Costco Shoppers Reveal Why They Don’t Use Kirkland Cream Cheese for Baking: ‘It Didn’t Live...’

Every customer’s ideal shopping budget includes good quality products bagged at affordable prices. Realizing this, most grocery chains have introduced sub-brands that promise shoppers the ideal purchase at tempting costs. However, one Costco customer hinted that it is often the case that people are lured to buy subpar products because of their affordability. A Reddit user (u/SnowPearl) recently bought the Kirkland Cream Cheese from Costco, switching from their usual Philadelphia Cream Cheese purchase for baking, and eventually regretted it.

The shopper divulged they were a Philly CC “snob” but were not able to “pass up” on the great deal at their local Costco store. The Kirkland CC was being sold at a price way cheaper than Philly at baseline. Therefore, the Reddit user could not resist but try out the Kirkland brand for a change. “Used it to make my usual cheesecake recipe that I've made for years,” the post revealed. The shopper found the cream cheese to behave differently than her known Philly product.

To start, the cream cheese reportedly adhered to the foil packaging and tasted “wet” and bitter. “I convinced myself it was fine and kept going. When I poured the filling into the pan, I noticed that I had a huge amount left over, which had never happened before. Then, I tried to tap the pan against the counter to get rid of air bubbles, but they refused to rise to the surface and pop,” the poster narrated. After her baking session, the Costco customer had a few more strange observations. The excess air in the cheesecake caused the cake to sustain “weird bubbles” on the surface and also increased the baking time.

The user revealed that besides the cream cheese, they had used the usual ingredients. Yet, the resultant cake turned out different. “When I took it out after the normal amount of time, it was still really liquidy in the center despite the fact that I was consistent with everything besides the CC (same pan, oven, all other ingredients, etc),” the post added. However, none of the guests complained when the Costco shopper served it with a “killer raspberry sauce” that sufficed for the texture and taste alterations. “In terms of taste and texture, I felt it didn't live up to the same Philly cheesecake standards,” they disclosed.

In conclusion, the poster recommended sticking to the Philly cream cheese since it was a “much better product, flavor and texture-wise.” In a post-script note, the Reddit user shared that local Costco stores do not sell their preferred Philly cream cheese. So, purchasing it at a higher price from grocery stores was the only option to avoid the poor quality Kirkland product. The claims about the Kirkland product struck a chord with other bakers and shoppers.

One person (u/forevernervous) wrote, “I bought the Kirkland CC a while back and I really liked it. But when I bought it again a few months later, the recipe seemed to have changed completely. It didn't feel or taste the same as when I first bought it. It was bitter and gummy and strange.” Similarly, another (u/ffloss) stated, “The Kirkland one is super sticky. TMI also destroys my stomach.”