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If you’re a fan of brisket and shop at Costco, you may be wondering what options are available and what the best value is. Here’s what you need to know about buying brisket at Costco:
You can get brisket in various grades, ranging from $1.99/lb to $6.99/lb.
A 13 lb whole packer brisket could cost around $63.82. Buying a whole packer brisket is a more cost-efficient option than going for any type of specialty brisket, which could be up to $8.99/lb. Costco labels their briskets as Prime, Choice, or Select, all of which are generally packer style briskets.
The best brisket to buy is one that fits your budget, and if possible, go for a whole prime packer brisket.
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How much is brisket at Costco?
One of the neat things about brisket is that it is actually fairly cheap compared to more of the ‘desired’ cuts of meat such as ribeye.
Usually, Brisket at Costco averages anywhere from $1.99/lb for a really low grade all the way up to $6.99/lb for cuts like Waygu.
Costco Brisket Price (2022):
So, getting into the nitty gritty…
Here’s the beef brisket price per pound at Costco:
| Brisket Grade | Price Per Pound |
|---|---|
| Select | $1.99/lb |
| Choice | $2.99/lb |
| Prime | $4.99/lb |
Does Costco sell beef brisket?
They absolutely do!
One of the best things about buying Brisket at Costco is that you can buy a ton in bulk, for a discounted rate. That means that you can buy the more ‘expensive’ cuts or grades of brisket – for cheap.
The variety of briskets that Costco sells are diverse.
Here’s the different types of brisket at Costco:
As you can tell – Costco has a fairly diverse selection on the type of brisket you can buy.
This ranges from a packer style brisket to just select parts of a particular brisket – the flat or the point.
This is common among many grocery stores. Their goals is to give the customer the most amount of selection desired.
Typically, I like to just go straight for the whole packer style briskets.
They are cheaper on a per pound basis, and you get to cook and modify the brisket as you like.
However, some people just really like prepackaged parts of the brisket and will opt for either just a flat (leaner) or point (fattier) part of the brisket.
What is brisket called at Costco?
Costco labels their briskets as:
- USDA Prime Commodity Beef Brisket
- USDA Choice Commodity Brisket
- USDA Select Commodity Brisket
These are generally packer style briskets, meaning they are whole briskets that have not been sliced or cut into different pieces.
Typically when this is done, the butcher will separate the point from the flat and sell each of those pieces individually for a higher price per pound.
How Much Does Costco Brisket Cost?
A Brisket at Costco can sell for anywhere from $40-$70 for a whole packer style brisket.
It depends on the type of brisket you are buying and the grade of the brisket you are buying at Costco.
What this means is that there are a wide variety of briskets that Costco likes to package up and sell.
Let’s look into this some more:
Types of Brisket at Costco:
- Whole Packer Style Brisket
- Flat Separated Brisket
- Point Separated Brsiket
Price per pound of Brisket at Costco:
- Prime Grade: $4.99/lb
- Choice Grade: $2.99/lb
- Select Grade: $1.99/lb
Putting it Together:
To get the best bang for your buck when buying brisket at Costco – I recommend you to buy a whole packer style brisket.
You are just buying all of the meat, and you are not being up-charged due to having a specialty cut of brisket.
A recent example of a brisket I saw at Costco – a whole packer brisket weighed in at around 12 lbs, costing roughly $4.99lb. This equates to a total price of $63.82.
If you were to only take a flat cut of the brisket – weighing in at around 5lbs and costing almost $8.99lb (since it’s a specialty cut it’s more expensive on a per pound basis) – that would be roughy $45.
So not only are you paying more for a smaller cut of brisket – you’re paying more for a lesser grade of brisket as well.
What is the Best Brisket to Buy?
The best brisket to buy is one that fits into your budget. If you have the ability to budget roughly $70 for a brisket – definitely go with a whole prime packer brisket.
Otherwise – consider either going for a lesser grade whole packer brisket or perhaps a prime grade specialty cut brisket.
When buying a brisket at Costco – you will want to select one one the following order:
- Prime Whole Packer Brisket (Budget $70)
- Consider going for a lesser grade whole packer (Less than $70)
- Choose a Prime grade special cut of brisket
The reason you always go with a whole packer brisket first is simply because it preserves the integrity of the meat, and allows you to obtain even more meat than you would for the same price of a cut of specialty brisket.
In other words, buying a whole packer brisket is a lot more cost efficient than buying any kind of specially cut brisket.
How Much is Prime Brisket Per Pound?
Costco Prime Brisket per pound is roughly $4.99/lb.
Costco has a great selection of all types of meat, especially brisket.
When looking in the meat counter bin – glance over at how much a prime brisket costs.
As notated above, a single whole prime packer brisket can cost as much/little as $4.99/lb.
When comparing this to other slices of meat that are of the same grade, quality or marbling, this can be an excellent deal.
Not only that, you get up to 20lbs of brisket at a time.
That’s awesome.
Buying Brisket at Costco – Wrapping up
Buying Brisket at Costco can spur various questions such as those answered above.
You can buy many different types of brisket – ranging from different styles, grades, and prices.