Costco Member-Only Savings, October 27, 2021 – November 21, 2021.
Savings are available only to current Costco members.
I have absolutely nothing to buy from this savings book.
I am a calendar person. A calendar on the wall says who you are. Even if you have a free calendar from your dentist, that calendar will say something about you. The calendar can be a part of the furniture that adds an extra attitude to your house. A calendar can make a big statement about you. Imagine visiting your boss’s house and there is a Mother Teresa calendar on the wall. But what if it was a porn actress calendar instead? Looking at the calendar pictures every day can affect your soul. Some people hang pictures of Jesus Christ or Malcolm-X for a similar reason.
I need a new calendar in the kitchen every year. I find it functional to have it in that corner (picture below). So, I buy a calendar every year for that spot. That corner of the kitchen is too empty to begin with. It’s begging for a calendar.
I also have a calendar in the living room, but I don’t need a calendar to check dates. So, I hang an old calendar I bought at Costco (Nov 2013). I like that calendar so much that I still use it after several years. I flip the calendar every month, but it’s always 2014. I don’t need a new calendar there.
Now is the time to shop for calendars. Good calendars will sell out fast. And, if they sell out, I doubt they will reprint calendars in December and January. Costco had some beautiful Lang calendars in the past. Costco may stock calendars around October and November, or maybe not. It’s hard to tell, especially because of the pandemic.
Kirkland Signature Beef Dinner Franks.
These are the Costco hotdog weiners you get from the food court.
I am doing well. I am super busy for the next 2 weeks. I have taken a personal job (side hustle) that I am working every waking moment (working 2 jobs). Then we will get into the busy holiday season.
I will make time for the blog, but I may be slow. I am well. I will keep in touch.
22nd Costco Shopping in 2021 – $149.86 / $2,512.66 this year
Costo hasn’t brought back the onion crank at the food court yet. So, tonight I brought my own chopped onion to Costco. The hot dog was brilliant.
Since this blog, I heard they brought back the onion cranks.
There was no full-scale Christmas display at Costco. This is highly unusual in October. I only saw some Christmas items, but not even close to what we normally see. Also, Kirkland Signature shampoos weren’t there. In fact, Costco took down their shampoo from the website.
I picked up a bag of salted peanuts by mistake when I wanted an unsalted one. Salted peanuts are tasty, but I don’t want too much salt in my body. This bag of peanuts had an expiration date of March 2022. I wonder if they will be good for that long (6 months from now).
This will sound condescending, but…
When I lived in a government-subsidized apartment, there were a lot of kids in the neighborhood, but I had zero trick-or-treaters in 8 years. They all went to rich neighborhoods for better candies. Then, I moved to an above-average neighborhood.
Now, on every Halloween, my street gets packed with strange cars and SUVs, each car carrying several kids from the poor side of the town. I get 60 to 120 kids every year. The number is unpredictable.
That’s why I bought 2 kinds of chocolates at Costco. I will hand out small chocolates to the trick-or-treaters. But, when I see my neighbors’ kids. I will let them pick a full-sized bar of chocolate from the box of Hershey’s. I feel bad doing this, for I am from the poor side of the town. But, what can I do?
* Hershey’s full-size chocolates were on sale ($5 off).
Vacuum, Freeze, Enjoy (#vacuumfreezeenjoy)
I bought Kirkland Signature Brats (Bratwurst) on June 9, 2021. I paid the regular price of $8.49 for 14 links (2 packages of 7 each). I vacuum-packed and froze them for long-term storage. It took me 3 months to finish all 14 links by myself. And I can tell you that these sausages are a delight. I like them, and I will buy them again.
I made gumbo with these brats. In that gumbo, I also put in an equal amount of Costco chicken breast meat. I don’t live in the South, so I don’t know how the homemade gumbo should look and taste like. I blindly followed the generic recipe, and I enjoyed my gumbo a lot. It was very good. But people from the South may look at the picture of my Gumbo and say, “What the heck is this?”. What can I say… that would be my imaginary gumbo that came to life. 🙂 I also made the collard greens from scratch (picture).
I also fried some brats in a frying pan. For these, I put olive oil and several basic seasonings (no salt). I put it on low heat with the cover on. I purposely didn’t follow the cooking instruction on the package. While cooking, I turned over the brats only once, so my pictures would come out pretty. Don’t worry, I cooked them all the way through. I am not that clueless.
Below are the official care and cooking instructions from the bottom of the package. The instruction is there for people who never cooked before. You may ignore it if you know what you’re doing.
Costco doesn’t have Combination Pizza anymore. The last time I enjoyed a slice of combo pizza was right before the pandemic (Feb 19, 2020). The following year was a blur. I guess the food court was shut down(?). I don’t remember. I didn’t go to Costco because people were yelling and freaking out at Costco.
When we came to our senses, we realized that there was no more combination pizza.
Currently, there is a petition to bring back combination pizza. They want 7500 digital signatures and they will meet that number. But, I believe the combination pizza will come back regardless, but when they are ready. I have a theory.
Costco’s combo pizza disappeared because of the pandemic. If there was no pandemic, Costco will not abandon our beloved combination pizza. I believe it because Costco took away the onion dispensers in the food court. It can be a safety-related reason or a supply-chain-related issue. Whatever the reason is, the onion dispensers are gone because of the pandemic.
Now – to make a combination pizza, they need various chopped vegetables, including the onion.
I believe there is an onion connection. I don’t know what’s going on, but at this moment, the pandemic and the onions don’t mix in the Costco food court.
I believe the combination pizza will come back when the onion dispensers are back in the food court. You must believe.
My God, I need to get a life.
Talk to you later.
21st Costco Shopping in 2021 – $38.46 / $2,362.80 this year
I didn’t see many Christmas items at Costco. It’s almost October, and it is highly unusual not to see the full-on Christmas display at Costco. But we live in an unusual time. I saw some Christmas items, but not a lot.
Not only that, they still didn’t have Kirkland Signature shampoo. They had conditioners, but there was no shampoo. I guess this has something to do with the pandemic and supply. I hope there is no global shortage of shampoo.
The peanut season is back. Last year, we had peanuts from Hampton Farms. This year Costco is carrying Sachs peanuts. In my experience, peanuts are good between October and November. These peanuts are good. Also, my favorite cookies are back for the season.
That’s about it. Today’s Costco shopping was not as productive. I shall come back in a few weeks.
