A Costco with no parking problems, no crowds, no waiting to check out

Costco Wholesale members who fight for a parking space, then fight the crowds inside the store, fantasize about shopping in a near-empty warehouse, such as the one shown above and below.

This warehouse even has a food court with 18-inch pizzas and all of the other Costco favorites you find elsewhere.

Editor's note: We prepare most of our meals at home, so I'm still waiting for the one food store in northern New Jersey that has organics and everything else at great prices. Meanwhile, I continue to make the rounds of my favorites, including Costco Wholesale, H Mart and ShopRite.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

You died and went to Costco Wholesale shopping heaven in Hackensack, N.J.

That sums up the experience of walking into a Costco warehouse where you'll encounter only a handful of other customers and cashiers waiting to check out your purchases.

This warehouse closed in October 2015, when a bigger and far busier Costco, plus a gas station, opened in the Teterboro Landing Shopping Center off of busy Route 46.

Five months later, a renovated Hackensack warehouse opened as a Costco Business Center, where the focus is on such small businesses as restaurants and caterers, and delivers their orders.

That's why the parking lot and the store are such a pleasure.

The old food court also was renovated, but you won't find a pharmacy, optical services, photo department, tires, clothing or a separate store with wine.

True. The selection is limited. 

But you can pick up produce, eggs, milk, bread, water, snack bars, candy and many other items stocked by a regular Costco Wholesale.

Instead of fighting the crowds at the Teterboro Costco on Saturday afternoon, I dashed out to the Hackensack warehouse for:

One of the best salads in the world, Earthbound Farm Organic Spring Mix ($4.79 for a 1-pound package); incomparable Campari Tomatoes ($5.49 for 2 pounds), 6 pounds of large Bosc Pears ($6.99), 2.5 pounds of Starbucks French Roast Coffee Beans ($15.49 with an instant coupon), and KIND snack bars ($18.99).

The Costco Wholesale Business Center in Hackensack carries hothouse-grown Campari Tomatoes from both Canada and Mexico. They prove winter tomatoes don't have to be watery or mealy or both. For a real treat, pop one whole into you mouth and bite into it.

The Business Center also carries 22-ounce jars of Kirkland Signature Basil Pesto, a refrigerated product. Here, I dressed organic whole wheat pasta with pesto and organic pine nuts, and washed them down with a glass of Kirkland Signature Malbec, a red wine from Argentina.

After my pasta, I enjoyed a salad of triple-washed Earthbound Farm Organic Spring Mix, including peppery arugula, dressed with extra-virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

 

The Costco Wholesale Business Center at 80 S. River St. in Hackensack is open until 6 p.m. on weekdays, 4 p.m. on Saturdays and closes on Sundays. It's also closer to my home than the new Teterboro warehouse.

Although the H Mart supermarket in Little Ferry is as shabby as ever, managers have added dividers in the fresh fish case, as well as new signs, above and below. On Sunday, the store had no heat, so a free sample of hot noodle soup with fish cakes was greatly appreciated.

An employee acknowledged the new signs are missing a required piece of information -- whether the fish is wild or farmed -- and said the store will be remedying that. I bought three whole wild-caught red snappers for pan frying at home, and munched on free seafood samples at a nearby counter while my fish was cleaned.

I also bought Organic Brown Shimeji Mushrooms.

At the Little Ferry H Mart, the price of a 5-pound box of Spanish Clementines has fluctuated -- from $7.99 on Nov. 6 to $3.99 on Dec. 4, above, and to $5.99 on Sunday.

At the ShopRite in Paramus this afternoon, 1-liter bottles of Alonia-brand Extra Virgin Olive Oil from Spain were only $3.99 each, an unusually low price for an EVOO that isn't a blend from several countries. I bought three bottles with a best-by date of January 2019 for dressing salads, adding to pasta sauces and eating with bread. 

The ShopRite in Paramus, at 224 Route 4 east, also is accessible from Forest Avenue.

Amid the widely publicized adulteration of some extra-virgin olive oils in Italy, the price of this heart-healthy oil has risen dramatically, and producers have been shrinking the traditional 1-liter bottle and 3-liter tin, and selling what are called Mediterranean blends of EVOOs from several countries, including Greece, Spain, Tunisia and Portugal. Above, Colavita "100% Certified Italian" Extra-Virgin Olive was $14.99 for less than a full liter at the Paramus ShopRite.

A blend of extra-virgin olive oils was $7.99 for a half-liter bottle. A full liter is 33.8 ounces.

ShopRite says it imports extra-virgin olive oil made from Italian-grown olives. Here, a 1-liter bottle was $8.99, but I've seen it on sale for $6.99.

Costco Wholesale helps me serve a healthy dinner in just 15 minutes

A Codfish Medley with organic spinach, organic diced tomatoes, pitted olives and shredded cheese cooks in less than 15 minutes in a preheated oven.

Editor's note: We continue to spend most of our food dollars at Costco Wholesale, but on our last visit to the Teterboro warehouse, some of the prices for fresh fruit seemed high.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Costco Wholesale may have a limited selection of wild-caught fish, but I never get tired of the fresh cod fillets from Iceland for only $7.99 a pound.

On Tuesday night, I prepared a Codfish Medley with about 2.3 pounds of the wild-caught skinless-and-boneless fillets, and other ingredients from the Teterboro Costco.

They include organic spinach (1 pound for $4.49), organic diced tomatoes and shredded Parmigiano Reggiano Cheese (1-pound jar for $10.59 after an instant coupon).

I preheated the oven to 400 degrees, and lined a large pan with aluminum foil.

Then, I added the ingredients in layers: 

Spinach to cover the bottom of the pan and a generous drizzle of extra-virgin olive oil, followed by lightly salted fish portions, ground red pepper, organic diced tomatoes spooned from the can, pitted olives, shredded cheese and the juice of a Meyer Lemon.

I placed the pan in the oven, and the fish was translucent and flaked beautifully in about 15 minutes.

I poured a glass of red wine, and finished my meal with a big salad of Earthbound Farm Organic Spring Mix (1 pound for $4.29 at Costco) dressed with extra-virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

Thanks to The Fish Dock, an Icelandic fish store in Closter, for inspiring me to prepare a medley.

I've also prepared a medley at home with Icelandic flounder fillets from the Teterboro Costco, and the store's fresh Canadian flounder is a third possibility.

And nothing says you couldn't use wild-caught shrimp in a medley.

Other ingredients in the homemade Codfish Medley include extra-virgin olive oil, Meyer Lemon, sea salt and Aleppo red pepper. 

This morning, I had Codfish Medley leftovers with leftover organic brown rice, which I prepared this week in an electric cooker with whole peeled garlic cloves and organic diced tomatoes from Costco Wholesale, and organic black beans from ShopRite.

Fresh fruit at Costco

On Tuesday, the Teterboro Costco was selling 4 pounds of large fresh strawberries for $9.99, and an 18-ounce container of blueberries was $8.99.

In February, that same container of blueberries was only $4.99.

We did buy a 4-pound package of Red Seedless Grapes for $8.99. A large Golden Pineapple was $2.99.

And 3 pounds of Organic Bananas were only $1.99, the lowest price in North Jersey.

We also bought 24 Organic Eggs, $6.99; Wild Alaskan Smoked Sockeye Salmon, 1 pound for $14.89; three large Gourmet Cucumbers, $3.39; and a 3-pound bag of raw California Almonds for $16.99.

We roast the almonds at home (275 degrees for 1 hour and 15 minutes), and dust them with Saigon Cinnamon from Costco for an after-dinner snack, with or without fresh fruit and cheese. 

Exploring organic food: Pasta and eggs, wild-caught fish and quinoa

Accents of pesto take this breakfast of organic eggs and organic pasta over the top.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Poaching fish fillets or eggs in a covered pan allows you to serve breakfast or dinner in minutes.

For one thing, bottled pasta sauce or Mexican-style salsa serve as both a cooking medium and a dressing for your side dish of organic whole-wheat pasta, quinoa or brown rice.

If you make several servings of the side dish ahead, as I often do, that saves you even more time. 

At dinner, a salad of pre-washed greens, such as Earthbound Farm Organic Spring Mix, and a glass of wine completes your meal.

Pesto eggs and pasta

I started with about 6 ounces of leftover bottled vodka sauce, one made without heavy cream; emptied it into a pan, added a little olive oil and covered it to heat it up.

When it was simmering, I cracked two organic eggs into the pan, turned the heat to medium and put on the cover again (a glass cover works best).

Meanwhile, I added 1 cup of 365 Everyday Value Organic Whole Wheat Fusilli from Whole Foods Market to a small pot of boiling water ($1.49 for 1-pound box).

The eggs were ready before the pasta, which took 8 minutes for al dente. (Ignore longer cooking times listed on the box.)

I removed the eggs to a plate, added Aleppo red pepper, drained the pasta, mixed it with the sauce in the pan and plated it next to the eggs.

I added a little refrigerated Basil Pesto from Costco Wholesale, which is also where the brown eggs came from.

What a great breakfast, especially eating the broken yolk over the pasta spirals.

Wild-caught haddock from Iceland, which poaches in minutes in Mexican-style salsa, is paired with an organic red quinoa and kale blend with citrus and black pepper, above and below.

Haddock, quinoa and kale

At Costco Wholesale in Teterboro, fresh, wild-caught fish fillets -- haddock, flounder and cod -- are inexpensive, and easy to cook in bottled Mexican-style salsas from Whole Foods Market.

I started with a 16-ounce jar of 365 Everyday Value Roasted Chipotle Salsa from Whole Foods ($2.69), emptying about two-thirds of it into a pan and adding the juice of a big, plump Meyer Lemon from Costco ($5.99 for a 4-pound bag).

I heated the sauce up under a cover; and cut up and seasoned the thin haddock fillets with a little sea salt ($8.99 a pound).

Meanwhile, in a non-stick pan with cooking spray, I heated up a frozen 10-ounce bag of Organic Quinoa & Kale Blend from Costco I found in the freezer (cooking time is 6 minutes).

When the sauce was simmering, I added the fish, and put the cover back on, setting the heat to medium high.

The fish was translucent in 5 minutes, but you can cook it longer, say 7 minutes.

365 Everyday Value Organic Whole Wheat Fusilli in Organic Italian Herb Pasta Sauce, both from Whole Foods Market, with chopped organic kale and organic arugula.

Fusilli with kale and arugula 

I liked the fusilli with sunny side up eggs so much I decided to cook the rest of the 1-pound box with a 25-ounce jar of 365 Every Day Value Organic Italian Herb Pasta Sauce ($2.99) I bought in January at Whole Foods in Paramus.

I also had 5-ounce packages of Earthbound Farm Organic Arugula and Organic Kale (99 cents each at the International Food Warehouse in Lodi) that had a use-by date of Thursday, when I made the rest of the pasta spirals.

To the herb sauce, I added a drained can of Kirkland Signature Organic Diced Tomatoes, extra-virgin olive oil and seasonings, including some red-pepper flakes.

After draining the pasta and adding it to the sauce, I placed the chopped greens on top, and folded all of it together with a large cooking spoon.

This morning, I reheated some of the fusilli to enjoy with a freshly made egg-white omelet and sauteed spinach.

Almost everything I used for the three dishes was organic and contained no genetically modified ingredients (GMOs).

Costco Wholesale is putting the focus on four organic suppliers

A salad made with pomegranate seeds, Italian cheese, Campari Tomatoes and Organic Spring Mix from Earthbound Farm, one of the four organic suppliers featured in the Costco Connection magazine.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Earthbound Farm Organic harvests 48,000 crop acres each year (the amount of harvests you get off a single acre).

Coleman Natural Foods, another Costco Wholesale supplier, has been raising antibiotic-free chickens for 140 years, and organic chicken since 2001.

Aurora Organic Dairy's organic cows receive no antibiotics or hormones, and must be fed 100% organic feed and have access to the outdoors.

The cover story in the January 2015 issue of The Costco Connection magazine profiles four of its organic suppliers -- "Growing Organic: A seedling market rises to mainstream."

The fourth Costco supplier is Stemilt Growers, a Washington State harvester of organic apples.

Earthbound Farm

The oldest of Costco's organic suppliers is Earthbound Farm, which provided its first packaged salad greens to the warehouse chain in 1992.

Every week, I buy a 1-pound package of Earthbound Farm Organic Spring Mix at my Hackensack Costco for $4.99 or less, compared to $6.99 or more in a supermarket.

In 2005, I paid $3.99 for the same triple-washed organic salad at Costco.  

The more organic, the better

Costco members have seen the selection of organic foods grow over the years, and it's clear they are from many suppliers, not just the four profiled in the magazine.

It's possible to serve a complete organic meal from Costco, using organic chicken, organic brown rice or quinoa with organic diced tomatoes, and organic salad dressed with organic extra-virgin olive oil.

"Simply put, certified organic foods have been farmed without synthetic pesticides, herbicides and fertizers, and do not use genetically modified organisms (GMOs)," The Costco Connection says.

Costco also sells non-organic products that are GMO free.

I fried two organic eggs from Costco Wholesale in Organic Extra Virgin Coconut Oil. A 54-ounce jar was $17.49 at my Hackensack Costco.

Organic-spinach smoothie

My wife brought home a pound of organic baby spinach from Costco ($4.49), and blended it into a smoothie with apple juice, pineapple and banana.

She also bought 5.5 pounds of Organic Gala Apples from Washington State at Costco ($9.99).

I fried two organic eggs from Costco in Organic Coconut Oil, which left behind a distinct taste of coconut. 

I served the eggs over leftover organic quinoa I had prepared in an electric cooker with organic diced tomatoes, both from Costco.

At Costco, should you go for fresh or frozen from the deep sea?

I poached fresh, wild-caught Icelandic haddock fillets from Costco Wholesale in Roasted Poblano Salsa from Whole Foods Market in under 10 minutes. 

Editor's note: With only a couple of exceptions, I prefer fresh, wild-caught fish fillets from Costco Wholesale.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

When I felt like fresh fish for dinner on Monday, I drove a couple of miles to Costco Wholesale in Hackensack at a little after 3 in the afternoon.

The warehouse store offers a large variety of seafood from all over the world -- fresh, frozen, wild and farmed.

As usual, I found fresh, wild-caught fillets of cod, haddock and flounder for as little as $7.99 a pound, and chose a 1.6-pound of package of flaky haddock from Iceland ($8.99 a pound).

I knew I had a 16-ounce bottle of 365 Everyday Value Roasted Poblano Salsa from Whole Foods Market and fresh limes at home, all I would need to poach the haddock, which I cut into serving pieces and sprinkled with Aleppo pepper.

Less than 10 minutes after the salsa and fresh lime juice came to a boil in a covered pan, I was spooning two portions of fish over leftover organic brown rice.

I actually cooked my haddock for only 5 minutes, and it continued cooking after I turned off the fire.

A glass of red wine and a triple-washed Earthbound Farm Organic Spring Mix Salad ($4.89 a pound) completed the meal.

Previously frozen lobster tails at Costco Wholesale are $21 a pound. The label describes them as "warm water" lobster, but the use of a preservative is a real turn-off, and I've never purchased them. Where are they from? The label doesn't say. See a comment at the end of the post for information on the origin of these lobster tails.

Boxes holding 10 pounds of frozen Red King Crab.

The label doesn't say where these cooked legs and claws come from, though we bought loose king crab legs from Costco's Seafood Road Show for our Christmas dinner, and I assumed they were from Alaska.

At the Hackensack warehouse store, previously frozen whole wild octopus from the Philippines, left, and frozen calamari tubes.

Frozen or previously frozen?

Costco's Seafood Road Show ended a long holiday run in Hackensack today, and we liked the loose frozen King Crab legs we bought for our Christmas dinner ($17.99 a pound).

We steamed the fully cooked legs for Christmas, and made a salad with the leftovers with diced celery, onion and sweet pepper, dressed with Dijon mustard and fresh lime juice.

We also like previously frozen Kirkland Signature Wild Alaskan Smoked Sockeye Salmon, which shot up to $18.89 a pound last May.

Recently, the price of 1 pound of the sliced salmon went down to $15.99, compared to $15.59 in May 2013.

We've also enjoyed frozen hake and wild sockeye salmon fillets.

But we avoid most of the frozen shellfish Costco sells, as well as the previously frozen farmed Black Tiger Shrimp from Vietnam.

We also are no fans of fresh farmed fish -- from the huge fillets of artificially colored salmon and steel-head trout to the tilapia.

Summer delights: Grilled Jersey peaches, salad with ripe figs

This morning, I finally found decent looking Jersey peaches at the ShopRite in Paramus, where they were $1.49 a pound, 50 cents more than when they first appeared and didn't look good enough to buy. The labels on the peaches themselves matched the box, which is not always the case.

Start with a spray can of canola or olive oil, heat up a grill pan, add peach halves and listen for the sizzle ...

Turn the peaches, grill some more and then add a little Ground Saigon Cinnamon from Costco Wholesale. Grilled ripe peaches go perfectly with wild sockeye salmon, also available at Costco.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

The hard Jersey peaches I bought this morning are ripening on my kitchen counter until they are ready for my stove-top grill.

When I brought them home, I still had a few South Carolina peaches I got last week instead of the misshapen Jersey fruit I saw at the ShopRite in Paramus.

So, I grilled them on the stove top, and dusted them with cinnamon.

They'll go great with leftover wild sockeye salmon I have in the refrigerator -- making a sweet and savory dinner.

Don't you just love summer fruit?

I sliced ripe, sugary Black Mission Figs from California for this salad of Earthbound Farm Organic Spring Mix, Parmigiano Reggiano Cheese, salt-free almonds I roast at home and dust with cinnamon, and small plum tomatoes from my garden. The dressing is extra-virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

H Mart bargain hunting, Costco-inspired dishes, a new salad

Jun's Tofu is made with non-GMO soybeans and sold at H&Y Marketplace, a Korean supermarket at 1 Remsen Place in Ridgefield. I like the tofu with wild sesame and sea salt, eaten hot or cold. A 28-ounce package is $5.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

H Mart is the biggest chain of Korean supermarkets in New Jersey, but the North Jersey stores don't seem to be run by the same owner.

Last week at the H Mart in Englewood, a 15-pound bag of California-grown Kokuho Yellow Label White Rice was on sale for $9.99, a savings of $5.

The catch: You need the store's Smart Card coupon and must buy more than $30, excluding coupon items.

The next day, I stopped at the H Mart in Little Ferry and found the same 15-pound bag of rice for $10.88, with no strings attached.

This H Mart put the regular price at $15.99 -- not the $14.99 quoted in Englewood -- and my receipt showed a savings of $5.11.

I also found a large seedless watermelon in the Little Ferry store for $4.99, compared to $7.99 in Englewood.

The Englewood store did have Chinese broccoli on sale for 98 cents a pound.

Kirkland Signature Wild Alaskan Smoked Sockeye Salmon from Costco Wholesale in an open-face omelet of 100% Egg Whites, also from Costco, served with mashed sweet potatoes from Trader Joe's. 

Good ingredients from Costco

Cold-smoked wild sockeye salmon from Alaska, refrigerated basil pesto, salted pollock, pignoli nuts, organic quinoa -- the list of quality ingredients from Costco Wholesale is long.

Supplement them with a few key items from other stores, such as whole-wheat pasta, and meal preparation is a snap.

Kirkland Signature Basil Pesto from Costco Wholesale is a wonderful dressing for whole-wheat pappardelle, mouth-filling pasta ribbons from Italy, with added pignoli nuts and fresh basil, two of the ingredients in pesto.

An egg-white frittata made with sweet peppers, garlic, shredded cheese and salted Alaskan pollock, a cousin of the cod. I served it with a mixture of organic brown rice and quinoa with salsa verde.

A salad of Earthbound Farm Organic Spring Mix with organic beets, Campari tomato and pignoli nuts -- all from Costco -- dressed with extra-virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

New salad from Earthbound Farm

I picked up a new organic salad from Earthbound Farm at Costco Wholesale in Hackensack.

The blend of tender baby kale, chard and spinach -- called "POWER" -- can be used in salads, smoothies and as a pizza topping.

A 1-pound bag is $5.99, compared to $4.49 for a 1-pound tub of Earthbound Farm Organic Spring Mix.

The resealable plastic bag is similar to the one the spring mix was sold in at one time, and it is easier to store in the refrigerator than the bulky plastic tub.

I tried the assertive greens in a salad with spring mix, reduced-fat Jarlsberg Swiss Cheese, Jersey blueberries and Campari tomatoes, all from Costco (photo below).

Shopping at Costco Wholesale is really paying off

The high cost of gluten-free food. Explore Asian-brand Organic Black Bean Spaghetti is about $4.50 a pound at Costco Wholesale, compared to organic whole-wheat spaghetti at Whole Foods Market and Trader Joe's for $1.39 a pound.

Editor's note: Today, I discuss cash rebates that return your Costco Wholesale membership fee many times over, and bargains at the International Food Warehouse in Lodi.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

In the last few weeks, I received two 1% rebate coupons totaling more than $343 from my Costco Wholesale-American Express TrueEarnings Card.

And I'm waiting for my annual 2% cash award for executive members like me who pay $110 a year to join Costco, twice the regular fee.

The TrueEarnings Card gives you rebates at gasoline stations (3% or 4%) and restaurants (2%) in addition to the 1% back for purchases at Costco and other stores.

The rebate coupons must be used at Costco, but if you make a small purchase, you will get the balance of the check in cash.

Organic brown eggs from Costco Wholesale, served with store-bought tofu and organic long grain brown rice.

A salad of Earthbound Farm Organic Spring Mix with Chilean blueberries, cinnamon-dusted roasted almonds, and Kirkland Signature Parmigiano Reggiano, a reduced-fat cheese, all from Costco.

Bargain organic greens

The International Food Warehouse at 370 Essex St. in Lodi is a good place to supplement my purchase of Earthbound Farm Organic Spring Mix from Costco Wholesale in Hackensack, where a 1-pound tub of the pre-washed greens runs $4.79 to $4.99.

On Thursday, I picked up a 5-ounce package of Earthbound Farm Organic Zen, a deep-green blend of Asian greens, spinach and kale, for only 99 cents.

You have to watch the use-by dates. I saw other Earthbound Farm Organic salads that had a use-by date of Thursday or the day before.

My Zen blend was good for two more days.

Other bargains were half-liter bottles of organic balsamic vinegar with no artificial color for $1.99 each, and 8.5-ounce jars of organic olives from Turkey for $1 each, though the sales flier mistakenly said the bottles were 16 ounces.

Large yams were only 39 cents a pound, and Korean yams rang up at 59 cents a pound.

Bella Famiglia Organic Balsamic Vinegar from Italy contains no added color.

The International Food Warehouse in Lodi has a wide selection of Asian Indian and other ethnic food, but there are no bargains to be found in the wine, beer and liquor department, above.