There are plenty of reasons to adore Costco: a food court that slings pizza slices bigger than your head and offers the best deal on the planet for a hot-dog-soft-drink combo; rotisserie chickens in the deli that are as cheap as they are tasty; and the wholesale club's generally affordable prices for bulk items. But the store's bakery is perhaps the most beloved of them all.
Unfortunately, however, the reputation of Costco's bakery is being called into question on social media as some frustrated shoppers are noticing a menacing, moldy issue with their baked goods.
In the r/costco forum on Reddit, user u/captnchunky asked other Costco shoppers if the bagels they buy from the wholesale club's bakery are growing mold "extremely quickly." The user said they put one pack of the bagels in the freezer and stored the other in a Ziploc bag.
Not surprisingly to us (but obviously surprisingly to the Redditor), the bagels in the Ziploc began to mold after just four days — almost as if they were fresh, unrefrigerated baked goods with no preservatives added to them. Wait, that's because they are! Brain blast!
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Other Redditors took to the comments section to point out that the bagels should be frozen or refrigerated to increase their lifespan and ward off mold.
Let's break it down. Those bagels you find in the bread aisle? They contain preservatives and other additives. The ones you grab in the bakery? Those are baked fresh in the store's bakery and don't have as long of a shelf life because they don't contain preservatives.
Still baffled and outraged that your baked goods are blue and fuzzy like the Cookie Monster after just a couple of days? Just. Refrigerate. The. Dang. Bagels. (Or slice them and freeze them for a longer shelf life.) You'll toast them anyway, so it doesn't matter if they're cold first. You'll be okay. We promise. We're here for you.
@karmiccreations Food is supposed to spoil. Unatural Preservatives are killing us #bread #ohno #bagels #foryoupage #cookingtiktok #chefsharb #fyp #baking #viral #ohnono #ohnonononoo ♬ Oh No - Kreepa
If you're working through the emotional trauma of making the switch from cabinet to fridge for your bagels, brace yourself. You can refrigerate and freeze other baked goods from Costco to prevent mold too! One TikToker says freezing the muffins is an absolute gamechanger. Leave out a couple when you buy them to enjoy within the first couple of days and freeze the rest. The night before you want a muffin for breakfast, just grab it out of the freezer and set it on the counter. Fool proof.
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