

jeff

Related:

Toxic BPA is present in virtually all canned foods and beverages – and the levels are even higher than in plastic bottles. BPA has been linked to an increase in the risk of cancer, diabetes, and heart disease

Whimping out America! Canned foods are full of sex hormones leached from the plastic linings, made of synthetic estrogen, bisphenol A. “There are 700 published, scientific studies…that the FDA has never gotten around to looking at.”

All 244 of my Health posts at ToBeFree

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