‘Costco, Make It Make Sense’: Shopper Opens Kirkland Chicken Thighs and Finds a Strange Surprise
A Costco shopper expected boneless chicken thighs but found something very different when he opened three packages.
A Costco shopper thought he knew exactly what he was getting when he bought a six-pack of Kirkland Signature boneless, skinless chicken thighs. Then he opened three of the packages and found six recognizable thighs mixed with a pile of much smaller pieces.
Kenneth, a TikTok creator from Lakeland, Florida, filmed the discovery while preparing the chicken for a marinade. The contents looked noticeably different from the uniform portions he expected, prompting him to question what had happened before the meat reached his cart.
He opened three packages and immediately noticed something was off
Kenneth explains that he purchased Kirkland’s skinless, boneless chicken thighs and opened three packages from the six-pack. As he shows the meat on camera, he counts six larger thigh portions before pointing out the collection of smaller pieces alongside them.
“And this is what I get out of the three packages,” he says.
“One, two, three, four, five, six thighs,” Kenneth continues. “And then a whole bunch of little pieces.”
The smaller pieces have a similar color and texture to the larger portions, but their irregular shapes make them stand out. Kenneth does not claim that the chicken was spoiled or unsafe. His frustration centers on how much of the package consisted of pieces that did not resemble the portions he expected when he bought boneless, skinless thighs.
“I don’t know what happened here, but this is insane,” he says while directing his frustration toward Costco. “What happened? Costco, make it make sense.”
The smaller pieces could have resulted from the processing involved in removing bones and trimming the thighs, which can separate some meat from larger portions. Kenneth’s video does not provide enough information to determine whether his packages contained an unusual amount of trimmed meat or whether the contents resulted from another processing issue.
Though, that explanation did not stop viewers from weighing in. One commenter who claimed to work at Costco encouraged Kenneth to return the chicken and speak with the store’s meat manager. Another suggested that some of the smaller pieces could be particularly flavorful portions of dark meat and recommended saving them for dishes such as soup, casseroles or sautés.
The strange package comes at a time when meat value matters more
The concern over value is especially relevant as Americans continue to deal with high meat prices. Beef has become a particularly visible example, with the U.S. cattle herd at a decades-low level and retail beef prices remaining elevated.
The Trump administration has responded by moving to increase access to imported beef, arguing that additional supply could help bring prices down. The move has also prompted concern among some domestic cattle producers about the effect of increased imports on American ranchers.
Chicken is a separate market, and there is no established connection between Kenneth’s Costco purchase and the beef supply situation. The larger issue for shoppers is simpler. When meat costs more, people have a reason to pay closer attention to what they receive for the price.
The smaller pieces in Kenneth’s packages may still be perfectly useful in a meal, but the discovery shows why consistency matters when shoppers buy packaged meat. If someone expects a package of chicken thighs to contain straightforward portions, an assortment of irregular pieces can make the purchase feel very different from what they had in mind.
For Kenneth, a routine Costco run ended with a question for the retailer. His video has now given other shoppers a reason to take a closer look at what they are actually getting inside a package of meat.
This is an opinion piece. The views expressed in this article are those of just the author.
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