Saturday, August 01, 2009

Quinoa Bargain at Costco : Gluten-Free Super-Grain Dirt-Cheap

Quinoa: Gluten-Free Super-Grain, now at CostCo



Quinoa is a wonderful gluten-free grain that I enjoy as often as possible, and a grain that has recently grown in popularity (not just among Celiacs) in the culinary world -- and with that growth in demand has come increasing prices. I witnessed small 12oz or 1-pound boxes of quinoa doubling in price at the grocery store over just the past year, and have read many a blog about other people seeing the same thing.

Well, we were out at CostCo the other day, and I was delighted to come across this very large (4 POUND) bag of Organic Quinoa for only $7.99 (i.e., $2.00/pound), which is incredibly price-competitive and the cheapest I have seen quinoa grain in a long time.

Update (2011-August): I have added a new Costco Gluten-Free Bargains for 2011 (link) blog that extends upon this blog with updated pricing information for quinoa and a list of other gluten-free products Costco offers currently. Of course, the gluten-free recipes using quinoa (discussed below) are still very much available and useful.


Some Gluten-Free Recipes featuring Quinoa

If you are new to quinoa, you may want to check out a few different recipes we have posted here on the Gluten-Free Blog as well as on our Gluten-Free Recipes page, including those linked to in the following paragraphs. Quinoa is generally rather simple to prepare (hardly any more difficult than cooking rice), but brings much more flavor and nutrition to the table for the same effort.

Gluten-Free & Wheat-Free Garlic, Pepper, and Herb Quinoa Recipe (picture below):

Gluten-Free Quinoa with Herbs
Gluten-Free Quinoa with Herbs

And there there is always the Gluten-Free Quinoa Meatloaf recipe (picture below), which I also blogged about last year with an entry talking about some of the other health-merits of quinoa in recipes like this...

Quinoa Meatloaf - Gluten-Free
Quinoa Meatloaf - Gluten-Free
There are certainly many more ways to enjoy this wonderful gluten-free grain. Sometimes we simply cook it up and use a bit of wheat-free/gluten-free tamari (soy sauce) over it. We have used it where rice would otherwise be used for various dishes as well. Fact is, quinoa is quite versatile, vegan (our meatloaf withstanding. heh), wheat-free, gluten-free, dairy-free, high-protein, high-fiber, and all those other great things! And, as long as CostCo has cheap Quinoa available, it will be an affordable option too!

Continue to read this Gluten-Free Blog for all sorts of gluten-free recipes, product-reviews, and related information. In addition, visit my Gluten-Free Recipes Site where many of the recipes I have featured on this blog are available.

6 comments:

genie said...

OOOOH! I will definitely have to check this out. Love quinoa! Thanks for letting us know.

~M said...

Thanks for the tip! I just got some today on my monthly trip there, though it's $9.99 in Chicago. Previously, I had also bought those amazing Riceworks chips in the salsa fresca flavor; unfortunately, they only carry the (boring) sea salt flavor at the two Costcos nearest to me now. I've also seen Lundberg brown rice there in huge bags - but I like the long grain basmati brown rice much better. Please keep us posted of your Costco finds!

Ashley said...

I'm so glad you posted this! I love quinoa and I love Costco- can't wait to go pick some up tomorrow. Hopefully our Costco will carry this little gem :)

Lynn said...

I recently purchased Eden brand quinoa. The package said to wash the grain which was difficult to do since the grains are so small. Anyway, I cut up a green pepper, half a white onion and four cloves of garlic. I sauted them and added sofrito and some black pepper. I added in the cooked quinoa and a little tomato sauce and it was pretty good.

CinnamonQuill said...

Wow; what a deal! I'll be on the lookout for quinoa at CostCo. The prices have skyrocketed lately, so this is a nice surprise.

Pambobanker said...

May I ask where this bargain was - cereal or baking aisle - I am in Canada but will check my local Costco