7 Healthiest Costco Prepared Foods To Eat And 7 Unhealthiest

Let's be real: When we go to Costco, we walk straight past the cut-price TVs and electronic goods, and head straight for the prepared food section. The big-box retailer is famous for its extensive prepared food selection, where you can grab some of the best-selling Costco food items at reasonable prices. So what's the catch? Well, some of these items really aren't that healthy.

Costco doesn't just go big on sizes — it can also go big on flavor. This tendency leads to a high amount of saturated fat and sodium in some of its prepared food items, which can push them into unhealthy territory. Conversely, there are a lot of Costco prepared foods which are remarkably wholesome, offering up not just low levels of sodium or fat but a wealth of healthy vegetables and good levels of vital nutrients like fiber. So, how do you tell which items are healthy, and which ones aren't? That's where we come in. We scoped out unhealthy Costco food items based primarily on their nutritional information and the presence of high amounts of saturated fat or sodium, and looked at healthy items that had lower levels of these additives. We put our findings in a handy list for you.

Stuffed bell peppers are a reliably filling dish, but aside from the peppers themselves they may not seem that healthy. However, Costco has cracked the code when it comes to this meal. Its Kirkland Signature Stuffed Bell Peppers are pretty low on saturated fat and sodium, considering how hearty they are. Each halved pepper (which is a full serving, and a generous one at that) has 610 milligrams of sodium, 25% of your daily value, and 6 grams of saturated fat. Although the saturated fat isn't the lowest in the world, if you're watching your intake elsewhere in the day it won't break the bank.

It's also worth bearing in mind the other benefits of these peppers, too. Every portion has 24 grams of protein, keeping the dish nice and filling. It's aided in that mission by an impressive four grams of fiber — not bad when you consider that this dish is largely meat-based. That fiber comes mainly from the peppers themselves, which also come into their own on the vitamin front. Per portion, these peppers provide a massive 370% of your daily value for vitamin C, and 20% of your iron and vitamin A daily values.

Now, it likely doesn't come as a massive shock that Costco's Kirkland Signature Mac and Cheese isn't a healthy option, but there might have been some people out there who were still holding out hope. Well, sadly, folks, we're here to confirm it: This dish is exceptionally high in fat, and saturated fat in particular. Each serving of Costco's mac and cheese provides 11 grams of saturated fat, 55% of your daily value, and 18 grams of fat in total. This wouldn't be so bad if the serving size wasn't so tiny: This amount of saturated fat comes in a 4.5 oz portion, or a little over half a cup.

Compare this with a product like Bob Evans Mac and Cheese, which provides 5 grams of saturated fat in a 225-gram serving size, and you'll see just how cheesy Costco's version is. That amount of cheese naturally makes it pretty delicious, with the Alfredo sauce in the recipe boosting things further, but it doesn't make it nutritious. The lack of nutrition is reinforced elsewhere in the dish, with just a single gram of fiber and no vegetables to be seen anywhere.

Pasta salads can be a pretty hit and miss affair, with some of them leaning heavily on the pasta at the expense of any other ingredients. That isn't the case with Costco's Kirkland Signature Mediterranean Orzo Pasta Salad, though. This salad is one of the most colorful items in Costco's prepared foods section, thanks to it being loaded with tomatoes, spinach, and black olives, with the vegetables boosting its nutritional qualities and helping you get your five a day. It's a far cry from some of Costco's other prepared foods, which are unrelentingly beige or brown.

The vegetables in the dish slightly make up for the somewhat high sodium level: At 830 milligrams of sodium, this pasta salad is pretty salty. However, that quantity is spread across a full cup serving, a fairly generous amount — and if you're having it as a side, you may not end up consuming that much. We're also pleased to see a generous 12 grams of protein in this pasta salad and 3 grams of fiber, making it one of the more filling salad options on Costco's shelves.

How unhealthy can a simple chicken wrap be? Well, as it turns out, pretty wildly unhealthy. These wraps are stuffed with Costco's legendary rotisserie chicken and a hearty dollop of sauce, with an extra sauce pot nestled in each package. Unfortunately, the combination of these three ingredients, and the dozens of other ingredients that make up these wraps, lead to an astonishing amount of sodium per serving. Each southwest wrap has 1,560 milligrams of sodium, approximately 65% of the full amount you should be consuming per day. You'll be eating that in just a few bites, folks.

As well as this, these wraps are pretty fatty. Each wrap has 35 grams of fat per serving, and while you may be able to reduce this amount by skipping the pot of sauce, there's likely still a fair amount in the wrap itself. The levels of these two nutrients is unfortunately common in processed foods, with sodium being particularly rife in prepared items like this one. You'd be far better off buying yourself a Costco rotisserie chicken and making your own wrap at home, without the sauces that contribute to them being so unhealthy.

If you're looking for a lean option that's still high in protein and big on flavor, then check out Costco's Kirkland Signature Cilantro Lime Shrimp. As you might expect from shrimp, this prepared food is delightfully protein-rich, providing 21 grams per serving. It manages to do this while keeping its fat and saturated fat content low, with only 4 grams of fat and zero grams of saturated fat. Not bad, huh? Plus, Costco keeps its cilantro lime shrimp remarkably low in sodium, with just 370 milligrams of sodium per serving — 15% of your daily value.

One thing that might put you off buying this shrimp is its cholesterol levels: Each serving has 185 milligrams which covers 62% of your daily value, which seems a surprisingly high amount in something so lean. Shrimp is naturally high in cholesterol, but like many other high-cholesterol foods its health benefits can outweigh this. It's also useful to remember that dietary cholesterol consumption hasn't been convincingly found to raise blood cholesterol levels, with saturated fat intake being way more problematic. You should aim to keep your dietary cholesterol intake lower than 300 milligrams per day, and provided that you have no pre-existing conditions that make consuming cholesterol risky, things like this shrimp should be totally safe.

Gyros are one of those dishes that is kinda as healthy as you make it. At its core, a gyro is a combination of bread, meat, and vegetables, and if you use lean meat and avoid any heavy sauces or loads of cheese then they should be pretty wholesome. The same can't be said for Costco's Kirkland Signature Gyro Meal Kits, which take things in the other direction. The first thing to flag is the fat content: Each portion has 33 grams of fat and 12 grams of saturated fat, with the latter covering 60% of your daily value. Much of that fat seems to come from the meat itself, which customers have pointed out is super greasy.

On top of this, these gyros have a lot of salt in them. Each serving, which goes down in just a few bites, has 990 milligrams of sodium, close to half of your recommended daily maximum. While a lot of this salt will come from the meat itself, we can imagine that the feta, tzatziki, and pita all contribute to this amount too. This meal kit does get a few points for the inclusion of chopped onions, tomatoes, and cucumbers, but they don't really come in high enough quantities to make things significantly healthier.

You can't go wrong with salmon, guys. This is a truth that Costco is banking on with its Kirkland Signature Salmon Milano with Basil Pesto Butter. The best part is that, aside from the super-nutritious salmon itself (more on that later, people), things look pretty good nutrition-wise. This salmon dish is exceptionally low in sodium, providing just 210 milligrams per serving, less than 10% of the daily value of 2,300 milligrams recommended for adults. It also has 20 grams of protein per portion, and 250 calories in every serving.

One thing that stands out about this salmon is its saturated fat content. Each portion has 8 grams of saturated fat, which largely comes from the massive dollop of butter on top of each piece of fish. This isn't ideal, of course, but it is balanced out by the healthier unsaturated fats and omega-3 fatty acids in the salmon itself. These fats help to bolster your heart, brain, and skin health, and may have an anti-inflammatory function that can help your health in other ways. Plus, if you don't want all the butter, you can take some of it off easily.

This is one of those prepared foods that seems like it should be healthy, but has one glaring issue that stops it from getting there. Costco's Kirkland Signature Yakisoba Stir Fry looks nutritious at first glance: Inside each tray are a generous bunch of nutritious vegetables, some plain noodles, a good amount of meat, and two sauce pots. It seems like there's nothing too worrying about the ingredients, with the veggies offering some vitamins and minerals and the saturated fat content at a mere 1.5 grams per serving.

Then you see the sodium content, and everything comes crashing down. Each serving size of Costco's massive yakisoba kit, which is just an eighth of a tray, has 1,270 milligrams of sodium — 55% of your daily value. Importantly, that comes in just 240 calories' worth of food, meaning that you have to be seriously considerate of your intake for essentially everything else you eat in the day, or you'll end up going over your daily limit. It's fair to assume that most of the sodium is in the salty sauce pots, so you can use less of these if you wish. However, we wouldn't be surprised if a notable amount of it is also in the noodles and meat, so it'll be hard to completely remove it from this dish.

Foods don't get much healthier than quinoa, and Costco makes it the centerpiece of a truly nutritious salad. If you're looking for bang for your buck in terms of vitamins and minerals, this salad's where it's at. Each portion of the Kirkland Signature Quinoa Salad, which is about a sixth of a tray, gives you 25% of your daily vitamin A and 40% of your daily vitamin C. It does this while also supplying you with a single gram of saturated fat and just 290 milligrams of sodium, only 12% of your daily value.

As well as this, this salad delivers a modest, but significant 3 grams of fiber. While its protein content could be slightly better, with just 3 grams per serving, it's to be expected for a salad that's based around grains and vegetables. Interestingly, there are only 13 grams of carbohydrates in each portion of this salad, which demonstrates that the quinoa is well-balanced with the vegetables in it. It's therefore a great choice if you want something grain-based without it being too heavy, and would be a perfect light option at a summer barbecue.

Quesadillas can be pretty deceptive things. These little pockets of cheesy goodness are flat and slight, and so it can seem as though they're a relatively modest option. However, when quesadillas go big, they can become incredibly unhealthy very quickly — as the Kirkland Signature Chicken Quesadillas from Costco show. Each serving, which covers two quesadillas, provides an extraordinary amount of saturated fat and sodium. Sodium-wise, you'll be consuming 1,590 milligrams per serving, 69% of your daily value. The saturated fat levels are even more shocking, with 21 grams or 105% of your daily value per serving.

It's worth noting that these quantities come in a fairly large serving size: Two quesadillas is roughly 291 grams' worth of food, and there's no doubt that this would be a pretty hearty and filling meal. However, we'd say that you can get that amount of food elsewhere without such massive saturated fat and sodium levels. We'd say you're far better off making your own quesadillas and a healthy guacamole to go alongside them. Honestly, they're so easy to make, so why wouldn't you?

If you want a salad that'll also fill you up, Kirkland Signature Shrimp Salad is the one to opt for. This shrimp salad may be a relatively simple concoction of shrimp, a couple of seasonings, and a creamy sauce, but in that simplicity comes a super-reasonable nutritional profile. Every portion has just 2.5 grams of saturated fat, covering 13% of your daily value — a pretty surprising amount for something so rich-looking. As well as this, it keeps its sodium content pretty low, providing you with just 340 milligrams of sodium per serving.

The filling quality of this salad is delivered by its protein content. With 15 grams of protein per serving, Costco's shrimp salad is perfect for spooning into a sandwich or popping on top of some salad leaves to boost your protein intake. It is worth noting that its fiber content is basically non-existent, and we'd love to see some more vitamins and minerals in the mix – but hey, you can't win them all, right?

Meatballs, pasta, and sauce. You know as well as we do that this combination isn't the healthiest out there. However, we have to raise some eyebrows at the nutrition for Costco's Kirkland Signature Beef and Pork Meatballs with Pasta and Sauce. In every serving of this filling dish, there are 10 grams of saturated fat — a full 50% of your daily value. This fat no doubt comes from a combination of the meat and the cheese sprinkled liberally over the top of the tray, which may make it tasty but also makes it more unhealthy.

As for the sodium content, things look pretty poor there too. Each serving provides 1,050 milligrams of sodium, 46% of your daily value. Things don't look too good in other areas of the dish, with only 3 grams of fiber (which admittedly is the same as some of Costco's healthier options, but those give you the same amount of fiber in way smaller portions). This dish does score high on the protein front, delivering 29 grams of protein per serving, but it's not enough to salvage it from unhealthy territory.

Costco's rotisserie chicken is the reason that many people go to the store in the first place — and look, guys, we get it. These chickens are delicious, famously affordable, and save you hours of preparation and cooking time to get some meat on the table. Plus, if that wasn't all, picking up a Kirkland Signature Rotisserie Chicken is a good way to get some relatively healthy protein.

Every three-ounce serving of chicken gives you 19 grams of pure protein, and within that there's only 7 grams of fat. Each serving also has 2.5 grams of saturated fat, covering 12% of your daily value. However, by removing the skin from the chicken, you can likely cut down on this a little (although we'd point out that the skin is where a lot of the flavor lives). Kirkland Signature Rotisserie Chicken is slightly higher in sodium than you'd probably like, with 460 milligrams per serving. Having said this, when you consider its convenience and affordability and it being a source of quality protein, there are way worse places you can get that sodium from.

We tend to think of chicken wraps as a healthy lunch option, but anybody who thinks that has clearly never had one from Costco. The store's chicken wraps can be astoundingly high in sodium and saturated fat, and you have to look no further than its Kirkland Signature Tuscan Chicken Wraps with Sauce to see this. Each wrap has 12 grams of saturated fat, covering 60% of your daily value. A lot of that saturated fat likely comes from the creamy sauce that comes in each tray, but you probably won't be able to entirely remove it by skipping the dip.

The Kirkland Signature Tuscan Chicken Wraps with Sauce are also a very salty affair. Each serving of one wrap has 1,250 milligrams of sodium, 54% of your daily value. Again, while you can likely remove part of this by opting for no sauce, you won't be able to get rid of all of it. There's a decent amount of protein in these wraps, with 24 grams per portion — but we don't think that's a good enough trade-off for the sodium and fat.