Costco: where bulk meets bougie! Beyond value packs, discover lavish
delights for your fancy cravings. From imported pastries to high-end spices,
indulge your bougie side at Costco's treasure trove.
Saffron is the most expensive spice in the world. You're looking at upwards of $15 per gram,
so buying the same amount at Costco for around $6 is actually a deal. Still,
at $79.99 for a 14-gram jar, it's pricey. The reason it's so expensive is complex.
It can take the equivalent of a 40-hour work week to harvest just 2.2 pounds of
saffron. Since most of the plants bloom during the same one-week period each year
and need to be picked in the early morning, lots of hands are required at harvest time.
Most people describe saffron as having an earthy, grassy, or buttery flavor. Some detect honey or
even floral notes in saffron-flavored dishes. But others find that saffron tastes like iodine. This
is genetic, much like thinking cilantro tastes like soap. As long as you don't have the genetic
predisposition that makes the spice totally unpleasant, this item is worth the price.
They might look like rice vermicelli noodles but swallow bird nests are actually made from
dried bird spit. You can buy two swiftlet nests for $89.99 at Costco. They're edible,
though we're curious about the first person who thought eating a bird's nest was a good
idea. One legend says that Chinese royalty ate them in the quest for eternal youth.
"What was Emperor Bao Dai thinking, eating this stuff?"
In another tale, hungry soldiers stranded on an island in Southeast
Asia boiled swallow nests to eat in desperation. Today, people in China
and around the world still consume swallow nests for their purported health benefits,
with unverified health claims ranging from younger-looking skin to increased libido.
On their own, swallow nests don't taste like much. When they're added to foods like broth
or drinks they produce a gelatinous texture and slightly sweet flavor.
The cost for swallow bird nests ranges from $2,600 to $7,400 per kilogram. Since Costco swallow nests
come out to $8,999 per kilogram, it's not a great deal. Then again, where else can you find them?
Cannoli seem like a simple dessert, but a really good cannolo is something you won't
soon forget. If you don't have a source for authentic Italian cannoli, buying them from
Costco is the next best thing. They actually come straight from Ferrara Bakery in Little Italy, New
York City. If you stop by there to pick up a box, you'll end up paying $164 for two dozen. So paying
$109.99 for the same amount at Costco is a good deal, especially if you don't live in New York.
That being said, the cannoli from Costco are sold frozen so you'll have to thaw them before digging
in. These rich desserts will last a whole year in the freezer, so you can pull one out whenever
you get a cannoli craving. The box comes with a dozen plain cannoli and a dozen dipped into
Belgian chocolate, making this a perfect treat to enjoy by yourself or to serve when you entertain.
Trendy juice cleanses have been popular for years in bougie circles. Popular reasons
to go on an all-juice diet include improving your health, weight loss, flushing out toxins,
and getting healthier-looking skin. Costco makes the process easier by selling a 35-pack
of pre-made shots and juices that'll last you five days. Not having to buy lots of fruit and
vegetables then run them through a juicer is super convenient, which is why Costco's juicing
pack costs $139.99. The good news is that it's all organic with no added sugar, colors, or flavors.
A juice cleanse provides fewer daily calories than ordinary meals,
so weight loss is likely. Unfortunately, with Costco's juices ranging from 124 to
165 calories per 12-ounce serving and the elixirs only providing 20 to 30 calories per 2.4 ounces,
you're likely to spend all five days hungry and low on energy.
"I felt hungry the whole time."
"I was at work and was pretty irritable."
While juicing is an easy way to get your fruits and vegetables in,
Healthline notes that juice lacks fiber and that there's not enough evidence to prove that just
drinking juice actually cleanses your body of toxins or improves your skin. That being said,
if you're low on time and want to boost your nutrient content with some ready-made juices
and elixirs, this 5-day organic cold pressed juice pack will make it easy.
You could go into Costco and buy all the ingredients for a nice charcuterie board piece
by piece. But if you have $229.99 and a Costco membership, you don't have to make decisions,
harness your inner creativity, or spend time you don't have. You can spring for Costco's
fully-arranged charcuterie and cheese board for your next bougie get-together.
The board contains 13 interesting types of cheese, both plain and flavored. Cured meats,
dried fruits, nuts, marmalade, olives, and crackers fill out the rest of the
17-by-13-inch acacia wood board. It also comes with utensils, so you won't even get anything
dirty. While charcuterie boards certainly aren't new, they are definitely trendy. Pair
it with a fruit tray and you've got a meal that doesn't require any cooking. And you
can keep the wooden board for when you're feeling inspired to make your own spread.
Considering that a single leg of Ibérico ham can cost as much as $4,500, the ones at Costco
are an excellent deal. Still, if you're going to pay $549.99 for a 15.4-pound ham,
the least the store can do is give you a stand and knife to go with it. These pigs
are some of the best-kept in the world, which is why Iberico ham is so expensive.
"The caviar of hams. This is Jamón Iberico."
The black-hooved animals live a life of luxury frolicking in the wild Spanish Dehesa, where they
have free access to many nutrients and fatty acids through the abundance of acorns they eat. The pigs
used in the Iberico ham Costco sells all live in the Valle de Los Pedroches, which has the largest
area of oaks in the world. In fact, the ratio of land to pigs is 2.5 acres for every animal.
Since Iberian pigs descended from wild boars,
their meat is leaner than that of ordinary farm pigs. You'll notice that the fat
is marbled throughout the meat rather than sitting in a layer on the outside.
"It almost all just melted on my tongue. I didn't need to chew."
And Iberian ham sits in a cellar for three years to cure, as the
fat melts and absorbs the aromas of the surrounding mountain air.
If you're someone who likes a little pasta with their cheese,
you can buy a 72-pound wheel of Parmigiano Reggiano from Costco for a mere $949.99.
The whole wheel is about 18 by 9 inches, so it's no small piece of cheese. Even if
you ignite it into a flaming wheel of cheese, you're going to have plenty left over to give
away to friends or eat until you never want to see Parmigiano Reggiano again.
According to Giada de Laurentiis, there's a big difference between
plain parmesan and Parmigiano Reggiano. If you buy parmesan cheese, it can come from anywhere,
but Parmigiano Reggiano has to come from a specified designation of origin in Italy.
"Italian cows. Domestic cows. Right?"
Regular parmesan cheeses are perfectly fine, but they're mild rather than sharp like Parmigiano
Reggiano. The latter has a complex flavor profile ranging from fruity to nutty. It
also has a unique texture, with crunchy bits throughout. And as a specialty cheese import,
Parmigiano Reggiano is often twice as expensive as other parmesan cheeses.
Who needs a regular rump roast from an ordinary cow for Sunday
dinner when you can awe your guests with a Japanese Wagyu boneless ribeye roast?
"No, no, no no no no no! See, this meat came all the way over here from the Pacific Ocean!
By boat!"
With the highest-priced Japanese Wagyu beef costing as much as $200 per pound,
Costco's roast is a good deal at around $92 per pound. The whole 12-pound roast will cost
you $1,099.99, so unless you're cooking for an army, you'll want to be ready to
vacuum seal and freeze some of it for later. There are many ways you can enjoy this cut
of fat-marbled meat. Try cutting it into cubes for stew, slicing it into steaks for the grill,
or slicing it paper thin to cook piece-by-piece on a table-top grill.
Wagyu beef is a luxury meat prized for the webs of fat running through it that provide
flavor and tenderness like no other. All this fat comes from farmers keeping the cows inside a pen,
stuffing them full of high-calorie grains three times a day until their bodies have
almost as much fat as flesh. It's not all bad though; most farmers ensure their cows live a
good life and feed them real food instead of pumping them up with hormones and steroids.
Not only is golden Osetra caviar rare, but it's among the best caviars available.
"Caviar."
"Ew!"
Caviar connoisseurs like it for its nuttiness and fat-laden creaminess,
which is extremely popular served on a blini or alone as a caviar bump. Osetra caviar is
a gourmet indulgence, and Costco's comes from farm-raised sturgeon cured in Greece.
You'll find that the eggs are larger than most other types aside from beluga caviar.
Since it will last unopened in the fridge for a couple of weeks,
you can relax about how quickly you have to serve it. However, since Costco's golden Osetra
caviar comes in a 35.2-ounce tin, it begs to be shared with 30 to 50 of your closest friends.
"That's the stuff."
"It's enough to take care of everyone and still go out on top."
This huge container of caviar will set you back $1,999.99,
but it promises a great experience. Plus, it comes with a thermal tote bag, and,
as an extra touch, you get two fancy mother-of-pearl spoons for serving.
In case of a worldwide pandemic, apocalypse, or financial collapse, it's not a bad idea to be
prepared. And if you have a spare $6,999.99 sitting around, you might as well use it to
buy a year's supply of emergency food from Costco. Just be sure you have enough space
to store 246 No. 10 cans. In the survival kit, you get granola, breakfast skillets, spaghetti,
chili mac with beef, beef stroganoff, rice and chicken, and Mexican-style adobo rice and chicken.
And you don't have to worry about food going bad any time soon, since it's good for up to 30 years.
Of course, since each No. 10 can holds an average of 109 ounces of food, you'll be eating from one
can for a while unless you're sharing. Plus, without a whole lot of variety, you're likely
to get sick of eating only seven different dishes long before the end of your year-long emergency.
"It's chili and mac and cheese. Together. Come on."
Since the packaging isn't very thoughtful, you'd also better hope your food emergency comes with
refrigeration once you open those huge cans. The number of calories contained within the entire
emergency food supply is enough for one person to consume 1,985 calories a day for a whole year.
Having $7,000 worth of food in your house that you may never even eat is truly next-level bougie.