# Has anyone tried the ribs at Costco?



## den

I was in Costco today and happened by the meat area and they had baby backs for I think it was $3.49/# and spare ribs for $1.79/#.  Has anyone else used pork ribs from Costco and how'd they turn out?


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## lcruzen

Good quality meats in general IMO.


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## wutang

The ribs in this thread were from Costco
http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/for...ad.php?t=77183

They came out great. They were in a 3-slab cryopac. I have no complaints.


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## chisoxjim

above average meat compared to other chain grocers. Decent price as well. In a pinch(if my butcher is closed) I will use them, and other chain grocers though.

However, I prefer to go to my local butcher for a couple of reasons:

1) locally owned
2) much better meat all around(beef, pork, chicken, etc)
3) better service
4) cut to order. 
5) last BB ribs I bought from them were $2.99/LB.


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## coyote-1

We have a BJ's wholesale nearby that sells at those prices. This is the 3-pak of BBs and the 2-pak of spares on the CGSP a couple weeks ago:



They came out great.


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## oregonsmoker

Ya I buy the 3 pack from Costco all the time and have no complaints.  They even have the membrane removed which makes it nice.  I also buy their two pack tri tips and love to throw them on the smoker.


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## donnylove

Interesting . . . I've bought ribs from Costco a few times and they always had the membrane on.  Were yours BBs or Spares?

BTW, I've always thought the Costco ribs to be good and there's no solution added.


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## smokingscooby

I've gotten them several times and have no complaints, before or after smoking them.


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## jaye220

I try to always buy my ribs from Costco as they seem to be the best combo of price and quality.  Plus, no added solution is great.

I've found that the spares always have the membrane on while its always removed on the BB's.


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## westernhunter

Like all the others I also buy them from Costco.  I usually buy the spares since they are so much meatier and cheaper, then trim them St. Louis style.  I smoke it all up and pull the meat off the trimmings to add to beans or any other side dish.....or just eat 'em up after the pretty St. Louis ribs are all gone!


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## heliboydoesbbq

I Agree with the Above and have gotten a great price being a repeat some times very bulk buyer. love that chest freezer.


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## mballi3011

The costco near us has pretty good meat but I have found the sam's has a tick better meat and it's closer and it's has the 3 slab packs for really cheap.


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## alhartman

I have bought the ribs there before.  This year, the pre-rubbed ribs were WAY too salty.  People threw them away and even I, who don't mind some sodium found them annoying.  I will never buy these again, at least not with a pre-rub.  Terrible.  I want a refund actually but doubt I will go through the process.  Did I say terrible often enough? Spoiled Memorial Day dinner.


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## m1garand

Costco has a very strict meat program, google it, I go there every few weeks and can't complain


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## jp61

I'll have to go check them out, never been in one. I usually shop at Sam's, sometimes at BJ's.


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## njbuzz

Got two packs of 3 for memorial day weekend and they both smelled horrific. They gave a full refund so no complaints there. Probably just an outlier.


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## alhartman

For Memorial day I bought 6 pounds of St Louis Cut Pre-rubbed ribs.  I had bought some there before and liked them.  This time, everyone was tossing them un-eaten.   Toooooo  salty was the complaint and I had to agree.  I was disappointed.  Good meat but I would not buy them pre-rubbed again.  I guess I just can't trust the pre-rub.


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## onewondershow

I buy almost all my meat at costco, infact i have a standalone freezer just because of my costcxo shopping. Here are some costco ribs on my kamado.













20130420_163441.jpg



__ onewondershow
__ Apr 21, 2013


















2013-04-20 16.34.44.jpg



__ onewondershow
__ Apr 21, 2013


















2013-04-20 20.19.42.jpg



__ onewondershow
__ Apr 21, 2013


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## njfoses

I have always had a good experience with the ribs from Costco.  I wish they carried packer briskets at my Costco.


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## mrtopos

I just want to chime in here. I bought a PBC and decided to try Costco's pre-seasoned ribs for the first cook.

Their rub (or at least the amount they use) is disgustingly salty. I couldn't taste any of the smoke flavor or even the flavor of the coating of bbq sauce, the saltiness was that overpowering.

The only way I could see to save these ribs would be to dunk them in an overly sweet bbq sauce to overpower the saltiness, but that's not going to chagne the fact that I would still be ingesting some unknown yet obviously ungodly quantity of salt. They're probably going to end up in the trash.

It's a shame too, because the quality of the ribs themselves seemed pretty good for the price, but the rub completely ruins them.


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## nanuk

Everyone who has a bad experience with overly salty prerubbed ribs should talk to the meat manager.

if they are made in house, they can adjust, if they are brought in that way, maybe they can look at a different brand/supplier?


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## mrtopos

nanuk said:


> Everyone who has a bad experience with overly salty prerubbed ribs should talk to the meat manager.
> 
> if they are made in house, they can adjust, if they are brought in that way, maybe they can look at a different brand/supplier?



I don't really see much of a point. I've searched and this same complaint has showed up on Reddit and other bbq/cooking forums over the years.

Apparently, enough people like it that they keep selling them. I doubt Costco will do anything and I threw out the original packaging and already cooked all of them so a refund would be out of the question.


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