The Costco Chicken Trick Smart Shoppers Are Using For Budget-Friendly Meat

If you spend any time on foodtok (the food side of TikTok), you may have seen shoppers swooning over a lesser-known Costco chicken deal. It feels a little like being in a secret Costco club. The $4.99 secret to meal prepping is Costco's rotisserie chicken gets a lot of love, and for good reason. But there's another option that can stretch your dollar even further: Buying an entire case of raw rotisserie chickens straight from the meat counter. 

Costco rates vary by region, but Redditors claim it costs $4.89 per bird, which is ten cents less than the cooked ones. You get 10 whole chickens in a plastic-lined large box to take home. It's perfect for meal preppers, big families, or anyone who cooks chicken on repeat and has the room to store 10 chickens. The value adds up fast.

Plus, you get versatile, raw protein you can break down or cook however you want. The best part is you can season them however you want. This is a great option for anyone cutting back on salt, since the high sodium content in Costco's rotisserie chicken is considered a red flag. You also get to control what flavor you want for your chicken — whether you're going for a buffalo chicken dip, spicy chicken tacos, or homemade chicken soup.

The fun begins once you haul your box of Costco raw rotisserie chickens home. Ten whole birds can look a little intimidating at first, but think of them as a blank canvas for a week or month of meals. It's now time to store them so you have chicken at the ready when you want to cook. You can either freeze them as is or process them.

To freeze as is, place each whole chicken in a freezer-safe plastic bag. Push all of the air out and seal. A food vacuum sealer works really well for this because you can make the bag as small or large as you need, and the machine vacuums out all the air and even seals it for you. If you plan on buying 10 chickens at a time more than once, a vacuum sealer is worth the investment. The best part is it's so versatile. You can use it to store just about anything from snacks to leftovers.

To process the chickens, you can cut them up, separating the breasts, legs, thighs, wings, and tenderloins. Then, use a vacuum sealer to store each section and the amount you want to cook for later. Don't forget to date them so you know how long they've been in the freezer. Frozen chicken keeps for up to 1 year. All you have to do when you're ready to make some chicken is move a bag to the fridge the night before cooking to give it time to thaw.