Dining Out at Costco: Healthy Choice Fudgesicles and Samsung HDTV

We went back to Costco with a single-minded purpose – buy a nice flat-screen for Tina’s aunt, who recently moved to an assisted-living facility and left her old tube dinosaur behind. And we ended up getting a great deal on a 21.5-inch Samsung LCD HDTV ($169 with $20 off on sale). After all, college football is coming fast, and she's a huge USC Trojan fan with a mad crush on QB Matt Barkley.

The free samples were more of an afterthought this time – it was, after all, a Tuesday afternoon, traditionally not the best day for free tastes. But we were pleasantly surprised. The bounty far surpassed our last visit, and it tided us over until dinner.

The highlight was clearly a nice portion of Healthy Choice fudgesicle preceded by a double serving of barbecue popcorn chips. Overall, we give it a strong C-plus.

Since we didn’t bring our notepad, we didn’t take down specifics, but we did nosh on the following:

 Kirkland canned chicken on white bread
 Belgian waffles and maple syrup
 Mandarin orange chicken
 Gummy bears
 Smoked ham
 Hawaiian teriyaki chicken
 Jamba Juice strawberry smoothie

Dining Out at Costco: Herradura Reposado and Executive Benefits

First the bad news: Our latest trip to Costco resulted in the weakest free-sample showing yet, a factor that most likely had to do with it being a Thursday at the beginning of August, a slow time for everything since so many people are out of town on vacation. The samples mirrored the scant crowd (for Costco, at least) milling about in the warehouse aisles. Disappointing, but entirely understandable.

Now the (very) good news: Tina and her friend, who went in 50-50 on a $100 Costco Executive Membership, received $115 in cash-back money for the year, which of course more than covered their upcoming annual renewal. And they split the $15 bonus.

So that proves what we’ve contended for a long time: Splitting an Executive Membership with family or friends is clearly the way to go. Some people whine that they have to fork out each year for the privilege of enjoying Costco’s bargains, but the cash-back feature can eliminate that and then some. And we left with our usual basket full of great stuff, like Seattle Mountain Coffee, a box of Swiffer pads, Herradura Reposado tequila and a pack of Sea-Pak Shrimp Scampi.

We gave this sample lineup an unprecedented C-minus. But being free, it’s impossible to criticize. And it’s way, way better than anything in recent memory from Whole Foods. Don’t get us started on that sad non-sample situation.

Here’s the latest Costco lineup:

 Kirkland Fruit and Nut Mix
 Mandarin Orange Chicken
 Pasta Prima Mozzarella Spinach Ravioli
 Kirkland Chicken Bake
 Kirkland shredded canned chicken on crackers
 Blue Agave sweetener
 Diet Gatorade
 Finlandia Sliced Cheeses