Costco Pitfalls

 I love Costco! But, since I live alone, sometimes it just doesn't make sense for me to shop there. But I love to go there! And, they have certain things that I can't get elsewhere. 

So yesterday I took a trip there - my first in-person visit this year. I left with a $200 cash register tape. But there were pitfalls.

I'm trying very hard to reduce food waste. And, I'm trying to manage portion control in a way that will allow me to lose weight. Only a very disciplined trip, with a list, would succeed at those dual ambitions. I was maybe moderately successful? Because after all the "Costco treasure hunt" is part of their deliberate marketing strategy, to keep pulling us back in. They don't always have the same stuff, and they make sure they have rotating displays of things you wouldn't expect to find there, but when you do, it's such a good deal you have to buy it even if it wasn't something you ever thought you wanted.

So food was the main point. There are three things I specifically go to Costco for: 

• Big bags of Mayorga coffee beans
• Aidell's Chicken Apple Sausage, a staple in my house since 1995
• Yakisoba frozen noodles and veggies, a three minute tasty vegan dinner

 I did get those things, I did. So the trip was successful. And yes, even though I already had a two month supply, I bought toilet paper. I passed up the 5-pound bag of clementines (I rarely finish a normal 3-pound bag), and the 5-pound bag of fresh brussels sprouts. But then I grabbed a 10-pound bag of Vidalia onions, driven by the "only available for a short time" message. But Vidalias are not good keepers, so I need to eat an awful lot of onions fast. (Good on the grill, can peel, slice, wrap in aluminum foil with olive oil. One serves two people at most.) I passed up the 12-packs of muffins, the 4-dozen cookies, the very good but big-enough-to-use-as-a-step-stool banana bread. In rebound from my magnificent self-control, I then grabbed a big box of apple strudel.

I have a thing for pastries with apples. Our local grocery, Giant, makes fabulous apple turnovers. I buy them, but a box of eight full size turnovers doesn't last 36 hours in my house. Light and airy, they aren't that substantial, but they are never-the-less filled with fat and sugar. So clearly I wasn't thinking clearly when this box of ten large strudel pastries went into the cart. 

Last night I had half of one, in lieu of a starch at dinner, and was satisfied. Heavier pastry than Giant turnovers, but very tasty. Now, I'm going to save the other half of last night's for today, but the other nine are getting sliced in half each, wrapped individually and tossed in the freezer. If they don't do well in the freezer, that's too bad, I'm just not eating them all at once and I won't just toss them in the garbage without trying to ration myself first.

Sadly, all the Costco bags of frozen plain veggies were simply too big to fit into my freezer, especially with all the other stuff I knew I'd have to freeze. I prefer fresh vegetables, of course, especially seasonal, but the only way I can consistently eat fresh is to go to the store more often than I want. Mostly they don't keep long, and if I'm only cooking from scratch two or three times a week, I can't buy more than two or three types of vegetables to be cooked. So I want to experiment with frozen, though of course just before summer might not be the best time to execute that plan. As a fully vaxxed person, I could go to the store more often, but it leads to a lot more impulse buying (see: apple strudel, above) and raises the overall food cost. 

OK, musing on a dull topic, I succeeded in making myself hungry. Time to go to the kitchen and scratch that itch.