I remember reading an article once that suggested college students could save money on food by eating lunch at Costco. Not by buying food at the food court, however. But by going inside the store and eating from all the samples!

Now, we didn’t go to Central Market in Austin with that in mind. We just wanted to check out Whole Foods’ competitor and see what it was all about. But of course we wouldn’t turn away from all the various plates of samples left out, like at the cheese counter where we couldn’t stop sampling a fantastic vodka currant cheese from Sweden.

Or the beef fajita wrap served hot at another station sampling various meat rubs and seasonings:

Or this wonderful smoked trout paté served on multigrain flatbread crackers. This was so awesome.

Going past one of the bakery counters, the staff person actually ran up to us and offered Daniel and Esther each a frosted cupcake. How’s that for service?

We came upon this wrapped prosciutto end in a basket across from the deli meats counter. This is another good way to get deli-style meats for cheap. I wish the stores here would do this…

In contrast, the actual food we got for lunch from Central Market was nowhere near as delectable as the samples.

More pics from our Texas trip at my Ball of Dirt Journal http://www.ballofdirt.com/journeys/17578.html

Aloha, Nate