10th Costco Shopping in 2020 – $40.69 today / $654.91 this year
Member Only Savings – $5 today / $130 this year

Happy Valentine’s Day. I went for a quick Costco shopping after work. Traditionally, Valentine’s Day is when we see St. Patrick’s Day items at Costco. The most popular St. Patrick’s product at Costco is Bill Bailey’s Irish Brand Corned Beef Brisket. I found the briskets today… but there was a twist.

Costco now sells fully cooked corned beef briskets and the ready-to-cook version we are familiar with. Fully cooked briskets are $5.59 per pound, whereas ready-to-cook briskets are $3.99 per pound.

But… pre-cooked brisket? Do you really want to microwave your special meal? St. Patrick’s Day dinner has to be more than just nuking a packaged meat for 10 minutes and turning it over once. We only have a handful of special days where cooking is part of the tradition. It’s sad to think that St. Patrick’s Day is becoming the day we microwave our dinner. I am already taking a shortcut because I don’t season the brisket myself. Perhaps, in the future, I will succumb to the concept of pre-cooked holiday meals. Perhaps I will celebrate the change of the season by opening up my microwave oven. Maybe, in the future, we will all have multiple microwave ovens in our kitchens so we can prepare meals for special family gatherings. That sounds grim and dystopian.

This Saint Patrick’s day (2020) I will proudly slow cook my corned beef brisket for ten hours. I will pay respect to Irish history and tradition as I put my body into a ritual.