Costco Pies

[Lurker1999]

Someone is giving us two Costco pies today. Do you think they will last until Thursday? Should we attempt to freeze them maybe? Three day old pies don't sound very good to us.

[wallycat]

DH has left his pies out for 3 or 4 days with no ill effects and he doesn't even refrigerate

If you get them today and freeze them, you would have to take them out within 24 hours to thaw...so not much of a freeze...not sure how much compromise to texture.

DH wanted to try a costco pumpkin pie and we cut it into 4 servings and froze 3 of them. THawed one to eat and he said it was great. Crust was a bit soggy but he did not want me to reheat in the oven, which I think would have helped the crust but probably not by a lot.

[amarante]

I don't think the pies would go bad per se but IME Costco pies don't have particularly flaky crusts as the crusts are soggy even when I've eaten the day I get them home.

Some of their other baked goods are much better IMO like the sheet cakes.

Won't help you I am sure but at least here in Los Angeles, I get my pies from Marie Callendar or Polly Pies (in terms of chains) as their crust really is about as good as I could make with my pie crust skills.

[Lurker1999]

Thank you for the replies. We are not really worried about them being bad as in making us sick, but will they still taste good and fresh enough to serve for a holiday. Will they taste old and stale. Not sure what to do with them if we don't use them for Thanksgiving.

[Lurker1999]

Still trying to decide if we should serve these pies or bake new, fresh ones. Any other opinions?

[Dawna]

The pies should have a date stamped on them. During the holidays they may sell out daily, but they carry some fresh pies year round, and those may linger for a day or two. I think the quality should be comparable as long as used by that date.

[Cafe Latte]

If you aren't sure about the pies, can you give them to someone who might enjoy them? I think if you reheat the pies prior to serving, they will taste fresher. Remember, these are store bought and contain preservatives that aren't in homemade and will last longer. What flavors do you have?

[Lurker1999]

There are no dates stamped on them. We got them from a vendor who got many of them from Costco as a marketing tool to hand out to clients and they put their own company sticker on them. We thought it was odd that there were no ingredient stickers or anything. Thought that was illegal.

We decided to take them to work to be eaten today and will get new pies for Thursday.

Thank you.

[Cafe Latte]

There are no dates stamped on them. We got them from a vendor who got many of them from Costco as a marketing tool to hand out to clients and they put their own company sticker on them. We thought it was odd that there were no ingredient stickers or anything. Thought that was illegal.

We decided to take them to work to be eaten today and will get new pies for Thursday.

Thank you.

I think ingredient stickers are ususally for resale, so it probably didn't apply to the vendor. I think you made the right choice in taking them to work, since you were hesitant about them. Hope they enjoy the pies.

[amarante]

I also think you made the right choice in terms of unloading them.

I didn't want to weigh in because it might have seemed too judgmental to say that based on my experience with Costco pies, I wouldn't serve them to my guests.

Some people do but then this is a foodie board - we probably have higher standards than most people and then you said that you would be baking in lieu of the Costco pies - can't imagine that not being a better pie.