Costco sells USDA Prime? That’s worth the trip alone. Most grocery stores never have Prime.

Yes but stick to the larger sized vacuum sealed packs (10-15 lbs). The pre cut steaks are all blade tenderized so you need to cook them to ground beef temperatures.

The large packs are also $1-2 cheaper and you can split and freeze them yourself if you’re not a total carnivore.

Blade tenderizing Prime beef is terrible and I hate that Costco does it (check the label before you buy), but my understanding is that if you cook via Sous Vide you don't need to take it to 160 degrees. You can cook it at a lower temperature (135/140) for a longer time and still kill harmful bacteria.

https://www.amazingfoodmadeeasy.com/info/modernist-cooking-b...

If I'm wrong, please correct me!

Whenever I read threads like this, I wonder if there's more of an issue with bacteria in food in North America, or if people are just more fastidious about it?

The other option of course would be that it's just HN-style 'nerding out' on any topic, (which is great) but I see it on Reddit and cooking blogs/recipe sites too.

>The pre cut steaks are all blade tenderized

I'm not sure that's accurate. Some of them definitely are but I believe the filet's (for instance) are not. I guess I'll have to double check next time I'm there.

Ya that’s very annoying. But if you have a sous vide you can pasteurize it at > 130F for 2.5-3 hours.

> The pre cut steaks are all blade tenderized so you need to cook them to ground beef temperatures.

Eh, all those recommendations are very conservative. I've been eating undercooked ground beef my entire life (it tastes better.) If it's ever made me sick, it wasn't sick enough to notice.

I think most people conceive of Costco as a place where you save by buying low quality groceries in bulk. But they really only sell high quality groceries. If you’re poor, you probably can’t afford to shop at Costco for anything other than non-food items.