Originally published at Notes from the bunker…. You can comment here or there.

An expensive day for the Zero. Decided to walk through every aisle in CostCo today to see what was around that had some applications for my needs. Found a great deal: Coleman two-mantle propane lantern *with* hard carry case for $30. Zowie. A quick perusla of The List shows that the last hard carry case I bought for that same model of lantern was almost $14. Ka-ching…some savings. So, I now have two perfectly identical propane lanterns with carry case. (And , naturally, they take the same mantles as my Dual Fuel lantern) Drawback is that my ‘adequate’ supply of spare mantles is now ‘inadequate’ since the quantity-per-lantern just took a 50% hit. Fortunately theyre cheap enough I can pick up a dozen for less than $10.

Also found ‘Trio’ brand #10 cans of instant potatoes. Now, why the excitement? Well, a scan of the label showed that this was a food-service product made by Nestle…the same guys who make my beloved Idahoan instant potatoes. Remember the just-add-water instant potatoes I was going on about a few months back? Well, this is the #10 can of ‘em. w00t.

And, although this doesnt really apply to my needs directly, there were surgical scrub sets for $15. Nice, loose, baggy surgical scrubs for lounging around the redoubt house. Navy, burgundy, UN blue, or green. I went with navy…its slimming and wont turn translucent in bright light.

Also grabbed a 6-pack of 16oz propane bottles for $9.99.

So CostCo was good to the Zero today. Spent 10x what I had planned, but that lantern was a sweet deal.