During the winter, the selection at the local Farmers Market is pretty slim. One vendor was selling gorgeous flowers.

However, in terms of food, all I saw was the basic staples: potatoes, onions, and carrots.

I picked up some fresh brussel sprouts and beets. I am looking for some Gold Nuggets, but my favorite citrus vendor has not been there for a few weeks. Sunkist tells me that availability begins in March. My fingers are crossed.

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I spotted a 250 ml bottle of Urbani White Truffle Oil at Costco selling for $14.49. If used judiciously, the bottle can last for quite some time. I ran out several months ago, so I was relieved when Costco finally restocked this item.

I use it mainly for the scrambled eggs, which I add to fried rice. Absolutely delicious.

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Two weeks ago, I struck gold during a Costco treasure hunt. Costco was selling 8 16-ounce Verka mango lassi yogurt drinks for $9.89. Sometimes, I need a decent tasting floor sample to convince me to spring for a new item, considering that if you make a mistake a Costco, it ends up being a BIG mistake. Don’t want an unwanted item in bulk hogging the refrigerator.

The mango lassi drink was the real deal. Loved it. Although it does take up quite some space in the refrigerator, it was all gone in a couple of days. So, last week, I was determined to resupply the fridge. Unfortunately, Costco was OUT! The only downside of shopping at Costco is that some items are not always in stock. I thought that the mango lassi might have been a one time test item. However, when I returned tonight, Costco had a refrigerator stocked full of mango lassi. No government shutdown and two cases of mango lassi in the fridge. More than anyone should ask for in one night.

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The New York Times has an interesting comparison between Amazon and Costco, my two favorite stores: Amazon’s Subscription Service vs. Costco. While the author complains about the time lost shopping at Costco, I love that store because its a great place to add steps to the pedometer, particularly in inclement weather. Oh, and I can also get some shopping done at the same time.

My only complaint about Costco is that outside of some staple items, the availability of their other products is far from guaranteed. For example, I recently headed to the local Costco for some parchment paper. I knew the exact aisle it was located in, but when I arrived there, it was gone. Not just out of stock, but discontinued.

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I had known about Smart & Final for about 20 years, but had not set foot inside an actual store until last month. Basically, Costco and a few other stores offered pretty much everything I needed so I never had the need to visit another warehouse store. However, since a Smart & Final was located in a shopping center I was already visiting, I decided to drop in for a quick peak.

Shopping at a new store was disorienting since I wasn’t sure where everything was located or what the exact product mix that Smart & Final offered. I finally focused on one product that is near and dear to my heart, and which I knew was sold at Smart & Final and Costco: Nutella.

So, Smart & Final sells a 26 oz jar of Nutella Hazelnut Spread with Skim Milk & Cocoa for a Club Buy price of $6.99. Costco sells a 2×26.5 oz. jars of Nutella Spread for $8.79. You don’t even have to be a math major to figure out which one is the bargain.

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Costco is selling Bob’s Red Mill Steel Cut Oats. $4.79 for a 72 ounce bag, which comes to $0.067 per ounce. If you buy direct from Bob’s Red Mill, a 54 ounce bag costs $4.33, which is $0.080 per ounce.

Before I purchased Steel Cut Oats from Costco, I had only tried the more traditional form of Oatmeal. The big difference is that Steel Cut Oats takes a bit longer to cook and has a chewier texture. My favorite recipe is to prepare it the night before. I place one 1 cup of Steel Cut Oats with 4 1/2 cups of water into the crock pot. The next morning, I add some milk to thicken, 1 tsp of vanilla extract and a banana that has been sauteed in butter. Run the mixture through a hand blender to incorporate.

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I was checking out the new Target at the Sunnyvale Town Center. Since it featured a grocery section, I wanted to see how competitive the prices were with the places I usually frequent. Target was selling an 18 oz. box of Frosted Mini-Wheats for $3.09 or $0.172 per ounce. Wal-Mart was selling the same size box for $2.33 four months ago. So, Target sells Frosted Mini-Wheats for a bit less than Safeway, but a lot more than Wal-Mart or Costco.

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Costco was selling Diestel Whole Brined Turkeys for $0.97 per pound. The catch? These were on sale AFTER Thanksgiving. Talk about a Black Friday sale. I had spotted these same turkeys just before Thanksgiving selling for close to $4.00 per pound. However, since I needed about 20 pounds of turkey and I wasn’t willing to shell out $80 for poultry that might taste better, I ended up brining my own. Next year, I might pick up a pre-brined turkey after Thanksgiving just to give it a shot. The Diestel turkeys were only around 10 pounds. I wouldn’t mind spending $10 to experiment with and taste test a pre-brined bird.

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This week, the giant tub of Mountain High Yoghurt for $3.89 was missing at the local Costco. In its place, I spotted a 64 ounce tub of Verka Original Yogurt selling for $3.79. I’ve never heard of the Verka brand before. Apparently, it’s an Indian dairy company located in San Jose, CA. From an environmental point-of-view, I suppose that buying a tub of yogurt produced by a local manufacturer is better than buying one produced in Englewood, CO.

The really odd thing is that the Verka yogurt was labeled 100% vegetarian. I guess that is true if by vegetarian Verka means that their yogurt contains no meat, poultry or fish products. But, not all sects of vegetarianism consumer dairy products, such as yogurt. I guess if you are an ovo vegetarian or a vegan, you should be extremely careful when shopping and opt for the soy yogurt instead. Of course, I took home a tub of Verka yogurt. Taste test comes tomorrow.

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Sometimes, you just have to change your brand name when entering into a new market. Doesn’t matter how cute your mascot is. At the end of the day, a bimbo is still a bimbo.

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