I've been a restaurant critic for 15 years. Here are 12 things I love to buy at Costco.

I use half of this dozen for one batch of bread pudding, then freeze the other half for next time.

I've tried everything from chocolate babka to Krispy Kreme doughnuts in my bread puddings, and the crisp exterior and buttery, finely creviced center of Costco's croissants make them my favorite medium for soaking up a cinnamon-inflected custard.

At $6 for 12, the value is miles away from what I'd find at a fancy bakery.

To give you an idea of my ardor for grilling my own marinated meats, I used to drive around with the license plate "BULGOGI."

A few years ago, my husband bought me a Korean barbecue grill for my birthday. When we cook our own Korean barbecue, we focus our energies on the meats and banchan and typically use these microwaveable bowls for our rice. It's not as good as homemade, but it makes life a whole lot easier.

A package with a dozen of these bowls retails for $13.50.

My husband used to be on teriyaki-style dipping-sauce detail on our Korean barbecue nights.

But when we tried Bachan's Japanese barbecue sauce on a lark, we realized that the recipe was closer to what they serve at our favorite Korean barbecue restaurant than ours was. This lightly sweet dip has become one of our staples.

A 34-ounce bottle of Bachan's has thus far lasted us more than a year. Not a bad deal for $10.

For most of my adult life, I've been religious about making my own pasta sauce. It's vastly better than most commercial options and not much harder than opening a can. But then I discovered Rao's Homemade marinara sauce.

Its preternatural balance is simply beyond my abilities. I doctor it up with a few extra cloves of garlic and some homegrown fresh basil.

Two 28-ounce glass bottles cost $12.

When my husband and I got married last year, one of my best friends, a kolache baker in Houston, made us a gorgeous pistachio, rose, and saffron cake to celebrate.

Since then, my husband, a sound engineer by trade, has been trying to replicate it at home. Saffron is expensive, but key to our experiments.

Organic La Mancha Spanish saffron is $16 for a gram, but a little goes a long way.

Since my job means eating lots of heavy meals at restaurants, when I'm home, I try to cut out fat and calories any way I can.

Chosen Foods avocado-oil spray coats my pans in a fine mist and withstands even high heat. I especially love it for eggs that fill my staple breakfast tacos.

Two 13 1/2-ounce bottles are $13 and last me many months.

The standard 24-pack of eggs at Costco is cage-free, which I insist on buying.

I scramble them with griddled quesillo and season them with Tajín before adding cilantro. I also make a lot of bread pudding for my husband, so eggs go quickly in our house.

Two dozen USDA AA-grade extra-large eggs cost $5.

I've been using my air fryer every day that I've eaten at home since 2018.

Often, its role is merely heating leftovers (restaurant critics have embarrassing amounts of those), but when I'm making something fresh, I use my air fryer for Brussels sprouts. I cut them in half, coat them in avocado oil and crisp them up before giving them a light toss in salt and balsamic vinegar.

Two pounds of organic Brussels sprouts retails for $6.

I upgraded from that original air fryer to a Ninja Foodi, which has more capabilities beyond air-frying, a few years ago, partly because I didn't have time for long braises as often as I would have liked.

The pressure cooker is ideal for breaking down the tight muscle fibers of a brisket into fork-tender, edible love. Before slicing, I crisp the thin layer of unrendered fat in the air fryer. I cut the raw flat in half and freeze some for my next meaty craving.

At Costco, a USDA choice beef brisket is $7.50 per-pound.

I've had some of my doctors recommend green tea for its benefits of brain health and fat loss. That's enough for me to require a cup first thing every morning.

The Kirkland blend of sencha and matcha makes for an unusually robust cup — they're the best budget bags I've found. I don't eat breakfast unless I have to report on it for work, so this tea is my most important "meal" of the day.

This is one of the best deals of all — 100 bags for $12.

Yes, I could make my own Parmesan cheese crisps. But I have to be realistic: With the higher price of Parmesan, it would cost more to make my own than to buy a bag of Whisps. I snack on them and also use them as grain-free croutons in salads.

A 10.8-ounce bag of the crunchy "artisanal cheese" is $10.

I have a bit of a dried-mango problem, and it started at a company retreat in 2019. Over the course of a couple of days, I ate a whole bag of dried mango by myself.

It turns out, my husband loves the chewy, sweet-and-sour snacks almost as much as his favorite licorice. In fact, it's our go-to healthy-ish dessert.

At $17.50 for 40 ounces, I can't afford to eat whole bags in a couple of days on my own dime, but I wish I could.

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