Walmart Vs Costco Deli Meat: Which Is The Better Buy?

In my opinion, it never stops being sandwich season, especially when oodles of your time is spent packing school lunchboxes for hungry kiddos. I'll venture a strong guess that Costco membership holders regularly turn to the warehouse to stock up on deli meat — it's bound to be cheaper when bought in bulk, and Kirkland is one of the best store brands out there, right? 

Though I'm as big a Kirkland fan girl as they come, even brands with high reputations should be put to the test every now and again. Today, we're holding Costco's own brand of deli meat against another famously inexpensive alternative: Great Value. You've probably had Walmart's deli meat if you live near a Supercenter. The packages tend to be pretty inexpensive when pitted against name-brand versions, but how can they compare to Kirkland? I visited each store and purchased five comparable deli meats to test for flavor and texture, as well as conduct a price comparison. Each of the following photos shows Costco's version on the left and Walmart's on the right — at the end of this piece, you'll find my fairly definitive determination about which retailer has the better deli meat. 

If you're always hunting for the freshest rotisserie chicken at Costco, you may assume its sliced rotisserie-seasoned chicken breast is an equally covetable deli meat. At least, that's the assumption I made before trying both of the above. My first disappointment with Kirkland's chicken deli meat offering (pictured above on the left) came simply when trying to take it out of the package. The slices were impossible to peel apart without crumbling; moreover, there wasn't much payoff in terms of flavor or texture. Whatever "rotisserie seasoned" meant to Costco, I didn't like how it flavored this chicken breast, and I even got a tough piece of gristle in one of the slices. No, thank you.

Walmart's Great Value brand fared much better on the sliced chicken breast front. From the get-go, it was more appealing — I could actually peel slices of this chicken out of the container. Its coloring is also better, though I didn't factor that into my ranking, as appearance can always be manipulated by the manufacturer. I also found Walmart's to have the superior flavor of the two. Whatever its rotisserie seasoning is, I liked it way more than Costco's, and I didn't get any gristle texture from Walmart's.

In terms of pricing, Costco's chicken comes in a three-pack that also includes ham and roast beef deli meats. I divided the total cost of the three-pack into thirds and calculated the price per ounce accordingly. Costco's deli chicken breast came out to 38.5 cents per ounce, whereas Walmart's was 41.8 cents per ounce. To me, that's not a notable enough difference to sway me in favor of Costco; Walmart wins this one. 

If the deli meat battle were a visual one, I'd call Costco the winner in the sliced turkey department. Costco's turkey slices (left) are definitely larger and thicker than Walmart's (right). But how do they compare in terms of flavor, texture, and cost? I tried Kirkland's first, and it had a pretty decent flavor with a slight smoked appeal to it. Texturally, it disappointed. The meat was very wet and, as with the chicken, I got another chewy piece of gristle in Costco's sliced turkey breast — an immediate turn-off.

While I didn't love Costco's offering, it wasn't the worst turkey meat I've ever had. Walmart's slices were thinner and smaller, and I didn't expect much before tasting them; suffice it to say, I was surprised when the flavor of Great Value's sliced turkey breast blew Costco's version out of the water. Walmart's had a smokier flavor, and it wasn't nearly as wet as Kirkland's, nor did I encounter any unappealing textural issues. The cost difference here was even more negligible than the previous one. Costco's sliced turkey breast cost 39.7 cents per ounce, while Walmart's was 41.8 cents per ounce. So, once again, Walmart took home the gold. 

Costco's ham also comes as part of that aforementioned deli meat trifecta offered at Costco, and I hoped it would fare better than the chicken breast did. Fortunately, I was indeed more impressed by the Black Forest ham (which, by the way, makes for a great addition to a Cuban sandwich) than the chicken. It was subtly sweet and came out in thick slices; however, it was wetter than I'd have preferred, and too salty for my palate. The coloring on the ham was stellar, and the slices were big, too. Overall, not a bad buy.

Walmart's ham is visually inferior once again. The slices are smaller and paler than Costco's, and were I presented with the two plates above, I'd choose the one on the left (Costco's). Tasting Walmart's, though, left me with a slightly different impression. Its slices are also fairly thick, and it, too, has a nice bite with that classic, slightly sweet flavor you look for in ham. It also wasn't as wet as Costco's. Walmart's was even slightly cheaper — 37.3 cents per ounce compared to Costco's 38.5 cents per ounce. Though the price difference is negligible, Costco's does come with the downside that you have to buy it in that three-pack alongside the chicken. After taking all this into consideration, I gave Walmart's ham a very slim edge over its competition. 

Even the name "roast beef" sounds decadent, and may have one assuming that any sandwich you make with the deli meat is sure to be a culinary feat. Alas, if you want to make a deli-worthy roast beef sandwich at home, you should know that not all sliced roast beef brands are created equal. Once again, Kirkland's takes the lead in terms of visual appeal — the slices on the left in the above picture are dryer, larger, and notably thicker than Walmart's version of the meat. But we know by now that appearance matters very little when it comes to deli meat. 

Kirkland's roast beef didn't disappoint. That said, I wasn't too impressed by it, either. It was dry and firm with a nice, mild roast beef flavor, and though I didn't find much to complain about, it wasn't very rave-worthy either. When trying Walmart's, it was indeed the inferior choice — not only was it smaller, thinner, wetter, and less flavorful than Kirkland's, but it also cost way more, at 60.6 cents per ounce compared to Costco's 38.5 cents per ounce. Costco takes the win here, but with a small caveat: The roast beef is the third member of Kirkland's deli meat trio, meaning you'll have to get decidedly subpar chicken breast and so-so ham if you want to score the superior roast beef. That's certainly something to take into consideration when deciding whether to shop at one store or the other. 

Ah, salami. Who doesn't love a charcuterie board or even a snack board laden with the fatty, melty deli meat? If I had to point to a product with the biggest difference between each brand featured here, it would absolutely be the salami. I mean, just look at the above photo — you can't tell me Costco's large, thin medallions ribboned with fat don't look more appealing than Walmart's poor imitations. Nevertheless, to come up with a true winner, a taste test was in order. 

The salami pictured on the left is the perfect Costco charcuterie board staple, in my humble opinion. It's thin enough to fold onto a sandwich or cracker and has that covetable melt-in-your-mouth texture that salami aficionados love, along with a pleasant, full-bodied umami flavor. When stacked against Walmart's version of the same, the latter couldn't hold a candle to its competition (though it's still not half bad). Great Value's sliced salami is saltier and tastes more like cured ham than delicate salami, and it's cut thicker and smaller than its counterpart. I'd say each should be used for different applications — Walmart's could be a good buy if you're making DIY lunchables for your kids, but Costco's is the best pick for anything requiring an elevated appeal. Moreover, Costco's is far more budget-friendly, and sits at 38.7 cents per ounce compared to Great Value's 46.3 cents per ounce. 

To try to form a definitive opinion of whether Costco's or Walmart's store-brand deli meat is a better buy, I bought five comparable deli meats from each brand and put them through a taste test, trying each side-by-side and comparing their flavors and textures. Then, I took into account the per-ounce price of each item. In most cases, Costco offered the more economical buy; however, the difference was negligible enough for the meat's actual flavor to be the primary deciding factor. 

That said, I found Walmart's deli meat to be the more compelling buy, which definitely came as a surprise. I love the Kirkland brand and generally consider it to be pretty high quality, so I didn't expect to like Great Value's deli meat more. Nevertheless, with the sole exception of the salami, Walmart's deli meat was at least on par with Kirkland's. I was also swayed more toward Walmart's offerings because you have to buy Kirkland's roast beef, ham, and chicken breast together (they come in a three-pack). So though I liked Kirkland's roast beef more than Walmart's, the fact that you'd have to also buy ham and chicken to get the roast beef soured my opinion of the brand.