The best thing you can buy at Costco right now

OK, I suppose that's hyperbole, as I confess I have not purchased and tested every item for sale at Costco. Still, I know a thing or two about noodles. I eat a lot of them, and I have made my own pasta on numerous occasions. And these are some noodles.

The secret to good fettuccine is (1) fresh ingredients and (2) development of the glutens (sorry gluten-free people!) through repeated stretching, which imparts the chewy, elastic texture that every great noodle requires. The "fresh" fettuccine one buys at the grocery store is almost always worse than the dried stuff, probably because it is extruded through a machine rather than rolled and stretched. Furthermore, it is rare to find a blend of spinach and flour noodles that works, because the spinach noodles are more fragile and cook too quickly. Somehow the Monte Pollino people got everything right. These noodles are dried, and rolled into "nests" that separate quickly in boiling water. Good with any pasta sauce you can think of. About $3 per pound, in 3-pound sacks. That comes to about $1 per person per meal, depending on how hungry you are. Believe me, you are worth it.