Costco Finds

Now, I didn't buy all of this in one trip nor did I buy all of it. Some things are just stuff that catches my eye and I thought you might like to know...like the canning books for example. They looked awesome but I'm not canning for now but I know some of you are.

Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Organic Sugar (evaporated cane juice)

Organic Spinach Artichoke Alfredo (yum!)

Environment Friendly Dish Soap by Kirkland (this is what I use now)

Environment Friendly Dishwasher Detergent by Kirkland (jury is still out...I like it but it clumps in the box because there are no anti-caking agents in it) I wish they'd make a liquid version.

Little Girl Dresses (always a deal at $12-$18 each)

Elizabeth Gaskell DVD box set for $29! Score!

Organic Strawberry Jelly

Organic Peaches

Organic Quinoa

Organic Animal Crackers

Organic Annie's Bunny Grams and Cheddar Bunny snack packs

Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving

The Complete Book of Small-Batch Preserving

William Sonoma Eat Well

William Sonoma Essentials in Asian Cooking

Stackable Glass Bowl Storage Containers with lids (I've been looking at glass containers for quite some time now and the trouble with them is that they don't stack! Until I found these today and hey, they stack! Not only that, but you get more for HALF the price of the rectangular/square set that Costco carries.)

Classic books for kids....you get a set of 4 for $5.49!!! The print size is exceptional and they even have a few tiny pictures here and there...something my kids love. This will save me some trips to the library when it snows!

Featured Product- Mini Peppers

These mini peppers are so sweet you can eat them right out of the bag for a snack. I haven't found these organic anywhere yet so I buy the bag at Costco. Oh, I guess this makes this a "Costco Finds" post as well...I haven't done one of those in a long time either!

Anyway, back to the peppers. They are great dipped in your favorite veggie dip or homemade dressing. My daughter loves to eat these as well and since I'm always trying to get my kids to eat veggies and fruit for snacks, this one is a winner!

Featured Product - Organic Natural Peanut Butter

I love this peanut butter because after you do the first stirring and refrigerate it, it doesn't separate again! Gotta love that! I get it at Costco.

Answering Questions- Costco or Coupons

I was asked about the savings difference between using Costco or coupons. I'll answer it here for anyone else that is interested.

The state we live in doesn't have very many grocery store chains and of those chains none will double our coupons (that I'm aware of). Of all the "good deal" kind of stores, Walgreens is about the best there is here and the only one that I can think of that has super good deals (that I'm aware of).

We do have a discount grocery that is cheaper than the rest and you bag your own groceries and can pay cash or check only. I know many gals that shop there but I'm unable to find all of our purchase needs there which requires driving to more stores. And it's not exactly close to my house.

So, with all of that, I have found for us personally it makes more sense to shop as much in bulk at Costco (plus I love the quality there) and then do the rest at the grocery store the best I can with sales and coupons (even though they aren't doubled). I could drive around and go to several stores in order to get better deals I think but my time is precious to me and with gas prices the way they are, I'm not interested in driving far between our spread out stores. I'm a one stop kind of girl. So, in general I go to Costco once a month or less and then a grocery store twice a month.

Those are my reasons for using Costco because if I do things the way I want to do them, Costco does actually save me money in the long run. It did take a bit of time to switch over to buying at Costco because it's a lot of money up front but once I got most of our things in bulk now it's just a matter of replacing them when we run out. If I was willing to drive to several stores instead and if our grocery stores doubled coupons then I would probably save even more money. But for now, this works for me. Shopping at Costco (because most of it is bulk) prevents me from having to grocery shop as often...I go 2 times a month instead of once a week like a lot of people.

I hope that cleared the mud a bit on why I do as much shopping at Costco as possible.

Costco Finds

Organic Root Beer (only one of our Costcos has this)

Julie's Organic Sorbet Bars

Organic Whole Wheat Bread

Organic Green Beans

Organic Corn

Organic Peas

Organic Milk

Organic Sesame Ginger Salad Dressing

Organic Spinach Ravioli

Organic Ground Beef

Taste of Home Cookbooks

Weight Watchers Cookbook

Barefoot Contessa Cookbook

Costco Finds

WOW, I was amazed at Costco today at all the organic products they are trying to carry now! It's so great! I try to shop as organically as possible so this really helps me out. They had organic rice medleys, seasonings, butter, sauces, oil, peanut butter, and on and on. Everything that was organic was highlighted on the price sign in a bright green highlighter which made it so easy to go down the isles and find the organic products. Wonderful! I hear they are carrying organic sugar but I couldn't find that today.

I hear that organic sugar is great because it's not refined which means it's a natural form of sugar like honey is. Refined sugars are the ones that diabetics have to worry about but organic sugar is not refined. Has anyone else heard about this?

Other finds as well....

organic spinach/cheese ravioli

family recipe keepsake book

(bought this for my daughter's hope chest) they had several designs but I let
her pick hers out and of course she wanted the most colorful one instead of the
mild classy looking ones. =0) I'm impressed with this binder....it comes with
quite a few little things and the pages can be run through the computer so you
can print off recipes right from your computer. It's got pockets and matching
magnets and grocery pad list. The recipe cards that it comes with are a good
size as well.

organic veggie snack packs

organic baby carrots

organic baby carrot snack packs

organic spring mix and spinach mix

organic blueberries

Speaking of organic produce....my friend told me about organic produce delivered to your front door once a week by a young Christian couple in our area. I just signed up for this service and get my first delivery tomorrow. If you are in my area (you know who you are) and are interested in this service, leave your comment and I'll email you the information. I'll also post a picture of my first delivery on here.

Costco Finds

Blueberry bushes to plant in our garden this year
Organic/free range chicken broth
Ground turkey
Deceptively Delicious Cookbook
Weight Watchers Cookbook
How to Cook All Things Vegetarian Cookbook
Superfood (green drink)- love that stuff!
Fresh deli poultry has new packaging....small plastic sections
Corned beef
Organic ground beef
Omega 3 Fatty Acids Fish Oil Gummies for Kids! (great natural stress reliever!)
Carne Asada Marinaded (can't remember if I've told you about that one before or not)
Chicken and wild rice casserole
Vegetable Whole Wheat Lasagna -love that stuff too!

Costco Finds

Mini Peppers (we love these for a healthy snack-we dip them in ranch dressing)

Mini Organic Carrot packs (these are great on the go snacks for kids or dipped in ranch as well)

Coconut Shrimp

Mozzarella Cheese (I love the packs of this whole milk mozzarella. That's what I use for my pizzas. Just slice it and use it.)

Right now they are carrying these yummy Belgian chocolates that make a great gift or are wonderful to put out for a Christmas party. They look like mini cup shapes.


Fresh Deli section:

Chicken Florentine

Chicken Alfredo Penne

Costco Finds

Here are some old Costco finds but I still love them. =0)

Romaine Hearts (usually around $3 a package)

2 9in quiche (one is broccoli and one is mushroom)

Chicken Barbacoa (spell?)

Sesame Ginger Dressing (haven't seen that there in awhile)

Whole Wheat Tortellini and Ravioli

Artichoke Parmesan Dip

Carnitas

Costco

Costco finds:

Hansen's 100% juice boxes in three flavors. Moms looking for travel/lunch box juice that doesn't have sugar added and is 100% juice, this is a great buy!

Dried fruit makes a great healthy snack for kids and adults.

Carne Asada-don't know if everyone's Costco is carrying this, but ours is! It's in our deli section. You open the package, throw it on the BBQ for a short while and then bring it in to slice it for fajitas! It's marinaded and incredible! It makes a ton too!