Holiday hits and misses at Costco

Image via Wikipedia
Costco now sells Niman Ranch hams.

The vast majority of meat being sold at Costco Wholesale is raised conventionally -- huge hunks of pork, thick steaks and whole chickens with labels that tell you nothing about how the animals lived.


Today, I dropped into the warehouse store in Hackensack to take a closer look at Costco's Kirkland Signature holiday ham and was pleasantly surprised to see a second ham -- this one from the Niman Ranch, a highly respected source of naturally raised meat.


Both half hams are bone-in, spiral sliced and fully cooked, but the Niman Ranch markets meat from hogs that are raised on vegetarian feed, and never receive antibiotics and growth hormones.


The Niman Ranch ham was $3.99 a pound, compared to $6.99 and $7.99 a pound -- depending on size -- for Niman Ranch hams at Whole Foods Market in Paramus. 


I believe the ones at Whole Foods are uncured, while the Costco version is cured and contains sodium nitrite as a preservative. 


The Niman Ranch Web site (Niman Ranch FAQs) had this to say about preservatives:

"Nitrates occur naturally in many foods; in fact, you might be surprised to discover that nitrates occur naturally in all plants. The amount of nitrates and nitrites you ingest when eating cured products is negligible and does not pose any health risk. Some consumers prefer cured meats, while others prefer to avoid added sodium nitrate and sodium nitrite, so Niman Ranch offers both alternatives in our product line. The idea to cure meat began with a need to keep meat from spoiling." 

The only other naturally raised meat at Costco is grass-fed lamb from Australia, available in legs, racks and osso bucco, and organic ground beef from Oregon (3 pounds for $13.99).


Holiday seafood


The fresh fish case in Hackensack is filled with several new items for the holiday, including salted, wild-caught Pacific cod ($8.99 a pound) and previously frozen octopus from the Philippines ($3.99 a pound).


Large, wild-caught lobster tails from Colombia are $19.99 a pound, but they're treated with sodium bisulfite as a preservative. We once tried the fully cooked Dungeness Crab ($5.99 a pound), but didn't care for it.


Today, I picked up fresh, wild caught Pacific cod fillets for $7.99 a pound. Costco usually also carries wild-caught haddock and flounder fillets; everything else is farmed.


Kirkland Signature's preservative-free, smoked wild sockeye salmon from Alaska made a reappearance in Hackensack after an absence of about a week, still at the terrific price of $15.39 a pound.


All the other smoked salmon and steel-head trout in the case is artificially colored.


Salad days


When Earthbound Farms' Organic Spring Mix has a use-by date of less than a week, I usually pick up Grand Parisian Complete Salad.  


You get 16 ounces of both, but the latter isn't organic, and the weight listed on the bag includes toppings (feta cheese, dried cranberries and frosted almonds) and a white balsamic dressing.


There appears to be about 10 ounces or less of pre-washed romaine lettuce and other ingredients in the Grand Parisian bag for a total price of $3.79, compared with Earthbound Farms' price of $4.79 to $4.99. 


Sparkling cider


Costco also has Martinelli's Sparkling Apple Cider at four bottles for $7.99 or about $2 each, compared with $2.99 a bottle elsewhere.


Two 32-ounce containers of Kirkland Signature non-fat Greek-style yogurt are $7.99 or about $3.50 each, compared to $4.99 for a single, 35.3-ounce container of Fage Greek Yogurt.


This week, I saw a new item: Della-brand Organic Brown Rice. A 12-pound bag of the long grain rice was $12.99. The cooking instructions say nothing about soaking the rice before you prepare it on the stove top or in a rice cooker -- a real time saver. 


I've passed up Phillips Maryland-Style Crab Cakes, which have risen in price to $14.89 for six. They taste terrific, because the first ingredient listed is crab. On Dec. 3, an instant coupon knocked off $3.90. I should have bought two packages instead of one.

The Australian lamb sold at Costco Wholesale

Image via Wikipedia

Editor's note: I wrote this post in May 2010, when I still ate meat and poultry. I haven't looked at Costco Wholesale lamb  for several years, but continue to buy grass-fed beef from Australia at ShopRite supermarkets for the meat-eaters in the family.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

I've noticed that some readers arrive at Do You Really Know What You're Eating when searching for information on whether Australian lamb sold at Costco is raised with growth hormones. 

I'm providing the Internet link that will tell you everything you need to know about the lamb from Down Under.

As far as I know, all the Australian lamb sold at ShopRite, Costco and elsewhere in the United States  is supplied by the same ranchers, producers and exporters. 

American lamb producers say their costs are much higher and they have to sell conventionally raised meat for more money than the naturally raised, grass-fed meat from Australia. 

Be sure to click on "About us" at the link below:

Australian lamb Web site

Monotony is setting in

Image via Wikipedia

My 12-year-old son was the first to use the word "monotony" to describe the meatless, fish-heavy meals we have been preparing at home for the past two weeks. Today, that word echoed in my head as I made my weekly trip to Costco in search of more variety.

I picked up Boca-brand soy burgers and frozen Maryland crab cakes at the Hackensack store, but passed on frozen mahi-mahi fillets and frozen Icelandic fish and chips, because I still have lots of frozen Pacific flounder and frozen Alaskan sockeye salmon, which I steamed in an Asian sauce and served with instant mashed potatoes and salad last night.

I walked warily past the Australian lamb I used to love to see what was in the fresh fish case, and startled a woman with a warning about the farmed salmon she was looking at. Damn. No fresh, wild-caught haddock, thick, meaty fillets that would be great fried -- my son's favorite preparation.

So, it looks like Maryland crab cakes (without the garnish shown in the photo above) and lots of frozen vegetables for dinner tonight. I'm not proud. If you have an idea for a meatless dinner, please pass it along.

Traveling on your stomach at Costco

Image via Wikipedia

Costco in Hackensack has become one of my favorite places to shop for food -- despite the crowds, the frantic parking lot and some inconsiderate shoppers, who think nothing of leaving a cart up against your fender.

You never know what you'll find there or how far it has traveled. And no store in North Jersey I know of can match the prices for this quality food and produce. It's even a better deal when you consider the cash rebates from the American Express Costco credit card easily reimburse you for the annual membership fee.

The past two Fridays, I saw whole red snappers from Nicaragua in the fish case. Smoked wild sockeye salmon (preservative free) from Alaska is now sold year-round under the store brand, Kirkland. Last night, I finished the last fresh flounder fillet from Iceland we had fried Friday.

Last week, I bought a 12-pound box of oranges from South Africa. The antioxidant-rich acai berry juice in my fridge is from Brazil. For my espresso machine, I've also brought home a 4-pound bag of whole coffee beans grown in Africa. And I'm working on a big wedge of Manchego sheep-milk's cheese from Spain.

Costco sells a ranch full of beef and pork, but all of them are conventionally raised with antibiotics, except for organic ground beef. What you want is the grass-fed, free-range lamb from Australia, usually available as chops or boneless legs.

The store also stocks a lot of terrific food grown domestically, such as the one-pound package of Earthbound Farms organic spring mix I eat weekly.

Of course, there is also the possibility you'll buy and like an item, then find the store no longer stocks it. I recall fondly the fully prepared, drug-free lamb shanks in mint sauce from New Zealand that we enjoyed on a few occasions, but never saw again.

For commentary on food coverage in The Record, see:
http://eyeontherecord.blogspot.com/