Costco Meat Prices vs. Everyone Else

I go for quality. I don't calculate, but I find with regular grocery chicken, especially Asian stores. You end up having to clean off so much fat from Chicken or Pork ribs. Its almost not worth the reduced prices.

I now buy "freezer packs" from a local butcher. The quality is amazing and you notice the difference in the freshness of the meat. Even after I freeze it.

If I am having a family get together like a BBQ, I will buy from Costco. Other than that its the butcher for our regular usage.

trevdanc wrote: ↑ Hi, we just spent a fortune on chicken, steak, roast, etc at Costco. Prices seemed quite high.

That's because they are high except for a few things which are hilariously low.

I am wondering where everyone is shopping for quality meats with the best prices?

Costco.

Are you scanning flyers looking for meat on sale at different grocery stores?

Nope. Mostly because while it's cheaper, the quality isn't nearly as good.
I'll hit up the occasional sale but the bulk of my meats come from Costco.

Or is there a fairly consistent place to shop at?

Costco where it's consistently high in both pricing and quality.

repost of a repost that was reposted.

costco-vs-grocers-vs-butcher-shops-meat-2113377/

death_hawk wrote: ↑ That's because they are high except for a few things which are hilariously low.

What sort of things are priced super low?

trevdanc wrote: ↑ What sort of things are priced super low?

Ground pork is my main standout.
FAR higher quality too. Asian store prices for not quite grind your own quality.

EDIT: Brisket is the newcomer too. You won't find Prime for the $5.45/lb they're selling anywhere else.

Swerny wrote: ↑repost of a repost that was reposted.

costco-vs-grocers-vs-butcher-shops-meat-2113377/

That repost was reposted over 2 years ago.

How long does a person have to wait before it is a repost?

I read that Costco meat prices have recently went up. Does that matter? or is it still a repost?

Swerny wrote: ↑ repost of a repost that was reposted.

That's not even an active thread.
Plus some other idiot is going to yell at OP for bumping if they do make it an active thread.

Chicken breasts seem like a good deal !! They are big and always taste great.

Avoid Costco beef if it is mechanically tenderised. Most of it is.

I don't generally buy meat from Costco.

I scan flyers for sales. If you do that, you can almost always find prices lower than Costco's.

• Lamb, I almost always buy from Metro as they usually have very good availability at good prices.
• Popular varieties of pork cuts go on continual round-robin sale among all supermarkets. I've seen full loins on sale for $0.99.
• Same with roast beef and steaks. You can usually find some kind of AA beef on sale for an excellent price and sometimes AAA. eg, $5.44/lb AA prime rib roast at GTA Metro this week is perfectly adequate for me.
• Chicken wings, beef tenderloin, fish I almost always get at Asian supermarkets as these are substantially less expensive than any western grocers.
• Chicken breasts I find kind of difficult to get cheaply anywhere, though I'm not sure how Costco prices compare.

Unless you insist on top quality meat all the time (and I find that far from my needs), then you can almost always get it cheaper elsewhere.

I buy chicken from Costco (less fat and bone shards and consistent sizes of e.g. drumsticks, thighs). Ground beef and lamb from Metro when on sale. Pork and fish from Asian supermarkets because they are popular items and the cut is right, e.g. spare ribs for steaming.

I buy all of my meat at Costco. Any time I go for a good deal at a local grocery store the quality is not there and I regret my purchase.

trevdanc wrote: ↑ Hi, we just spent a fortune on chicken, steak, roast, etc at Costco. Prices seemed quite high.

I am wondering where everyone is shopping for quality meats with the best prices? Are you scanning flyers looking for meat on sale at different grocery stores? Or is there a fairly consistent place to shop at?

Costco is generally more expensive, but the quality is pretty good. Most Asian supermarkets are cheap, but generally contain a lot more fat than other supermarkets. A lot of the weight will be from the fat that will take a lot of time to wash off once you prepare it.

You can usually search for sales on the flyers and price match with certain supermarkets to get a better rate (ex. RCSS, Freshco, No Frills, Walmart). I would only go for Asian supermarkets if you don't mind having a higher content of fat in your meat or the price is too good to pass, particularly for chicken drumsticks.

I’m a bbq smoking enthusiast.
In this type of American cuisine... the full packer brisket is considered the epitome of bbq excellence!

Its incredibly hard to find in Canada... you can’t exactly pick one up @ walmart or a chain grocery store like in the usa. You can only find it @ speciality butchers. Those guys will charge you about $16/KG

Buttttt! Costco Business sells them @ $8.99/KG. Theyre also AAA angus too.

The whole brisket at costco is a good deal.

here in ottawa, most of the chicken at grocery stores is pretty crappy unless you by the ML prime air chilled stuff... which is usually more expensive than costco when you compare regular price to regular price. Sometimes you will get deals, but sales at grocery store chains will be cheaper than regular price costco, costco sales will generally be better than grocery store sale. The quality is usually better and more consistent at costco. I also find ground beef at costco to be of higher quality than elsewhere.

What I don't like about costco is the size of their cuts. I usually butterfly the porkchops as they are way too thick. I also generally don't buy precut steak. I will buy the whole rib or sirloin and portion it out myself. I grew up in a restaurant so I know how to trim meat, I also do a lot of cooking so I prefer to control the amount of fat with my own trimming. Sometimes leaving a certain amount of fat on cuts will give you better flavor. Any time where you buy the whole slab, you will save money. I hardly ever buy precut chicken for that reason. A good knife, some skill with it goes a long way. It's literally 6 cuts to take wings off and quarter a whole chicken. I don't need to pay someone to do that for me. The problem being you need to know how to trim or break it down and that you have a whole slab of meat instead of a few cuts.

The drawback of buying the whole sirloin or whole brisket is that it's tough to know the internal fat content. ie, more marbled for steaks or bands of fat in brisket. I got lucky with one brisket that I only took maybe a pound of fat off of it, vs another one where it was like 2-3 pounds I had to trim.

As for the tenderizer comment on costco beef. I would like to see proof of that claim.

ericlewis91 wrote: ↑Chicken breasts seem like a good deal !! They are big and always taste great.

2/3 anyways.
They're big and taste great. They aren't really a good deal though.

But I'd take air chilled over cheaper water chilled any day.

badOne wrote: ↑Avoid Costco beef if it is mechanically tenderised. Most of it is.

Only the cut stuff. The primals aren't.

DiceMan wrote: ↑ Popular varieties of pork cuts go on continual round-robin sale among all supermarkets. I've seen full loins on sale for $0.99.

Ribs are kind of an exception for me. Almost everyone else has shiners. Costco arguably has TOO much meat.

Same with roast beef and steaks. You can usually find some kind of AA beef on sale for an excellent price and sometimes AAA. eg, $5.44/lb AA prime rib roast at GTA Metro this week is perfectly adequate for me.

Steaks/Roasts are never cheap at Costco. They're usually double the price if AAA AND they're tenderized.
I occasionally buy a whole primal if I want something good, but I try not to do that too often.

Chicken wings, beef tenderloin, fish I almost always get at Asian supermarkets as these are substantially less expensive than any western grocers.

Fish I 100% agree with. Asians love fish so it has to be 100% fresh.

Chicken wings however I disagree with. I tried going the "substantially less" at (I think) $2/lb and they were from old chickens. I was already suspicious wondering how they could be a buck a pound cheaper than everyone else.
The only thing they were good for is stock because they were inedible. Plus I like tip offs. I could trim them myself but that's a lot of work for wings especially when you're eating like 40 at a time.
Plus now I'm paying "wing pricing" for bones. I can get chicken bones for like $0.50/lb.

I don't buy tenderloin so I can't comment. But Asian markets usually have terrible looking beef.
I've never been happy with any "steak" type cut at an Asian market.

Chicken breasts I find kind of difficult to get cheaply anywhere, though I'm not sure how Costco prices compare.

This is a hard comparison too since water chilling is a thing and produces cheap pricing.
Most people will directly compare air to water which isn't fair.
Supermarkets do have air chilled but it's usually their premium product line with premium pricing.
Last I looked Costco was actually a touch cheaper air vs air, but don't quote me on this.

lurkknight wrote: ↑ground beef at costco to be of higher quality than elsewhere.

Even if it's more expensive I won't buy ground meats anywhere else.
Loblaws is garbage. Asian markets are even worse. Everywhere else is more expensive.
Ground pork is a literal steal at Costco. Asian market prices for Whole Foods quality. (not quite, but you get the idea)

What I don't like about costco is the size of their cuts. I usually butterfly the porkchops as they are way too thick.

I like the thicc
It's more satisfying to eat IMO.
Plus you can get a good hard sear without overcooking. I actually avoid buying steaks and chops at most supermarkets because they're too thin.
Even worse is the "minute" steak/chop. Mmmm steamed meat.

Any time where you buy the whole slab, you will save money.

Oddly enough Supermarket cut steaks are still cheaper than Costco primals.

I hardly ever buy precut chicken for that reason. A good knife, some skill with it goes a long way. It's literally 6 cuts to take wings off and quarter a whole chicken. I don't need to pay someone to do that for me.

We used to have chicken races.
Wings off, breasts off, thighs off, drums separated.
I was around a minute. I had an instructor that was I think like 36 seconds.
Obviously I don't expect most people to break down a chicken in a minute, but knowing your cuts means that a few minutes with a bird can easily yield a broken down chicken if you know what you're doing.
That said, I hardly buy whole chickens any more. I eat FAR more wings than I do anything else. A single meal would involve 20 chickens worth of wings. Those same 20 chickens would provide me 5 meals worth of breasts, 4 meals worth of thighs, and 2 snacks of drumsticks. I can't keep up if I want wings with any sort of regularity. I like making stock too, but even that's a bit ridiculous.

As for the tenderizer comment on costco beef. I would like to see proof of that claim.

Have a look at the cut steaks. Pretty much all of them are labelled as such.
You can even look for the tiny puncture marks.
Or ask the meat guy.

The only thing that's beef that isn't tenderized is the whole primals.
I think everything else in the case is. Well not ground beef obviously but anything that's a whole muscle still.

mechanical tenderizing I'm somewhat ok with as long as it's not mauled to shit. The big thing I don't want is the chinese restaurant styled tenderization which involves baking soda marinade to break the meat down. Toronto pricing is much better on everything. I don't know what the deal is with ottawa but everything here is at least 20% more expensive. It's an ottawa staple, shit quality, shit service and pay more with an expected tip of at least 25%. It's like civil servants don't know what the hell they're paying for.

I didn't think water chilled chicken was still a thing... the problem with chicken overall is everyone still injects it with saline to puff it up and increase the weight. Air chilled it's not as bad but water chilled is also water logged.

lurkknight wrote: ↑ mechanical tenderizing I'm somewhat ok with as long as it's not mauled to shit.

To each their own.
I don't get it on a rib personally. It definitely is chewier but I still have teeth so I'm good.

The big thing I don't want is the chinese restaurant styled tenderization which involves baking soda marinade to break the meat down.

I honestly don't mind it. You're obviously not going to be doing this to a prime cut of meat, but the ridiculous tenderness just feels "right" in Western Chinese.
I'm not sure I'd enjoy gnawing on a tougher cut of meat. And they certainly aren't going to be putting tenderloin in.

I didn't think water chilled chicken was still a thing...

If it doesn't say air chilled it's probably water chilled.

the problem with chicken overall is everyone still injects it with saline to puff it up and increase the weight.

That and phosphates.
This is why I hate fast food chicken (and frozen chicken at retail/wholesale).
There's so much water in it that the texture is wrong.