The Case For Avoiding This Particular Ground Beef At Costco

We recently covered why you should buy lamb meat at Costco, because it's a great deal on a hard-to-find protein, but we can't give a ringing endorsement to the warehouse giant's Kirkland Signature 93/7 ground beef. We like Costco's ground beef in general – like the giant chubs you can order for killer deals – but we weren't as excited as some folks when social media reports started filtering in around late 2024 about Costco selling four-packs of ultra-lean ground beef. Hardcore gym fiends and muscle-builders got their hype up about this find, as all ground beef is protein-dense, and lean ground beef accomplishes this nutritional feat with fewer calories. As one enthusiast on Reddit put it, "93/7 is all about the macros. When you want to eat really clean [...] ground beef hits. Drop in a sauce or chili or tacos and it makes very little overall difference to enjoyment but chops hundreds of calories off your meal."

As foodies, however (see the name of the website?) we disagree entirely. As the old saying goes, fat is flavor, and 93/7 ground beef simply doesn't have much of it. In addition, we find this grade of ground beef to be tough to cook with, since it dries out easily and will generally need fat added back in to make it palatable, which eliminates the purpose of paying more for this meat in the first place.

Even the people who rejoiced at the sight of super-lean ground beef at Costco were hard-pressed to admit that they actually liked the way it tasted. "Everyone else will just go 'no flavor or too crumbly.' I personally don't like it for those reasons too but it's just a cleaner means to feed the body for those of us that seek it on regular days," another Redditor shrugged on the same thread. You may find that 93/7 ground beef has very limited usage in cooking, since it does, in fact, crumble easily. Making a spaghetti sauce? You might be fine. Cooking a burger and expecting the patty to stick together? Proceed with caution.

One of the common mistakes everyone makes when cooking beef is being careless about the fat content of the meat you purchase with regard to the recipe you are making. Fattier blends of ground beef, like 80/20 or 85/15, are well-rounded workhorses that will suit most of your cooking needs. Overall, very lean beef like the kind sold at Costco just isn't as versatile, and, even in the most logical preparations, you are going to be dealing with muted flavor and texture issues. Unless you absolutely need this specific beef to optimize the macros in your diet, we recommend you choose a different option.