The Weekly Whole Foods Oyster Deal You Need To Know About

The 2 billion pounds of oysters we eat every year are divided into at least 100 varieties of oysters available on both the East and West Coasts of North America (per CNN). Oyster bars shuck a good deal of those for us. Food and Wine has a list of favorite oyster houses, where a dozen of shucked, raw oysters are typically about $35 per dozen, like at L&E Oyster Bar in Los Angeles.

Oyster aficionados who want to do the shucking themselves, or don't want to afford oyster house prices, can buy them at a trusted seafood monger. For many Americans, the hundreds of Whole Foods locations fit that bill. Their seafood standards are reliably strict, ensuring sustainable and responsible harvesting practices. Notably, that high bar of quality doesn't always mean high prices. In fact, timing is everything when shopping at Whole Foods. There's a best time of day to find a fresh rotisserie chicken. And, there's a best time of the week to find fresh oysters.

In a July 2022 post to TikTok, a user going by the name of @ShoPhoCho shed some light on an incredible bargain. In-store Whole Foods shoppers can take advantage of the grocery store's Friday Fishmonger's Dozen deal. In this case, an oyster is a mere one dollar. The only catch is you need to buy them a dozen at a time.

That's a great deal and should really negate any hesitancy you have about diving into shucking some oysters at home. There are plenty of ways to enjoy a properly cooked oyster. Oyster stew and grilled oysters are perfect ways to take advantage of this deal for even the most adamant of raw-oyster-hesitant customers.

We can thank ShoPhoCho for pointing out this bargain, but, please, don't emulate how this user opens those one-dollar oysters. Especially observant TikTok viewers likely noted the caption of the short video that should serve as a cautionary tale to new oyster fans. "[I] hurt my hand shucking," ShoPhoCho wrote before sharing emojis of a hand and crying. "All good though."

Of course, using a screwdriver to open an oyster is a great way to hurt yourself. If you have some time, freezing oysters is the most effortless way to get them open. If you want to eat your oysters ASAP, please, put some of the savings from bargain oysters toward a proper oyster knife.

As with any kitchen tool, there's no shortage of options and opinions. Any oyster knife worth its salt must be sturdy enough to pry open the shell, deft enough to separate the muscle holding the oyster to the shell, and, perhaps most importantly, safe enough to use regularly. To answer these incredibly important questions, America's Test Kitchen ran the various styles of oyster knives through a gauntlet of tests. The good news is a great oyster knife can be had for less than $30. One of their favorites is available from Amazon for only about $16. 

Now that your screwdriver is back in the toolbox, and you've got a proper oyster knife, you're almost there. However, there's one more step to make your oyster-cutting skills as efficient and safe as humanly possible. You need a glove. A folded kitchen towel can work to hold the oyster and create a barrier between the knife and your opposite hand, but a cut-resistant glove is both safer and allows for more dexterity. Cockles and Mussels spells out the various options that can be had for about the price of an oyster knife. It's a personal choice between materials and size, but Amazon has no shortage of options to make those dollar oysters as safe as they are tasty.