Costco avocados

06 November 2021, 11:54 AM

RealPlayer

Costco avocados

Every batch we’ve gotten from Costco this year has been terrible. Mostly, they never ripen. Or they go from hard to rotten immediately. Now I have stopped buying them there; I just buy one or two from the supermarket and they’re usually fine.

Your experience too?

06 November 2021, 12:06 PM

wtg

I haven't been super happy with some of the Costco produce over time so I generally have stopped buying much there (chanterelles excepted!).

I'm the only one who eats avocados, so I buy those one at a time from the grocery store. Never had the Costco ones.

I had Costco oranges earlier in the year that weren't very good. More recently some pretty mediocre Ginger Gold apples.

But then there was the bag of their organic Bartlett pears that I just finished. They were fabulous.

06 November 2021, 02:59 PM

Mary Anna

I just bought some Costco avocados yesterday. They were hard as rocks. I'll report on how they ripen. (Or don't.)

I just cooked the chanterelles. Oh, my. Delicious!

I didn't do anything fancy. Just sauteed them in butter. Next time, I'll try the onions-sour cream-dill Lithuanian method!

06 November 2021, 04:46 PM

rontuner

The organic blueberries have been good. MrsTuner likes the organic brown mushrooms too from the produce section.

06 November 2021, 05:44 PM

RealPlayer

Agree on the blueberries and mushrooms. Sometimes the raspberries are on the verge of mush, but usually are OK (if very industrial quality).

06 November 2021, 06:06 PM

wtg

I did think of one other veggie I buy at Costco that has worked out well.

The bags of Vidalia onions exhibit Methusalean qualities. I have them in a closed storage cabinet in the basement, and they're keeping fresh three months or more after purchase.

06 November 2021, 06:27 PM

wtg

quote:
Originally posted by Mary Anna:
I just bought some Costco avocados yesterday. They were hard as rocks. I'll report on how they ripen. (Or don't.)

I just cooked the chanterelles. Oh, my. Delicious!

I didn't do anything fancy. Just sauteed them in butter. Next time, I'll try the onions-sour cream-dill Lithuanian method!

Similar recipe, but it adds bacon and deletes the dill.

quote:
Sautéed Chanterelles, Russian Style
Serves 4 as a side dish

This is a very old method of cooking chanterelles that was passed down to Mary by her Russian mother. Serve this dish with fresh fried oysters, and a simple coleslaw made of finely shredded cabbage and paper-thin sliced onions dressed lightly with salt, olive oil, and vinegar. Most other mushrooms can be used in this recipe except for Asian varieties.

4 bacon slices, cut in 1-1/2-inch pieces
1 pound chanterelles, cut into pieces
1 medium onion, diced
1 to 2 tablespoons sweet or sour cream
Salt and pepper to taste
Fry the bacon until crisp. Leave the bacon in the pan and remove all but 2 tablespoons of fat. Place the mushrooms in a large saucepan and add water to cover. Bring to a boil, then drain immediately and thoroughly. Add the chanterelles and onion to the bacon and cook about 10 minutes over low heat, stirring often. Add salt and pepper to taste. Add the cream just before serving.

--Mary Keehner

06 November 2021, 07:33 PM

Cindysphinx

I’m down on Costco produce.

Avocados that won’t ripen or lack flavor.

Grapes with hidden mold.

Green pineapples.

Flavorless clementines.

I find myself getting only bell peppers, mushrooms, and multicolor small tomatoes.

I may have to stop going to Costco. There are just the two of us, and the big jug of honey crystallizes before we can finish it. I find myself not buying things I used to buy because I know it will go to waste.

I guess I will stock up on TP and let the membership lapse.

06 November 2021, 10:06 PM

Axtremus

I do not have much experience with Costco's fresh fruits, except maybe bananas. Lately I bought rambutans from Costco a couple of times that worked out nicely.

As far as price clubs and big box stores go, I have had good experiences with with BJ's Warehouse, especially its blackberries and raspberries. Bananas from BJ's also kept better than Costco's in my experience.

Still, most of time time I just pick up fruits from the local grocery stores, and that includes avocados. Costco sells everything in bulk and I just do not consume avocados that fast, so it makes more sense for me to buy just a few avocados a time as needed from the local grocery stores.

06 November 2021, 10:52 PM

BeeLady

Since my local Costco closed their amazing photo printing dept, I am no longer a customer.

As a single person, I no longer have a reason to buy ketchup by the gallon or of large produce packages I could never use before they are done.

06 November 2021, 11:18 PM

QuirtEvans

Some of the Costco house brands are amazingly good stuff, and not easily replicable elsewhere. Their lobster bisque, for example.

07 November 2021, 01:45 AM

pianojuggler

Yeah, Costco produce has become pretty inconsistent over the last year or so.

I buy the Organic Power Greens (I've had a few duds there), english cukes (only problems are when the boxers at the checkout pound them into the box and mash the ends), and the tomatoes on the vine. Sometimes I have to paw through a dozen boxes of tomatoes to find one with no problems. It seems they frequently get stored too cold and they get moldy as soon as they get back up to normal temperature.

Clementines have been a crap shoot. When they get Cuties again, I'll start buying them reguarly.

Mrs pj likes bananas that are still green. But she only manages to eat one or two before they are yellow, then spotty and she won't touch them.

Grapes. You can find a container where all the visible ones look perfect, but there's a moldy one in the middle and within a day or two, the whole container is fuzzy. I try to go through them as soon as I get them home to check for moldy ones.

About the only other produce I get are brussels sprouts. DD likes them, but she'll stop eating anything that I buy in a Costco quantity (she went through a jar of Nutella a week... then when I got the two-pack of big jars at Costco, suddenly, she stopped eating Nutella).

I think Costco is having the same supply chain problems everyone else is. I hope it will get better one of these days.

07 November 2021, 02:13 AM

wtg

Trader Joe’s has stalks of Brussels sprouts this time of year. We snap the sprouts off the stalk and put them in a plastic bag. The stalk is awkward to store in the frig.

Try the organic bananas at Costco. They seem to ripen more slowly than the regular ones. I buy them when they’re a little green.

If they start to speckle, just peel them and wrap each one in some foil or plastic wrap and freeze them. They look awful when you thaw them but are perfect for use in your favorite banana bread recipe.

07 November 2021, 09:57 AM

RealPlayer

We like the bags of baby spinach (keeps surprisingly well refrigerated) and brown and white mushrooms from Costco. And Brussels sprouts and asparagus.

I’m addicted to their croissants even though they’re not up to the French standard.

07 November 2021, 11:00 AM

AdagioM

I like the Symphony assorted cherry tomatoes, and the bagged kale salad (even better now that it’s two connected bags instead of one big bag). I’ll buy an occasional pineapple.

But really I’m a Costco shopper because of Kirkland prosecco, $6.99/bottle, my vin ordinaire.