It’s no secret that I think Costco is, in many ways, a utopia. They have $1.50 hot dog combos, $10 prepared pizzas, savings for bulk buyers, and every food you could ever dream of brought in by the pallet. So of course I’m going to gush over how ideal Costco is for shopping for football party snacks now that preseason is here. Am I wrong? Where else can you buy chicken wings in 4 lb bags? The beauty of shopping at Costco for your football party prep is that you know you’ll have enough to feed anyone who comes over—your friends, your SO’s friends, that one guy at work who you accidentally invited when you ran out of things to talk about in the office kitchen and completely panicked. And if for some bizarre reason you have leftovers, that’s just an excuse to host the next party and save yourself a drive (or Lyft) home! These are the football party snacks you should be getting at Costco so you can throw a party like Patrick Mahomes throws a football.
- Foster Farms Take Out Crispy Classic Buffalo Wings
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The star of the show. A must for any football party. And a first for me—this is the the first product I’m including in two Costco roundups. If I had known I’d be writing a whole article dedicated to football party snacks at Costco, I would not have wasted such a prime choice on a general Costco frozen food haul. Costco really twisted my arm, though, because the only other wings I saw besides our fav buffalo wings from Foster Farms were plain, uncooked chicken wings. That is way too much work when we’re going into party mode! And anyway, I make the rules, so we’ll repeat this time!
Read our ranking of the best frozen wings
- Kirkland Signature Burnt Ends Beef Brisket
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It’s sacrilegious to even mention the idea of forgoing chicken wings at a football party. But I saw these burnt ends at Costco and couldn’t help thinking how original, cool, suave it’d be to serve these up instead. Save these for a football party you throw later in the season when everyone is sick of chicken wings. Or maybe your buddy Brian won’t shut up about how good his wings are compared to any others around. Let’s see you try to make burnt ends, Brian!
Read our ranking of the best BBQ sauce
- Aidells Teriyaki & Pineapple Chicken Meatballs
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Meatballs are a must for an appetizer table. Mainly because I love the shit out of them and will shove six into my mouth before I even start to pile them onto my plate. Costco has a 6 lb bag of meatballs that I initially thought about recommending. But that’s a lot of balls to put away. Then we also have to worry about the sauce to go with them! I found these Aidells chicken meatballs at Costco instead. They look succulent enough on their own that we can get away without having to buy a gargantuan bottle of BBQ sauce!
- Crispy Taco Flavored Lays Potato Chips
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Costco has an insane amount of chip options available in ginormous bags. Every Costco I’ve been in has half an aisle dedicated to showing them off. So why the heck are we getting the 1.5 lb bag of Crispy Taco Lay’s? Well for starters, when else will you try them? Making tacos is a lot of work, especially for a crowd of rowdy football lovers; buying these is pretty much zero work, besides navigating the Costco parking lot. And think of all the conversations you’ll have around one bag of chips—when Sporked managing editor Gwynedd Stuart tried these, she said she could actually taste lettuce in the flavor profile. Wild stuff.
Read the full ranking of the best Lay’s flavors
- Bitchin’ Sauce Chipotle Almond Dip
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Bitchin’ Sauce might be the most obvious dip to buy for your football party. It’s creamy. It’s made of nuts. It’s vegan. Oh and it’s DELICIOUS. Costco sells it in 24 oz tubs, and you’ll be glad you have that much once everyone at the party discovers it’s their new favorite substance. If it helps, the Sporked crew absolutely loves this stuff.
Read our ranking of the best flavors of Bitchin’ Sauce
- Wilde Spicy Queso Flavor Chicken Protein Chips
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This one’s for the protein powerhouses out there. There’s a 0% chance you show up to a football party and don’t hear someone talking about how much protein they need in their diet, even if you get all three meats we’ve talked about so far. They’ll still find a way to complain! So we’re going to nip that in the bud with these protein chips from Costco. It’s a damn big bag, so honestly, just shove it in their arms and tell them to sit down. The game is on!
Read our ranking of the best keto chips
- Chex Mix Traditional Snack Mix
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There’s bound to be beer at a football party. And what would beer be without a salty snack mix to go with it? You probably don’t need any more excuses to throw back a couple more cans before the last play. But if for some strange reason you do, a monstrously large bag of Chex Mix from Costco is ideal for the job. Costco shoppers beware: If you see the Utz Pub Mix, don’t bother. Why? Chex Mix topped Sporked’s snack mix rankings—and Utz didn’t even make the cut.
Thoughts? Questions? Complete disagreement? Leave a comment!