Anonymous wrote:Buy 2 potted sweet basil plants, and you’ll have basil all summer. Skip the pine nuts, you won’t even know it’s missing. Basil, Parmesan and raw garlic dominate the flavor.

Um, what? No pine nuts = no pesto

Anonymous wrote:Grow your own basil (super easy - we also have like 3-4 plants), and definitely use walnuts, the pine nuts are way to $$$

I also make huge batches of pesto and freeze in ice cube trays!

+1 I planted two of those plants with roots from the grocery store and had an over abundance all last summer.

Anonymous wrote:Buy basil from the Asian store. It’s cheaper in large quantities. Or grow your own, in multiples.

+1, grow basil in the summer, buy basil from SuperH in winter.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why are you making it at home instead of buying it at costco? Food allergy?

I dont have a membership and I like to cook.

order it on Instacart. You don’t need a membership, and their pesto is delicious

Anonymous wrote:Grow your own basil (super easy - we also have like 3-4 plants), and definitely use walnuts, the pine nuts are way to $$$

I also make huge batches of pesto and freeze in ice cube trays!

I find pecans taste better but walnuts are healthier

Anonymous wrote:I have 3 plants and they last me all summer. You can take a cutting from your basil and put it in water to get roots and grow another once one is getting to big and stalky.

otherwise, buy premade or buy the basil.

Really the most expensive part is good olive oil and parm.

Plants are the way to go. And they're the cheapest part of pesto!

I have found basil grows very well here in the summer.

I usually make a big batch at the end of the summer, using only a little olive oil so I can form the pesto into balls, freeze them on cookie sheets, store in freezer bags and add more oil when I use them.

(As a Costco fan, I really wanted to like their pesto, but instead I really dislike it.)

Anonymous wrote:Why are you making it at home instead of buying it at costco? Food allergy?

Why do y'all push this junk? I thought this was an affluent and educated mommy message board.

Costco Pesto: "The #1 ingredient is deceivingly listed as “Basil blend”, which consists of basil, sunflower oil, and sea salt. The #2 ingredient is listed as “Sunflower oil”. Had they listed ingredients without misleadingly combining them into something else, the #1 ingredient would actually be sunflower oil — by far."

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'd keep my Costco membership just for their Kirkland brand pesto.

I live in Italy now but still have a Costco membership for the couple of times per year we go back to the US. I always bring back a jar of Kirkland pesto back to Italy. Even my husband, who is Italian, says it's one of the best items at Costco, although he'd prefer less garlic.

I find this hard to believe.

Have you had it recently? I think it's possible Costco's pesto used to be better. Now it barely tastes of basil and mostly tastes like salt.

Anonymous wrote:Trader Joe's. You can get a huge container of basil for $2.99

Full of garbage seed oil? There's no way they use good olive oil in something so cheap.

Get the plants at Giant. They are almost the same price as cut basil, and they grow fast and easily (if you water them enough).

I have the brownest thumb on earth but basil is so easy to grow! The animals leave it alone. It literally just needs sun and water. If you forget and it wilts, it comes right back to life when you water it again!

Anonymous wrote:I'd keep my Costco membership just for their Kirkland brand pesto.

I live in Italy now but still have a Costco membership for the couple of times per year we go back to the US. I always bring back a jar of Kirkland pesto back to Italy. Even my husband, who is Italian, says it's one of the best items at Costco, although he'd prefer less garlic.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'd keep my Costco membership just for their Kirkland brand pesto.

HA! This was me. It is the only thing that I like at Costco. Now, I just ask my neighbor to get me one when and if she goes.


OP, in some pesto recipes you can do spinach/basil. Obv it tastes different but there are some spinach-ptesto recipes out there

+1 use a different green like spinach that's cheaper!