This Fancy Cut of Beef Is the Best Bargain at Costco This Month

As Kitchn’s resident Costco connoisseur, one of the best parts of my job (other than developing and testing many of the tasty recipes on the site) is sharing my Costco pick of the month. Each month, I get to give our readers a peak into my Costco cart and highlight the single item I am most excited about buying in bulk. Sometimes it is impossible to narrow it down to just one item (as was the case last month!), but this June, I was determined to get real specific.

As I walked the aisles, I found myself circling back to the meat department more than once. I took it as a sign that the best thing to buy from Costco this month is the 5-pound package of New York strip steaks.

Find it in stores: Boneless New York Strip Steaks, $10.49 per pound (approx. 5 pounds per package) at Costco

The temperatures have been climbing for weeks where I live (just outside of Atlanta), but June is really when summer gets started. And when I think about eating for this new season, I’m all about the grill. What’s more: I feel pretty strongly that boneless New York strip steaks are one of the best cuts of beef to toss onto the grill for weeknight dinners.

Boneless New York strip steaks are uniformly shaped and well-marbled, making them a great steak for beginner grillers (or those of us who need an easy warm-up after abstaining from the grill all fall and winter). Costco cuts their steaks on the thicker side, 1- to 1 1/2-inches thick, which is perfect for developing a browned crust with a juicy pink interior. Because these are boneless, they couldn’t be easier to slice and serve. Did I mention that these steaks are special enough to be the centerpiece of a post-vaccination summer cookout?

In case you’re wondering, springing for steaks is not always in my weekly grocery budget. To justify this occasional splurge, I decided to compare the cost of Costco’s New York strip steaks to the ones at my local supermarket. To my surprise, the cost per pound was significantly higher at the grocery store ($17.69 per pound) than at Costco ($10.49 per pound). Saving more than $7 per pound of steaks simply by shopping at Costco is the easiest bargain shopping I have ever done.

Now, that I’ve convinced you to buy this meat, let me give you some ideas on how to prepare it. When it comes to cooking strip steaks, the possibilities are endless. You can season them simply with salt and pepper, grill, then top with an herby compound butter, or make a robust rub with ground coffee. You can even stretch a steak or two to feed a crowd by cutting them into bite-sized cubes.

However you choose to prepare these steaks, don’t pass up this beefy bargain (even if you have a small household). Steak freezes exceptionally well — especially if you use a vacuum sealer (one of my all-time favorite Costco buys).

What are you buying from Costco this month?