Where are the Costco prime meats?

[Pete6737]

Greetings
My last several trips to Costco in Jacksonville Fl have led to the discovery that there are no prime beef cuts at Costco. Choice is the only option. I love the prime ribeyes. The choice ribeyes are lacking considerable amount of marbling. Does anyone have any insight? Can you find prime stickers at your local Costco stores? There used to be several feet of cooler space from prime beef and now there are none. Thanks for letting me vent, Pete

 

[Jim6820]

My local Costco had a very small selection of USDA Prime beef yesterday; New York and ribeye steaks, tri-tip and whole loins. No briskets.

I talked with the meat department manager and he said they have been unable to get very much Prime graded meat. He didn’t know why.

 

[Waterboy]

My local Costco had a very small selection of USDA Prime beef yesterday; New York and ribeye steaks, and whole loins. No briskets.

I talked with the meat department manager and he said they have been unable to get very much Prime graded meat. He didn’t know why.

I’ve had the exact same conversation with our Costco meat department. Fortunately ours has had really good Choice grade meat this year.

 

[Jim6820]

I’ve had the exact same conversation with our Costco meat department. Fortunately ours has had really good Choice grade meat this year.

Yes, the USDA Choice beef at my local Costco has also seemed to be better quality lately. I find that if I am “picky,” I can find some with decent marbling.

Fortunately, I have a backup plan. My grandson works at a specialty meat shop and has access to USDA Prime beef, though it is priced substantially higher than Costco. When I can’t find something I really want—think USDA Prime brisket—and am willing to pay the price, I know where I can get it.

 

[Pete6737]

Thanks for the replies confirming my suspicions. I’ll probably shop at a specialty shop or maybe an online farm, or I’ll try the choice options at Costco. Thanks

 

[C. Keeper]

New DEI laws, beef will no longer be judged.

 

[kennethk]

None in Buford, GA

 

[BNeal]

Same here in Dallas. Luckily, I have wild fork close by and they always have a good selection of prime.

 

[Mike]

I haven't been to our local costco in ages. I'll have to swing by and see what they have.

 

[Waterboy]

We shopped at Costco today. There were a decent amount of Prime steaks and tri tips but no Prime briskets. As you can see in these pictures the Choice tri tip look about as good as the Prime.
Here are the Choice:

Here are the Prime:

And here is a nicely trimmed Choice 11 lb. brisket that’ll go on the 700 tonight!

 

[Pacman]

That's some good looking meat from a Costco (or any big store).

 

[virtualbacon]

I can hardly ever find it at the Costco we go to, but I made my first trip to a Costco Business Center and it was meat mecca. They had prime brisket, many cuts of pork, beef, lamb, and even a fridge with hanging whole lamb and goat.

 

[C. Keeper]

I can hardly ever find it at the Costco we go to, but I made my first trip to a Costco Business Center and it was meat mecca. They had prime brisket, many cuts of pork, beef, lamb, and even a fridge with hanging whole lamb and goat.

Does a regular Costco card get you into Costco Business?

 

[virtualbacon]

Does a regular Costco card get you into Costco Business?

Yes. I just went again today and they had plenty of prime brisket.

 

[C. Keeper]

Yes. I just went again today and they had plenty of prime brisket.

Thanks! Now I need to search.

 

[Pete6737]

Yesterday at Costco I spoke to the meat manager. He says the market dictates what they buy in prime. Currently there’s less out there but they buy when they can get large quantities so if he said if you see it, buy it, because you may not see it again for a long time. Add the shipping strike, this will also add issues. Time to stock up if you’re lucky to find anything in prime.

 

[RattleR]

I want US cows, screw the strike

 

[Pete6737]

I want US cows, screw the strike

Me too. Today no steaks were prime. I couldn’t bring myself to buy the choice steaks with NO MARBLING….i got find a good shop with local grass fed beef.

 

[TheRicker]

I went by my Costco this afternoon. No prime briskets. There were some prime NY strips…they looked good. And, just like @Pete6737 posted, the choice NY strips had no marbling. The “regular” (thick) choice ribeyes looked good. However, they also had some “thin cut” ribeyes. I’d never seen them before. There were about six steaks (or so) overlayed in the package. They looked like they were cut with a dull knife…scraggly is how I would describe them. And these looked to be about half the thickness of their “normal” steaks. Not paper thin. They could be superb but did not have the normally well-defined look of the packs with 2 - 3 thick steaks.

 

[Jim6820]

I went by my Costco this afternoon. No prime briskets. There were some prime NY strips…they looked good. And, just like @Pete6737 posted, the choice NY strips had no marbling. The “regular” (thick) choice ribeyes looked good. However, they also had some “thin cut” ribeyes. I’d never seen them before. There were about six steaks (or so) overlayed in the package. They looked like they were cut with a dull knife…scraggly is how I would describe them. And these looked to be about half the thickness of their “normal” steaks. Not paper thin. They could be superb but did not have the normally well-defined look of the packs with 2 - 3 thick steaks.

I’ve seen the same a couple of times and I even bought a package for steak-and-eggs breakfast cooks where I don’t want a full ribeye. And, a couple of them that I got were large enough to cut in half for a more modest steak-and-eggs serving. YMMV