Sam's Club questions

[tea4one]

I do have a membership but it is a fairly new membership. I haven't bought a whole lot from there yet but vitamins and toiletries. I went and took more time to walk through areas I never spent a lot of time in like the food section of the place and noticed for the first time that they have chicken/apple sausage and other flavored sausages. Has anyone ever tried them? Are they any good?
The 1 pound of baby spinach, if I blanch and freeze it, do you think I will end up with 10 ounces?

[cas]

I tried the flavored chicken sausage and thought they were really good. Not sure how much my husband liked them though.

[dlaboriel]

I tried them once. Don't think I'll buy them again.

[charley]

I love the chicken/apple sausages! Our Sam's sells Emeril's brand. Used to be Aidell's.

[Tutalady]

Our Sam's has a chicken sausage with asiago cheese and spinach that we really like. Will have to try the apple ones.

[mrswaz]

Originally Posted by Tutalady

Our Sam's has a chicken sausage with asiago cheese and spinach that we really like. Will have to try the apple ones.

Mmm, I love that Asiago/spinach sausage! My favorite use for it last winter was in lentil soup- omg, good.

In general, I shop at Sam's club more in the winter than anything. I find their produce to be consistently much better than the standard groceries in the winter time. You do have to buy in bulk, so sometimes I have to plan ahead a reason to buy six rainbow bell peppers at once, but for the most part it works out well. I buy baking products there too sometimes when the mood strikes- 5 pound bags of choc. chips around the holidays, their jumbo bottle of vanilla, brown sugar, things like that.

[Love to Run]

I shop at Sam's regularly for fresh produce because it is consistently better than our local stores. Having the larger quantities for two people just encourages us to eat better! We also buy lots of the Naked brand juices. It used to carry the Bolthouse drinks but discontinued them. As others have said, Sam's carried Aidell's sausage but now sells Emeril's. We also buy a lot of cheeses and I use my Foodsaver for smaller portions. Other items we pick up are chicken tenders, tilapia, and salmon.

DH and I are big readers so finding books at a 40% discount is always a good thing and the magazines are also discounted.

Carole

[sneezles]

Originally Posted by tea4one

The 1 pound of baby spinach, if I blanch and freeze it, do you think I will end up with 10 ounces?

Can't answer it directly but one pound raw equals 8 cups which becomes 1-1 1/2 cups cooked, about 2 servings. I've never weighed the end result.

[ClaraB]

Originally Posted by tea4one

I do have a membership but it is a fairly new membership. I haven't bought a whole lot from there yet but vitamins and toiletries. I went and took more time to walk through areas I never spent a lot of time in like the food section of the place and noticed for the first time that they have chicken/apple sausage and other flavored sausages. Has anyone ever tried them? Are they any good?
The 1 pound of baby spinach, if I blanch and freeze it, do you think I will end up with 10 ounces?

I don't think I would freeze fresh baby spinach because it wouldn't be very cost-effective. You can buy frozen spinach for a lot less than you can buy fresh spinach and freeze it.

I generally shop at Sam's for flour, cheeses, fresh meat, and fresh produce (in the winter). I will also browse the magazines and cookbooks, as well as the clothing section - I've found some great deals on good-quality clothing there. I've seen the sausage, but haven't tried them yet. Oh, and they do have some very good fresh salsas in the cheese section.

[bobmark226]

Originally Posted by ClaraB

I don't think I would freeze fresh baby spinach because it wouldn't be very cost-effective. You can buy frozen spinach for a lot less than you can buy fresh spinach and freeze it.

Absolutely!

Among the better Sam's Club deals are the 2 lb. or so packages of brand name sliced cheeses like Jarlsberg, Cabot, etc. I pretty much always have one of the other in the house...provolone now. Most come out to $3,99 - $4.99 a pound, a few dollars less than buying at the grocer or deli.

Also I buy frozen DiGiorno pizzas there...a three pack is $12, where sale prices on them now run to almost $6 each. It takes me a long time to use three, but they're nice to have around for lazy nights.

Silk vanilla soymilk (the only soy milk they have) are three for $7, which is like getting one free and they're dated about two months ahead so it's no problem using them up.

I don't know if they're still available but the three pound plastic clamshells of Rainier cherries are great, too.

A two-pack of 40 (or 42?) oz. jars of Skippy is around $8. I go through tons of it. Selma loves it too.

Those are my favorite deals; if any others come to mind, I'll add them as they occur to me.

Bob

[avariell]

I agree that the peanut butter is a great deal - although I am a JIF girl cuz choosy moms choose JIF

dog food is cheaper for me at sam's, so are dog beds

lots of vitamins, as you mentioned, are a great deal. the organic california extra virgin olive oil is excellent. so is the pure vanilla.

[dcollier]

Since our town has only two grocery stores, one being very tiny and kind of high, we drive 100 miles to Sam's in Hot Springs about every three months. We buy fresh produce which is always so fresh, plus sides of salmon, whole filets, chicken, cheese which we cut into smaller portions and Food Save), coffee, Splenda, flour in 25 pound bags, vanilla, pasta, olive oil -- I could go on and on. We also buy most of our paper products there, plus our dog and cat food. I always check out the books and cookbooks too. Huge savings.

Denise

[charley]

If you've been buying Emeril's chicken apple sausage don't be surprised if it's now Member's Mark. That's all our Sam's had today and I didn't buy it.

[Molli526]

We have the Members Mark chicken sausage and we think it is tasty.

[LakeMartinGal]

We like the chicken sausage, but the best find at Sam's recently is the Member's Mark pesto! They were giving samples, recently, on slices of their small French bread, and it was really yummy! I bought some, and still find it wonderful! I don't grow basil, and this was the best-tasting store-bought pesto I've ever had! Garlicky, and cheesy! I also like their frozen shrimp better than any chain store... but that may be because we're only 4 hours from the Gulf!