Costco's low-quality rotisserie bird costs more in Canada

Costco Wholesale's heavily seasoned rotisserie chicken carries the Kirkland Signature label, but that doesn't guarantee high quality, as it does with wine and many other food and non-food items. At the warehouse store in Montreal, above, the antibiotic-raised bird sells for $7.99 Canadian, compared to $4.99 at the Costco Wholesale in Hackensack.

A box of California peaches sells for $11.99 Canadian in Montreal, compared to $9.99 at my Hackensack warehouse store.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Not long after we drove across the New York State-Quebec border on June 26, we saw our first Canadian Costco Wholesale.

We didn't know it at the time, but we were entering a sort of Costco heaven -- five warehouse stores within 6.5 miles of each other -- including three on the French-speaking island of Montreal, where my wife and I enjoyed the 35th annual International Jazz Festival. 

We visited the Costco on Bridge Street in Montreal twice, purchasing bottled spring water, men's briefs, unsalted mixed nuts, salad dressing and other non-perishables.

But most of the food at Costco in Canada costs more than the same or similar items in northern New Jersey, where we live and shop in the Hackensack, Wayne and Clifton warehouse stores.

For example, the low-quality Kirkland Signature Rotisserie Chicken, which is raised on antibiotics and seasoned heavily before roasting, is $7.99 Canadian, compared to $4.99 in the United States.

(A Canadian dollar is worth about 95 U.S. cents.)

Of course, that poulet de rotisserie is no bargain nutritionally in either country.

See:

Costco rotisserie chicken makes great dog food

Kirkland Signature Egg Whites or Blancs D'Oeufs.

A 32-ounce package of fresh blueberries from Georgia was $4.79 in Montreal, a lower price than the last time I bought them in Hackensack.

In Montreal, you won't find the 1-pound plastic tub of Earthbound Farms Organic Spring Mix, but there are plenty of salad greens from Mirabel, a Canadian company, though none of them appears to be organically grown. Packages are 11 ounces.

Plenty of wine

Like the Wayne Costco, the Montreal store sells wine and beer, but none of the wine bottles carry the Kirkland Signature label.

I didn't see any wine for under $10 Canadian a bottle.

In Wayne, I've purchased 1.5 liter bottles of Kirkland Signature's smooth Cabernet Sauvignon from California for the equivalent of $4.49 a bottle.

Briefs, nuts and water

I bought three packages of Stanfield's-brand Men's Briefs, which are 100% cotton and made in Canada (they are called "Calecons" in French).

Each package of five briefs was $19.99 Canadian.

I also purchased a 1.13-kilogram jar of Kirkland Signature Unsalted Mixed Nuts (Noix Melange) for $17.99 Canadian; and 35 500-milliliter bottles of Kirkland Signature Spring Water for $3.99 Canadian.

Taxes on these and other purchases totaled 14.975%, compared to 7% in New Jersey.

We stayed eight nights in Montreal, and the weather was unusually warm and humid, prompting us to shower twice a day.

Costco came through with water to keep us hydrated, unsalted mixed nuts for snacking and the extra briefs I needed -- all at great prices. 

Wild sockeye salmon fillet, above, and farmed salmon steaks and fillets, below. Prices for fish and chicken are per kilogram or 2.2 pounds. The wild salmon fillets were about $12.58 a pound, comparable to the price in the Hackensack Costco.

At the Montreal Costco, gasoline was $5.34.6 per gallon for regular and $5.68.8 for premium. Prices shown are per liter in Canadian dollars. Costco members save about 20 cents Canadian per gallon, compared to other gas stations. Before we crossed the border, I filled up in Plattsburgh, N.Y., and paid $3.92.9 for regular.

I purchased this salad dressing, which I haven't seen in the Hackensack Costco. Kirkland Signature Balsamic Vinaigrette is made with canola and extra-virgin olive oils, and fresh garlic, but also contains fancy molasses, and it has to be refrigerated after opening.

In Montreal, Costco shopping carts and members are sheltered from the elements, a great idea that would be welcomed in northern New Jersey.

Costco Wholesale, 300 Rue Bridge, Montreal, Quebec, Canada; 1-514-938-5170.



Related article

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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.

A salty fish tale from Sweden by way of IKEA in Paramus

Image via Wikipedia

I wish IKEA would flag the high salt content in its jars of marinated herring.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

I was delighted to find jars of raw, marinated herring in IKEA's Swedish Food Market in Paramus, but when I looked at the nutrition labels at home, I was horrified by all the salt I would be consuming.

I bought four kinds: in garlic sauce, in mustard sauce, in dill sauce and with onion and carrot. The jars are 8.8 ounces each, not 5.1 ounces, as I wrote in a previous post, and four were on sale for $6.

A serving size is five small pieces of herring, but the sodium content ranges from 29% to 62% of the recommended daily intake -- or 700 milligrams to 1,500 milligrams of salt.

The herring in mustard sauce has the lowest salt content: 19% of the recommended daily intake.

I just finished the herring in garlic sauce, and wonder if I can return the others and exchange them for mustard sauce or get a refund.

IKEA, 100 IKEA Drive, Paramus. Closed Sundays. Free garage parking.

  

H Mart renewal

The H Mart in Englewood -- smallest of the Korean chain's four supermarkets in Bergen County -- has received a much-needed makeover.

After I moved to Hackensack from Englewood, I stopped going there and started shopping at H Marts in Little Ferry and Fort Lee, the newest.

My eyes popped when I walked into the Englewood store today: New coats of paint, bright lights and the word "Fresh" spelled out several times in big letters on the walls, next to colorful illustrations of food.

The selling area was expanded by pushing checkout counters closer to the front of the store.

H Mart's produce quality had dipped, but now it is back to being among the best selections in North Jersey. And prices are very competitive.

I picked up fresh collard greens for 99 cents a pound. At the fish counter, I chose fresh, whole porgy ($2.99 a pound) from among more than two dozen whole fish on ice.

Three pounds of Earthbound Farm organic gala apples were $3.49.

It would be terrific if the dowdy Little Ferry store got the same makeover.

H Mart, 25 Lafayette Ave., Englewood; 201-871-8822.

Copper River salmon now at a lower price

Image via Wikipedia

The first wild sockeye salmon fillets from the famed Copper River in Alaska appeared on June 12 at the Costco in Hackensack. The price: $14.99 a pound. A few days later, wild king salmon from Alaska showed up, also $14.99 a pound.


Today, I went looking for king salmon for dinner, but found only the sockeye (photo). The surprise was a lower price: $11.99 a pound. Last year, Copper River salmon was sold for $9.99 a pound at Costco.


I also picked up a pound of Earthbound Farms organic spring mix ($4.49) and two pounds of those beautiful, round Campari tomatoes on the vine ($4.59) that are hot-house grown without herbicides. Pasta Prima-brand lobster ravioli were $11.99, enough to feed three at two meals.

Why you can't shop in one food store

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

If, like me, you do most of the food shopping in your family, you dream of that one store where you can be assured of getting fresh, healthy food at great prices. Don't hold your breath.

Even a random sampling of how food prices are all over the place will discourage you. At Fairway Market in Paramus on Friday, a 3.5-pound bag of Spanish clementines was $5.99, compared to $3.49 at H Mart in Little Ferry. Fairway's price for one pound of Earthbound Farm organic spring mix was $6.99; at Costco in Hackensack, it's $4.49.

Costco sells three cans of wild sockeye red salmon from Alaska, but you get better value buying one can of Bumble Bee wild sockeye salmon at Fairway or ShopRite for $4.99 (just under 15 ounces). ShopRite no longer discounts this red salmon during its Can-Can Sale, when it has been as low as $2.99.

My wife just called to report the pomegranate she bought for 99 cents at H Mart in Englewood is $2 at ShopRite in Rochelle Park, where she is shopping today.

I'm not sure what you can conclude from these examples and others I am sure you have seen yourself. All I know is that a food shopper's work is never done.