I haven't done one of these for a while but then I haven't been inside a Costco for a while…a long while. When COVID started, I went in and stocked up on paper towels and toilet paper, which were occasionally hard to come by for a time. I went in once to use a coupon that had to be used in-person. And since then, I've done all my Costcoing by home delivery, usually once a week. I get a rotisserie chicken plus enough other stuff to reach the Free Delivery amount of $35, which is usually a cinch to reach.
Almost sad to say, I especially haven't been to a Costco this year due to my busted ankle. It's mostly healed but since January, I haven't left my home except to visit (a) various doctors' offices and medical facilities or (b) Comic-Con International in San Diego. The two necessities of life for me. Cruising the Internet though, I know what I'd find if I did now visit a Costco. I'd find dozens upon dozens of people with their cell phone cameras out making videos they'll put online telling us what's new at Costco, what's on sale at Costco and what's healthy at Costco.
It feels like the Worldwide Web now has more of these videos than it has videos of porn. The recent hurricanes that hit the American Southeast were not covered as extensively and immediately as what the various self-appointed Costco Reporters let us know what to buy and not to buy at their local Costcos.
The two most ubiquitous ones are probably The Deal Guy, Matt Granite, whose beat also covers Amazon, Dollar Tree, Walmart, Sam's Club and anyplace you can get stuff cheap, and the guy behind Flav City, Bobby Parrish, who also covers Trader Joe's, Aldi, Walmart and a few other outlets that sell food that's healthy — or that he considers healthy. Most of the new Costco Reporters on the 'net were probably inspired by the success of these two gents.
I admire the help-people-be-healthy motives of Mr. Parrish, though maybe not quite enough to completely overcome my justified (I think) skepticism of getting medical/health advice from folks who are not certified, been-to-medical-school-and-gotten-their-licenses doctors. Bobby seems like one of the more informed ones but the majority of non-doctors out there lecturing us on this stuff create what sound to me like those Sovereign Citizens who read something on the Internet and decide you can't possibly be arrested for driving without a drivers license. I have no numbers to back this up but I believe the number one cause of death in this country is bad medical advice.
I watch Bobby's videos but I can't apply much of his counseling to my diet. He recommends we replace most other oils in our diets with Avocado Oil, which may be good advice for some folks but I'm very allergic to avocados and my Nephrologist has told me to avoid their oil. I have the same problem with almonds and almond flour, which Bobby endorses mightily, and quite a few other things non-doctors tell me to ingest. Artificial sweeteners are all bad for me but for a while I tried Stevia and monk fruit (not technically artificial sweeteners but they serve the same purpose) and they gave me terrible headaches which stopped immediately when I stopped the Stevia and monk fruit.
Friends who want to cook for me — a very bad idea, by the way — often ask me what foods I can't eat. The list is very, very long and it includes just about everything Bobby urges us to buy. We used to agree on one item: Rao's Marinara Sauce. He loved it and I loved it…and I still love it but it's no longer on the "Bobby-approved" list. Apparently, since the Campbell's company acquired the product, they've made a change. Instead of olive oil, they're now using a blend of olive oil and "refined olive oil" and in Flav City, the latter is a no-no.
Bobby urges a switch to Paesana Organic Marinara Sauce — which he can get at his Costco in Florida (I think that's where he lives) but I can't get it in mine or any local markets. I may start experimenting with other brands once I've used up all the Rao's in my cupboard but I'm kinda flying blind on this. Reading labels might not always tell me if "olive oil" means "olive oil" or it means "olive oil mixed with some unspecified amount of refined olive oil." A friend of mine who's in the same quandary says, "I'll believe the change in Rao's is truly harmful when Bobby takes down the dozens of videos he still has on YouTube that recommend it."
I'm not saying his recommendations might not be solid for you or even the vast majority of humans on this planet. I guess I'm just frustrated because I live in a world where most people who tell you what to eat and what not to eat seem to think everyone can eat everything.
An awful lot of them also seem to think everyone can cook as easily and as well as they can. No matter how bad the additives to a Costco rotisserie chicken could possibly be, it's a lot safer for me to eat one of them than any chicken I might prepare at home. Bobby recommends home-cooked chicken too but the last few times I tried, I was like a rhinoceros attempting to dance hip-hop. I ended up with chickens that were like leather on the outsides, raw on the insides and the steam coming off them formed into a little skull and crossbones hovering over what I had prepared. Every time I decide not to cook anything more elaborate than rice, I may be saving my life.