costco organics...

[ohiomommy1122]

so we just got a costco membership and woW they have lots of organic foods very cheep YAY

What do you guys love at costco?

[Keeta]

[anomaly13]

we buy a LOT at costco.

organics include:
carrots
mixed baby greens
peanut butter
butter
eggs
silk vanilla soymilk
canned tomatoes- diced, paste, whole peeled
quinoa
frozen veggies- peas, corn
frozen fruit- blueberries, tropical mix, strawberries
Fresh fruit and veggies as needed and depending on the deal, both organic and non organic

non organics:
raw nuts- almonds, walnuts, pecans
almond butter
pastachios
roasted salted mixed nuts
trail mix
fruit leather
peanut butter filled pretzels
snacks of all kinds
dried fruit- mangos, prunes, crasins, rasins, dates, apricots
ww bread
bagels
nathan's pickles
beef jerkey
honey
maple syrup
olive oil
rolled oats
popcorn
vanilla
vinegar
baking soda
toilet paper
laundry detergent
dish soap
sponges
tooth brush heads
calling cards, best rate!
blank cds/dvds

I try and stay away from most of the packaged items like ceral, cookies, crackers, snacks, candy etc. but always end up with one or two things of that nature for dh.

Any time I need something for our house, not food, I always look at costco first because of their return policy. I have returned a lot of things to costco with no questions asked; including a tv, dehumidifier that was all beat up, washer, shower head, paper shreder, tons of tools, and much more I am sure. The only question I ever got was when I returned a 3 year old tv with all the buttons missing on the remote, my son bit some of them off so I threw them all out and she just laughed. I also check online as they have so much more and will even refund shipping charges if you decided to return it to the store. I am about to buy a ATV cover online today! I love Costco!

[mistymama]

I really like their organic fresh (and frozen) fruits and veggies! Don't buy as many now that we belong to a CSA, but I still supplement with them.

Eggs, milk & brown rice are other staples. Occasionally ours will have wild alaskan salmon and I will buy that as well.

[Miasmamma]

We buy lots! Enough that we upgraded to the executive membership! I love their fruits and veggies. I almost bought some oranges today, but it's not quite the season for them. We bought 13 pounds of them every week last winter!!!

[mamakah]

Beans
olive oil
pasta
canned tomatoes
Quinoa (sp?)
Rice
eggs
bread
artichokes
grapes (not organic )
Gardenburger brand gardenburgers
Guilty pleasure:
their choc chunk cookies. I don't even like cookies but dp and I will inhale these in a week. I only buy them every *other* time I go to costco. (so every other month.)
Oh! and spices!!!!! Their spice prices are great!
When we are short on cash i buy their cheese. Its not organic, but you can get a lot of shredded cheese for about 10.00
Flowers!
Trail mix

[Tee25]

Wow this sounds great compared to Sam's Club! I guess the only organic things I've seen at Sam's are yogurt, lettuce and eggs. Our Costco here would be about a 25 min drive away compared to a 10 min drive with Sam's...my membership is up next month and this thread now has me reconsidering and going with Costco.

Anyone ever switch from Sam's to Costco and is glad that they did?

[mamakah]

Originally Posted by Tee25

Wow this sounds great compared to Sam's Club! I guess the only organic things I've seen at Sam's are yogurt, lettuce and eggs. Our Costco here would be about a 25 min drive away compared to a 10 min drive with Sam's...my membership is up next month and this thread now has me reconsidering and going with Costco.

Anyone ever switch from Sam's to Costco and is glad that they did?

I've never been a member to Sams, but I think they are owned by Walmart...or have some connection to walmart, so I was not into joining. I just don't trust the company to deliver good wholesome and organic food to us. Just a thought. I haven't bee in a sams club so I don't have much to back that up.
I rarely buy meat at costco, but a friend of mine works in the meat department. He said Costco is the only place he would buy meat (aside from pastured grass fed off the farm). He said they never use questionable practices (such as dipping older meat in bleach to remove foul smell :Puke) like other grocery store chains he's worked in.
Also, I don't know about Sams club return policy, but costcos is the best. I have returned fruit that didn't taste good and a flat screen t.v. Another friend of mine that works in the tire department (wow, I just realized I have a lot of costco employees as friends!) said that people will buy a snow blower one year, use it all winter, then exchange it the next year for the newer model. no questions asked. Year after year.

[New_Natural_Mom]

Frozen veggies
brown rice
quinoa
butter
they stopped carrying our kefir
sour cream


tons more. we love costco. we are also members of sams (on my MILs plan so we don't pay for it.) sams does have some good stuff, but costco gets visits 3x as frequently

[Tee25]

That's disgusting about the meat...I never knew they did that...gross. Thanks, well, now I'm gonna check into Costo

[2cutiekitties]

Originally Posted by mamakah

I've never been a member to Sams, but I think they are owned by Walmart...or have some connection to walmart, so I was not into joining. I just don't trust the company to deliver good wholesome and organic food to us. Just a thought. I haven't bee in a sams club so I don't have much to back that up.

Yes, I read or saw something somewhere that WalMart gets organic stuff from China, and it isnt regulated. A lot of the organic companies from the US were complaining about it, because they were getting gipped following the rules and then in swoops Wally World with their super duper low prices and puts the US company out of business. Whats new right?

Originally Posted by mamakah

I rarely buy meat at costco, but a friend of mine works in the meat department. He said Costco is the only place he would buy meat (aside from pastured grass fed off the farm). He said they never use questionable practices (such as dipping older meat in bleach to remove foul smell :Puke) like other grocery store chains he's worked in.

I think I am a vegan now!!!!!!!!!!!

[bugginsmom]

One thing to watch is the country of origin on their frozen produce. We used to have a Costco membership, but dropped it because of the questionable nature of some of their organics. I remember the broccoli and green beans were from China. I know it doesn't matter to some people, but for us it was a deal breaker. Also, I am not sure where their milk comes from now, but they were involved in a class action suit two years ago for selling organic milk that was not organic. That was when we totally dropped our membership.

[EnviroBecca]

We love their organic corn chips. They taste good, the price is competitive with name-brand chips in the regular grocery, and they don't go stale too quickly (if we're careful about closing the bag) which is important because of course we don't eat chips constantly, only when we have chili! After reading in The Omnivore's Dilemma about the chemicals dumped on conventional corn, I want to avoid it as much as possible!

Costco also has eco-friendly dish and laundry detergents made from plants. I have tried a lot of brands of those, and theirs isn't the most fantastic ever, but it is completely adequate, and the price is great!

About Costco vs. Sam's, I have read that Costco is one of the best employers among retailers: good wages, good benefits, respectful treatment of employees. I know someone who works there and raves about it. Whereas Sam's+Walmart has a long history of terrible working conditions, lobbying against employee protection laws, and hiring illegal immigrants and then locking them in the building and calling the authorities on them. Also, I have relatives who often buy gifts for me at Sam's, and I've been very unimpressed with the quality.

[gcgirl]

Originally Posted by bugginsmom

One thing to watch is the country of origin on their frozen produce. We used to have a Costco membership, but dropped it because of the questionable nature of some of their organics. I remember the broccoli and green beans were from China. I know it doesn't matter to some people, but for us it was a deal breaker. Also, I am not sure where their milk comes from now, but they were involved in a class action suit two years ago for selling organic milk that was not organic. That was when we totally dropped our membership.

Yeah...this is something that bothers me too. Is it REALLY organic, what they sell at Costco? Or is it just phony FDA-approved organic, which isn't really?

[anomaly13]

Originally Posted by gcgirl

Yeah...this is something that bothers me too. Is it REALLY organic, what they sell at Costco? Or is it just phony FDA-approved organic, which isn't really?

Most of the stuff I get that is organic is FDA approved as well as approved by another organic certification group. The cone in my freezer right now is grown in the USA, FDA certified , and certified by the Washington Department of Agriculture. Also a lot of the organic products at costco, as well as at walmart I noticed when I looked awhile back out of curiosity, are the same ones I find at the coop or health food store or even the supermarket for like half the price.

On another note, after watching Food Inc. I realized something that I never thought of before, the guy who started Stoneyfield Farms talked about how having organic products at walmart, including his, is a victory in the sense that it takes another pesticide laden product with negitive environmental and health effect off the shelves and makes organic products avaliable to the masses at a price everyone can afford. I don't shop at walmart but it's nice to know that if money became really tight we could shop there and still get a lot of the same things we do now for a lot less, almost makes me want to go there now to save some money. Also the guys from walmart did say that the bottm line is making the customers happy while making $$ so if customers vote for organics then they will carry more and more of them.

[steffanie3]

I check where the organics are from too and the corn, green beans, and peas are all from Washington in my Costco, a couple hours drive from me and much closer than the ones they sell at the grocery store. They used to have organic asparagus from China in the frozen foods, but that was a long time ago. Some things vary Costco to Costco too. Most of the organics they carry are the large well known brands and some are the Kirkland brand (peanut butter).

[JustLooking_30]

resurrecting this old thread, but are the kirkland frozen strawberries/blueberries organic?? I stopped buying them the month I started TTC because I thought they were not!

[elmh23]

I'm pretty sure that they carry organic, but I'm not sure if the Kirkland ones are. When in doubt, go look at the bag. Organic is a hot word right now and anything that is has it very nicely displayed (usually pretty largely) on the bag.

[jeanine123]

Originally Posted by ohiomommy1122

so we just got a costco membership and woW they have lots of organic foods very cheep YAY

What do you guys love at costco?

The free range, organic chicken broth is awesome.

[steffanie3]

Originally Posted by JustLooking_30

resurrecting this old thread, but are the kirkland frozen strawberries/blueberries organic?? I stopped buying them the month I started TTC because I thought they were not!

The ones here are not, they will say if they are though, I agree probably in big letters.