The key to an enjoyable Costco experience is the food samples. If the day’s sample selection is good, your life will be a joy and you will breeze through your shopping and not even notice the long checkout line or the lack of enough decent cardboard boxes to carry your stuff. However, a poor array of samples will transform your shopping mission into a miserable grim slog past the TVs, the electric toothbrushes and motor oil, the bread, the frozen soy burgers and dried fruit — even the roast chickens.
The food samples were very good today. There was salmon salad, the queen of Costco seafood salads. There was also a very nice seaweed salad with just the right amount of soybeans and a leitmotif of toasted sesame oil. Finally, the chicken sausages with cheddar and spinach were to die for. I managed to score three servings of each of these delicacies, quite respectable performance for a weekend afternoon. It was almost as good as the time they had pierogies and cheddar.
I think they inject the chickens with crack as I am completely addicted.
They definitely have the range on those roasted chickens.
Sam’s Club is also pretty OK, especially on a weekend, when the samples are out in force. We have actually bought much of our regular purchases, based upon the samples … notably Kountry Boy sausage. The pork and venison is to die for. I don’t know if the Sam’s outside the South carry it, although it is mighty good. On a good afternoon, one can make a nice lunch, grazing from the samples. http://www.kountryboys.com/
The very best, though – is from Granzins in New Braunfels. Sheer meaty heaven. http://www.granzinsmeatmarket.com/
You are welcome – I live to serve.
Jonathan – I view these samples the opposite of you. You get someone offering a cracker with something on it and the people just congregate and clog up the aisle-ways. Amazing the time and bother people will wait for for a little tidbit.
Not that I haven’t tried them from time to time ;-)
Reminds me of the excitement my dog displays when I give him a little tiny Greenies Pill Pocket.