566030 Mon Oct 20 08:07:18 -0700 2008 37 32 Chains 0 4115891 We just signed up at BJs on the weekend (DH needed new tires and they were MUCH cheaper there than anywhere else he priced them!) So now we get to buy groceries there. I've had a prowl around the store and I was very pleased to see Laughing Cow cheese, Sabra hummus and smuckers natural peanut butter at very reasonable prices. Their meat prices look very good too, so I expect we'll save quite a bit of money there in the long run. But I'm wondering about their processed foods and other goodies. What's worth buying? Mon Oct 20 08:07:18 -0700 2008 67657 Kajikit 1 4116112 I get my Mauna Loa macadamia nuts at BJs. Costco doesn't carry them. Conversely, Costco carries marcona almonds but BJs does not. We belong to both. We go to Costco more frequently, but when we go to BJs we load up on things Costco doesn't carry (more kinds of canned fruit, for example). BJs carries more varieties of cereal than Costco. I'm a sucker for cheap cereal. This weekend I took inventory. We have 18 different cereals in play right now. It's Seinfeldesque. Mon Oct 20 09:36:29 -0700 2008 4115891 12829 Bob W 2 4119152 We never got good value for money for our Costco membership - the store was too far away and it was always so crowded etc that it was a nightmare to shop at... I wouldn't have wanted to join another discount club at all, but they built one right around the corner from us. And we didn't have any trouble finding a parking place on a Saturday morning! Tue Oct 21 12:59:32 -0700 2008 4116112 67657 Kajikit 2 4806885 i bought mauna loa macadamias at costco yesterday. excellent!!! Thu Jun 25 17:43:47 -0700 2009 4116112 69187 biga290 1 4116527 We belong to Costco now, but were members at BJ's for years. BJ's have by far the better of the roast chickens. People stand on line for them waiting as they take them out of the oven on weekends. Not as greasy as the chickens at Costco. Mon Oct 20 12:21:31 -0700 2008 4115891 64459 jnk 1 4116555 I just signed up too! We were members a couple years ago and for whatever reason I decided to rejoin. I did a quick walk through and some of the things I saw that I would purchase is Locatelli Romano cheese - awesome price, I think it was half what I pay in the grocery store, smoked salmon, manchego cheese, wine, deli meats, olive oil and cereal like another mentioned. I like Costco better, but I live closer to a BJ's. Mon Oct 20 12:33:18 -0700 2008 4115891 71241 lynnlato 2 4116564 I just signed up three! I can't believe the low, low cheese prices. Hooray! Mon Oct 20 12:36:14 -0700 2008 4116555 92744 invinotheresverde 1 4116600 I will also second the smoked salmon. At $10/lb, it's barely a luxury item. Mon Oct 20 12:49:21 -0700 2008 4115891 12829 Bob W 1 4117486 BJs has good bacon & great deals on ground buffalo. Mon Oct 20 19:38:51 -0700 2008 4115891 10807 beteez 2 4119540 Ooooh, good to know. We are a family of bacon lovers and I'm "buffalo-curious". It bears mentioning, when I was off to BJ's to open my membership, I stopped by Sam's Club b/c it was next door and I wanted to compare the two stores. I was leaning towards BJ's anyway, but wanted to give Sam's a chance. I went into Sam's and the guy out front didn't stop me and ask to see my card, but I knew that was protocol so I went over to the customer service desk to ask if I could look around to see what products they carry (I wanted to see if they had good cheeses, food products, wine, etc). A man at the CS counter immediately started spieling to me about some $100 membership that would allow me to shop between 7-10am, when regular membership folk were excluded. This $100 bucks also bought me the right to other store offers, blah, blah, blah and he droned on endlessly. I asked him if I could have a look around. He said yes, but only w/ an escort. I asked, "Really? I just want to see what products you carry, not shop or anything." He said they have strict security there and cameras and everything and I could only walk through the store w/ an employee escort. I found this funny since no one checked my membership status upon entering so I could've walked through the store, sans the employee escort, if I wanted. I told him that this didn't sit well with me and I thanked him and headed over to BJ's and bought a membership. Incidentally, the CS man at BJ's didn't try to sell me anything and invited me to have a look around and was the polar opposite of the Sam's Club dude. Tue Oct 21 15:31:59 -0700 2008 4117486 71241 lynnlato 3 4222950 During the summer, I went to both BJ's and Sam's to compare. I had no issue going to the desk in both places, getting a brief membership explanation, and doing a long, un-escorted walk-through. I don't think that it's Sam's policy to have an escort, you just had some jerk at customer service. Fri Dec 05 09:23:20 -0800 2008 4119540 142652 madgreek 3 4817128 Your Sam's experience is very odd. I have made investigative trips to all three and never had a problem...perhaps that one has had some problems lately. Tue Jun 30 00:16:06 -0700 2009 4119540 111267 meatn3 1 4119658 For good food deals, I like their nuts, Pellegrino sparkling water, natural chicken (and large packages are packed 2 breasts to a vacuum sealed pack, and 4 thighs to a vacuum sealed pack for easy freezing), some fruit (just got a 5 lb bag of excellent mineola oranges), olive oil...just make sure you do know your prices before shopping, because some things are comparable to (or more than a sale) the price at the supermarket (and do you REALLY need a gallon of capers--another Seinfeld reference). Tue Oct 21 16:21:26 -0700 2008 4115891 14216 Marge 2 4120726 LOL capers are one of my regular buys at BJs. I dump them on pizza, put them in tuna salad, etc. And, it's only a quart of capers, not a gallon. 8>D Wed Oct 22 06:53:56 -0700 2008 4119658 12829 Bob W 3 4122183 I don't think DH is going to have much trouble using the gallon of pickles... he goes through a regular-sized jar in just over a week! Wed Oct 22 15:23:43 -0700 2008 4120726 67657 Kajikit 1 4122952 We always have a bag of the pine nuts in the freezer: the price can't be beat. Wed Oct 22 21:23:37 -0700 2008 4115891 17548 BarmyFotheringayPhipps 2 4123436 I buy the all my nuts from BJ's. They also have good prices on Pellegrino and Poland Spring water bottles. Sometimes they get fresh mozzarella- not the kind sitting in oil in the tub- but the real fresh kind. I also like the Morningstar Farms veggie burgers from BJ's. They're "restaurant size", so they are a little bigger than the kind you get in the supermarket. Thu Oct 23 06:27:02 -0700 2008 4122952 217807 cheesecake17 1 4123469 The smoked salmon and the pickled herring in cream or wine sauce. The smoked whitefish salad is a steal at $6-$7 for a 2 lb. tub. Half and half and milk. Thu Oct 23 06:41:04 -0700 2008 4115891 28638 phantomdoc 1 4130873 this might be random, but carvel ice cream cakes are less than half the price they are at carvels or at supermarkets Sun Oct 26 20:40:57 -0700 2008 4115891 18598 shoelace 2 4146011 Yes, the Carvel cakes are half the price, but they also sit there for months and months and are factory-made, not store-made like the ones in the Carvel stores. However, Cabot cheese is a bargain and BJ's carries skirt steak most of the time. Pine nuts and any other nut you use for baking, sugar, flour, butter (I bake a lot - 4 lbs. of butter doesn't go to waste here), packaged bread, frozen tortellini when I had a toddler, Hebrew National salami and hot dogs, to name a few. Mon Nov 03 08:01:50 -0800 2008 4130873 25244 rockycat 3 4147903 youre right about the carvel cakes but iv had many many carvel cakes both from in store and from bjs, they dont taste at all different last tuesday it was my neices bday, i had picked up a bjs carvel cake, and last minute 10 other people called in that they were coming, so i picked up another one from carvel there was zero difference in taste Mon Nov 03 20:05:04 -0800 2008 4146011 18598 shoelace 1 4132163 This week's sampling of things I haven't tried before: - fresh pizza. Okay. Nice flaky crust but not a lot of flavour. At least it wasn't sweet! And it was BIG. They only had pepperoni, cheese or chicken and peppers, so we had pepperoni. The best point about it was that it baked in ten minutes flat. It wasn't any nicer than a Digiorno's 'Ultimate' (my favourite storebought pizza) and it was pretty much the same price so we won't be rushing to get another. -Cuban bread. Exactly the same as the pan cubano at Albertsons (probably comes from the same bakery), only cheaper. Definitely one to buy again. -house brand lunchmeats. Almost half the price of Dietz and Watson, but sadly, about half the quality too. The 'low sodium ham' still tasted very salty to me, and the buffalo chicken didn't have the nice chunky 'I'm a real chicken breast' quality of D&W. I won't be rushing to buy them again. -and lastly, Joseph's whole-wheat lavash wraps with oatbran. Yum! Very low in calories, 6 grams of fiber per wrap, and they're sturdy enough to hold together around a filling without them disintegrating (lavash bread tends to fall apart...) Very nice with hummus too. Probably the most successful purchase of the week. Mon Oct 27 12:00:32 -0700 2008 4115891 67657 Kajikit 2 4133057 I buy those wraps too. They make low carb ones that are whole wheat and have the least calories of any I've seen. Where are they found in the BJ's you shop at? I've always seen them at my local store by the deli and meat section, which I thought was a strange place. Another good buy from BJ's is the goat cheese logs. The plain ones are considerably cheaper than at my local stores. Mon Oct 27 17:46:27 -0700 2008 4132163 217807 cheesecake17 1 4145783 Was at BJs this weekend and got a big bag of "individual foccacias" and have been enjoying them immensely. Bold olive oil and thyme/sage flavors, good chewy texture. Have also tried the triple chocolate Hershey's brownies and like them (probably not as good as Ghiradelli's 3x choc brownies, but I don't have a Costco membership). And, I didn't buy (too big a chunk) but saw they have thee-year aged Cabot sharp cheddar at about $8/lb. Mon Nov 03 06:40:41 -0800 2008 4115891 50613 weezycom 1 4222499 We finally got around to trying the roast chicken. It was yummy! Not so ridiculously over-salted as the ones in the supermarket, and nice and juicy. We also got a wonderful 'gold' ham for Thanksgiving. Mmmmmm that was good eating! Fri Dec 05 06:47:37 -0800 2008 4115891 67657 Kajikit 1 4240319 Chobani yogurt- 12 for 11.99, usually 1.99 each!!! Great taste! Thu Dec 11 17:33:39 -0800 2008 4115891 164988 rkaene 2 4246851 Do they come in a variety pack or all plain? Sun Dec 14 19:06:17 -0800 2008 4240319 217807 cheesecake17 3 4253180 Blueberry, strawberry, and peach Wed Dec 17 05:18:49 -0800 2008 4246851 164988 rkaene 4 4254080 Thanks! I hope I get there this weekend.. b/c I only have one container left in the fridge. Do they have the fat free kind? Wed Dec 17 10:54:14 -0800 2008 4253180 217807 cheesecake17 1 4240898 may i ask what BJs is? Thu Dec 11 22:15:24 -0800 2008 4115891 72668 phant0omx 2 4245460 It's a wholesale club, like Costco and Sam's Club http://www.bjs.com/ Sun Dec 14 06:19:38 -0800 2008 4240898 14216 Marge 3 4249850 BROWN RICE..Only Because COSTCO doesn't sell it here (I am in MD) :( Mon Dec 15 22:02:30 -0800 2008 4245460 226945 Woof Woof Woof 1 4377137 walnuts almonds laundry detergent books far east rice pilaf canned tomatoes peppers - red, orange, yellow, and green packaged together in North Carolina we bought wine at BJ's but not in Delaware Sun Feb 01 05:12:11 -0800 2009 4115891 240293 Lewes17266 2 4377142 oh sorry, FAR East is not right Near East at BJ's (the rice pilaf brand) Sun Feb 01 05:21:48 -0800 2009 4377137 240293 Lewes17266 1 4377467 BJ's has the BEST tomatoes. I don't know how, but they've managed to find sweet and juicy tomatoes in January. Sun Feb 01 08:24:09 -0800 2009 4115891 67610 Suzy Q 1 4803357 One just opened nearby and we will be joining. They take coupons! (that deserves more exclamation points) I was amazed at the selection/variety. They seemed to stagger Sam's Club in terms of selection. Sort of sticker shocked at the price of coffee, but happy about the meat selection. They had a 6 pound Pork Roll- I picked it up like it was a baby & patted it's butt. Then I laid it back down and took it's picture. (sigh) Everyone was friendly, helpful and the place was immaculate- yeah it only opened a week ago but there was a guy walking around picking stuff off the floor and sweeping... I didn't get close to the deli (it was mobbed) - what are the brands-are they the same all over or regional - does anyone know? I'll find out eventually I was just curious. Wed Jun 24 16:35:07 -0700 2009 4115891 110426 Boccone Dolce 1 4804893 We Buy paper plates, napkins, plastic bags, stretch tite, foil, garbage bags, cat food, cat litter, bottle watter, ice tea, pellegrino, meat bones for gravy, pork butts, chickens, ground pork, evoo, cereal, spices, batteries, vitamins, sometimes fish and cheese and a few other things I can't think of right now. Everyting else I can find a lot cheaper on sale in a super market. Thu Jun 25 07:37:12 -0700 2009 4115891 250004 Nunzio 1 4815175 Diapers and wipes! BJs though, sells this Emerald Mix that we die for - pretzel balls, potato crisps, sesame sticks, cashews and almonds dusted in this Worcestshire (sp?) powder. Delicious. A big tub costs like $8 or so. I also get eggs from BJs and milk since we go through so much of it. I also buy a big container of dried porcini mushrooms from BJs. Just beware though - you have to know your prices - sometimes the bulk seems like a good deal, but you can do better at a supermarket on sale w/coupons. Mon Jun 29 10:43:10 -0700 2009 4115891 113759 CurlieGlamourGirlie