Image: Rebecca Curry/Twitter, via Mashed
You’ve mastered the $1.50 hot dog combo. You know exactly which day the rotisserie chickens come out hottest. But if you’ve never assembled anything off Costco’s food court “secret menu,” you’re leaving serious flavor (and serious savings) on the table. There’s no printed menu for this stuff — it’s all self-assembled hacks that regulars have perfected over years of warehouse runs, and they cost basically nothing extra since every component is already dirt cheap.
We rounded up the most beloved (and most unhinged) combos members are ordering piece-by-piece and building themselves at the little plastic tables by the exit. Bring cash, bring napkins, and bring an open mind.
The Forbidden Glizzy: it’s exactly what it sounds like
The reigning champion of the secret menu is the Forbidden Glizzy — a Kirkland hot dog stuffed straight into the middle of a chicken bake, eaten like a very committed corn dog. Order the two items separately (regulars suggest “no hints about your intentions” at the register), tear a small opening in one end of the chicken bake, and slide the whole dog in. The result is somewhere between a calzone and a bagel dog, and Reddit has called it everything from “absolutely a 10/10” to “something I can only eat in my car.” At around $4.99 for both pieces, it’s still one of the cheapest lunches in the building.
Feeling extra? Some members wrap the entire Forbidden Glizzy in a slice of pizza for what one Redditor dubbed “the Kirkland version of a tur-duck-hen.” We’re not saying try that one on a first date.
Image: George Rose/Getty Images, via Mashed
DIY floats, freezes, and churro upgrades
The soda machine is doing more work than you think. Grab a vanilla ice cream cup and a large fountain drink, combine them, and you’ve got a root beer float (or an orange soda float, or whatever’s in the machine) for under $4 — cheaper than anywhere else you could possibly build one. The churro crowd takes it further by ripping the massive cinnamon-sugar churro into pieces and dunking it straight into a sundae, turning two separate treats into one very messy dessert.
If you want a caffeine boost with your sugar rush, add a churro to the cold brew mocha freeze. It’s basically a $2.50 knockoff Frappuccino, and nobody’s judging.
Pizza, rotisserie chicken, and the ice hack nobody tells you
Bought a rotisserie chicken before hitting the food court? Shred a little of it onto a pizza slice for an instant protein upgrade — both are still warm, so nobody has to know you assembled it at the table. Freezing extra pizza slices and reheating them in the air fryer at 375–400°F is another underrated move; it comes out crispier than it was fresh.
And one more that has nothing to do with food: the ice dispenser on the soda machine works great for keeping frozen or perishable groceries cold on the drive home if you forgot a cooler. Just like the secret codes hiding on your price tags, it’s the kind of thing regulars just know and everyone else finds out by accident.
The real hack: eat first, shop second
Here’s the counterintuitive one: most people treat the food court as the reward at the end of a shopping trip. Regulars do it backwards. Hitting the food court before you shop means you’re not making decisions on an empty stomach (hello, impulse buys), and you’re not stuck balancing a hot dog on top of an overflowing cart. Pair that with the $0.69 refillable drink you can sip your whole trip, and you’ve basically got a snack budget of less than a dollar.
Craving something sweet after all that? Don’t miss our roundup of Costco’s food court sundae secret for another way to close out your trip.
Next warehouse run, skip your usual order and try just one of these. Worst case, you’re out a few dollars. Best case, you’ve found your new go-to. Tell us in the comments which combo you’re brave enough to order out loud.
Photo credits: Hero image via Rebecca Curry/Twitter, courtesy of Mashed. Second image via George Rose/Getty Images, courtesy of Mashed.
