Why can't I find what I want at Costco Wholesale?

An open-face, egg-white omelet with sliced Campari Tomato, Kirkland Signature Basil Pesto and shredded Parmigiano Reggiano cheese (all ingredients from Costco Wholesale), served with leftover baked sweet potatoes and organic carrots.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
Editor

Where are those bleach tablets I bought for a couple of years at Costco Wholesale, and dropped into my toilet tank to keep the bowl white?

Where are those Kirkland Signature fruit, seed and nut bars I carried around to help me skip lunch?

They're not available at my Hackensack Costco.

Last year, Della-brand organic brown rice disappeared for a couple of months before it re-appeared.

By that time, I had switched to another brand, Lundberg, a non-GMO long-grain brown rice that is grown in California.

I found another great vegetarian soup from Cedarlane Natural Foods in California at Costco Wholesale in Hackensack today.

Now you see them ...

In addition to stuff that disappears after you get to like it, Costco stocks "seasonal" items for only part of the year.

Refrigerated soups are nowhere to be found in the summer months. Sweet potatoes only show up around the holidays. 

Other stores sell sweet potatoes year-round. 

Today, I picked up Cedarlane Chopped Tomato and Vegetable Soup with Quinoa ($7.99 for two 32-ounce containers).

I also bought a package of frozen wild mackerel fillets caught in Norway and prepared with sea salt in South Korea (2 pounds, 3 ounces for $14.99).

I probably could do better buying fresh whole mackerel and having it filleted at H Mart or another Korean supermarket.

Costco Wholesale in Hackensack.

Fresh fish fillets

Other purchases include Nature's Bakery Fig Bars ($8.49), Kirkland Signature Organic (Brown) Eggs (24 for $6.99), Kirkland Signature Multigrain Bread (2 loaves for $4.49) and 2 pounds of Jarlsberg Lite Sliced Swiss ($8.59), one of the three reduced-fat cheeses I buy at Costco.

I also picked up a 1-pound package of Kirkland Signature Wild Alaskan Smoked Sockeye Salmon ($15.59).

The sliced salmon is great for adding to omelets and frittatas or for eating rolled up with Jarlsberg Lite Swiss Cheese and dipped in Dijon mustard.

For dinner, I bought 1.74 pounds of flounder fillets from Iceland that were packed today ($7.99 a pound). 

The wild-caught haddock in the case was from Nov. 30, and I haven't seen any Pacific cod fillets in the past two months or so.

The thin flounder fillets cooked in about 5 minutes when added to a pan with bottled Mexican green salsa and fresh lime juice that were heated until they were boiling gently.

Flounder fillets in bottled Mexican green salsa.

I served them with boiled and mashed skin-on sweet potatoes, Kabocha squash and garlic cloves moistened with extra-virgin olive oil and seasoned with Kirkland Signature Himalayan Pink Salt and Organic No-Salt Seasoning.