The Expensive Costco Meal That Customers Say Should Be Left On The Shelf

Costco is a great place to pick up bulk versions of home necessities, but its usefulness far exceeds large supplies of staples. Costco's prepackaged frozen meal section, filled with all sorts of handy meal solutions, can usually be prepared in just a few minutes. Some items, like the Kirkland-brand frozen lasagna, are crowdpleasers, but there are others that customers unfortunately haven't had such good luck with.

One of those products would be the Kirkland Signature burnt ends beef brisket, smoked and seasoned. Expecting cubed fatty, crispy, and nicely charred brisket, social media users have reported general disappointment. Customers have been dismayed by the burnt ends for years now, with one Reddit thread complaining about the product dating as far back as two years. In it, the poster complained that they're "chewy and tough and frankly everything a brisket typically isn't," while another chimed in and said, "On top of the horrendous taste, the ends are about 70% fat, there's not much edible meat at all." 

But in a more recent Reddit thread of people naming their least favorite Kirkland-brand product, people still mention the burnt ends being their most hated. One patron's gripe is that Aldi's "aren't better but they're ok and cheaper," which only adds insult to injury. The Kirkland burnt ends are priced at roughly $15.77 per pound, whereas Aldi's sells them for $6.05 for a pack of 1 pound. 

If you're not familiar with burnt ends, they're cubes typically made of the point, or fattier end piece of a cut of brisket. But some experienced barbecue eaters in the comments note that the Kirkland-brand ones are made of the wrong part, the flat, which is a lean cut of brisket that has a uniform fat cap on top. In my experience, depending on the way the brisket is trimmed (or if done haphazardly), some parts of the flat can have a lot of fat on them, which probably explains why some people report finding entire chunks of fat in their packages. 

Using the wrong cut of brisket, coupled with not at least sorting out a portion of the fat-only chunks, would inevitably leave folks upset with what they purchased. Fortunately, Costco's return policy is very generous, so if you get a poor batch, you can get your money back. But that's more hassle thanks to a return trip, so in order to save yourself some barbecue disappointment, you're going to want to skip these things and find a different protein to heat up for dinner one night.