The reason why professional chefs love Costco beef

Costco: The wholesale mecca where you can leave with a new beach chair, a 64-pack of fruit snacks, a big-screen TV, an arms-load of diapers, and… incredibly high-quality beef?

That’s right. Plus, check out 9 other bizarre things you never knew you could get at Costco.

Chefs and butchers alike have come out and said one of their go-to spots to purchase beef is one of America’s favorite retailers. Food & Wine reveals that it’s all about what the cows are fed, if they’re drinking enough water, and how they’re raised. In short, happy cows are tasty cows, and Costco provides just that.

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Professional butcher Walter Apfelbaum told Food & Wine, “Costco sells some of the most beautiful prime beef I’ve seen out of the restaurant industry. They have huge buying power.” His beef of choice? USDA Prime.

Costco sells Prime Wagyu (beef from four types of Japanese cows), which is hailed as one of the top kinds of beef, at $1,279 for 13 pounds. That comes out to be around $100 per pound. But get this: that’s cheap. Other retailers sell Prime Wagyu for anywhere from $1,300 to a whopping $3,900 for the same amount of meat. Other cuts of Wagyu range from $399 to $999 on Costco’s website.

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Next time you’re shopping for beef, take this advice from professional chefs and head to Costco. They aren’t just the place to buy your bulk snacks and paper products. But… maybe leave the Wagyu to the chefs and try your hand at cooking up a slightly lower-grade beef instead. It’s less pressure on you—and your wallet. Next, find out the 15 secrets Costco employees won’t tell you.