A week ago, there were exactly 6 cartons of eggnog in Zhonge COSTCO. Are there any in Xizhi?
I vote for Wellman’s fruitcake. COSTCO has too many nuts. My Mama says too may nuts mask flavor deficiencies…
I was just at Xi Zhi Costco and they’re still well stocked with egg nog. Also got a turkey for under 400nt. They had some other turkeys already prepared by the Hyatt with some cranberry sauce and gravy for 2000nt.
I’ve had the incredible Blue Planet for several years and got Planet Earth a few weeks back. Trust me when I say that Planet Earth makes Blue Planet look like it was made by high school kids, it is THAT good. You are in for a real treat, MT.
Great. 
I’m going to turn off my computer right now and head home for Christmas Eve.
Incidentally, I went back to Costco and checked the price on those videos and I don’t remember exactly what it was but it’s substantially cheaper than amazon.com. I think it was equivalent to about US$40 for the Planet Earth set.
I paid NT$1,500 for Planet Earth from my local video rental place. I could have got it for nowt off a friend or for NT$100 in Thailand but I wanted the real thing and was happy to pay full whack.
[quote=“In April 2006, Ironman”]I was at Costco today. They had soy milk taste testing. I figured this was strange enough to need a pic.
[/quote]
That was then, this is now.
Visited Neihu CostCo yesterday after work and they were handing out free shots of Jack Daniels. Seriously. Not only that but they were decent sized shots and the lady gave me two of them. If I’d tried, I’m fairly certain I could’ve wrangled a third off of her.
Of course that increases the risk of coming home with a few thousand dollars of bulk items one has no real need for and can’t possibly consume, but it does enhance the shopping experience. 
Damn! I was there too early in the day I guess. I too went to the Nei-Hu Cost Co yesterday, but around 12noon. No free booze for me. 
It’s amazing how many locals will crowd around the free ham sample booth though! 
One old fella kept getting his freebie, and going right back into the line for more.
I only started shopping at Costco last year, but now I don’t know how I managed without it before. They have so many good things that I can’t buy anywhere else. My absolute favourites are their Kirkland frozen strawberries and three berries. Unfortunately, they haven’t had the strawberries these past few months, but those raspberries, blackberries (marionberries) and blueberries go down an absolute treat with yoghurt - I can never get tired of eating them. And last time I went there, I got a chunk of the best sharp English cheddar I’ve eaten in Taiwan, so I’ll be keeping my fingers crossed that they still have some the next time I go.
[quote=“Mer”]Damn! I was there too early in the day I guess. I too went to the Neihu Cost Co yesterday, but around 12noon. No free booze for me. 
It’s amazing how many locals will crowd around the free ham sample booth though! 
[/quote]
Yea, they were also giving out free samples of Haagen Daaz and that, unsurprisingly, had a long line. For some reason, though, I was the only one sampling the booze.
Glad to hear that. We picked up a bag of the 3 berries. Never had them before, but we figured they’d be good on cereal.
They do have some decent cheddars if one doesn’t mind the size of the hunk. We picked up one of those as well.
We dropped in last week enroute to a meeting with the intention of buying a couple jars of mixed nuts and some vitamins. Ended up spending 15k on food - I hate that place.
I am going today for the cat litter, one package of cheese and one of ham. That’s it.
Check with me tomorrow to verify if that’s all I got. :blah:
They do booze sampling quite often, they tend to stick to wine or sake mostly, but I’ve seen other stuff too.
Then there’s all sorts of other stranges stuff they sample, some of it I’m not even sure if it can be classified as food…
I miss the frozen strawberries too, I used to make a nice smoothie out of them, 5-6 in the blender, add a couple of them small sweet local bananans and some of the drinking yougurt you can get here and it made a quick and tasty brekky.
Raspberrys doesn’t work as well in a smoothie, as the pips are too big
We always spend too much cash there, but at least they got some good stuff. We always buy toilet paper and kitchen roll there in bulk, as it works out cheaper than in the local shops and its better quality than some of the cheaper stuff here.
I just wish they would bring back some more of the imported meatbyproducts, as what they have now isn’t very tasty imho.
[quote=“TheLostSwede”]I miss the frozen strawberries too, I used to make a nice smoothie out of them, 5-6 in the blender, add a couple of them small sweet local bananans and some of the drinking yougurt you can get here and it made a quick and tasty brekky.
Raspberrys doesn’t work as well in a smoothie, as the pips are too big [/quote]
Incidentally, the Neihu store has giant boxes of beautiful fresh strawberries and raspberries if you’re interested. I was soooooo close to picking up a box, but I passed.
Well, the trick with the frozen ones is that they make the smoothie just perfect, it’s not the same with the fresh ones. I guess I’m a stingy bastard as well, as the frozen ones are cheaper 
I get cheeses, veggies, fruits, books, magarine, vitamine pills etc. from them.
It’s all good.
I avoid buying a lot of their bulk items as volumes are rather large. Their cured meats section has been raped recently.
Seems to me that people should go there together, and then split some of those bulk items. Bring large Ziplock bags and a knife.
Wanna split a gallon of milk that way? 
Besides, isn’t it illegal to carry a knife around with you here?
And why bring the bags, why not split a box between everyone instead 
Actually, it’s what a lot of the locals do, I saw a group of four or five women who shared a large pack of ham and one of those big bags of sallad buns (or whatever they’re called) just outside the Costco in Sijhih.
Some things just aren’t easily split and I mostly just buy bulk stuff I can put in the freezer, unless it has induvidual packages inside. They do have smaller packets of cheese, although I guess it’s more expensive than the nasty bulk cheddar blocks…
The fruit is not always that great of a deal, but their cherries tend to be quite reasonable and very good, but they go off really quickly.
They will sell you a drink without a hot dog, but not a hot dog without a drink. What if two people want to share a drink and have their own hot dogs? Or if one person wants two hot dogs and one drink. There’s no specific rule stating what must go in the cup, and who can’t find a use for a little extra sauerkraut or whatnot? I used to do this often, until I found out that they actually SELL sauerkraut by the jarful. Now it is no longer necessary.
I love that Costco vitamins are reasonably-priced. So is a lot of other stuff, if you’re willing to freeze it or share it or eat like a glutton before it expires.
I am pleased to inform that I sticked to the plan, with little deviations: sour cream (three hundred something) and a lovely guide to Taiwan’s birdies … 555 nts. Sigh I bought 5 things and still the bill is considerable.
One thing I did accidentally noticed because I found an old bill in the bottom of the COSTCO bag is that most stuff I normally buy has increased in price at least 50-100 nts. Cat litter has increased almost 50 nts, ice cream too, even the baking soda.
I noticed that, at least in Yonghe, the open displays -where they keep the cold cuts and fancy cheese- were practically empty. I also noticed they have moved the local ham to the freezers. You do not think these guys turn the AC off at night and leave the stuff in the open displays unattended!?
Mother Theresa wrote:
[quote]Visited Neihu CostCo yesterday after work and they were handing out free shots of Jack Daniels. Seriously. Not only that but they were decent sized shots and the lady gave me two of them. If I’d tried, I’m fairly certain I could’ve wrangled a third off of her.
Of course that increases the risk of coming home with a few thousand dollars of bulk items one has no real need for and can’t possibly consume, but it does enhance the shopping experience. [/quote]
Just got back from a lengthy trip and don’t know if this is still happening but last month on Sunday afternoons there was a lady handing out free samples of Jack Daniels at RT Mart. It is my booze of choice but I try to pretend I never tasted it and usually get a couple of free airline bottles if I buy the special she’s pushing . She’s really very nice but a bit chatty and as my Chinese is quite limited it gets old. But the JD samples and specials are nice. Just make sure someone else is driving. 
My favorite things at Costco these days, aside from Jack Daniels, which they have the best price on, are the red wines (still the best deals in Taiwan I have found) steaks, roasted chicken (something like NT$120 for a fresh roasted one) and pizza. I get a large cheese pizza and divide it up into freezer bags and pop it into the freezer. Makes for perfect frozen pizza anytime I want it. :hungry: