First day for Costco Visa credit card, basket full of bargains at H Mart

Starting today, the Costco Wholesale Business Center in Hackensack is among the hundreds of Costco warehouses in the United States that accept only Visa Credit Cards, including the Costco Anywhere Visa Card by Citi, replacing the American Express True Earnings card.

Now, you also can use your Visa credit card to pay for fresh-baked pizzas and other purchases at the Hackensack food court, which was cash only (80 S. River St., Hackensack; warehouse is closed Sundays).

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

At the Costco Wholesale Business Center in Hackensack today, the switch to Visa credit cards from longtime partner American Express was imperceptible.

You could describe the shopping experience at the Hackensack warehouse as Costco Lite -- plenty of empty parking spaces in the lot, only a handful of customers pushing shopping carts through the cavernous space and no waiting to check out.

The warehouse delivers orders placed online by restaurants, caterers and other small businesses, and has only about 30% of the consumer items you'll find at the bigger, far busier Costco Wholesale in Teterboro.

Today, the Hackensack warehouse was the same oasis of calm it has been since its March 15 opening.

I used my Costco Visa credit card to pay for:

Three large cans of Dole Pineapple Juice ($4.19 with an instant coupon); Premier Protein Shake (18 11-ounce containers for $19.99 with an instant coupon); 3 pounds of premium Apricots from California ($5.49); 1 pound of Earthbound Farm Organic Spring Mix ($4.49) and a large cup of non-fat vanilla yogurt from the food court ($1.35).

More cash back

The new Costco Visa credit card gives you more cash back than did the American Express card: 

You get 4% cash back instead of 3% on gasoline, including Costco gas; 3% back instead of 2% on restaurant meals and travel purchases worldwide, and 2% back on purchases at Costco.

If you use the Costco Visa card to buy gasoline and charge restaurant meals, you easily recoup the annual Costco membership fee of $55 or $110, and much more.

Thanks to an instant Costco coupon, three 46-ounce cans of Dole 100% Pineapple Juice (not from concentrate) were a better buy per ounce than 24 8.4-ounce cans, below. The bigger cans are marked non-GMO, meaning they don't contain genetically modified or engineered ingredients.

At H Mart, 260 Bergen Turnpike in Little Ferry, Baby Mustard Greens were reduced to 68 cents a pound, and cans of Moroccan Sardines in Olive Oil were about $1 each, below. 

Sabri-brand Sardines also were available in vegetable oil and in tomato sauce.

Fresh fish and fruit

Just about everything I bought on Sunday at H Mart in Little Ferry was reduced or a good buy.

Some of the deals require you to have the store's loyalty card, which gives you $10 off after you spend $1,000 (1% rebate).

Our Sunday dinner included fresh wild-caught whole whiting ($2.99 a pound) that we dredged in cornmeal and pan fried; and big bunches of Baby Mustard Greens (68 cents a pound) we washed, cut up and sauteed with chopped fresh garlic.  

A 15-pound bag of Kokuho Yellow Label White Rice from California was reduced to $10.99; a large Seedless Watermelon was $4.99; and a box of 14 sugar-sweet Ataulfo or Champagne Mangoes from Mexico was $9.99 or $1 more than a week earlier. 

That compares to $5.49 for six Ataulfo Mangoes at the Hackensack Costco.

Two packages of Nature's Soy Fried Tofu, which is packed with protein, were $3 or half price.

Marinades for pork and beef also were on sale, but I couldn't find any without monosodium glutamate (MSG). I settled for one with a low sodium content.

While I waited for my fish to be cleaned, I walked over to the table where free seafood samples were available, including a broiled mussel topped with fish eggs, snow-crab meat, boiled octopus and fried smelts; then stopped for free samples of cold noodles in broth and a kimchi dumpling on the way to the register.

I never get tired of a classic pasta sauce without a hint of red

Kirkland Signature Basil Pesto from Costco Wholesale dressing Garofalo Whole Wheat Pappardelle from Jerry's Gourmet in Englewood. I served the pasta on Wednesday night with stove top-grilled Chinese eggplant that was on sale for 49 cents a pound at H Mart, also in Englewood.

Editor's note: Today, I discuss my 40-year love affair with a classic pasta sauce, the best buy in pomegranates and side dishes from H Mart. 

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

I first tasted pesto, the pasta sauce packed with fragrant fresh basil leaves, in the early 1970s at a seaside Italian restaurant on the French Riviera.

By the late 1980s, I was buying a case of fresh basil leaves every summer, making two-cup, freezable portions from a blender recipe I found in a Marcella Hazan cookbook and enjoying pesto through the winter.

I never fell out of love with pesto, but found the versions served in restaurants often lacked enough basil to deliver the magical taste I remember from that restaurant in Nice, not far from Genoa, Italy, where it originated. 

Not only does pesto give you a break from red pasta sauces, the dressing gets its richness from grated cow's and sheep's milk cheeses, extra-virgin olive oil and pine nuts -- not the artery clogging cream and butter you'd find in Alfredo Sauce. 

Besto pesto from Costco

In recent years, I've relied on Kirkland Signature Basil Pesto from Costco Wholesale ($7.99 for a 22-ounce jar) to dress pasta, spread on sandwich bread, and add to soup, frittatas and omelets.

On Wednesday, I took out the jar of Costco pesto I had in the refrigerator, boiled water, added a pound of whole-wheat pappardelle and cooked it for 10 minutes.

I returned the drained pasta to the same pot, with the fire off; added about two-thirds of the pesto, mixed them well and served the wide, mouth-filling noodles with grilled eggplant and a salad for a delicious dinner.

I put the remaining pesto in the freezer.

The pesto's use-by date isn't written in stone, as I've found with some other products from Costco, such as Earthbound Farm Organic Spring Mix.

Two of the large pomegranates my wife bought at Costco Wholesale in Hackensack, above, yielded 4 to 5 cups of seeds, below. Six large pomegranates were $14.99.

Pomegranate season

You can find pomegranates at Costco Wholesale in Hackensack, H Mart in Little Ferry and ShopRite in Paramus, among other stores.

But their size, weight and price differ, making them difficult to compare in terms of which one is the best buy.

I've sprinkled pomegranate seeds over hot cereal and salad, and eaten them with a spoon. I'm wondering whether I can cook with them.

For example, the crunchy, sweet-and-sour seeds might taste great as a garnish for steamed organic brown rice or quinoa.

But can I put them in an electric cooker with the other ingredients or should I add them just before I serve the rice or quinoa? Stay tuned.

I found a Persian recipe for Jeweled Rice with pomegranate seeds sprinkled over the dish. Here is a link:

Persian Jeweled Rice (with Nuts and Dried Fruit) 

My wife simply cuts the pomegranate in half and removes the seeds with her fingers over the container we use to store them in the refrigerator.

This morning, a display of pomegranates at the ShopRite in Paramus was missing a price sign. The store circular said they are on sale for 99 cents each through Saturday. 

A ShopRite pomegranate weighed less than 1 pound.

A Costco pomegranate, which cost about $2.50, weighed 1.4 pounds, above. H Mart in Little Ferry has large pomegranates on sale for $1.99 each through Friday. The ShopRite pomegranate looks like the best buy.

Leftover Bob's Red Mill Whole Grain 10 Grain Hot Cereal made a great breakfast today when reheated and served with pomegranate seeds, non-fat Greek yogurt and Organic Blue Agave nectar.

Baby mustard greens were on sale for 99 cents a pound this week at H Mart in Little Ferry, and I bought some to serve with fresh Icelandic haddock from Costco Wholesale ($8.99 a pound), and leftover organic quinoa made with organic diced tomatoes and whole garlic cloves in an electric cooker. On Wednesday, H Mart in Englewood had long, slender Chinese eggplants on sale for 49 cents a pound. Unfortunately, you can't rely on every H Mart to have the same item on sale at the same time.

Fresh wild salmon with ripe peaches

Fresh wild salmon with sweet peach slices, tomato and capers.

Fresh wild salmon and ripe peaches are perfect together, so I added the fruit to a Mark Bittman recipe I've tried once or twice before.

His recipe calls for 1 pound of sliced tomatoes with extra-virgin olive oil, 2 tablespoons each of capers and chopped red onion and 1 and a half pounds of fish fillets, with chopped parsley and lemon wedges as garnish.

I added crushed Aleppo pepper, fresh lime juice and chopped herbs from the garden. 

But this time, I skipped the herbs and added sweet slices of California peaches sprinkled with the mildly spicy pepper.

The wild sockeye salmon was $8.99 a pound at Costco Wholesale on Saturday.

Red onion, lime, tomato and California peach slices.

The fish and peach slices are ready for the oven.

I used a 400-degree roast/convection oven setting, and the thinner-than-usual fillets were cooked through in 12 to 14 minutes.

The dish is sweet, sour and mildly spicy all at the same time.

Unfortunately, the skin-on wild salmon fillets I bought at Costco Wholesale in Hackensack on Saturday were packed the day before, and they have tasted a little fishy.

This is the first time in years of buying fresh haddock, flounder, wild salmon and other fish at Costco that I encountered this off taste.

Later, I removed the skin from three remaining portions of salmon and the fishy taste has gone away.

World's best salad

Half & Half combines Organic Spring Mix with Baby Spinach.

Earthbound Farm's Organic Spring Mix is the best-tasting salad in the world, but it's even better when it is paired with Baby Spinach. 

Half & Half, as it is called, was $4.99 for a 1-pound container at Costco Wholesale in Hackensack.

Cooking ahead

Seasoned vegetables for bibimbap from H Mart in Little Ferry.

I prepared 2 cups of organic brown rice in an electric cooker.

When I was working and single, I would devote Sunday evenings to cooking five meals -- that night's dinner and four others to take to my night job on the copy desk of a daily newspaper.

I had takeout or dined out on the other nights of the week.

I tried that this past Sunday, using an electric rice cooker to prepare a meatless version of the Korean comfort dish called bibimbap that I've been eating for breakfast and dinner this week.

I skipped the labor-intensive part of bibimbap by buying seasoned vegetables from the Little Ferry H Mart for $6.49.

When the brown rice was ready, I added the vegetables and chopped cabbage kimchi, as well as sesame oil and two or three tablespoons of gochujang, a red-pepper paste, and mixed up everything.

Bibimbap with two organic eggs make for a filling breakfast.

The night before, I prepared wild salmon with ripe peaches and a large bunch of baby mustard greens, so I've been eating all three this week.

I washed the cut-up baby mustard greens, blanched them for a few minutes in boiling water with the cover on, drained the pot and added a little soy sauce and sesame oil.

Seedless watermelons were $4.99 at H Mart on Sunday, a savings of $2.

'Health crisis' linked to animal antibiotics

ShopRite's brand of antibiotic-free chicken.

Consumer Reports has issued its strongest statement to date on the use of antibiotics to raise animals for human consumption.

The popular consumer magazine, which accepts no advertising, is calling on all grocers "to require their meat suppliers to reduce antibiotics in livestock production [on factory farms], and we urge shoppers to support those efforts by buying meat labeled 'no antibiotics' when they can."

On Page 6 of the August 2012 issue, Consumers Union -- the magazine's policy and action arm -- said it "believes that sharply limiting antibiotic use in animals is necessary to preserve the effectiveness of drugs for treating diseases in people."

"The declining effectiveness of antibiotics is becoming a national health crisis.

"A whopping 80 percent of the antibiotics in the U.S. are used not for human health but by the meat and poultry industry to make animals grow faster and to prevent sickness in crowded and unsanitary conditions."

For more information, go to a Consumers Union  Web site: Meat Without Drugs

You can usually find low-quality Perdue chicken --which is raised on plenty of harmful antibiotics -- at 40% off in ShopRite supermarkets.

Can Can sale

ShopRite supermarkets offer antibiotic-free Readington Farms poultry, as well as products from Coleman Organic, but it still runs fire sales on Perdue and other low-quality chicken raised on antibiotics, as it is doing now during the Summer Can Can Sale.

I prefer to buy seltzer and pasta sauce at Can Can prices.

I've now amassed 144 cans of Adirondack Lemon-Lime Seltzer, enough to last until the next Can Can Sale.

Packs of 12 12-ounce cans are $1.99 during the 10th anniversary sale, a discount of $1.80.

I also picked up six 24-ounce jars of Classico pasta sauce at two for $4: Tomato and Basil, Spicy Tomato and Basil, and Cabernet Marinara With Herbs.

Bottled pasta sauce is just a base, because we add a can of anchovies and oil, red-pepper flakes and dried Italian herbs.

Last night, we also added capers to the sauce from one and a half Classico bottles, and used it with 1 pound of Trader Joe's Organic Whole Wheat Spaghetti. 

 

H Mart

Baby mustard greens were only 68 cents a pound on Sunday at the Little Ferry H Mart.

Wash greens and blanch them in boiling water. Drain the pot, and add salt and other seasonings, and olive oil. For an Asian  flavor, try a little soy sauce and sesame oil.

For breakfast on Monday, leftover mustard greens went well with an open-face egg-white omelet of smoked wild Alaskan sockeye salmon and capers.

Mung-bean pancakes are among the many free weekend samples at H Mart stores.

Fish and greens for dinner tonight

 Image via Wikipedia

Fairway Market in Paramus has been advertising fresh whiting and porgy for only $2.99 a pound. But today, I found a special at H Mart, the Korean supermarket in Little Ferry: a pile of king whiting on ice at $1.79 a pound.


I bought four -- each about eight or nine inches long -- and had them cleaned with the head and tail on. Whiting is a wonderful, wild-caught fish that is on the menu of many soul food restaurants, where fillets are fried. It is also appreciated by Koreans, who, in flush times, used to receive small whiting among the free side dishes that accompany every meal.


My wife likes to bread them and fry them whole. The pearly, white flesh breaks away from the bone easily. But we also eat the skin and tail.


Before I selected the fish, I stopped at H Mart's Green Room, where a wide variety of Korean, Chinese and other greens chill on ice. I took advantage of another special: baby mustard greens at 69 cents a pound. I'll blanch the leaves and thick stems quickly in boiling water, then steam them with oil, soy sauce and fish sauce.

Friday is the start of  free-sample weekend at H Mart. I tried a spicy soup with thick noodles and fresh watermelon, but passed on the pork-and-vegetable dumplings.