A good Philly Cheesesteak has the perfect ratio of thin sliced, tender steak like ribeye or sirloin and melted cheese served in a soft, fresh torpedo bun. Cheesesteaks are usually served fresh; I don’t think I’ve ever seen frozen packaged ones before I came across these Raybern’s Choice Philly Cheesesteaks at Costco. The box claims they’re famous, so does the flavor match all the hype?
Other ready to eat convenient products from Costco are the Del Real Foods Pork Carnitas, Sukhi’s Chicken Tikka Masala, Rana Fettuccine Grilled Seasoned White Chicken and Alfredo Sauce, Kirkland Signature Tempura Shrimp Tacos, Kirkland Signature Beef Chili, Catarina Chicken Quesadillas and the El Monterey Breakfast Wraps.
Location in Store
We bought these cheesesteaks in Kona, Hawaii and found them in the freezer section at Costco. The item number is 1056197.
Taste
I microwaved my sandwich from frozen on high for 75 seconds (the midpoint of the recommended range) and it came out very hot.
These Philly cheesesteaks seemed a little bland. The bun isn’t bad. It did seem to come out tasting fairly fresh as the package suggested it would. The cheese and meat were pretty disappointing. The cheese didn’t have a ton of flavor and seemed to kind of melt into the bun rather than onto the meat. The meat was a bit greasy, quite salty and had the odd gross hard gristly bit. I got one random very hard bite that was definitely off-putting. The flavor of the meat is alright. I noticed some onion and garlic.
Honestly this sandwich tastes like something you’d get in a package at a gas station. I guess that kind of makes sense since the package emphasizes that they’re great for resale!
Cost
The box comes with six individually wrapped sandwiches and costs $12.99 USD. That’s just over two dollars per sandwich which is really cheap and reasonable if they tasted good.
Convenience
The sandwiches need to be kept frozen and the best before date is about ten months from when I purchased them. Although they need to be kept frozen the box recommends thawing the sandwiches in the refrigerator prior to heating them.
The box has instructions for heating them in the microwave or the oven. We microwaved the sandwich which I wouldn’t do it again. I imagine it tastes better after heating it in the oven and I also don’t love the idea of heating a sandwich in plastic.
These would be convenient to pack in lunches but because they didn’t taste amazing microwaved I can’t really recommend buying them for lunches.
Nutrition
Calories
One sandwich contains 450 calories, 22 grams of fat, 980 milligrams of sodium, 38 grams of carbohydrates, two grams of fiber, five grams of sugar and 21 grams of protein. That’s quite a few calories, lots of sodium and a lot of fat.
Ingredients
The ingredients list is pretty long with a lot of unhealthy ingredients like artificial flavors, dextrose, sugar, soy and corn protein, palm oil and canola oil. I wouldn’t suggest these if you’re looking for a healthy, mostly unprocessed lunch, dinner or snack.
The cheesesteaks contain wheat, egg, milk, soy and sesame.
Scoring
Taste: 5/10
Cost: 7/10
Convenience: 10/10
Nutrition: 2/10 (Points for protein).
Overall
Walk on by!
I didn’t like them that much. I can’t imagine why they’d be so famous if they taste like this!
Have you tried the Raybern’s Philly Cheesesteak sandwiches from Costco? What did you think of them?
Please note that this review was not paid for or sponsored by any third party. This product was purchased by Costcuisine for the purpose of producing this review. The opinions in this review are strictly those of Costcuisine. Costcuisine is not affiliated with Costco or any of its suppliers. In the event that Costcuisine receives compensation for a post from the manufacturer of a product or some other third party, the arrangement will be clearly disclosed (including where the manufacturer of a product provides Costcuisine with a free sample of the product).
