Costco Product Reviews

Don't get  me wrong, I love Costco.

I honestly believe Costco is the best store in history, period.

But, I am here to be realistic.

Costco cannot beat all retail stores and their super sales.  Sometimes some other stores will have better deals than Costco.  So, it's up to us consumers to keep our eyes open and maximize buying power.

Here is one example

Costco sells 35L trash can by Simplehuman.  It also comes with a bonus "mini" trash can.  Costco's price is $79.99

Below is the trash can I bought a few months ago from Bed Bath and Beyond. 

I bought a 30L trash can by Simplehuman, it came with a bonus "mini" trash can.  Retail price was $39.99.  With 20% coupon, my final price was $31.99. (Remember. Bed Bath & Beyond takes expired coupons, so keep collecting those coupons.)

If you are a coffee drinker like me, do NOT get Dunkin Donuts coffee from Costco.

It tastes bad. It's dry and bitter.
I can't use it.
I can't give it to anyone (it would be insulting).

Maybe it goes well with donuts.  I don't know...

Have a nice day~!

Latest Coffee Inventory - May, 2010

In this month's Costco coupon book, there is a coupon for towels.  I thought that was interesting.  I don't remember the last time I saw a coupon for towels.  Costco towels are very good value.  I can vouch for that, because I've been checking on towels for over a year.

On thanksgiving 2008, I bought a bunch of towels (picture below, related blog).  I still use those towels. These towels were made by "Grandeur".  I paid around $8.00 each.  As you can see, towels have sophisticated color (wasabi green).  And they feel amazing.  Since then, I've been checking prices on towels whenever I go to Linens and Things.  Towels of these quality will easily cost you $25+.

Sometime last year, Costco switched the brand to "Charisma".  The new towels now have inferior texture and somewhat "Cheap" looking color.  (picture at bottom).  They are definitely good value.  But, I like the older brand "Grandeur" much, much better.  Actually, I was very disappointed that Grandeur towels were no longer available.

Anyway, I thought it was interesting that Costco is now carrying inferior towels (still very good), and offer discount on top of it.

After Thanksgiving shopping 2008 - Older brand "Grandeur" Shown

New Towels by Charisma.

When it doubt, buy it. Costco will not over-charge you.

Case in study: Food Wrap by Kirkland Signature - $8.99 (double pack)

At first glance, you might think $9 for 2 rolls of food wraps is not much of a bargain. But take a look at this.

If you are lucky, you can buy a roll of food wrap for $.99 (from a 99 Cents only store). This roll contains a 100 SQ. FT. of inferior quality plastic wrap.

With Kirkland Signature's Food Wrap (double pack), you get 1500 SQ. FT of high quality plastic wrap. That's 166 SQ. FT per a Dollar.

So, with same amount of money, you get 66% more of high quality product.

But, that's not all
Think about helping environment.
In order to get 1500 SQ. FT. of plastic wrap, you need to buy 15 of $.99 rolls. With Costco's double pack, you are saving raw material to package 13 rolls.

Everyone wins with Costco.

So, when in doubt? Buy it.

Happy shopping.

** One problem with Costco's plastic wrap is that it will take extremely long time for me to finish up 2 rolls of these. It took me 2 years to finish 100 SQ. FT. roll. So, mathematically, it will take me 30 years to finish these up. I will be in my 70's when I'm done with these. My plastic wrap can out live me. Haha..

I guess some people use a lot of plastic wrap. I don't. I always try to use containers with tops instead of putting a wrap over the food. I try not to use plastic wrap as much as possible. They cost money.

I never buy blank DVD's from Costco.  Blank DVD's at Costco don't have good price.  Costco sells spindles of 100 blank Sony DVDs at $29.49 each. I can easily find the exact same Sony DVD's for $23.00.

This time Costco had "Buy one, get one free" coupon on these Sony DVD's.

So, they come out under $15.00 each spindle (100 pack).  Now that's a pretty good price on blank DVD's.

PS. I forgot to use this coupon the other day.  I dropped by today when I was on my way to meet somebody. 

I have a BS degree in computer.  But I don't know the difference between -R and +R.  They all work for me  But I always mix -R's & +R's just in case.

If you never tried Costco's Prepaid Phone Card, you MUST read this.  This can save you a lot of money.

With Costco prepaid phone card, you pay less than $0.03 per a minute for long distant phone calls, period.

My total long distant telephone expense is about $20.00 a year.  One phone card with 700 minutes lasts about 1 year.  I don't use phone too much.  I also have a prepaid cellular phone which I pay $5.00/m.  I will tell you about that later.

I don't have a long distant carrier for my home phone.  My long distant carrier's been cut off for many years now.  I have 800 access number and the pin number in my speed dial.  I just "click" "click" and I'm connected to verizon at less than 2.9 Cents a minute.

Costco used to have phone cards from MCI.  That's when I first purchased Costco's Prepaid Phone Card.  Now they are from Verizon, with the same low rate.

I try to eat healthy.  So, instead of candy, I try to eat Fruit & Nut Medley by Kirkland Signature. 

Fruit and Nut Medley comes in a 56oz bag for $12.28

It contains following food items.

• Peanuts
• Almonds
• Walnuts
• Apples
• Kiwi
• Mangoes
• Papaya
• Pineapples
• Strawberries
• Bananas
• Cherries
• Golden Raisins

It's Kirkland Signature (good quality food) I enjoy them too much.

Costco carries 2 pancake mixes.

• Coach's Oats - MultiGrain Pancake Mix
  4 pound - $7.79     $1.95 per pound
  Fancy grains, need to mix egg & water.
• Krusteaz - Buttermilk
  10 pound - $5.49    $0.55 per pound
  Regular mix (still very good) - just add water.
• Syrup used - Kirkland Signature Maple Syrup - $19.79

2 pancake mixes from Costco

I didn't know which pancake mix to purchase, so I got them both.  But, clearly, I had a higher expectation on the expensive yet smaller pancake mix by Coach's Oats.  Per pound, the Multi Grain Pancake Mix was 4 times more expensive than Buttermilk.

Krusteaz Buttermilk (cheaper, bigger one) has a classic pancake house taste.  This is a solid, good pancake.  You will not miss out on anything.

Coach's Multigrain Pancake mix is different.  You may find this too fancy for your taste.  I can tell this pancake mix is high class with a lot of grain.  It's grainy and breaks down easily.  This doesn't have that classic taste.  It's a very good pancake mix.  It's richer and fancier compared to  Buttermilk.  But if you are craving for that classic pancake-house taste, this is not for you. 

Costco tote bags are must have item.  If you don't own them, you are missing out.  I mean, you are missing out big time.

They sell three bags for less than $5.00.  It's roughly $1.50/bag.

At first, I thought Costco's tote bags were supposed to be free for the members.  But if you really think about it $1.50 for a bag is a steal.

Costco Tote-Bag. Simple design with hand straps and shoulder straps

Refer to above image.  Those three bags contain following items (carrots (10lb), potato (10lb), large watermelon, lemon (5lb), beef jerky (x2), cereal, bread (x2), shampoo, vitamins (x2), yogurt (18pk), tuna (16pk)

With Costco tote bags, a fit person can carry all those items in one trip (I did).  Try doing this with any other shopping bags or boxes from Costco.  It's impossible to carry all that with conventional methods.  It's well worth of investing a few Dollars on these bags.  If you live in an apartment this is a must.

I bring these bags to Costco when I shop, so the cashiers would put items in the bag.

Show this bag to your family and friends, I guarantee they would like to have some too.  I've already given them out.  I had to buy some more.
Below is why I like Costco tote bags.