The Warehouse Chain With Rotisserie Chicken A Tiny Bit Cheaper Than Costco's

Costco's $5 rotisserie chicken has essentially become the grocery store benchmark when it comes to spit-roasted poultry. The bird itself is huge, and if you play your cards right, it can provide your family with multiple weeknight meals in a row. And at $4.99, it may very well be one of the last remaining steals at the modern-day supermarket. But surprisingly, there is one chain whose rotisserie chicken is slightly cheaper, although by just a hair, but it also comes from a massive warehouse club as well — Sam's Club.

Yep, Sam's Club technically sells a more affordable chicken. By one cent. (Hey, cheaper is cheaper.) Its Member's Mark brand rotisserie chicken is $4.98, and in our general assessment of the internet's take on rotisserie chicken, we found that Sam's Club's rotisserie chicken is a favorite in terms of flavor. Both chickens are roughly three pounds, so you're more or less getting an equivalent product. Should one penny and a slightly preferred flavor profile by general consensus sway you to pick Sam's Club? That's entirely up to you. There aren't any Sam's Club locations near me, so I can't say either way, but it's safe to say that both rotisserie chickens are a great deal.

When it comes to prepared food versus home-cooked food, home-cooked versions are usually cheaper. But our local major grocery store chain currently sells whole chickens at $1.99 a pound, which means a three-pound bird would cost you roughly $6. Three-pound birds are also on the small side and  somewhat hard to find, as I've learned from experience while shopping for a two-person household.

So even with a small chicken, you're already over that $4.99 mark — and that's without the minor added cost of pantry seasonings, too. So despite being a relatively easy dish to make at home, roasting a whole chicken on your own is not cheaper than buying a rotisserie chicken from either Costco or Sam's Club. This is why they're known as loss-leaders for the brands: They lose money for companies like Costco, but are big enough of a draw to get customers to buy other things that they serve as a marketing promotion. You also have to pay that yearly membership fee in order to buy one, which most likely helps offset the loss on things like the chicken. 

But still, a deal's a deal. In the eternal battle for the best savings, Sam's Club's rotisserie chicken is just ever-so-slightly cheaper than Costco's, which might be what draws in shoppers who live off bottom lines. And good old rotisserie chickens.