TICKET – Costco’s ready-to-eat meals are popular for several reasons. In addition to being already ready and not frozen, they are quite good, there is a lot of variety, and more… they are not expensive. Or at least, that’s the impression we have. Is this really the case? We did the math to find out.
Selected meals
During our visit to Costco, we toured the refrigerators of meals prepared on site to select those that we would retain for the exercise. The goal: to choose those that really replace the preparation of a “regular supper” when you don’t have the time or the inclination to cook.
We have decided to exclude dishes such as meat pies, shepherd’s pies or even lasagna. These can be homemade and frozen well in advance, or purchased already frozen in a satisfying version, so they seem to us to belong in another category.
We also excluded salads, since they generally represent an accompaniment.
So there were six dishes left:
- Chicken chow mein
- Penne Alfredo with chicken
- The gyro pita kit
- Penne arrabbiata with spicy Italian sausage
- chicken vindaloo
- Chicken tacos
Our calculation method
Based on the weight and the list of ingredients indicated on the packaging of the Costco dishes, we estimated what would need to be purchased and used to make a homemade version of these dishes.
For the place of purchase of ingredients, we started from the premise that people who buy these meals often do so at a time when they need to quickly cook a dinner, which has not been planned in advance.
We can therefore assume that they did not necessarily buy each of the required items in huge quantities in advance to take advantage of the best possible price, but that they would quickly go to a cheap grocery store to buy these items at current price. For this exercise, we used the prices displayed on the Maxi website in June 2023, without taking specials into account.
Here’s what it looks like for each of the six dishes.
1. Costco Chicken Chow Mein
Price at Costco: $20.21
Weight: 1.55kg
Ingredients (as well as their approximate price at the grocery store)
– Noodles ($0.84 for 167 g, which gives about 500 g when cooked)
– Chicken ($11.55 for 750g)
– Peppers ($4 for 2)
– Red onion ($1 for a large onion)
– Sauce and seasoning (price difficult to estimate, given the small amounts of oil, spices or herbs – say $2, given the presence of ginger and sesame seeds)
Homemade total: $17.39. The Costco version ($20.21) is still a few dollars more expensive than the homemade version, but we took it for granted that the sauce was home-cooked rather than bought ready-made. Buying a jar of sauce already made would probably end up at a very similar price.
2. Costco chicken penne alfredos
Price at Costco: $18.81
Weight: 1.5kg
Ingredients:
– Penne ($0.64 for 250 g of penne, which gives about 750 g when cooked)
– Chicken ($5.39 for 350g)
– Alfredo sauce ($2.44 for 300 ml of sauce already prepared, since we are talking about a dinner prepared quickly)
– Cheese ($1.50 for 100 g of mozzarella)
Homemade total: $9.97. The Costco version ($18.81) is almost double the price of the homemade version, even buying the sauce already made. The main reason is that this dish contains a large amount of pasta, which is really cheap.
3. The Costco gyro pita kit
Price at Costco: $28.17
Weight: 1.56kg
Ingredients:
– Meat (We couldn’t find the mixture of beef and lamb used to make gyros in the Maxi catalog. We therefore opted for boneless beef cubes, at $14.65 for 605 g of beef)
– Pitas ($3.28 for 450g)
– Tzatziki dip ($2.89 for a 250 g jar already prepared, since we are talking about a quickly prepared dinner)
– Cherry tomatoes ($1.96 for 255 g)
– Onions and herbs (difficult to estimate, say $0.25 since there is a good amount)
Homemade total: $22.78. We’re still a few dollars under the Costco version ($28.17), for a dish that doesn’t require many preparation steps – but the Costco version contains gyro meat, not always easy to find in grocery stores .
4. Costco Spicy Italian Sausage Penne Arrabbiata
Price at Costco: $30.73
Weight: 2kg
Ingredients:
– Penne ($0.85 for 333 g of penne, which gives about 1 kg when cooked)
– Pork sausages ($10.48 for 750 g of spicy Italian sausages)
– Arrabbiata sauce ($1.79 for 350 ml of sauce already prepared, since it is a dinner prepared quickly)
– Parmesan ($1 for a piece big enough to make a little garnish)
Homemade total: $14.12. We’re barely half the price of the Costco version ($30.73) here, which is probably due to the fact that the pasta is so inexpensive, and the sausages are more affordable than many kinds. of meat.
5. Costco chicken vindaloo
Price at Costco: $24.53
Weight: 1.88kg
Ingredients:
– Chicken ($12.33 for about 0.8 kg)
– Sauce (price difficult to estimate, say $2, given the presence of butter)
– Naan bread ($2.99 for a pack of five, weighing 0.5 kg)
– Rice ($0.39 for 175 g – which gives about 0.5 kg when cooked)
Homemade total: $17.71. The Costco version ($24.53) is significantly more expensive, which is partly due to the fact that the rice is really cheap, and that it represents a large part of this meal. In our calculation, we assumed that the sauce was homemade – but even if you buy a tub of “butter chicken” style sauce for $4, you’re still well below the price of the Costco meal.
6. Costco Chicken Tacos
Price at Costco: $17.63
Weight: 1.26kg
Ingredients:
– Chicken ($4.62 for 300g)
– Wheat tortillas ($2.52 for 410 g)
– Cabbage salad ($0.44 for 200 g of cabbage)
– Salsa ($0.74 for 100ml)
– Sour cream ($0.50 for 100 ml)
– Cheese ($2.99 for 200 g of cheddar)
– Lime ($0.50 for half a lime)
Homemade total: $12.31. The Costco version ($17.63) still seems significantly more expensive than the homemade version. Of course, in this specific case, you have to buy perishable ingredients in large enough quantities to use only a small part of them in this recipe (sour cream, salsa, cabbage, cheese), and you will have to find a way to consume afterwards. But in our opinion, these are quite versatile foods, which it will not be difficult to reuse before their expiry date.
Our conclusion
According to our calculations, it generally costs a few dollars more to buy the prepared version of Costco meals compared to homemade (savings varying between $3 and $15). For the time it saves, we can consider that it is a reasonable price (especially for dishes where the difference is only $3 or $6). It is at least much more advantageous than going to a restaurant – difficult to find enough to feed 4 to 5 people for a sum of $20 to $30 at a restaurant, whereas that is what ready-to-eat meals offer. eat from Costco!
Another advantage of buying prepared meals: you don’t end up with “pot funds” to spend in various recipes in the days to come, and you don’t have to advance more money than the sum exactly what the dish costs. Convenient especially when you want to separate the price together, for example in the context of meals purchased together.
But cooking at home has other benefits than just saving a few dollars – of course you can have more control over the exact ingredients you use (including additives) and you can adjust the dish exactly to your liking.
A more personal observation to end: too bad that among the dishes prepared at Costco, there are very few vegetarian options. During our visit, it was only found in salads, while there are several interesting and nutritious dishes that would lend themselves well to this formula. When we know how beneficial it is to reduce our ecological footprint – and how much it saves money – we can hope that we will see more of it in the years to come.