——-01/08/2011——-
You would think with the amount of times I have been to Costco that I would be a member by now but no- I have been the ‘Kramer leeching neighbour’ of all my friends and slyly sneaking in with them.
It is definitely a shopping experience and a half. I think everyone should go at least once and making up their own mind if it is for them or not (you just need a friend with a membership!). For me- the sheer size, variety of food, seafood, pizza sizes, KitchenAid branded items was enough to make me squeal.
Some things are a bargain and some things are just as much if not more than your local supermarket. You just have to know roughly what things usually cost and do a mini price comparison in your head, but you also have to be realistic about how much you’ll actually use and if you have the storage/freezer space. Luckily for me as a baker, I do have enough space to store 120m of baking paper, would go through 1.5kg sticks of butter and use 1-2kg of cream cheese no problem!
Another plus (besides having baking staples in bulk) is the free food samples! Two out of the three times I have found myself snacking on free food even though I wasn’t that hungry.
So far I have tasted:
*New York cut steak (twice, the guy most have seen the bliss on my face and said I should have another)
*lasagna *american cheese
*cream puffs *parmesan cheese
*organic juice *Bulgogi –korean beef
*spicy fried calamari
All delicious mind you!
My first bill was around $300? Which was very surprising as my partner said we didn’t need a trolley as we were only “looking” but my membership friend insisted we take one as it adds to the Costco experience (just think the double stroller version of a normal shopping trolley). All the better to fill with items (you may or may not need) my dear!
What filled my trolley on an unplanned trip I hear you ask? Slabs of Dr. Pepper and red bull, pringles (which afterwards I decided it wasn’t that much of a bargain, I was just caught up in the moment), large jar of minced garlic for my lazy days, KitchenAid grater accessories, ‘Jamie Oliver’s 30 minute meals’ book, almond and cashew roca in a large bag (now THAT is a bargain if you don’t mind the packaging), buffalo wings for lunch and the smallest bottle of ranch (1.4L) I could find to have with it.
Aisles of candy, chocolate and chips.
Super sized sticks of butter!
If the wheel size of a normal cheese from the supermarket is the baby, then these cheese wheels are the Mumma!
Not that you can tell in this photo but these pie sizes are HUGE! Almost as big as their pizzas!
The ‘smallest’ ranch I could find to accompany my buffalo wings!
No kissing after consuming a 1kg of this!
Not your average sized grater.
Maybe when the membership lines die down a little and I think I can control myself around free food samples, I’ll consider joining, but for now I am just happy to go whenever my friends take me (if they’ll have me ).
Venue: Costco
Address: 39-41 Mustang Ave, Majura Park, Canberra Airport 2609
Opening hours: Mon – Fri 10:00am – 8:30pm
Sat 9:30am – 6:30pm
Sun 10:00am – 5:00pm
Membership fee (annual): $60
TALES OF A CONFECTIONIST 