The Absolute Best Costco Freezer Finds Under $15

Certain items in Costco's stock transcend the concept of well-priced and attain the level of real steal. If you've ever tasted Kirkland frozen pepperoni pizza or Costco meatballs, you know the quality of the company's creations. Anything of these items you can find for $15 or under qualifies as a special purchase, and because the items happen to be in the freezer section where they could possibly last indefinitely until you're ready to use them, they reach a level of warehouse nirvana few grocery goods can ever aspire to.

When you stumble upon a freezer item at Costco for $15 or less, you'd be wise to snatch it up before the shoppers behind you figure out what's good. I went on a voyage of discovery with some fellow tasters, trekking through my local Costco freezer section in search of the underlying truth about which $15 frozen foods can help you see the world of shopping through new eyes. 

If all of this talk about fortuitous freezer finds sounds a little grandiose, it's because making your food money go as far as possible is serious business. These purchases can help you achieve warehouse grocery greatness. All you need is a Costco card, 15 bucks, and a little freezer space.

These tasty flatbread sandwiches stand in the crossroads between a pita and a grilled chicken quesadilla, with the best features of both on prominent display. For just about $12, you can count on having 15 of these half-sandwiches on hand. Their diminutive size makes them a great addition to a lunch sack or bento box, and they heat up easily in the microwave oven, which makes them flexible enough for most office lunch rooms.

Though they're a bit smaller than they appear on the box, these chicken melts are a fantastic stand-in for a deli or fast food chicken sandwich. The meat-eaters in my tasting party described them as seasoned chicken with a nugget-like texture, pressed and formed into a patty with like a slice of cheddar on top and tucked into a browned pita pocket sliced in half. This one was easily devoured and though my testers thought it was tasty enough on its own, they found that a sauce like honey mustard or chicken sauce lent extra oomph that pushed the flavor over the top.

Keeping a supply of tasty frozen finger foods helps you get the party started on short notice is crucial, even if you define that party as "an 11:45 p.m. snack." Costco knows the struggle is real and does you a solid by stocking its freezer section with a box of Bibigo Mini Vegetable Spring Rolls. They become nice and crispy in an air fryer, a conventional oven, or even a toaster oven, though there are no microwave instructions on the box. They also come with a soy-ginger sauce that ramps up the flavor quotient considerably. 

Even though the box warns shoppers that these are mini-spring rolls, they end up being even smaller than expected, resembling tiny burritos more than traditional spring rolls. But one $10 box provides a whopping 50 rolls, which is plenty for an appetizer tray or a few weeks' worth of snack plates. After snarfing down three of these little crunchies with their umami cabbage and garlic essence, I was ready to open the box and heat up a few more. I kept my cool and held off, since I had so many other frozen items to taste, but I eagerly await my next spring roll snacking occasion.

Being gluten-free sounds like it should be a standard for all chicken strips, until you realize that the batter used for creating crispy breading contains flour. The bigger secret is that Costco carries a box of these wonderful foods in its freezer section for a scant $14 — or at least that's what my location prices them at. It's no six-piece fast food box, either; this treasure trove of gluten-free convenience holds the respectable three pounds of strips to make sure you have plenty on hand.

The crispy breading on these strips (which are really nuggets, tenders, and fritters more than just strips) doesn't seem dependent on the gluten, a feature which a member of my gluten-free meat testing team greatly appreciated. The texture is more crumbly than crunchy, but in a good way, and the chicken is tasty but unseasoned, which makes it perfect for your choice of dipping sauce without an intrusive base flavor making things weird. They do require a little time in a conventional oven cook up; there's no quick and easy microwave shortcut. But my carnivore taste testers are big on chicken strips of all sorts, so they know of which they speak. Their opinion on these well-priced organic bites is that they give fast food strips a solid kick in the chops.

Anyone who loves grabbing a slice or a pie at the Costco snack bar will be delighted to know there's a box of Kirkland Signature Cheese Pizzas waiting in the freezer section to serve a similar purpose. For less than $12, you get four pies that take a quick 20 minutes or so in a 400 degrees Fahrenheit oven to produce that brown and bubbly cheesy goodness you know and love. It's a freezer-friendly version that you can keep on hand for quick suppers or weekend get togethers that don't require delivery or DoorDash.

Though these are definitely cheese pizzas, the blank canvas of mozzarella on top invites any of your favorite toppings from home; fresh sliced vegetables or packaged pepperoni can spruce them up or create a half-and-half pie for your mixed audience. But I think they are flavorful enough on their own to serve as is, and with a package of four for less than $15, you can keep premium pizza on hand while keeping more of your prize money in your pocket. With four to a box, this bargain beats the best frozen cheese pizzas of just about every brand, even the store label pies that pop up toward $5 each these days.

Making your own bean and cheese burritos at home sounds like a good time, until you realize you're terrible at wrapping things in tortillas and making them stay shut. At that point, you need to call in the experts, a specialist in the art of burrito wrapping like Lily's. This company's organic bean, rice, and cheese burritos are a dream come true when a quick and easy lunch or supper is required. Eight of these burritos for right around $10 is a sensible price for a much more thoughtful version than the other frozen burritos in the case.

This is a sensibly-sized burrito, not one of those behemoth burritos Chipotle has gotten everyone used to. I devoured one in about five bites, and though it took a few extra seconds in the microwave to heat through and through, it was a perfect blend of beans, cheese, and rice to offer tempting textures and soothing tastes, in a tortilla wrap that's not too thick to chew through. They're perfect for stashing in a workplace freezer to keep from having to pack your lunch every day, and they're small enough to leave icebox space for your coworkers. The instructions recommend thawing them for 24 hours if you plan to cook them in a conventional oven, but that can be sped up with a trip through the microwave, too. I did the microwave version and was happy with my decision.

The Costco bakery sells tubs of fresh croissants that are delicious but tend to go stale after a while. Not so with Au Pain Dore croissants, a $14 frozen box that holds 30 buttery twists that may be smaller than their bakery department counterparts, but last a whole lot longer. Don't mistake these for the pre-baked frozen croissants offered by other brands; Au Pain Dore presents unbaked dough that gives the freshest experience possible, though it does take a little work to get there. And since Costco has changed its bakery croissants, you have a workable alternative without having to find a whole new store.

What a revelation these buttery baked coils are. They take a little longer in the oven to achieve the quintessential browned tops, about 28 to 30 minutes rather than the suggested 20 to 25. But the extra heat produces bakery-level croissants with flaky exteriors, tender interior, and the ultimate in buttery flavor. With 30 in a box, you can dole them out slowly as you need, for breakfast or brunch dishes, sandwich rolls, or drizzled with chocolate or Nutella for dessert. Just be sure you have plenty of space in your freezer; these come uncooked, which means they have to stay as frosty as possible for you to get your money's worth.

You could show off to your gourmet friends by creating your own homemade dumplings, provided you have the time and energy and know what it takes to get the job done. Or you could pick up a package of Bibigo Chicken & Vegetable Steamed Dumplings at your preferred Costco location for a savory $14 or so and pass them off as your own. As crispy and tasty as these authentic Asian creations are, it would probably be easier to just tell your friends and family you bought them rather than taking a chance on having to be everybody's dumpling designer.

You'll find easy to microwave trays with six dumplings each inside the box, though they can also be placed in a steamer for a more authentic heating experience. My meat eaters were eager to sink their teeth into these chewy little bundles, filled with cabbage and carrots, as well as shredded chicken and umami seasoning. They pointed out the juicy broth like center that made it feel like they were eating soup dumplings, a tasty bonus for anyone who loves deluxe Asian bites at bargain prices.

In the eternal battle to create the perfect peanut butter and jelly sandwich, Smuckers Uncrustables meets its match in Charlotte's Strawberry CrustOffs. This all-too-obvious copycat holds its own against the original, providing an alternative to the better known progenitor with a distinctive organic twist. And let's be honest: Finding smaller brands with great products is part of the fun of shopping at Costco, a concept Charlotte's easily proves out. For just under $13 per box you get 18 of these square sandwiches, each with crimped edges that keep the fillings tucked safely inside. There's no cooking required, just a bit of thawing time in the fridge or on the counter to get the good times rolling. And what good times they are!

There's no question Charlotte's has cracked the frozen PB&J code ... not that it's an incredible mystery to begin with. But the uncrusted white bread used is tender, the peanut butter is creamy, and the strawberry spread is just sweet enough to add its own fruit-flavored magic to the mix. Considering the price difference between these and the Smucker's name-brand version, there's no reason to pay more when you get something just as wonderful for less than $15.

It may be tempting to plan a trip to Disney just so you can grab a Dole Whip of every flavor while you wait in line for Indiana Jones and the Temple of Super-Crowded Theme Parks, but a quick jaunt to Costco's freezer section will save you a ton of money and hours of travel time. Sure, they only come in pineapple here, but the flavor these little cups pack is serious business, and with a box of eight for just about $12, it's a heck of a lot easier to work into your budget than a day at the Magic Kingdom.

If this tangy bite of frosty delight doesn't transport you to Disneyland, try a second one. The premium texture that lets a spoon glide right through feels more fluffy than frozen, and the pineapple-plus-ingredients recipe does something to the basic tangy goodness that elevates it to a transcendent plane. Maybe that sounds a bit extra, but seriously, I had to limit myself to two bites to keep from eating the whole box — they're that good. That also may be because they're pretty small for a frozen treat, which means your little ones can enjoy a treat without overindulging. Tuck an extra one in the back of the freezer for yourself to enjoy when the rest of the box is gone (have I mentioned how good these things are?).

The flavor is refreshingly natural, more like juices than brand-name popsicles are capable of creating with their mix of real and artificial flavors. Every band in this rainbow-hued pop represents a different fruit, which gives you a tongue-tingling taste change as you work your way down. One of the biggest draws here is the organic and natural personality of the ingredients; these pops eschew corn syrup for cane sugar and use fruit juices along with natural flavorings to come up with a super sweet pop that sets itself apart from the (ice) pack.

The quest for ice pops made without troublesome artificial dyes comes to an end with the discovery of Johnny Pops. Priced at just around $12, this box is filled with 18 of mindful 'sicles that don't skimp on eye popping hues, but conjured them using fruit and vegetable juices. What do you end up with is frosty fun you can feel good about feeding your kids and yourself, because ice pops don't have an age limit. Compared to an eight-pack running near $7, getting this many deluxe treats for just a few more bucks is a dynamite deal.

I wasn't expecting there to be 49 different frozen food items under $15 when I headed to my Costco for a research field trip. But that's exactly how many I found waiting for me. I gathered names and prices for each and did online research to see what sorts of reviews and customer buzz there might be. This narrowed the list by quite a few items; not too many internet users are jumping online to rave about Kirkland's three berry mix or frozen broccoli florets. Go figure.

Not all brands represented on the list have a big enough following to garner chatter; the ones that were missing were also eliminated from the list. Once I had a sense of how customers felt about the remaining items, I sorted them into good, middling, and bad, using a mix of YouTube and TikTok reviews, as well as Reddit commentary and other shopping sites where ratings have been left. From the products with the most favorable ratings, I chose items that represented a range of categories, such as appetizers, main dishes, sides, and desserts. I also made sure to choose a variety of plant-based and meat-based items for as complete a selection as possible.