Birria is everywhere. While the type of barbacoa beef started off in Mexico in stew and taco form, it’s become a staple food item, used for fusion foods like birria pizza and birria ramen.
It’s become so widespread that if you want birria without the hours it takes to make it, you can get it in frozen form from the grocery store.
In a viral TikTok video, Angel (@a.est.87) was excited to see that Costco was selling a big ‘ole box of premade birria for $20 from the Del Real Foods brand. All customers have to do, according to the packaging, is pop it in the microwave, and it would allegedly be enough to serve up to seven people (or, technically, seven servings).
That seemed perfect for Angel’s family of five—until she opened the container.
She was shocked to see two lone chunks of meat sitting in a small pond of reddish broth. The proportions are almost comical, given how empty the container looked, with the two chunks of meat barely taking up a quarter of it.
“Dinner plans have changed, guys. I’m gonna have to cook something else,” she announces to her family.
The packaging states that the container has 36 oz (or 2.25 lbs) of birria, but frankly, you’d expect the majority of that weight to come from the meat, not the broth.
Angel brought out her food scale to better assess the situation.
She weighed out the meat, making sure to scrape in every last bit, and the results were stunning. Her inclination that the meat was an itty bitty amount, given what’s promised on the packaging (and the sheer size of the package), was right.
The meat came in at a mere 364 grams, which equals .8 lbs—not even a full pound.
The birria broth came in at 693 grams, which is about 1.5 lbs.
“I could eat this in one sitting. I know. This is like one f*cking taco. Or maybe one burrito,” Angel says in the clip.
Not only did the container have more liquid than actual meat, but the advertised weight was a bit off, with the meat and broth totaling about 2.33 lbs.
“I was reeeeally looking forward to some birria! I am disappointed. Like! Couldn’t it at least get a pound of meat? My fault for not thinking realistically,” Angel added in the caption.
On top of that, she had one of her kids try the meat and broth. They said it wasn’t even that good.
“It tastes like those canned tamales,” they said.
Costco is a repeat offender. Just a month ago, a customer bought a two-pound bag of chips from the retail giant only to get home, weigh it, and find out it’s actually about half of that weight.
And they’re not the only ones. A Kroger shopper said that her 4oz blue cheese only weighed 2.5 oz while Walmart sold a chicken that weighed half the advertised amount.
People in the comments section had mixed reactions.
“That’s not even enough for one serving!!!” the top comment read.
@a.est.87 I was reeeeally looking forward to some birria! 😭 I am disappointed. Like! Couldn’t it at least get a pound of meat? My fault for not thinking realistically. @Del Real Foods #dontmindthecat #birriafail #costcofailedme #imtotrusting #delrealfoods #neveragain ##foryou##fyp##viral##disappointment##disappointed##disappointing@@🦇hanaynay🍒 ♬ Cena Engraçada e Inusitada de 3 Minutos – HarmonicoHCO
“Ive bought this and its been pretty full. Maybe they skimmped this one tray,” a person said giving Costco the benefit of the doubt.
“Get the canned birria sauce from target and a beef rump roast when its on sale. Its actually really good and its crockpot meal so five second prep and cook it all day ready for dinner!” another suggested.
“They’re liars! lol same happened to us! We were so ready to eat, barely fed 3 of us.. barely lol never again!” a commenter wrote.
The Daily Dot reached out to Angel for comment via Instagram direct message and to Costco and Del Real Foods via email.
Update 10:16am CT May 23: In a DM to the Daily Dot, Angel said the birria amount was the same with each container they purchased, despite what some commenters said.
“We did purchase 2 more however it was the same situation. It only came with one long bag, not two. Honestly it wasn’t even worth the purchase because it didn’t taste that great either. But I wanted to make sure since so many said they got more meat,” Angel said.
“I’d recommend people make their own or purchase a birria bomb or birria sauce from a small business (I bought from shops recommended on TikTok), like I did, which later I will buy my own meat and make another video reviewing them,” she concluded.
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