Back in the ’80s, I joined a warehouse club called Price Club. It was, actually, the first warehouse club. $25.00 membership and no-frills shopping. It merged with Costco, became PriceCostco, and, later, became Costco, once again.
When I first joined, it seemed that there really were some pretty good deals to be had. But… as time went on and the annual rate kept climbing (it’s now $50.00/year) I realized I just wasn’t shopping there enough to justify the cost. And the prices were no longer that competitive. I let my membership lapse about 6 years ago. Never thought about the place again. Until last week.
In the mail, I received a free 2-month shopping pass. Free shopping at Costco It almost went into the trash. And then I tossed it onto the desk.
Today, for grins and giggles, we paid our first trip to a Costco store in 6 years.
I was underwhelmed.
There just wasn’t anything there I wanted to buy. I tried. Really. I just didn’t need a 60″ flat-screen TV for $3199.99, don’t need another laptop, or window air conditioner. Or a back yard faux-stone dining table with fire pit in the middle – for $799.
I did pick up some AA batteries because my rechargeable ones are starting to die. And some florescent light bulbs ‘cuz I had used the last one a couple of days ago. We walked up and down every aisle. Couldn’t spend any money.
We headed to the food side.
Oreos in a Drum. I’ll pass. A barrel of bright orange ball-things. No thanks. No. 10 cans of sauerkraut. Nope. I don’t generally buy national brands of things in the first place because the ingredient lists often leave a lot to be desired. Seeing industrial-sized containers of ketchup loaded with high fructose corn syrup or bottled dressings without an ounce of actual food-product in them was downright scary.
And it was really obvious that I was the weird person in the store. Folks were whizzing by with their over-sized carts jammed with more junk and junk food than I could consume in several lifetimes. I did get an industrial-sized box of Cheerios for $4.79, but spent 81¢ more than if I had bought 2 boxes of store-brand O’s. I keep trying to tell myself that I’m not a food snob. It’s no longer working. I’m a food snob. That being said, it does not mean that if I went to your house and you made me Green Bean Casserole with canned mushroom soup and French’s onion pieces that I would turn my nose up at it. Au contraire! You’re cooking, I’m eating. And I could even get through the whole meal without editorializing! I’m just not going to go out of my way to get certain things…
I did break down and buy a couple of racks of pork ribs. They were a bit more per pound than out at Wegmans, but they looked pretty good. And if you look back up at the picture, you’ll see just how good they looked. And they tasted even better!
I did a dry rub on them of
- cumin
- chili powder
- smoked paprika
- Spanish paprika
- Hungarian paprika
- chipotle powder
- garlic powder
- onion powder
- Mexican oregano
- brown sugar
- salt
- pepper
I then baked them at 250° for 2 hours and then onto he grill with BBQ sauce for about 10 minutes.
The chicken was thin-sliced breasts with BBQ sauce.
Back to shopping for a moment…
We also picked up a large bag of dog food for Cybil. That was it. $67.93. Wow. And we actually didn’t need any of it. At least not today. And If I could only manage $67.93 in sales after not shopping there for 6+ years, the odds of me renewing a membership are between slim and none.
The Pasta salad in the photo was made by Victor this afternoon from odds and ends in the kitchen…
- tortellini
- celery
- tomatoes
- bell pepper
- salami
- cheese
- tuna
- carrots
- sun dried tomatoes
- olive oil
- red wine vinegar
More simplicity!
And to top it all off… Victor made Peach Ice Cream for dessert.
It’s been a good day!