Hot dogs at Costco

People are very sensitive about grocery shopping.  Allegiances can be as fiercely defended as those to football teams.  Costco seems to inspire everything from ardour to disgust to benign curiosity.  I have been a member since it first opened and truthfully was not sure if I would keep my membership at first.  As time has gone on, the management has evidently responded to Australian buying habits and the product range keeps getting better and better.  So, trolley loaded with free range chicken, organic milk and antioxidant-rich blueberries, what better for lunch than a Costco hot dog?

Yes, I know what you are thinking - how could you??  I blame nostalgia.  Hot dogs are a huge part of the American summer experience.  Just as you wander the backstreets of suburban Melbourne in summer and the unmistakable, sinfully-delicious waft of barbecuing el-cheapo breakfast sausages fills the air, the lure of an American hot dog is just as wrong and just as strong.  The meat is highly processed and the bun that cakey, aerated McDonalds bread, but they put me straight back in Wrigley Field in Chicago, organ pipes playing between the commentator's snappy calls, the ivy rustling gently in the lakeshore breeze as a baseball game plays on.

Mmmm, $2.49 worth of memories.  They are not quite the hot dogs I recall (Chicago is famous for its 100% beef hot dogs) but they are damn close.

I am ashamed to say I have partaken of other Costco food court delights.  The pizza slices are gargantuan and I found them far too oily and (in the case of the cheese pizza) somewhat bland.  The "Korean" "beef bulgogi bake" (yes, HOW CAN I CALL MYSELF A FOODIE) is far, far too rich - a kind of greasy calzone stuffed with beef, cheese and onion.

So what's in the trolley?  Costco is really about discounting premium brands rather than beating generic prices, although in some cases it does manage to do that.  This does mean that you have to buy a lot, ie, 24 muesli bars at a time, three-packs of shampoo or 1 kg frozen berries.  It works for us but if you were a smaller household, you would need to weigh up the initial outlay, the expiry date and the boredom factor to consider if it would work for you.

Costco have always sold packs of Steggles or Baiada chicken pieces, plus whole Lilydale free range chooks.  I have regularly left feedback asking them to stock free range fillets and one day received a phone call telling me that they would indeed do that.  Unreal!  Indeed, they are stocking more and more free range and organic lines which I think is reflective of the variety of people who shop at Costco - some come for the buckets of Maltesers, others for the wild Alaskan salmon.  But everyone stays for the hot dogs.

Costco

I'm a good suburban housewife.  Every week, I trek down to Central West Plaza in my trackies and fulfill my household duties by filling a trolley at Aldi.  Each week, though, a gnawing feeling grows, til I give in to the call... to a swish penthouse, right on the waterfront, where my American lover awaits!

OK - more like squats.  And he's kind of more on the dirty canal, under the freeway.  Yes, it's Costco!  The American big-box behemoth landed in Melbourne last August.  As a certified grocery-geek, I was insanely excited, as I was sure Costco would undercut Aldi's already crazily low prices.  Costco advertise that they stick to a predetermined, very narrow profit margin, and make most of their money off their $60 p/a membership fee.

Unfortunately, the savings weren't as wild as I had first imagined.  Costco carries mainly premium brands, which even at a reduced price, aren't always cheaper than Aldi.  Their range is also strangely limited for such an enormous store - usually just one or two choices per category.

However, I make back my money and then some just in washing powder - $180 per year at Costco versus $300 at Coles for OMO Front Loader.  (Yes, I know it's not "green" - but when you need to get vomit, poo and bolognese sauce off a jumpsuit, applied not necessarily in that order, it is the only thing that works.  Trust me, I have tried everything else!)  I've gotten over my initial disappointment that Costco was not the second coming, and started to appreciate that in some categories, there are bargains to be had. 

For example:

Red Island Australian extra virgin olive oil $25.9/4 L
Frozen blueberries $5.49/1 kg
18-pack free range eggs $4.49
Maple syrup $17.39/946 ml
Lavazza coffee $6.50/500g
Four-cheese ravioli [100% all natural ingredients] $12.99/1.8 kg
Viva paper towels $14.99/12 rolls
Milk $2.79/3 L

Crunch those numbers people!  I regularly see people wandering about Costco saying to one another, "$24.99...  Is that cheap?  What do you think?"  You gots to have a price list!  Or if you are like me - a price comparison spreadsheet!  (Yes - tragic.  I know.)  As a result, I still do 80% of my shopping at Footscray Market and Aldi, with a few select items from Costco and Coles.

I should mention we are the only people we know who are members.  Costco seems to inspire everything from indifference to disgust.  I know they are big, but really, it's just like shopping at a Coles or Aldi distribution centre, I would imagine.  I do think some things are just silly - 15-pack of grossly over-iced cupcakes, anyone?  Pizza too big to fit in your oven?  Some varieties of fruit and veg are largely unusable for retail customers, as they are prepackaged in enormous portions.  Still, a kilo of strawberries for $8 is very quickly demolished in our house.

Look, ma, funny American food!  At least they are offering a "meat pie" for the natives.  Blech!

Other fun times at Costco include spotting Cake Wrecks:

Nothing says happy birthday like a cowboy and a frog with no face.

And, fellow parents, HOW SWEET IT IS to strap BOTH your little darlings into the shopping trolley!!!  Browse in peace with no one running around, grabbing things off shelves, chucking tanties and "hiding" in inappropriate places.

What's that?

Oh yes... I forgot.  I actually have three children.

*sigh* 

Costco

381 Footscray Rd, Docklands (map)
Phone: (03) 8602 0300