In-store rebates are a great way to save a little money without the need for a coupon or filling out a rebate form and waiting 6 – 8 weeks to maybe get a check for $2.00.  Not to mention, it’s a perfect time to try a new product or stock up on something you love.  So, I thought I would share this great deal on Kikkoman’s Japanese Style Panko Bread Crumbs that is available to shoppers in 51 different Costco locations across Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, and Utah (see the PDF for the full store list).

Kikkoman Panko $1.00 off through June 23

Through June 23, 2013 you can save $1.00 off the already quite good price of $3.99 for a box of Kikkoman’s Japanese Style Panko Bread Crumbs.  The box you get at Costco for $2.99 (after the instant rebate) comes with two, one pound bags of panko inside.  And handily, the bags are resealable so you don’t have to worry about your lovely panko going stale while you work your way through them.  If you’re not familiar with panko bread crumbs, this is the perfect opportunity to try them out and once you give them a go, I don’t think you’ll want to go back to regular bread crumbs.  They give everything this incredibly crunchy texture and since they aren’t seasoned you can pair them up with anything from fish to chicken to pork made in any style you want from Italian to Japanese.

For those of you that are thinking, “what the heck is panko anyway?” here’s the answer.  Panko is made from special bread that has no crust (apparently, they bake it by passing an electric current through the bread according to Wikipedia).  The texture of this crustless bread is very light and airy and incredibly crispy.  This unique bread makes the perfect crumbs for fried foods because they resist absorbing oils or fats while frying, and thus you get a superior crunch with a lighter coating on your fried items.  I don’t only use panko for frying though, I basically have just replaced regular bread crumbs with them because they seem to work so much better to me.  They work quite well on fish and chicken to get a nice crunchy layer when pan frying or baking.  Since they are unseasoned, you can add whatever spice mix you like best too, which I really appreciate, because not everything I want a breaded coating on is going to end up as part of an Italian style dish.  I was looking through the recipe suggestions on Kikkkoman’s website and they have some uses for panko that I never would have thought of myself but sound pretty good.  Like, who would think of using these as a topping for something like coffee cake or apple crumble?   And next time I’m making French Toast, I’m definitely going to try adding some panko to see how well that works because the picture makes it look crunchy and delicious.

I don’t always know about great in-store deals or rebates like this, but when I do, I like to share them so that everyone can take advantage.  So if you know of one that you think I should share, let me know.