Costco (Kirkalnd) butter

SilverSage

Resident Crone
Yesterday, Publix had Land O Lakes unsalted butter for $4.19 a pound.

Today, I was at Costco and they had their Kirkland brand for $8.99 for 4 pounds. That's almost half price, so I bought it. Has anyone ever tried their brand? And is it any good?
 

MexicoKaren

Joyfully Retired
Super Site Supporter
I know that I am not the person you expected to hear from, but I use Kirkland (Costco) butter often. I like it for baking, because it comes in one pound packages, quartered, and each quarter is one half cup. Butter here comes in kilos and parts of kilos, so it is a little more tricky to come up with measurements for baking. The butter we buy at Costco here in Mexico is Kirkland, imported from the US. Probably not top quality, but very good.
 
K

Kimchee

Guest
Can't speak for the butter, but every other Kirkland product I've gotten has been excellent!
 

bigjim

Mess Cook
Super Site Supporter
I use Kirkland butter. Never had a problem except that it comes only in 4 pound packs. Their Prime meats are excellent, Cryovac whole boneless ribeyes were $8.50 the last time I bought one, with no waste. Garlic is 4 or 5 bucks for three pounds. Bacon $2.50/pound, yeast 4 bucks for a large bag. There are many other good buys. All will freeze.
 

lilbopeep

🌹🐰 Still trying to get it right.
Site Supporter
I use Kirkland butter. Never had a problem except that it comes only in 4 pound packs. Their Prime meats are excellent, Cryovac whole boneless ribeyes were $8.50 the last time I bought one, with no waste. Garlic is 4 or 5 bucks for three pounds. Bacon $2.50/pound, yeast 4 bucks for a large bag. There are many other good buys. All will freeze.
Is the yeast Flieshman's in a silver bag?
 

QSis

Grill Master
Staff member
Gold Site Supporter
I can't tell the difference in flavor among butters* - I use whatever is on sale.

I have a neighbor that proudly proclaims she is a "butter snob", and only uses Land O'Lakes.

Lee

*The exception is the butter I had in France. Amazing!
 

bigjim

Mess Cook
Super Site Supporter
You take cream, you pound on it or spin it until the fat separates from the rest. The fat is butter, the rest is skim milk. How much difference can there be?
 

JoeV

Dough Boy
Site Supporter
In my kitchen, butter is butter, salted and unsalted, and you'll get what I bought on sale unless you bring your own. $4.19/lb is a sinful price. I wonder what palace the cow lives in to warrant that price? (rhetorical question) I just paid $2.48/lb a few days ago for Giant Eagle store brand, and for me that's too high. I needed it in a hurry and could not get to Aldi or Wal-Mart where the prices are much better. Sometimes I think these stores just jack up the prices to increase their profits because they know a certain number of dead heads will just grab and throw stuff in their shopping carts without looking at the price.
 

SilverSage

Resident Crone
I asked because there can be a lot of difference. The flavor in butter & cheese has a lot to do with the diet of the cows, as well as the processing.

When I lived in Arizona, there was a brand in the local supermarket that I had never seen before called Challenge butter. I tried it and it was terrible. Waxy. Flavorless. to this day, the worst butter I have ever tasted. I find many of the store brands the same way. I just couldn't pass up the price, so I'm trying this one.

Like your friend, Lee, I am a butter snob. I usually only buy Land O' Lakes. I LOVE Lurpak and Plugra and Kerrygold, but they are a bit pricey and I only get them for special occasions. The European butters are made from cultured cream, not pasteurized cream, and have a much richer flavor.
 

SilverSage

Resident Crone
In my kitchen, butter is butter, salted and unsalted, and you'll get what I bought on sale unless you bring your own. $4.19/lb is a sinful price. I wonder what palace the cow lives in to warrant that price? (rhetorical question) I just paid $2.48/lb a few days ago for Giant Eagle store brand, and for me that's too high. I needed it in a hurry and could not get to Aldi or Wal-Mart where the prices are much better. Sometimes I think these stores just jack up the prices to increase their profits because they know a certain number of dead heads will just grab and throw stuff in their shopping carts without looking at the price.

$2.48 a pound? I never see that. On sale here it's 2/$5.00. I wonder why butter costs so much more down here than Ohio?
 

JoeV

Dough Boy
Site Supporter
$2.48 a pound? I never see that. On sale here it's 2/$5.00. I wonder why butter costs so much more down here than Ohio?
The Northern states have more dairy farming would be my guess, thus, the transportation costs would be less. Ohio has a lot of dairy farms, and we have a major Amish cheese processor just a 30 minute drive from where I live. Much of the dairy products we see in the stores are from Ohio dairy farms, as well as poultry and eggs. I think Florida mainly produces sunshine.:shock::sun1::tongue:
 

Adillo303

*****
Gold Site Supporter
Did I miss a math course? 2/$5.00 is $2.50 a pound. Not too far different. I haven't tried Costco, I should. Our local Shop Rite often has Hotel Bar for 2/$5.00 I take a good kidding when I bring home four pounds for two people. Of course, I did tarnish my reputation when it was noted that I have 6 bottles of ketchup on the shelf.
 

Mama

Queen of Cornbread
Site Supporter
The Publix stores here are pretty high priced on just about everything. I've been buying my butter at Sam's Club for years and don't have any complaints. I think the last time I bought some it was around $9 for 4 pounds. I only shop at Publix if something is on sale or I need some Chiquita bananas. Kroger and Ingles are much more reasonably priced.
 

SilverSage

Resident Crone
LOL! 2/$5.00 is our sale price. When I see it (usually around holiday baking time) I stock up and freeze it.

$3.69 is right about the normal price here. When I saw $4.19 I almost fell over. At that price, I figured I'd give Costco butter a try.

4 pounds for 2 people? I go through that in 2 weeks for 2 people!!! For me, stocking up is anywhere from 10 pounds and up! (for 2 people).

Publix is almost the only game in town near me. We used to have Albertsons, but they sold all their stores here to Publix a few years ago. There is a Sweetbay nearby, but it's really bad. I just run in there for emergencies. If I go to Sarasota, they have a Whole Foods & a Fresh Market, but they are both expensive and over 25 miles away. The nearest Costco is in Tampa, about 35 miles away, so when I go there, I really stock up on stuff. I'm just in the middle of a vast wasteland referred to as "north county".
 

Mama

Queen of Cornbread
Site Supporter
I hear that food prices are supposed to skyrocket this year. So, unfortunately the rise in the price of butter may only be the beginning :sad:

We used to have Winn Dixie stores here that were pretty good. They still have some stores in Florida but I don't know how close they would be to you.
 

MexicoKaren

Joyfully Retired
Super Site Supporter
I pay 110 pesos for a kilo of butter (2.2 pounds for the metric-challenged)...that's $4-5 a pound! And sometimes, it's not really fresh in the supermarkets, because it is not a particularly popular item in Mexican cooking. I pay about 80 pesos for two pounds of Kirkland at Costco, which makes it about $3.50 a pound. Not bad, but still expensive.
 

QSis

Grill Master
Staff member
Gold Site Supporter
Hmmmm, SS, I got some Plugra from somewhere (TJ's, maybe?) because I heard it was incredible.

I was bummed that I couldn't taste one bit of difference.

Lee
 

SilverSage

Resident Crone
I hope you didn't cook with it. You'll lose all the subtle tang if you do. Just eat it at room temp spread on something. It has a wonderful tang and a creaminess that we don't get here.
 

MexicoKaren

Joyfully Retired
Super Site Supporter
The butter I buy here in Mexico (when it is fresh) tastes alot like plugra...very rich and flavorful. I do taste the difference in something like buttery shortbread. Scrumptious.
 

Keltin

New member
Gold Site Supporter
In my kitchen, butter is butter, salted and unsalted, and you'll get what I bought on sale unless you bring your own. $4.19/lb is a sinful price. I wonder what palace the cow lives in to warrant that price? (rhetorical question) I just paid $2.48/lb a few days ago for Giant Eagle store brand, and for me that's too high. I needed it in a hurry and could not get to Aldi or Wal-Mart where the prices are much better. Sometimes I think these stores just jack up the prices to increase their profits because they know a certain number of dead heads will just grab and throw stuff in their shopping carts without looking at the price.


Dang SS, does that make you a "Dead Head"?

Kirklands is a popular brand here, and I use it all the time. It's fine. The only time I've seen a difference in butter is if you highlight it such as melted on veggies or spread on bread. As you mentioned, the European slant is the difference between cultured and pasteurized. And that is a big difference, but not one we in the US can typically choose from due to USDA regulations.

But, in the US, for cooking (versus presentation), it all works out about the same. Although, homemade is a bit sweeter.

I recieved a new mixer for Chirstmas, so I think it's time to make some more fresh butter. That is so fun! Thanks for this thread and reminding me I have lots of work left to do! :lol:
 

MexicoKaren

Joyfully Retired
Super Site Supporter
SilverSage said:
How did your homemade butter compare?

Oh, the homemade butter was SO sweet and had no aftertaste or lingering flavor. It was really, really good.
 

Adillo303

*****
Gold Site Supporter
Cool info here. I had not heard of plugra, so I Googled it, neat!

Karen, has making butter for the FP inspired you to make it again?
 

QSis

Grill Master
Staff member
Gold Site Supporter
I hope you didn't cook with it. You'll lose all the subtle tang if you do. Just eat it at room temp spread on something. It has a wonderful tang and a creaminess that we don't get here.

SS, I didn't start off using it for cooking, but when I didn't find a difference in flavor or texture I was hoping for on a piece of bread, a toasted English muffin, a mound of steamed vegs, etc., I probably just gave up and used it like any other butter.

I may try it again someday.

Lee
 

Guts

New member
I have been buying Costco butter for as long as I can remember. I buy the 4 pound packages. The cost has been climbing up. Last time I bought 4 pounds. It went from $7.35 to $7.56 for 4 pounds. one half a cup of butter is equal to 113 grams actually just a little more but 113 is a good number to use. 1/2 cup butter or one stick/113 grams is 8 tablespoons or 14.125 grams for 1 tablespoon. This is one of the reasons I use a scale for a lot of my recipes. I just put the pan or mixing bowl, whatever and putting the butter into and weigh it. it's a really easy way of measuring butter. They have salted and unsalted butter at Costco sold as 1 pound blocks or four sticks 1/2 cup each in 1 pound packages totaling 4 pounds buying it this way is slightly more money $.25-$.35 more. Again salted or unsalted, whichever you like.
 

katlin

New member
I use the Kirkland butter for catering and I have always had great results with it. I would imagine the it is sold in such huge volume that it rarely sit around for too long.
 

Adillo303

*****
Gold Site Supporter
Yesterday we went to the wholesale grocer. We can't buy a lot there, because the quantities are so large, but some things they sell in singles and quantities we can use.

Eggs would have been a great bargain at about $1.40 a dozen. The catch is that you had to buy a 30 dozen case.

Anyway, we got butter for $2.42 a pound. I got two pounds of the 83% fat European style butter. It was not labeled as such, but is that Plugra, or is that a brand name. We had it on toast and grits this AM. I have to try it again.

The funny part is that I get kidded, because, I buy too much ketchup and mayonnaise. DW picked up 12 pounds of butter. It comes in one pound blocks. I opened, quartered and re-wrapped half of it. It is now all frozen.

Gosh I wish we had a freezer, great bargains there.
 

dansdiamond

Food Sound Eng.
Gold Site Supporter
I can't tell the difference in flavor among butters* - I use whatever is on sale.

I have a neighbor that proudly proclaims she is a "butter snob", and only uses Land O'Lakes.

Lee

*The exception is the butter I had in France. Amazing!
We use the costco Kirkland Butter most the time.
But if I am making Oyster Stew, I use Land o' Lakes.
 
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