Important (Read 1503 times)

Your story does very little to support your assertion that Costco is evil.

Out of curiousity though, have you ever figured out how much Costco actually saves you. 

ie  (Cost of stuff at store) - (Costco price) - (Costco membership costs) + *...* = PROFIT

where, *...* represents the personal satisfaction gained by purchasing something like mayonaise by the gallon.

I read somewhere that due to membership fees, those "club" stores (Costco, BJ's, Sam's Club, etc.) almost never save anyone money unless they have an excessive number of children.  You strike me as the kind of person who might have thought about this before and actually crunched the numbers.

 

Oh yes.

 

But they are a pain to clean afterwords.  I still have not found the best way to cook them that is not challenging to clean.  The crock pot and the cast iron dutch oven are both awesome for making them tho.  And super easy.

 farberware pot on the stove is not hard to clean afterwards, but you have to hang around to watch them cook. it's nearly as tedious as waiting in line at a costco-like super store.

MTA: ...but watching the oats does not take as long as waiting in those  lines!!

Yeah.  I like to set the oats a cookin' and then go do something else.  They don't need me to watch them.

 like letting the kids play without watching them

easy to do, tough to clean

 

You need to get some of those Reynolds Slow Cooker plastic liners.  We use the crock all the time now that the wife is back at work after maternity leave.  No cleanup at all when using the liners.

 now that sounds pretty cool.

but is it something that will eventually be exposed as a health risk? like asbestos toys were?

 

You need to get some of those Reynolds Slow Cooker plastic liners.  We use the crock all the time now that the wife is back at work after maternity leave.  No cleanup at all when using the liners.

I'd rather clean up than throw away excess plastic

A story.  My in laws moved to town a few years back.  I married their only daughter, so rather than retire to Miami, they came to Nashville.  Not too terribly long ago, they bought us a CostCo membership.  My wife loves it, and so therefore so must I.  Middle of last year, my wife went to CostCo and bought a crock pot.  I do most of the cooking in our home and we had no need for a crock pot.  Least of all one from CostCo.  But now I had one in my life, sitting on the counter right next to the 9-pack of underripe, overpackaged and rotting magoes, triple sized boxes of cereal and ginormous bags of tasteless raw veggies.  Well, I now use that CostCo crock pot 2-3 times per week.  It is awesome.  My wife was right.  I was wrong.  And every time I use it, and every time I relate this story, I get husband points.

 

 so tell me about cooking in the crockpot.  I'm not against them in principle, and I prepare and like a lot of the kind of food that ought to be good when cooked in a crockpot (soups, dried beans, braised things).  I've generally been dissatisfied with the food I make in the crockpot, though.  The beans are often mushy, the food doesn't taste that good. Spices lose their flavor, the veggies end up mushy and tasteless.  I don't even like steel cut oats in the crockpot -- too mushy.  THe only time I've used it for oats is when I host a post-run brunch -- it's nice to to put the oats in the crockpot and clear the stovetop for my husband to use for bacon and whole wheat pancakes.

Am I doing something wrong, crockpot-wise?

Your story does very little to support your assertion that Costco is evil.

 

Out of curiousity though, have you ever figured out how much Costco actually saves you. 

 

ie  (Cost of stuff at store) - (Costco price) - (Costco membership costs) + *...* = PROFIT

 

where, *...* represents the personal satisfaction gained by purchasing something like mayonaise by the gallon.

 

I read somewhere that due to membership fees, those "club" stores (Costco, BJ's, Sam's Club, etc.) almost never save anyone money unless they have an excessive number of children.  You strike me as the kind of person who might have thought about this before and actually crunched the numbers.

 I can get Deschutes and Bridgeport microbrew at my costco for $23/case.  It is usually about $30/case in the store.

I can also get Guinness for significantly cheaper than in the store

Yes.  Costco saves me money. 

And I really like refried beans in the crockpot.  But then refried beans are supposed to be a little mushy