9 Worst Costco Items, According To Member Reviews

Try getting a warehouse shopper to tell you about the best items from Costco, and you'll spend the rest of the conversation hearing about stuff. However, ask them about the worst items they've ever purchased, and they may struggle to come up with a list. Costco purchases that turned out to be a mistake for not just one or two shoppers but for Costco members as a whole are still out there. Even with outliers who testify to the contrary, certain picks from the retailer are definitive disappointments for the majority of people who've tried them.

We're not talking about Kirkland toilet paper, which seems to have degraded in quality, or Kirkland batteries, which are unanimously bad purchases. We're specifically zeroing in on buys from the food sections, ill-advised selections that turned out to be a giant waste of money. The helpful culture of Costco shoppers means members have shared their complaints in warnings with others, primarily in Reddit threads where patterns of dissatisfaction start to take shape over time.

It's only fair to give unsuspecting Costco members a heads up on which picks to steer clear of, whether it's Costco produce that goes bad too quickly or chicken that doesn't live up to its potential. This list of the worst Costco items to buy, based on feedback from diehard warehouse walkers who learned the hard way, will help you avoid an array of shopping snafus. 

When you come up with a rum that even a pirate would refuse, you know you've taken a sharp left turn into the world of consumer dissatisfaction. It's an unexpected misstep from a label that usually knows how to pour special things at lower prices. Beverage fans have their own takes on the best and worst liquors found at Costco, and Kirkland Signature vodka and gin seem to be solid choices. So it stands to reason that unsuspecting customers would extend that logic to rum as well. Sadly, they're likely to end up with a bottle of sorrow for their assumption.

Search the seven seas in the whole Internet wide, and it's hard to find anyone with good things to say about this less-than-pleasant bottle of liquor. One suspected element is that the artificial flavor gives it an odd taste. One member dubs the taste "cinnamon hairspray," which is both descriptive and repulsive. In fact, it's difficult to find anyone with kind words for this sad spirit. Another compares it to hand sanitizer, an image that brings an instant sting to the nostrils.

There are plenty of other options that make taking this bottle down and passing it around a definite no. Unless you like the taste of hairspray and hand sanitizer ... in which case, have at it.

You're only supposed to call them burnt ends if they're still tender enough to bite into without having to tear them in half first. Someone forgot to tell Costco about this fundamental rule of the barbecue world, which may be why Kirkland Signature burnt ends have stuck in the craw of discerning shoppers who know the real deal when they taste it — and the unreal deal when they waste their money on it. It's a true feat to ruin something that's burnt by nature, even if it happens to be slices of brisket. 

Somehow, Costco took the description to heart and really leaned into the overcooked personality of these usually tasty pork parts. If you look for an endorsement from members online, you'll find that most people complain about the toughness of the meat, a description found over and over again in Reddit threads. One even compares it to dog food, which may be a bit of a stretch, but it does paint a picture. Other commentary notes how little meat you get for the price you pay, and that it's often more fatty than meaty. 

Forget about silky smooth mac & cheese out of a box if you get the Kirkland Signature version of this home-cooked favorite. It turns out the store label has difficulty living up to the legacy of its blue box cohort. When you can't outdo a classic like Kraft, you should reconsider why you're putting out a second-rate product in the first place.

You know the drill with powdered mac & cheese sauce: Add milk and butter to the noodles, shake on the powder from the packet, and mix until creamy. In the case of Costco's recipe, the concoction turns out to be gritty rather than delightfully smooth. That's an easy way to ruin a dinner dish you thought was an affordable slam dunk. And if by chance you choose to give this grainy mac & cheese a try anyway, you may agree with those who find the bland, characterless flavor isn't worth the effort to make it more palatable.

As frequently as mac & cheese goes on sale at national grocery chains, it's easy enough to sidestep this poorly thought-out purchase, thanks to word from Costco shoppers who've done the dirty work for us all. Now, this discontinued stuff is so rare you can hardly find photos of it. Chalk it up to one of the Costco Kirkland products that completely failed.

In a brand lineup made largely of winners, Costco somehow came up with a product that was universally panned by lovers of light beer who knew a bad thing when they tasted it. That's a shame, since the cost of a 48-pack was a cool $22, a considerable downshift from equivalent stock from bigger-name beer brands. How could beer fans pass up such a sound spending opportunity?

Even if you go into the exchange understanding that you'll be getting cheap beer, Kirkland's version of light suds takes the concept to new lows. Drinkers who've sampled this low-rent beverage describe it as being a proper beer only for college students and beer pong. One Reddit thread titled "Kirkland Signature Light Beer appreciation post" turns into a bash fest,  with one user facetiously suspecting it would have to be a choice for Costco to make a beer this bad, as if something so rough couldn't have been unintentional. The Internet is a harsh place when your beer is subpar.

The chain got word that this concoction was more detested than adored and pulled cans off warehouse shelves. The reason for Costco discontinuing Kirkland Signature light beer is obvious: Poor quality beer at a low price may get you into customers' carts, but it definitely won't make you No. 1 in their hearts.

It's every bacon lover's dream to have crispy crumbles of thinly sliced, smoky pork to sprinkle over their food like edible confetti. With the unabashed movement to bacon being paired with everything from chocolate to cupcakes, Costco ponied up a generous package of bacon bits that took cooking out of the equation. Happy shoppers could grab a bag, tear it open, and start adding their favorite flavor to every dish that crossed their place mat.

The worst thing you could say about an improper bacon crumble is that it's fatty; the whole idea is to make the pieces crispy enough so that they crunch between your teeth. Shoppers realized the gristly texture was harshing their bacon vibe and called it out on the World Wide Web to save unsuspecting Costco members a raw deal. The bacon bits were also described as being tough, dry, and rubbery, a quality which some folks resolved by nuking their bits for a few seconds to crisp them up even more. They also seem to go bad very quickly, which no microwave can fix.

If you pay for bacon bits that are supposed to be ready out of the package, and you have to put in work to actually make them ready, you're not getting what you've paid for. And you're not likely to pay for it a second time.

Doesn't a multi-pack of various hot sauces sound like the perfect gift for the fire-loving foodie in your life? That's what Costco shoppers thought when they saw this packaged collection of 12 sauces on warehouse shelves, promising a heated good time for anyone daring enough to try them.

Before you rig up your camera and start filming your own episode of "Hot Ones," you should know that there seems to be no distinction between these presumedly varied sauces. Customer members shared their woes in a Reddit thread that warns off prospective shoppers by explaining that, in addition to the lack of flavor varieties due to largely the same ingredients used from bottle to bottle, they also contain artificial colorings. It's such a contentious topic that one comment on a thread generated close to 200 replies. That's some hot talk about not-so-hot hot sauce.

A Facebook post from a Costco patron sums it up by describing these sauces as more vinegar than heat. If you've ever referred to the Scoville rating of a sauce, this collection will be pretty laughable to you.

Anyone who favors tender, juicy chicken as part of their home cooking routine will want to steer clear of Kirkland chicken breasts sold in the Costco meat section. The multi-pack of boneless, skinless breasts at wholesale prices may seem like a rock solid bargain in an age where grocery costs are flying ever upward. But the rock-solidness doesn't stop at the warehouse price; it also extends to the cutlets in the package, a shocking disappointment to anyone who's come up against this Costco no-no.

The adjectives used to describe these chicken breasts are anything but appetizing. Those who have cooked them up expecting regular poultry have encountered cutlets that are fibrous, woody, and too tough to chew. Shoppers have used all sorts of cooking methods, hoping to side-step the unfortunate texture, with mixed results and a lot of advice for others. But there are too many instances where the chicken is rubbery or simply unpleasant texture-wise to ignore the warning signs. You work too hard for your grocery money to spend it on woody poultry. This is one purchase where chickening out is the right call.

The last thing you want when you crack open a can of cold brew is to find out it bears no resemblance to coffee, at least not in the way humans who love coffee understand the beverage to be. If it's your energy drink of choice, it has to deliver both a caffeine jolt and a taste that's smooth and enjoyable. The Costco beverage people don't seem to understand how to pull off this simple two-point maneuver.

How bad is Kirkland Signature canned cold brew? One Reddit commenter bought two cases as fuel while traveling and was so turned off after trying it, they opted to return the unopened case. Another shopper, a cold brew connoisseur, claims it's the worst they've ever tasted. And when one Redditor compared the tasting notes to sulfur (think: rotten eggs), the whole concept of an enjoyable coffee drink went out the window.

A helpful contributor recommends pouring Kirkland cold brew out of the can and doctoring it up with milk or cream. But since that defeats the convenience of canned coffee, you should maybe think twice about loading up on a case of this un-buzzworthy flip-top java. If it's a toss-up between Starbucks and Costco cold brew, your money is much better spent on the Starbucks version.

When you buy green bananas at the grocery store, it's with the expectation that they will gradually ripen over time. This keeps you from accidentally buying mature fruit that turns brown and mushy before you have a chance to enjoy it. But when you buy bananas at Costco, it's like playing tropical roulette with your produce. Sometimes you get green bananas that ripen nicely; other times you get green bananas that ruin your smoothie plans.

Some card-carrying Costco members (myself included) have been the unwitting victims of fruit that ripens haphazardly. You can get a bunch of emerald-colored bananas, set them on the counter, put them in a warm window, or stick them in a brown paper bag, and all they ever do is stay green. Other times, you can go to sleep one night with green bananas and wake up with brown, mushy bananas — a slight exaggeration, but a real phenomenon in which the fruit goes from unripe and inedible to too ripe and also inedible in what seems like the blink of an eye. Banana-buying Costco shoppers can seriously relate to the meme where the bananas are green in three panels and brown and rotten in the fourth.

One of the rumored causes for this is improper gassing of the fruit as it travels from the plantation to the store. Though sometimes the green ones turn out to be ripe-adjacent, you might as well buy your bananas from a more dependable source.

The Costco crowd is a chatty bunch, which is a wonderful thing when you're trying to nail down which of the warehouse's products don't live up to the hype. I know I've had some bad luck with products in the past, most of which I've put out of my memory after finding suitable replacements. The bananas stick out as an ongoing issue and one that keeps me from making what would be a very financially sound purchase. It's just too dicey.

I took a look at forums to see where the most consensus had been reached regarding products that should definitely be stricken from everybody's shopping list. Reddit was the most robust source and had the clearest descriptions of what hadn't gone right with the items in the round-up. Specifically, the burnt ends and the light beer appear to be overwhelmingly bad items to toss into your cart. While the repeated complaints may have helped inspire Costco to discontinue its light beer creation, the burnt ends still seem to be available. There's always hope that the quality of this and other products will improve if enough shoppers make their voices heard.