Are Costco chicken breasts a good deal?

[Lawrencewendall]

My local walmart has skinless/boneless breast for $1.98 a pound (10 lb bag, each breast individually frozen and cheaper than Sam's Club) Add a bag occasionally when I do free pick-up. DW and I usually split one breast. Great over spiraled zucchini/eggplant with some Alfredo sauce.

 

[Another Reader]

Well, I brine my chickens in salt water before smoking them. Is that a problem?

Low sodium diet here. Dislike added salt after years of enjoying the natural flavors of food. Also pads the weight, as noted above.

 

[eroscott]

Well, I brine my chickens in salt water before smoking them. Is that a problem?

No, a good thing.

https://www.thespruceeats.com/brining-poultry-basics-335738
"Brining may be the most important thing you can do to any piece of meat you prepare, regardless of how you cook it. It is vitally important if you have chosen a cooking method that uses dry heat, such as grilling or smoking. When it comes to your backyard cooking, you need to start with a brine.

A Little Science: A brine is a salt water mixture. When you place meat in a brine that has more salt than meat, liquid will flow through the cell walls into the meat, which adds moisture.

You can check this by weighing a chicken breast and then placing it in a salt water brine for a few hours, remove and weigh again. That chicken breast is now heavier. The added weight is inside the meat in the form of water.

In addition to adding moisture, salt breaks down proteins and therefore tenderizes the meat."

 

[davebarnes]

No.
Deal = f(quality, price).
My weighting of the two is 10:1. Quality is way more important than price.
We buy our chicken from a tiny local butcher who sources locally.

 

[Montecfo]

Aldi = Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts $1.69, We even got them on sale for $1.49 once. We but 3 or 4 packets at a time and vacuum seal them, then freeze.

Way bigger and better than Costco, we used to get them there before Aldi. DW and I split one between us.

Same on Aldi chicken. I don't freeze them but offen $1.69 a pound.

 

[Montecfo]

We rarely eat chicken breasts alone as we prefer dark meat. And definitely don’t like skinless chicken breasts.

At Costco we buy the whole organic chickens. Delicious!

I prefer the dark meat too but DW will not eat it.

The skinless breasts are very good grilled which is usually how we.eat them.

 

[audreyh1]

Low sodium diet here. Dislike added salt after years of enjoying the natural flavors of food. Also pads the weight, as noted above.

Sure if someone requires a low salt diet.....

The US and WHO recommendations for salt intake are actually lower than what is healthy for most people. What the US population actually eats is just within the healthy range - at the low end of it. Probably why the vast majority of people can’t adhere to the official “healthy” recommendations. We need salt and our bodies demand it.

 

[audreyh1]

No, a good thing.

https://www.thespruceeats.com/brining-poultry-basics-335738
"Brining may be the most important thing you can do to any piece of meat you prepare, regardless of how you cook it. It is vitally important if you have chosen a cooking method that uses dry heat, such as grilling or smoking. When it comes to your backyard cooking, you need to start with a brine.

A Little Science: A brine is a salt water mixture. When you place meat in a brine that has more salt than meat, liquid will flow through the cell walls into the meat, which adds moisture.

You can check this by weighing a chicken breast and then placing it in a salt water brine for a few hours, remove and weigh again. That chicken breast is now heavier. The added weight is inside the meat in the form of water.

In addition to adding moisture, salt breaks down proteins and therefore tenderizes the meat."

Our smoked chickens always come off the smoker super juicy, and we don’t add any moisture at all during the smoking. It’s all the brine. And they don’t taste salty. They do taste smoky.

 

[audreyh1]

I prefer the dark meat too but DW will not eat it.

The skinless breasts are very good grilled which is usually how we.eat them.

Wow - missing a bunch of flavor.

To me skinless chicken breasts are super lean protein with little flavor. I prefer fat on or in my meats.

We adore duck. Now that’s some dark meat!

 

[Bamaman]

I prefer Aldi's chicken because it comes from growers that have not been Tysonized. And the chicken breasts are twice the size of normal chickens. It just has a better texture.

Their pork is also different that the pork we get locally. I really like it.

 

[donheff]

A Little Science: A brine is a salt water mixture. When you place meat in a brine that has more salt than meat, liquid will flow through the cell walls into the meat, which adds moisture.

I have brined meat frequently but never gave it much thought before. Shouldn't osmosis lead to the reverse of this? I.e., shouldn't salt ions move into the chicken cells and/or or water out of the chicken cells thus moving the relative concentration toward balance?

 

[bclover]

There is a thing called woody breast that has become more common as producers strive for larger and larger chickens. It is not harmful, but not good either. I read a long article about it a few months ago, but don't recall where. Here's a short one:

https://www.thedailymeal.com/news/e...ought-chicken-becoming-tough-and-chewy/040116

lol, a little antidote to this story.
I live in an area that has a few Amish farmers markets. on the weekends the Amish bring their wares to the market to sell. anyhoo there is a poultry, meat market, produce. you get the idea.
Well one Saturday I mentioned to the girl that the wings where a little "small".
Whew wrong thing to say, she had heard that complaint one to many times and I was the proverbial straw that broke the camels back.

she let loose..lol

"chicken wings are NOT supposed to have the wings span of a 747, a normal chicken is NOT supposed to crumple under it's own weight, a normal chicken breast should not have the circumference of a 16 inch pizza". lol, as me and the other ladies at the counter slowly back away, she huffed off to the back.

First and only time I have seen any of the Amish get mad.

back on topic, op I'm don't shop mega warehouse stores for the above reason. I like my c hicken to have a taste and not be chewy, rubbery tasteless meat. bigger is not always better so I'm willing to pay more for better quality. Is it a good buy? maybe, is it a decent quality? probably not.

 

[bclover]

Wow - missing a bunch of flavor.

To me skinless chicken breasts are super lean protein with little flavor. I prefer fat on or in my meats.

We adore duck. Now that’s some dark meat!

I think I love you. lol, as a culinary school graduate one of the things I hate is how we Americans have made "fat" a bad word and the enemy.

Then we try to load it up with salt/sugar/chemicals to get the same flavor.

ok rant over, don't get me going.

in my defense bclover stands for butter and chocolate.

 

[Montecfo]

Wow - missing a bunch of flavor.

To me skinless chicken breasts are super lean protein with little flavor. I prefer fat on or in my meats.

We adore duck. Now that’s some dark meat!

For even more flavor, leave the skin on and deep fat fry!

 

[kgtest]

A good deal? Not sure, but I have noticed that Costco chicken breast seem susceptible to being more "rubbery" lately. Apparently it's becoming a problem in general.

Luckily, their chicken thighs don't have that problem. They also taste better and have a higher fat content than the breasts. So we're eating more of them.

Yes they are a good deal, and yes they do occasionally have rubber effects. And I've had this with other chicken as well. We grill chicken 3x a week or about 160 times a year...

I got one rubber one a week or so ago, my wife seemed fine with hers. Usually I can cook around the middle enough to still make it edible but when rubbery, the middle just doesn't taste appealing to me.

Sometimes the local super market has some cheaper, but not as BIG as the costco breasts.

 

[kgtest]

I can get just about any costco chicken to taste amazing.

season with Lowry's salt, garlic salt, and sea salt.

Grill 12min on each side @350... the key is to season the cut open side of the breast first and put that side down on the grill.. by the time the bird heats up to the point it's dripping...around the 11min mark, you flip it and that cut open side is now on top, keeping the juices in for another 12 minutes solid while it keeps cooking.

I've had a LOT of compliments on this method.

 

[Red Badger]

lol, a little antidote to this story.
I live in an area that has a few Amish farmers markets. on the weekends the Amish bring their wares to the market to sell. anyhoo there is a poultry, meat market, produce. you get the idea.
Well one Saturday I mentioned to the girl that the wings where a little "small".
Whew wrong thing to say, she had heard that complaint one to many times and I was the proverbial straw that broke the camels back.

she let loose..lol

"chicken wings are NOT supposed to have the wings span of a 747, a normal chicken is NOT supposed to crumple under it's own weight, a normal chicken breast should not have the circumference of a 16 inch pizza". lol, as me and the other ladies at the counter slowly back away, she huffed off to the back.

First and only time I have seen any of the Amish get mad.

back on topic, op I'm don't shop mega warehouse stores for the above reason. I like my c hicken to have a taste and not be chewy, rubbery tasteless meat. bigger is not always better so I'm willing to pay more for better quality. Is it a good buy? maybe, is it a decent quality? probably not.

+1 - - - and what Dave said.

We stopped buying factory chickens years ago. I don't think they are my kind of value. I also detest the conditions that they are raised in. We try to shop at our Farmers Market, small farm operated stores, and farms themselves. At the farmers market, we have standing invitations to visit the farmers whom we patronize. Big-Agra is a race to the bottom, and the USDA part of the pit crew. Besides, I also think that food is our "first medicine." We pay a good bit more this way, but I grew up on a farm and I have beliefs about how animals should raised.

There old an old farming adage about the voiceless animals having their say about how we treated them, when we stand for Final Judgement. I think that there may be a grain of truth in that.

 

[Montecfo]

I can get just about any costco chicken to taste amazing.

season with Lowry's salt, garlic salt, and sea salt.

Grill 12min on each side @350... the key is to season the cut open side of the breast first and put that side down on the grill.. by the time the bird heats up to the point it's dripping...around the 11min mark, you flip it and that cut open side is now on top, keeping the juices in for another 12 minutes solid while it keeps cooking.

I've had a LOT of compliments on this method.

Agree.

Only difference for me is I use a meat thermometer to make make sure everything is just right.

That way it is never tough or dry.

Brining also helps a lot.

 

[Potstickers]

I don't brine my chicken, but I do salt the heck out of it..at least 3 hours before cooking it. Flavorful and not wet.

Bone in for the win.

 

[kcowan]

We switched from breasts to boneless, skinless thighs and have never gone back. Usually BBQ them. Freeze the second pack.

 

[reneeh63]

Well, I brine my chickens in salt water before smoking them. Is that a problem?

Well, since it's your very own "homemade" salt water (and fancy brine, at that) that makes it A-OK!

I do think folks can get a little picky about some stuff and manage to think other stuff (that's important to other people) doesn't matter. We all have our things that we won't compromise on - what's silly is to think our own ideas are always best (not talking about you, Audrey)

 

[reneeh63]

We switched from breasts to boneless, skinless thighs and have never gone back. Usually BBQ them. Freeze the second pack.

Definitely like the flavor and versatility of thighs - and you can count on them to be juicy with a better price.

 

[Badger]

That is hilarious. Not only sodium chloride but dihydrogen monoxide.
Warning that when I opened the bag I also detected oxygen, nitrogen, argon , carbondioxide, and other gases!

Tastes like chicken!

 

[Another Reader]

Tastes like chicken!

Not really. It tastes like poor quality chicken that has been oversalted to make it "taste" better. I prefer quality chicken that tastes like chicken did 40 years ago. Try Sprouts boneless skinless chicken parts. Good flavor, no wood.

 

[kcowan]

Definitely like the flavor and versatility of thighs - and you can count on them to be juicy with a better price.

Don't spread the news because the price will go up!