Walking through Costco’s massive freezer section can feel overwhelming. With towering shelves packed with everything from pizza to pot pies, it’s tempting to grab a few boxes and call it a day. But here’s the thing—not all frozen meals are created equal. Some look amazing on the package but turn into disappointing disasters once you heat them up. While Costco has plenty of winners in their freezer aisles, there are definitely some items you should leave on the shelf. After testing multiple frozen dinners from the warehouse giant, some clear losers emerged that just aren’t worth your money or freezer space.
Marie Callender’s chicken pot pies fall short
Chicken pot pie should be comfort food at its finest, but these individual servings miss the mark in almost every way. When you pop one of these in the oven, the smell seems promising at first. But once it’s done cooking, you’ll notice the crust is pale and doughy instead of golden and flaky. The gravy that seeps onto the top makes everything soggy, and the crust on the bottom literally glues itself to the pan. You’ll end up scraping it off and tossing it straight in the trash because it’s completely inedible.
The filling doesn’t save this dish either. While there are decent chunks of chicken throughout, the gravy tastes like raw flour mixed with water. It’s gloopy and lacks any of the rich, savory quality that makes pot pie worth eating. There’s also a weird synthetic aftertaste that lingers after each bite. According to taste tests, the vegetables are cooked okay and the chicken pieces are moist, but everything else about this meal is disappointing. With eight servings in a package, you’ll be stuck with a lot of mediocre pot pies taking up valuable freezer space.
Bibigo shrimp fried rice needs serious help
Fried rice should be packed with umami and savory goodness, but this version from Bibigo tastes like someone forgot to add the seasoning packet. The biggest problem is the blandness. From the moment you open the package to the last bite, there’s barely any taste. The dish desperately needs soy sauce, gochujang, or pretty much any condiment to make it edible. If you have to doctor up a frozen meal this much just to make it taste decent, what’s the point?
The cooking instructions are also misleading. If you follow them exactly, you’ll end up with frozen shrimp in the center while the rice starts burning on the edges. The vegetables get overcooked and mushy while you’re waiting for the shrimp to thaw completely. One reviewer found that turning off the heat and letting steam finish the job worked better, but that’s extra time and effort for a meal that’s supposed to be convenient. The rice texture is fine—fluffy and separated—but that’s literally the only positive thing about this meal. Save your money and get takeout fried rice instead, or make it yourself with actual seasoning.
Kirkland beef lasagna disappoints across the board
Looking at the package, this lasagna seems like it would be a huge time-saver for busy families. Two massive trays that each feed six people sounds great in theory. But when you actually taste it, the problems become obvious immediately. The noodles are way too thick and chewy, almost double the thickness of regular lasagna noodles. It feels like you’re chewing through cardboard with each bite. The ricotta cheese is distributed so unevenly that some portions have barely any cheese at all, while others are overloaded.
The sauce is another major letdown. Instead of tasting rich and savory with herbs and spices, it’s bland and overly sweet. Taste testers noted that the ground beef tastes plain and needs way more seasoning to give it any punch. While the lasagna does hold together nicely when you’re trying to serve it, that’s about the only thing it has going for it. The meat filling lacks depth, the oregano and spice notes from the Italian sausage are nowhere to be found, and the whole thing just tastes like a massive letdown. For the amount of freezer space these two trays take up, you could store several better options instead.
Kirkland frozen chicken bakes aren’t worth it
Anyone who’s tried the fresh chicken bakes from Costco’s food court knows how good they can be. The frozen version tries to recreate that experience but fails spectacularly. The exterior comes out way too crispy and tough, almost burnt-looking in places. The cheese on the outside turns dark and hard instead of golden and melted. Inside, you’ll find fatty pieces of bacon and an overwhelming amount of salt that makes the whole thing nearly inedible. The Caesar dressing that’s supposed to add creaminess just makes everything taste even saltier.
The biggest issue is inconsistency. Multiple reviews found that sometimes there are huge gaps between the pastry shell and the filling inside, making each bite unpredictable. One box might be somewhat edible while the next is a complete disaster. The crust is either tough as leather or slightly better but still disappointing. When you can just walk to the food court and get a fresh one that’s ten times better, why bother with the frozen version? Sure, you get six in a box, but that just means six disappointing meals taking up room in your freezer. Skip these and get the fresh version every single time.
Rao’s eggplant parmesan has soggy breading problems
Rao’s makes excellent pasta sauces, so expectations were high for their frozen eggplant parmesan. The sauce definitely delivers—it’s well-balanced with good acidity and plenty of aromatics. The eggplant itself is soft and creamy, though maybe a bit mushier than ideal. But the breading is where everything falls apart. There’s way too much of it, and it’s completely bland. Instead of being crispy and adding texture, the bread crumbs are soggy and waterlogged. They soak up all the sauce and turn into a mushy mess that overtakes every single bite.
When you’re eating eggplant parmesan, the breading should stay somewhat crisp to provide contrast against the soft eggplant and melted cheese. This version turns into one uniform texture of mush. Reviewers noted that the heavy-handed breading dilutes the taste of everything else in the dish. The cheese on top gets overly crispy if you follow the package directions exactly, making it hard to serve without everything falling apart. Each tray is supposed to feed four to six people, but after one disappointing meal, you might not want to eat the leftovers. For something that takes a full hour in the oven, you expect better results than this soggy, bland disappointment.
Crazy Cuisine General Tso’s chicken misses the mark
General Tso’s chicken should have crispy, crunchy breading with a sweet and spicy sauce that makes you want to lick the plate. This version from Crazy Cuisine gets the sauce somewhat right—the ginger comes through nicely and the sweetness level is okay. But the breading is all wrong. Instead of being crispy and light, it’s spongy and absorbs too much moisture. The texture is closer to a wet sponge than the crackling coating you expect from good General Tso’s chicken.
The chicken pieces themselves are decent quality, but that spongy breading ruins each bite. Shoppers found that other options like the Mandarin chicken are significantly better in comparison. When you’re craving Chinese takeout, this frozen version will only make you wish you had ordered delivery instead. The sauce can’t save a dish when the main component has such an unpleasant texture. Even heating it in the air fryer doesn’t fix the sponginess problem. You’re better off trying other Asian-inspired frozen options that actually deliver on texture and taste instead of settling for this subpar version that leaves you wanting real takeout.
Royal Asia vegetable spring rolls are just okay
Spring rolls should have a crispy exterior with a balanced vegetable filling inside. These come out crunchy enough when you cook them in the air fryer, which is a plus. The wrapper gets nice and golden, giving you that satisfying crunch when you bite into it. But the filling has a major problem—there’s way too much edamame. Instead of getting a nice mix of different vegetables, the edamame completely dominates every single bite. It’s all you can taste, which gets old really fast.
When vegetables are supposed to play supporting roles to each other, having one ingredient take over the entire dish makes it boring and one-note. According to testers, other spring roll options at Costco are better balanced and more interesting. These are decent if you cook them properly in the air fryer rather than the oven or microwave, but they’re not worth choosing over better alternatives. The edamame overload means you’re basically eating fried bean pods with a thin layer of wrapper. If you really love edamame, maybe you’ll enjoy these. But for everyone else looking for a well-rounded spring roll with variety, keep looking.
Don Lee chicken tacos are weirdly processed
These tacos are strange from the start because they contain American cheese, which isn’t exactly traditional or expected in a taco. They’re more like a weird hybrid between a taco and something you’d get from a fast food drive-through at two in the morning. The chicken is shredded and crispy, which sounds good in theory. But the overall taste and texture remind you more of heavily processed fast food than anything resembling an actual taco. The American cheese melts into everything, creating a gooey, artificial-tasting mess.
Sure, some people might enjoy them as a guilty pleasure similar to Jack in the Box tacos. But if you’re looking for something that tastes like real food rather than a science experiment, these aren’t it. The ingredients list reads like a chemistry textbook, and you can taste every preservative and artificial ingredient. They might work as a late-night drunk snack when you’ve lost all sense of good judgment, but for an actual meal? Hard pass. There are so many better taco options available, whether frozen or fresh, that wasting money and stomach space on these processed pockets of regret just doesn’t make sense.
Kirkland breakfast sandwiches need more filling
These breakfast sandwiches are advertised as having applewood-smoked bacon, cage-free eggs, and cheese on a butter croissant. But when you actually eat one, you’ll notice the proportions are all wrong. There’s way too much bread compared to everything else. The croissant part isn’t even really a croissant—it’s denser and not as flaky as you’d expect. While it has some buttery taste, it’s nothing like an actual French croissant. You’re basically eating a bread sandwich with tiny amounts of egg and cheese thrown in.
The bacon comes in two slices cut in half, but it’s soft and chewy rather than crispy. If you like your bacon with any crunch at all, you’ll be disappointed. Reviews mention that the egg and cheese portions are noticeably skimpy, and the pepper distribution is wildly inconsistent. One sandwich might be loaded with black pepper while another has barely a speck. They’re oily enough that you’ll need napkins handy, and cooking them properly takes longer than the package says. For a quick breakfast option, there are better frozen sandwiches available that actually give you a decent ratio of ingredients instead of making you feel like you’re just eating bread.
Shopping at Costco means buying in bulk, which makes choosing the right frozen meals even more important. Getting stuck with eight bad pot pies or six disappointing chicken bakes means wasting both money and precious freezer real estate. While the warehouse has plenty of excellent frozen options worth loading up on, these particular items consistently let shoppers down. When you’re standing in those freezer aisles trying to decide what to grab, remember that the fanciest packaging doesn’t always mean the best meal inside. Trust the experiences of people who’ve already tried these disappointing options and steer your cart toward better choices.
