Post Punk Kitchen Forum

I can't find a good thread on Costco, so I thought I'd start one because mine now carries giant loves of Field Roast.

Please include your location where you find vegan awesomes, maybe we can get a sense of how far distribution goes.



At my Costco (San Diego), recent awesomeness includes:
- Field Roast Sausage 12-pack (3 flavors)
- Field Roast holiday loaf, 3lb (HUGE)
- Gardein crumbles


Epic FAILURE:
- the tofu is great, but the blocks are funny-sized and shaped and the 2x19oz container format is kind of weird
- All the hummi but cilantro-jalapeno have milk in them.

What the what?!

We have good hummus and tabbouleh. And Hannah Anderson baby clothes.

WHAT. I had no idea they might carry field roast. Okay, I'm going.

I've never had a costco nearby until recently, so I'm curious if it's worth checking out and I'll be watching this thread. They let you in if you don't have a membership, right?

WIN: Vegan Boca Burgers. 16 count, the large patties $9.99 when I got them last, but the site now shows $11.62. Still a a good deal.

WIN: Dried mushrooms. Think it was $20 for a GIANT container, and I split them with some coworkers a couple of years ago.

FAIL: hummus has dairy. ugh. My family keeps trying to get me to eat it. "but it's from Costco!"

I don't have a membership, so I rarely go, but I will have to have someone take me soon so I can check out the field roast stuff!

Oooh yes, LOVE the mushroom tub. And I forgot about the Boca Burgers - I like the refrigerated vegan burgers a bit better but can't remember the brand. Right now those are off the shelves as the field roast has taken their place.

More vegan goodness:
- Amy's soups (Lentil AND Lentil Vegetable! It's like a cornucopia of flavors ;) )
- the giant bag of frozen broccoli and various bags of frozen fruit, some organic. Since getting the Vitamix we're total smoothie fiends, and since I learned to roast frozen broc and have it actually be good (thanks to someone who had that tip here), it's so easy to throw in a pan of oiled, seasoned broccoli with whatever I'm making in the oven.
- the produce seems fairly high quality, though it took me a while to discover the giant cold room
- Liberty Orchards (of aplet & cotlet fame) variety pack in the candies
- big thing o' guac
- Soymilk!! Both the shelf stable kind and the Silk 3-packs, they also have Silk Almond or Coconut (can't remember which maybe both?)
- the ready to nuke quinoa-rice things from seeds of change. Expensive but great in a pinch
- 2-packs of agave syrup
- giant bag o' quinoa

Apparently some Costcos have the giant tub of EB, mine doesn't.

For those of you thinking about it, I would check out what your Costco has first - sometimes they send things for trial memberships in the mail, or you could tag along with a member friend.

WIN: Kirkland no stir peanut butter. It's the best textured peanut butter in the world

FAIL: Kirkland no stir peanut butter with salmonella

(N.CA) Huge boxes of Annie's fruit bunny snacks, bags of mini Luna Bars, Amy's soups, Boca Burgers (though I do not buy 'em), vegan/eco laundry detergent, Giovanni hair care...

Jealous of the CA Costcos.

In Chicagoland:
Win: quinoa, chia seeds, almond butter/PB butter

Meh: they have soymilk, but only vanilla flavored

Wish they had fieldroasts and tofu, have to double check the hummus, I didn't even think to check it for dairy

the one near me isn't that great, went with my uncle the other day and just got 2 giant bags of quinoa (which is an amazing deal), case of organic canned tomatoes, case of Goya chickpeas, giant bag of baking soada and giant jug of white vinegar.

I always turn my nose up at the soymilk as they don't have unsweetened, and I only like to get that as it's good for savory cooking as well as cereal/coffee.

Giant tub of organic Earth Balance
unbleached recycled tp
Ecos laundry detergent
Nordic Ware Bunt pans with cake holder and lid for $20!

I have to go back and check to see if they have any of that Field Roast stuff!

The Seattle one was great - had Field Roast sausages and the quinoa rice blend that I loved. The one here in Denver is meh. Has bulk vanilla almond milk but nothing else has jumped out at me.

i am jealous that other costcos have earth balance.

i mainly just buy produce

bought a 3 lb bag of cranberries ($5.49), 10 lb bag of grapefruit ($6.99), and a 10 lb bag of organic sugar ($8.99) today.

other things i get sometimes...
bagged avocados,
giant bag of garlic,
bags of frozen berries
pineapples,
1 lb box of OG baby spinach,
quinoa,
boca burgers,
giant bag of chocolate chips!,
3 lb container of dates (i get the cheap ones, but they have 2lb tubs of medjool too)
agave,
their brand of yellow tortilla chips (thick, very good, the white ones are thinner and way too salty),
giant bottle of vanilla extract (all other vanilla is now a rip off to me!),
their bagged cat food is pretty high quality,
i got a really warm down alternative comforter/throw thing for $15. got one for the outdoor cats too.
i really wish they had cocoa powder and coconut milk

i hate that they don;t have almond breeze anymore, only silk. and a long time ago they had giant tubs of smart balance that didn't have dairy in them. oh well..

i also went to earthfare which is next to costco..and compared the people in each store..a very large difference!

Jealous! My costco used to sell it, but not anymore. Boo!


My staples from there:
vanilla
sugar (10 lb organic)
20 lbs organic white flour (when I'm actually baking a lot)
snapea crisps (my toddler loves these)
baby kale
baby spinach
organic fuji or gala apples
organic raisins
frozen organic blueberries for smoothies

Mine did too for awhile, but I think enough people complained that they brought it back!

Good to know. I'll look closely next time I'm there and complain if it's not there then....

WIN: Giant bags of walnuts and almonds for about 50% less than anywhere else; Silver Hills bread @ 2 for $5.99
FAIL: no tofu or agave in the Edmonton one

Oh! Almond Butter - Maranatha is so much cheaper

And Quinoa.

I buy Maranatha almond butter there, and big bags of quinoa! I'm going to have to explore my Costco a bit further to see what else they have!

Whoa. Is this the Mission Valley one?

Pine nuts, almond butter, avocados, Boca burgers, clothes I don't need, books I don't need, dried mushrooms, Gardein tenders, massive cans of chickpeas, crushed tomatoes, tomato paste, vanilla, organic sugar, chocolate chips, pecans, almonds, walnuts, wine I don't need, unsweetened rice milk, vanilla soymilk, my favorite sandwich wraps, printer paper, agave, maple syrup, roasted red peppers, paper towels, toilet paper, San pellegrino

Basically, without Costco, my baking largess would be severely curtailed since I use the sugar, nuts, almond butter, agave, and maple syrup with abandon instead of counting the pennies.

Also, the pine nuts. I was so sad when they didn't have them for a long time. I used to take my endless supply of pine nuts for granted, but now I properly appreciate them!

Ours doesn't sell tofu, but the BJs does, so I've been stocking up while we have a 90 day free pass.

I love Costco. But the random stuff gets me every time. I never go alone because I need my mom or somebody to point out the ridiculousness of some potential purchases, especially in produce. I have some nice clothes though--recently a few nice and pretty cheap sweaters that are perfect for work. And cheap Calvin Klein jeans that are guaranteed to always fit me.

I love the red pepper almond hummus thing in one of Dreena's books. Without Costco, the peppers and almonds would get pretty pricey.

Honestly though, I just love wandering around and finding random stuff to ogle, plus they usually have a few vegan samples. Customer service is great.

Win: Lots of produce, vegan knish, Sabra hummus and tabbouleh and other middle eastern salads, pickles, big jugs of carrot juice, agave nectar

Lose: Faux meat section hugely dominated by Morningstar Farms.

Draw: Only vegan faux meat is Boca burgers. I hate Boca burgers. They carry soy milk and almond milk, but not the brands/flavors I like.

In theory I like Kirkland body care products, but I don't actually buy them.

Wins: quinoa, canned tomato products, canned beans, spices, vanilla, olive oil, hummus, guac, agave, peanut butter, oatmeal, pine nuts, walnuts, big boxes of Stella Artois and Corona beers (both vegan!), Amy's soups, produce, maple syrup, Stacy's pita chips, soy sauce, spaghetti sauce, Pam, Ecos detergent, eco-friendly disposable plates/cutlery, medjool dates, fresh edamame, and my Vitamix!!

Let downs: only veg meat is Boca, which I dislike; no tofu and no EB. The only refried and baked beans they sell contain meat. You'd think SF Bay Costcos would be more veg-friendly, but noooo! The aseptic boxes of soy milk always have goopy solids at the bottom.

The other let down -- I can't deal with how crazy Costcos are so don't go often enough to take advantage of the deals on produce. Usually I will just send my husband every few months to pick up non-perishables.

Apparently Lyfe (a vegan-friendly restaurant in Palo Alto) has some of their soups at Northern CA Costcos but I haven't seen them (as of the last time I went, in July). There's also a local company that is supposed to be supplying tofu and yuba but I haven't seen that either. Where do they keep the tofu at other Costcos??

Annak- If you don't mind my asking, which Costco do you go to? I live in North County San Diego, but didn't see any field roast in mine. I would be willing to drive a bit to find it though.

Costcos on the peninsula (Mtn View in the past, as well as Redwood City and Foster City more recently) carry some Hodo Soy Beanery tofu products, as well as 4-pks of House Foods firm tofu, 19 oz per pack. I've seen Hodo Soy five spice tofu before, spicy yuba strips, and the 3pk of extra firm tofu. They keep it in the open tall refrigerated cases next to the prepared seaweed salads, steamed buns, etc. It's usually in a different case from the dips/hummus/salsa.

We've got some of the good stuff you've mentioned over here in ID, but no Gardein or Field Roast. Yet.

And don't forget, possibly the cheapest lint rollers on the planet! 10 bucks for 4 big rollers...heck yeah! I go through a shiitake ton of them at my house...Costco is by far the cheapest source I've found for them.