5 Hidden Benefits Every Costco Member Should Know

Why dump dinners are the best thing since sliced bread, unexpected uses for onion skins, and more. August 28, 2021 [View Online]( Good morning! Just in time for your Saturday Costco run, Today’s Good Thing is a refresher course on some of the less flashy—but no less useful—benefits of Costco memberships. Whether you’ve never heard of them or just haven’t looked into them, the 5 benefits below are worth exploring. Also in today’s newsletter, I wax poetic about one of my favorite types of freezer meals: dump chicken. Knowing I have a few of these pre-assembled meals in the freezer that I can dump in my slow cooker does wonders for my mental state when life gets crazy (or just crazier than usual.) Jillee TODAY'S GOOD THING 5 Hidden Benefits To Your Costco Membership [Photos of Jillee at Costco.]( You get dozens of great benefits as a Costco member, but not everyone knows about these ones. 1. Travel Deals. Costco partners with hotel chains, car rental companies, and cruise lines to secure great travel deals for members. They also have travel experts that can help you plan your trip, and since all quoted prices for travel deals include taxes and fees, you'll never be surprised when it comes time to pay. 2. Prescription Drugs. Costco offers a Member Prescription Program that can get you discounts on prescription medications, making it a great option for people who are uninsured or don’t have prescription benefits through their health insurance. To learn more, check out the [Member Prescription Program FAQs](. 3. Hearing & Vision Exams. Though prices vary by location, you can typically get an eye exam for a very competitive price through Costco Optical. And the Costco Hearing Aid Center offers free hearing tests, follow-up appointments, and check-ups too. 4. Discounted Gift Cards. It’s not unusual to see great prices on packs of gift cards, like two $50 gift cards for $79.99 or four $15 gift cards for $44.99. With these deals, you can afford to stock up on gift cards to movie theaters, theme parks, performances, or activities to give as Christmas or birthday gifts. 5. Insurance. Costco offers discounted rates on home, auto, renters, and specialty insurance through CONNECT, powered by American Family Insurance. The policies often have extra benefits for Executive Members too, like roadside and lockout assistance. [Learn more about CONNECT insurance from Costco here](. [4 More Hidden Costco Benefits]( [4 More Hidden Costco Benefits]( Related • [7 Costco Secrets That Everyone Should Know (Even Non-Members)]( ⚡️QUICK TIPS⚡️ • It may not be traditional, but why waste time nitpicking when you could be eating this delicious, cake-like cornbread instead? [Read more ➜]( • If shaving or waxing often leaves you with ingrown hairs, this simple and effective advice will help you treat and prevent them. [Read more ➜]( • Use your phone to snap a photo of your claim number to avoid a coat check snafu—and take these 10 other useful photos too. [Read more ➜]( COOKING Why “Dump Chicken” Is My Go-To Easy Dinner Option [Photos of making ]( Meals that you can assemble ahead of time, freeze, then dump in your slow cooker are a form of self-care. When it comes to easy weeknight dinners, it doesn't get much easier than “dump chicken.” It's more of a method than anything, involving putting all the ingredients for a particular chicken dish together in a ziplock bag and freezing it for later. To make it, you just dump the bag into your slow cooker or your Instant Pot and turn it on, hence the name. I like to buy big bags of frozen chicken breasts or tenderloins and use them to assemble several dump chicken meals at once. They're great to have on hand for those days when dinner is the least of my worries. I have a few different variations of dump chicken that I like to rotate through, including this [Cream Cheese Chicken]( and [this Lemon Garlic Chicken](. And while I haven’t tried it yet, [this Honey Garlic Chicken from Sweet Peas & Saffron]( is definitely on my list of dump chicken recipes to try! If you have a dump chicken recipe you love (or any slow cooker recipe you can freeze ahead of time), reply to this email and share it with me! I'll share your recipes here in a future segment. It'll be kind of like one of those recipe swap email chains, but a lot less complicated. UNUSUAL USES 3 Useful Things You Can Do With Onion Skins [Photos of uses for onion skins.]( Those dry, papery onion skins are loaded with nutrients—here are three ways to put them to good use. 1. Make Stock⁣⁣. You can use onion skins and other vegetable scraps to make your own vegetable stock, and the skins will add a rich onion flavor and immunity-boosting properties. Just strain out the skins with a fine-mesh sieve before pouring it into a storage container.⁣ 2. Dye Eggs And Fabric. You can use red, yellow, and brown onion skins as natural dyes for Easter eggs, fabric, thread, and more. Check out [this tutorial from All Natural Dyeing]( to learn how it’s done. 3. Reduce Cramping⁣⁣. The nutrients in onion skins can help you avoid those terrible middle-of-the-night muscle cramps. Boil onion skins in water for 10-20 minutes, then strain the liquid through a mesh sieve and let it cool. Drink some of the infusion as a tea before bed to help prevent those sleep-interrupting cramps.⁣⁣ JILLEE'S PICK The Heart And Humor Of Ted Lasso [A promotional image for ]( While I’m a bit late in the game at this point, especially since Season 2 is currently airing, but I finally got around to starting [Ted Lasso](. I’ve only seen the first few episodes, but I already find myself extremely endeared by the title character Ted (Jason Sudeikis). The show's premise is that American football coach Ted Lasso is hired by Rebecca (Hannah Waddingham), the owner of AFC Richmond, a team playing the other kind of football in England, to be the team's new manager. After an icy welcome, Ted endeavors to win everyone over with kindness, humor, and occasionally cookies. Now I understand why I’d heard so many good things about this show. In these tumultuous times, the uncommon heart and kindness displayed by the characters feels like a warm hug you didn’t know you needed. (Though I will say that if you’re turned off by strong language—and lots of it—this may not be the show for you.) [Ted Lasso is available to stream on Apple TV+](. REMEMBER WHEN Secrets Of The Slam Book [A photo of an old Slam Book.]( Well before the “Burn Book” played a memorable role in the movie Mean Girls, the Slam Book had already been making its way around classrooms for decades. I actually remember making one with my friends back in junior high, though I remember our version being pretty tame. Slam Books were like an analog equivalent of social media back in the day. Ours was contained in a simple spiral-bound notebook, and the first page bore the customary sign-in sheet where each person using the book would write their name on a numbered line. The following pages had a question or theme written at the top, and the person using the book would write their response on the same line they claimed on the sign-in page. The point was to learn things about our classmates, so most questions were simple things like “What’s your favorite class?” or “What’s your zodiac sign?” Did you ever make a Slam Book back in school, or did you ever write in someone else's? Hit “reply” and tell me about it (just make sure to write your name on the sign-in page first!) A FEW MORE THINGS... On This Day: In 1837, pharmacists John Lea and William Perrins began manufacturing Worcestershire sauce. Today, Worcestershire sauce remains one of the most popular flavor enhancers sold in stores, and it makes a [tasty steak marinade]( to boot. Words Of Wisdom: "I seldom end up where I wanted to go, but almost always end up where I need to be." - Douglas Adams LOVE OGT? SHARE IT! If you’re enjoying the OGT newsletter, it would mean so much to me if you'd share it with your friends and family! When you share it allows me to continue sharing the tips and tricks you love with you! 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