It was our first trip of 2010 to Costco. Once again, there were a lot of people that must have been still recovering from all of their New Year’s partying because there still were not that many people there. However, I’m sure it will be back to normal this weekend because it’s no longer holiday time and the January Coupon Book is out. There are only three weekends to use the current round of coupons, so don’t procrastinate if there’s something you want to get.
EA Sports Active More Workouts
EA Sports Active More Workouts – Costco wants to help me get fit for 2010, so they had the follow up to the awesome EA Sports Active for $5.00 off. I love my EA Sports Active workouts on my Wii! The workouts are hard and well thought out, plus they give you some good feedback. You can also make your own workouts and keep track of your goals. In the follow up workouts they throw in some new exercises, more than 35 actually, including stretches to warm up and cool down as well as lots of new abdominal exercises. There are also some new strength building exercises using the resistance band. All in all, these are some great workouts that you can do at home when it is convenient for you and you don’t have to pay pricey class fees or gym membership fees. This new software, also comes with a book by Bob Greene (he was Oprah’s exercise physiologist) called Best Life Diet. Another thing that you can look forward to in the new software is a 6 week challenge, instead of the 30 day challenge in the original. So, there’s no excuse not to get fit now because you can do it right in your own home in like 40 minutes per day. $30.99 ($35.99 – $5.00 instant off). Item #: 486374.
Kirkland Signature Smoked Pulled Pork
Kirkland Signature Smoked Pulled Pork – This stuff is delicious, and much better than the old brand of pulled pork too (which I liked, just not this much). The KS pulled pork doesn’t seem as greasy, which is the best difference to me but it still has tons of delicious smoky pork goodness. Much the same as the previous stuff, the pulled pork is in a vacuum packed container that you just pop in the microwave for 7 minutes and it does the rest. It’s got a nice amount of juices that it cooks in, so it comes out moist and delicious, but not greasy. You get 2 pounds of meat in the container, and it really is a lot of meat. We made sandwiches and made just a small dent in it the first night. So, we had leftover to have for burritos for lunch the next day. We didn’t even feel the need to add any kind of barbecue sauce or anything else when we made the sandwiches because the meat is so super yummy all on its own. If you like pulled pork, you really have to check this out. 2 pounds for $9.59. Item #: 5148.
Porchetta Primata Petite Porchetta
Porchetta Primata Italian Petite Porchetta – I’ve been wanting to try this since Edward sent me his guest post about finding it at his Costco. This smells beyond delicious when it is cooking. But I think that is the Italian part of me that loves the smell of cooking garlic. The pancetta di porchetta is already cooked, so all you’re really doing is heating it up. But that still takes like 40 – 50 minutes at 425 (F) degrees, so it isn’t a quick meal. Of course, when it comes out the skin is all crackly hard and the meat is still mysteriously tender and nice. The one thing that neither Dave nor I liked was the really large amount of fat under the crunchy skin. And I know it is the belly of a pig and they’ve got some fat on them, but it was just a little too much for me. Of course, the crunchy skin was delicious and the meat was awesome. So, if you can get past the fatty fatty part, then you’ll enjoy this. For more about the Porchetta Primata products, check out their website. 2.04 pounds for $19.56; $9.59 per pound. Item #: 38967.
Spinach Salad with Poppyseed Dressing
Spinach Salad with Poppyseed Dressing – Dave and I buy the prepared salads from Costco quite often. Yes, I know we could probably make one cheaper. However, they have a lot of things in them and if I had to have it all sitting around it would probably go bad before I could make enough salads. Or, I’m just lazy sometimes. So, aside from spinach you get: hard boiled eggs, cherry tomatoes, mushrooms, bacon, red onion, shredded cheese. All of that goes together perfectly for a nice healthy salad with lots of flavor. We both really like the spinach salad, except for the dressing. The poppy seed dressing is the only thing that lets this salad down, in my opinion. It’s far too sweet for me and truly overpowers all of the other salad items. So, when we buy it, we always pitch the dressing and just use ranch or lemon juice instead. At least for me, the salad shouldn’t be all about the dressing; it needs to play well with others, not be the salad bully. The salads are big and can definitely be a whole meal on their own or with a nice piece of bread, which is exactly how we eat them. 1.82 pounds for $8.54; $4.69 per pound. Item #: 14370.
Leigh Oliver's Smoked Gouda Green Chile Spread
Leigh Oliver’s Smoked Gouda Green Chile Spread – Is there really any way to go wrong with cheese and green chiles? I don’t think so. Last year around this time, we tried the White Queso with Green Chiles from this same company, and just like that was beyond scrumptious, so is this. This is much thicker, so I don’t think you could use it as a sauce like we did with the queso. However, this stuff is awesome on crackers or crusty bread placed in the oven for a bit to get all soft and delicious. I also think this would be good on a hamburger or to make stuffed celery sticks, but we haven’t tried those out to verify. Aside from the smoked gouda, there is also some sharp cheddar cheese in the mix, as well as roasted red peppers and the green chiles. And it really is all natural; you can pronounce everything in it and know what it is too. 16 ounces for $6.39. Item #: 420496.
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Clue //
2010.01.09 at 3:26 pm
Please send that poppy seed dressing to me. I’ll pay postage!
If I could buy that stuff separately, my Costco life would be perfect.
2
RickieM //
2010.01.09 at 4:24 pm
I read about the new pulled pork in the Costco Connection and after reading your glowing review I eagerly anticipated buying some on my weekly Costco run today… and, they didn’t have it!!! I asked the woman stocking the food items if it was in and she said no, that particular store (Azusa, CA) hadn’t gotten any shipment yet. Sooooo disappointing!!!
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Emily //
2010.01.09 at 8:54 pm
Have you seen in the frozen section the 1 pound packaged rolls of Kirkland ground beef? I saw them for the first time today, very cool!
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Whitney //
2010.01.10 at 11:57 am
Have you done a post on KS coffee? I usually love all of the KS products, but have yet to find a KS coffee that is good. It usually tastes burnt. Maybe because they use the same roaster as Starbucks?
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RickieM //
2010.01.10 at 11:28 pm
My wife and I went to Costco for a cheap lunch today and lo and behold, they had the pulled pork! We tried it tonight. It is yummy, just like how you described. It needs no additional sauce or seasoning and although my wife said it has too much fat, for pulled pork it really doesn’t. Plus after you microwave it, you can drain off a lot of it. I thought it was at least as good as any pulled pork I’ve had at a restaurant.
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Kimberly //
2010.01.11 at 11:25 am
Whitney, I haven’t posted about any of the KS coffee because I don’t drink coffee, so I’ve never tried it. Sorry, I can’t help you out on this one, maybe surely there’s a Costco shopping coffee drinker on here who could share their take on KS coffee.
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Kimberly //
2010.01.11 at 11:26 am
Emily, at our location they’ve had the rolls of ground beef for a while now, since the summer at least. It’s a really great idea, huh?
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Kimberly //
2010.01.11 at 11:28 am
Clue, I would gladly send you the poppy seed dressing. But I’m not sure it’s up to mail travel. And those little plasticy containers sure aren’t.
Maybe you should put in a suggestion that they sell the dressing. They used to sell a poppy seed dressing, in bottles and not the KS brand, but I haven’t seen that in a while.
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KevinK //
2010.01.15 at 4:41 pm
1. I agree that the KS coffee for the most part is awful tasting. My favorite there is the Papa Nicholas if your store carries it
2. The new KS pulled pork is indeed very good. I had an odd experience with it though. It wasn’t pulled! It says in 4-5 places on the packaging that it is pulled pork, but I received it as a solid block of pork that needed pulling by ME! Who would have though that putting the term “hand-pulled” on the package meant that I had to hand-pull it. I will buy it again either way, just a little miffed.
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Kimberly //
2010.01.15 at 4:48 pm
We had a few really big hunks in the pulled pork too. It looked like it had been pulled apart somewhat but wasn’t done completely, so there were pieces that were kind of still stuck together and kind of pulled. If that makes any sense. But it was still soooo good, we’ll definitely be buying more.
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Jane //
2010.01.19 at 1:20 pm
Has anyone had an issue with the Charleston Media Console? I bought it recently and it was missing shelves and other accs.
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Karen DelGrosso //
2010.02.08 at 1:13 pm
About the Kirkland Pulled Pork, we also read about it in the Costco Connection, they didn’t have it untill just this last week in Las Vegas, Nv…..I have never in my life had pulled pork that wasn’t pulled but in a compressed chunky state & it tastes like HAM, greasy ham at that….Pulled pork is supposed to be slow roasted pork shoulder in a 225 degree oven or smoker for 12 or so hrs. then pulled apart…it tastes like roasted pork not ham. This product is the first one I have ever thought about returning…..
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Don //
2010.04.15 at 1:33 pm
We just tried the pulled pork and agree that it’s more like pulled ham and not that good. Our package had a couple of BIG chunks in it too, which got somewhat crispy when cooked.
Certainly not anywhere as good as the Austin Blues pulled pork they used to carry. Too bad that it’s going to be a snowball’s chance to see Kirkland’s competition in stores again.
We were sorely disappointed.
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Kimberly //
2010.04.16 at 4:39 am
I really liked the KS pulled pork because it wasn’t as greasy as the Austin Blues stuff. But that’s a personal preference, I guess. For me it had a nice smoky flavor and wasn’t greasy, which made it great on sandwiches.
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Vivian Dimitriou //
2010.04.19 at 6:23 pm
Writing regarding the original pulled pork – Austin Blues we loved this one which is very similar to pulled pork served in Va. and the Carolinas – the KS pulled pork is very very smokey – why not carry both brands to satisfy everyone.
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Eric //
2010.05.07 at 10:02 am
This is NOT smoked pulled pork. It is HAM. We couldn’t eat more than a few bites and we packed it back up. We are going to bring this back for a refund. Costco should not carry this item, as it is borderline fraud to sell ham in a package labeled ’smoked pulled pork’. We will NOT be adventuring into any other Kirkland brand items as this item sucks beyond belief.
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DJ //
2010.05.30 at 6:02 pm
I tried the pulled pork and found it tasty and delicious. I’ve added some Texas Pit bbq sauce and had it on sandwiches or just warmed it up served in tortillas with some salsa on the side.
Yes, it’s a bit hammy, but that’s the way pulled pork is served in Texas bbq joints.
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Eric //
2010.05.30 at 6:20 pm
If that’s the way pulled pork is served in Texas, better order the brisket instead.
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Brian //
2010.06.14 at 1:20 pm
The smoked pulled pork should be called pulled ham. It was not what we were expecting, very disappointing.
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Kara //
2010.07.27 at 3:02 pm
Yes, the pulled pork tastes like HAM. I was hoping for a nice smokie taste and a shreaded texture. I open the box and theres this vac pak of meat in there. I didn’t want to heat the whole thing at once, so I took it out of the bag , used a big knife and cut off a hunk and put that in the microwave. It took some effort to get it to shread, but there were some big soild hunks in there. With BBQ sauce, it wasn’t bad, but NOT what I expected. its pretty salty tasting…I may just bring it back. Taste for yourself…we can always bring it back!
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Eric //
2010.07.27 at 3:21 pm
Whether the KS “Pulled Pork” is good or not is debatable. But is is NOT PULLED PORK. It is (partially pulled) HAM! KS and Costco are dishonest marketers and should be ashamed. This latest case of Costco’s arrogance and dishonesty will likely be the last straw that makes us cancel our membership at the next renewal.