Costco rotisserie chickens not good lately

[always_learning]

Has any one else had issues with the rotisserie chickens lately?

I have been buying them for well over 12 years, around 30 a year at minimum and these last two have been awful.

The first bad one was two weeks ago --- it was really dry, but it wasn't overcooked. I pull the chicken apart and 'shred' it and it all came off the bones like usual, but as time went on and I got closer to finishing pulling it apart, the dryer it got. By the time we sat down to eat it, it was dry and chewy. We ended up tossing about 1/2 of the chicken.

Fast forward to today. We get another chicken and this one won't even come off the bones. I had to throw away a bunch of the breast meat because it's rubbery and striated. Dh couldn't believe it when I showed him that I couldn't even get a fork into the breast to tear a piece off. Usually, it all just shreds like a hot knife through butter and the leg & thigh bones fall off. This chicken is worse than the first one. I suspect we'll end up tossing more than 2/3 of this chicken due to it being inedible.

Is anyone else noticing a difference in their chickens?

 

[NW-Bound]

^^^ Hah. Maybe you get an old egg-laying hen, instead of the normal young chicken, and a free-range one at that, who got a lot of exercise.


My most recent Costco chicken was perhaps a month or more ago. Did not notice anything unusual.

 

[skyking1]

It has been OK for us, but the bulgogi was largely gristle/fat the last time we got it. That was a last-straw event.

 

[Jerry1]

I haven’t noticed it with the rotisserie chicken but it’s certainly getting harder to get good chicken in general. We have been getting a better grade of chicken these past few years but that has gone up to $8 a pound for boneless skinless chicken breast. We tried some of the Costco individual wrapped chicken breast (organic) and it was so bad we returned it. Tried two different breasts, but it was just awful.

 

[mn54]

the last one we had was very good. can't complain about the price. they fly off the shelves.

 

[brett]

Ours are perfect. We know where they come from. Consistent high quality for a number of years. We no longer buy whole raw chickens...not worth our time.

Have you gone back and told them that there is a problem? I have no doubt that Costco, like other retailers, want to know your feedback on products that they sell that are not up to scratch.

 

[aja8888]

^^^ Hah. Maybe you get an old egg-laying hen, instead of the normal young chicken, and a free-range one at that, who got a lot of exercise.

Also commonly known as a "stewing chicken".....

 

[always_learning]

^^^ Hah. Maybe you get an old egg-laying hen, instead of the normal young chicken, and a free-range one at that, who got a lot of exercise.

My most recent Costco chicken was perhaps a month or more ago. Did not notice anything unusual.

That's what Dh joked about but getting two in a row with two weeks in between them is suspect. LOL. The one we got three weeks ago was as delicious as always.

I haven’t noticed it with the rotisserie chicken but it’s certainly getting harder to get good chicken in general. We have been getting a better grade of chicken these past few years but that has gone up to $8 a pound for boneless skinless chicken breast. We tried some of the Costco individual wrapped chicken breast (organic) and it was so bad we returned it. Tried two different breasts, but it was just awful.

Yeah, I've given up on buying chicken breasts. We either buy the rotisserie chickens or just chicken tenders.

Ours are perfect. We know where they come from. Consistent high quality for a number of years. We no longer buy whole raw chickens...not worth our time.

Have you gone back and told them that there is a problem? I have no doubt that Costco, like other retailers, want to know your feedback on products that they sell that are not up to scratch.

Until these last two, we've not had an issue. Utterly delicious.

I have not gone back to tell them since today's is only the second time but I may call them. We're 45 minutes away, so I can't just pop on by.

As an aside, today's chicken was worse than I thought it would be. It was really dry and rubbery. Blech.

Either something is going on with my store's supply chain, or I've just had bad luck these last two times. Come to think of it, they have been smaller than usual lately, so maybe I'll hold off buying any more until they seem to be back to their usual size. I sure hope it's an anomaly because we sure eat a lot of those chickens!!

 

[audreyh1]

Costco now raises their own chickens, organic and regular, including the chickens they use for rotisserie chickens.

 

[zinger1457]

Consumer Reports did a recent report on Rotisserie Chickens, more from a health standpoint then taste, their concern was the amount of sodium solution injected in the chickens before roasting. Sam's Club and Costco were rated the worst with very high amounts of sodium, Kroger had the lowest amount.

 

[audreyh1]

If you are metabolically healthy, then you don’t need to worry about getting plenty of sodium, your body easily excretes excess.

If you are not metabolically healthy, then you’ve got bigger problems….

Personally we cook our own chickens because we avoid seed oils, etc. But I don’t worry about getting plenty of salt.

The US dietary guidelines for salt intake are way too low. Lots of studies have pointed this out. Americans are advised to keep sodium below 2,000mg/day, but that low level corresponds to worse health outcomes than 4-5,000mg/day. Typical US daily usage us actually under that optimal range. Are guidelines going to get updated? Things like that take forever.

To learn more, researchers analyzed data from four large studies that included more than 133,000 adults from 49 different countries. All studies used 24-hour urine samples to assess sodium consumption and followed participants for over four years, tracking key outcomes like heart events and death.
……..

In both groups, low sodium intake (less than 3,000 mg/day) was associated with 26–34% greater risk for heart events and death compared to moderate sodium intake (4,000–5,000 mg/day). However, high sodium intake (more than 7,000 mg/day) only increased risk for heart events and death in adults with hypertension.

https://www.cardiosmart.org/news/20...salt-is-associated-with-increased-heart-risks

 

[calmloki]

If you are metabolically healthy, then you don’t need to worry about getting plenty of sodium, your body easily excretes excess.

If you are not metabolically healthy, then you’ve got bigger problems….

Personally we cook our own chickens because we avoid seed oils, etc. But I don’t worry about getting plenty of salt.

The US dietary guidelines for salt intake are way too low. Lots of studies have pointed this out. Americans are advised to keep sodium below 2,000mg/day, but that low level corresponds to worse health outcomes than 4-5,000mg/day. Typical US daily usage us actually under that optimal range. Are guidelines going to get updated? Things like that take forever.
https://www.cardiosmart.org/news/20...salt-is-associated-with-increased-heart-risks

We just bought a Costco rotisserie bird in Salem Oregon and had chicken sandwiches on my latest loaf of sourdough. Excellent. Bad birds are pretty rare from our Costco, so maybe OP just had really bad luck?

Not real happy to read Audryh1's sodium info - I've been low sodium/low water intake for several years now per heart doctor's instruction. sigh. if the right one don't getcha then the left one will.

Lately I've been replacing Sodium with Potassium

 

[MTB4me]

After seeing what chemicals they were using to clean the roasting equipment with at Costco, we decided to pass on rotisserie chicken from them. Big fans of Costco, otherwise.

 

[calmloki]

After seeing what chemicals they were using to clean the roasting equipment with at Costco, we decided to pass on rotisserie chicken from them. Big fans of Costco, otherwise.

Visit a chicken processing plant and turn vegan if you aren't of hearty farm stock

 

[Koolau]

We buy at least one a month (though not while on mainland as now). Quality is consistent though our supply is probably way different than yours. By the way, Costco return policy is in effect for these items too AFAIK. Take your next "bad" one back and complain. They'll return your money and fix any real problems they have. YMMV of course.

 

[USGrant1962]

We had a really tough, dry one three chickens ago. But back to normal after that.

Consumer Reports did a recent report on Rotisserie Chickens, more from a health standpoint then taste, their concern was the amount of sodium solution injected in the chickens before roasting. Sam's Club and Costco were rated the worst with very high amounts of sodium, Kroger had the lowest amount.

Translated - Sam's and Costco taste the best.

As Audrey pointed out, USDA recommended sodium levels are questionable at best and certainly go against centuries of human consumption/adaptation levels.

 

[audreyh1]

Translated - Sam's and Costco taste the best.

As Audrey pointed out, USDA recommended sodium levels are questionable at best and certainly go against centuries of human consumption/adaptation levels.

If someone is metabolically unhealthy, they often have high blood pressure due to insulin resistance/hyperinsulinemia because they tend to retain sodium. So you want to make sure you don’t have high insulin levels/insulin resistance before you go hog wild on salt.

Unfortunately, based on NHANES data, only 12% of adult Americans are metabolically healthy.

 

[Sunset]

About a month ago, Sams club was out of roasted chicken , and not just that they ran out, but they shut down the roaster as they couldn't get enough chickens to roast.

They were good the months before that.

I generally pay $1.99 to maybe $2.50 for regular boneless skinless chicken breast. It's not the organic type.

 

[donheff]

My Costco chickens seemed to have gotten larger and greasy. I quit buying them a year ago. Volume for the buck seems good, but the chickens were gross.

 

[Bamaman]

We have been buying boneless chicken breasts for $1.99 a lb. at one grocery or another on sale most weeks. We prefer the chickens at Aldi because they come from the upper Midwest and have not been Tysonized like southern chickens.

We also prefer pork from Aldi as it's a different breed and raised out of our region. Modern pork has been bred as the New White Meat, and it's so lean and not as full of flavor. Even barbequed pork shoulder has a different taste in restaurants since lean meat doesn't produce much smoke.

 

[Another Reader]

For those that are still able to buy boneless skinless chicken breasts that are not treated with injected chemicals, where? They used to be $1.99 on sale at Sprouts. Then $2.99 and this week up to $3.47. Bay Area, here...

 

[Montecfo]

For those that are still able to buy boneless skinless chicken breasts that are not treated with injected chemicals, where? They used to be $1.99 on sale at Sprouts. Then $2.99 and this week up to $3.47. Bay Area, here...

How do you know how treated? Mine from Harris Teeter says natural, contains up to 1 pct retained water. $1.99 a pound. Nutrition says each serving contains 3 pct of daily value of sodium.

 

[Another Reader]

How do you know how treated? Mine from Harris Teeter says natural, contains up to 1 pct retained water. $1.99 a pound. Nutrition says each serving contains 3 pct of daily value of sodium.

My understanding is those are not treated. When the package says "injected with a solution..." they are treated.

 

[ncbill]

I've never liked the Costco chicken by itself in comparison to the supermarket chickens...maybe because the Costco one is so much bigger less flavor penetrates regardless of the prep?

 

[Chuckanut]

IMO, with the multiple problems in labor, transportation and production, I think a lot of products right now may not be as good as they were and will be later on. I imagine that could apply to chickens also. After all, they don't grow on trees.