Costco Chicken Fiasco - It's in the bag

One of the best deals at Costco is the cooked chicken for only $4.99. We have been buying them on a regular basis for years. But now they have changed the container from a hard plastic box to a flexible bag. The result is A BIG MESS, and we have stopped buying them.

With the previous box you can remove the top, cut up the chicken while leaving it on the base, and then replace the top for storing any leftovers. It was simple, clean, and easy.

With the new packaging, however, you have to completely remove the greasy chicken from the bag, find something to cut it up on, find something else to store the leftovers in, and then clean the greasy board you used to cut it up. Its's a huge mess and not worth the time and grease to do it anymore.

There are lots of complaints circulating about it, and some people saying that the previous plastic boxes were recyclable in their trash whereas the new bags are not.
 
I would prefer carry out food in a paper bag or maybe a cardboard box over a plastic container any day. Sure it's more work, but if it is a paper bag at least it is biodegradable. A plastic bag would be another matter, not so good... And I don't believe the recycling idea, I suspect a very small percentage of plastic ever gets recycled.
 
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Check the swap meet for NOS Costco chicken containers. Bring it home... plop it in your NOS container, and you're off and running just like in the old days. Only $5.99 per container for these rare and hard to find items.

Don't you wish you'd rinsed a few out and stored them....

Sarcasm ... of course...
 
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We've got those on remote occasion, like an emergency measure.

If there's any prep time available at all - tried to teach the college boy this one - use that Insta-Pot we got you. A 10 - 12 pack of chicken drumsticks, a spoonful of spices, few carrots / potatoes in chunks - fill to ingredient level with water. 35 minutes later - fantastic stew based meal!

Works with stove top pressure cooker too - if you can be around to mind it. Insta-Pot of course allows tricks like delayed start / keep warm.
 
My god.whats in that costco chook for 5 bucks.how many antibiotics and growth hormones can you pack into 1 five dollar bird.a lot. Free range,no way.ever seen the light of day,no way.
This is a loss leader for Costco. They aren't making any money on it, maybe even losing some, but it gets people into the store to do other shopping. Same is true of their $1.50 hot dog with soda.
 
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In the UK a few supermarkets experimented with milk in bags. Take bag home, fit bag in your 'milk in bag' jug, enjoy milk and save planet & money.

Except bag and jug were plastic, jug had to be washed after every bag, and spills were routine.

The whole scheme lasted less than 6 months.
 
I bought one of those "chickens" a few years ago. Tasted and looked like it had been boiled. Yuck.

They have a pretty good durian ice cream.

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Not any different than any other retailer. The vast majority of the packaging comes from the manufacturers, not the retailers. And lot of that is recyclable.
I can't agree with you. Costco often had double packaging where individually packaged items are bundled together with additional packaging. Typically the plastic used to bundle isn't marked for recycling.
 
I don't recall any double plastic packaging at Costco. When several identical items are bundled together there is usually just one plastic wrap around the entire group. In many cases with cardboard boxes, they are just joined together with small glue blobs.

But on a larger scale this whole recycling thing is a huge fiasco. We definitely recycle bottles when there is a clear and easily readable label to do so. But many products don't have such a label. I just looked at three different water bottles. One had a fairly easy to read admonition to recycle. A second had nothing to say. And a third said that it might be recyclable, and you should check your area. Sorry, but I don't have the patience for all of that. If there is a clear and large message to recycle, we will certainly do it. Otherwise, they go in the regular trash.
 
Over the years I have witnessed others buy less and less from there, and we are doing the same recently.
Dog food and coffee have been about all we buy anymore.

Am sure someone got a promotion by taking away that case for the bird. Which probably cost more than the actual chicken…
 
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Sorry, but I don't have the patience for all of that. If there is a clear and large message to recycle, we will certainly do it. Otherwise, they go in the regular trash.

Too bad.

I hope you don't mind either what your grandchildren will think about your action of the moment in their future.

It sound like nihilism to me. I don't get it.

Not that i'm particularly happy to have multiple bins and to pay ( a lot!) for our junks to be taken either. But it's mildly annoyance to me versus legacy we will let to our kids.
 
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Over the years I have witnessed others buy less and less from there, and we are doing the same recently.
Dog food and coffee have been about all we buy anymore.

Am sure someone got a promotion by taking away that case for the bird. Which probably cost more than the actual chicken…
I don't share your assessment of Costco. Ours seems to be just as busy as ever and we continue to find very good values there. If we didn't think we would save at least $60 per year we wouldn't bother with the membership anymore.
 
Too bad.

I hope you don't mind either what your grandchildren will think about your action of the moment in their future.

It sound like nihilism to me. I don't get it.

Not that i'm particularly happy to have multiple bins and to pay ( a lot!) for our junks to be taken either. But it's mildly annoyance to me versus legacy we will let to our kids.
Don't put the onus on me. I'm happy to do what the container says to do.

But if the manufacturer/supplier doesn't know what should be done with the packaging, or doesn't choose to print the instructions, then I don't feel any obligation to do anything other than putting it in the trash.

Please put the responsibility for directions back where it belongs on the supplier. And I'll be happy to do what they say.

Also reading the directions that the trash people have printed on the lids of the various cans is often confusing and of no help whatsoever. So, let's have them get the story straight first and clearly convey it to the rest of us.
 
the manufacturer/supplier doesn't care what you do with the package. Their end of the transaction ended once your money becomes their money. Hence, no clear direction on the packaging.

Most of the plastic isn't worth recycling anyways. Best thing to do if you care at all, is to find alternatives that work for you packaged in biodegradable and truly recyclable materials (like paper and glass).
 
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