5 Frozen Breakfast Options From Costco To Start Your Morning Right, And 2 You Should Avoid

Preparing breakfast can come with a lot of pressure. Ideally, you're supposed to come up with something that's both fulfilling and nutritious while under a tighter time constraint than any other meal of the day — all before you've likely even had your first cup of coffee. On top of all that, missing just one required fresh ingredient can bring everything to a half. When the stakes are that high, the ability to reach into your freezer becomes a truly appealing solution.

As with other kitchen supply crises, a Costco run can be a huge help. For years, I've used my membership for everything from staying stocked on quick and easy pasta dinners to surviving the winter doldrums with the best soups from Costco. That's why I wasn't surprised to find that the warehouse retailer's freezer section also has a wide range of appealing options for the first meal of the day. During a recent trip to a location in Brooklyn, New York, I perused the aisles, filled my cart with these products, and put them through a rigorous test. It's not only about what tastes best: I also wanted to see what provides quality, convenience, and nutrition for the most important meal of the day. Here are the items that impressed the most — and a few others I won't be buying again.

As someone who either reaches for a banana or a slightly savory option for breakfast, I have to admit that eating an entire cinnamon roll for my first meal of the day feels like a bit of a stretch for me (and I doubt I'm alone on that). That's why I'd argue this would fall more into "breakfast treat" territory (or any time of day dessert, if we're being honest), but it's still worth lumping in with these other items.

Of course, this is something you're more likely to break out for a Sunday celebration or brunch get-together rather than a random morning before heading into work, in part because making gooey cinnamon rolls takes time. But these certainly save you on that front — they come together very easily with just 20 minutes in the oven. It should also go without saying that my kitchen smelled truly amazing while they were baking in a way that actually brought out my sweet tooth.

I'm willing to say here that these are the best pre-packaged cinnamon rolls I've ever made (not that I would expect anything less from a brand I respect as much as Annie's). These have the perfect amount of cinnamon filling and soft, chewy dough that feels like it melts in your mouth. Before I even realized what was happening, I all but finished my sample bun, and was already considering splitting a second with my wife. And it's perfect with coffee!

As a New Yorker, there are very few things that get taken as seriously as a bacon, egg, and cheese (Bobby Flay gets it). This also makes me quite dubious of any products that try to come between me and my beloved bodega sandwich. But after hearing great things about Kirkland Breakfast Sandwiches I was pretty certain I'd find something to like here.

What I can certainly appreciate is that these are undeniably very quick and easy to prepare, which is a key consideration for breakfast products. It took just six minutes from frozen to warm up in the air fryer, but it can also be refrigerated for up to three days with an even shorter cook time. The flaky, croissant-like buns crisped up perfectly, and, much to my amazement, the first bite tasted just like bodega-quality in my lofty New York opinion. The texture of the egg far surpassed my expectations, avoiding that rubbery bounce reheated versions sometimes have.

As someone who always asks for hot sauce when ordering at the bodega, I added sriracha to my later bites and loved it. The best part is that, because this sandwich cooks open-faced in the air fryer, it's easy to customize with toppings: Next time, I'm going to try it with some chili crisp, which I think is one of the best ways to give a bacon, egg, and cheese way more flavor. Quick, easy, and delicious, this one is a true keeper.

This item probably jumped out the most to me when shopping. After all, who doesn't love the idea of a true handheld breakfast option that you can grab before running out the door? Conveniently, this product also combines a quick zap in the microwave with four to five minutes in the air fryer, which makes it a much faster preparation overall when coming straight out of the freezer. However, despite following the directions exactly, I noticed the lattice crisped up a little bit too much on top when the timer went off. It didn't taste burnt, but it was definitely just past the point of golden brown that I think the packaging was shooting for.

The pastry itself is deliciously buttery, as I had expected. Unfortunately, the fillings are a little bit dry here. Where is the cheese that's touted right in the name? It felt like each bite brought through some silky pieces of egg and chunks of sausage, but it fell slightly flat. By my third bite, the only thing my palate could pick up was the butteriness of the pastry and the seasoning from the breakfast sausage.

I'd say this was on par with a grab-and-go breakfast from a coffee chain or something you might expect in the airport: Not something you would toss by any means, but also not the kind of meal you'd actively seek out again. And while I didn't outright dislike the taste, it didn't wow me enough to warrant a repeat purchase.

A frozen breakfast burrito option? Sign me up! This one did take 24 minutes in the air fryer (which the packaging lists as the "preferred option"), but there's also an option to microwave to cut down the cook time.

I couldn't help but notice that despite closely following the instructions, these little breakfast pockets experienced minor explosions of their fillings (which is par for the course for reheated stuffed items like this). I also realized, while moving it to the plate, that the once-soft wrap had completely crisped up in the air fryer. If I'm splitting hairs here, I would say this makes it much more like a breakfast chimichanga (or even an egg roll) than a burrito.

While this initially made me dubious of how it would taste, the end result was still very satisfying. The flavors here were all perfectly balanced, with just enough each of egg and sausage filling for it to work. Most importantly, the interior hadn't dried out at all like the exterior, and it didn't completely collapse after each bite. This technically makes this a handheld grab-and-go breakfast option (although I wouldn't exactly recommend eating it unprotected over your best outfit). But both my wife and I agreed that this is the kind of item that would make getting in a decent breakfast much easier when the fridge runs out of your normal go-to options and you're working from home.

This is the kind of easy breakfast I hope for in the morning: Relatively healthy, minimal fuss, and light and refreshing. If you've set it in your fridge, all you need to do is open it, add the granola topping, and eat! If not, you can either let it thaw for an hour (which didn't happen, in my case) or speed things along with quick, intermittent blasts in the microwave to loosen it up. Still, even this process didn't take me more than a couple of minutes.

I had initially feared this would come across like a breakfast dessert (especially after noticing there are 3 grams of added sugar). Fortunately, this ended up tasting tart and lively in all the best ways. The chunks of berries mixed well with the looser açaí base and crunchiness of the added granola to create what I would objectively call a "responsible-tasting breakfast." It was almost as if my go-to post-workout smoothie had been turned into bowl form, but somehow more satisfying than hastily drinking it through a straw while running out the door. This also provides a fantastic base for adding all kinds of your own ingredients to really mix things up –the sky is the limit here!

This felt like the ultimate breakfast shortcut as the type of item I would want to make myself but might not have the time to prepare otherwise. This "hack" didn't make it feel like I was cutting any corners on quality or flavor, and I would absolutely consider keeping this on hand, especially because they can hold as frozen until right when you need them. Also, the only vegan option!

This one came together entirely in the microwave, with no alternate preparation methods given. You can shave off about a minute if you've let them stand in your fridge, but altogether, having this ready to eat in barely three minutes total clearly makes it a convenient option.

First, the positives: I was surprised by how well the English muffin reconstituted, feeling very fresh and springy out of the microwave. The Jimmy Dean sausage also brings such a familiar breakfast flavor that it's comforting on a deeper level than you might be expecting — with that single slice of cheese on top providing a fatty savory hit that really brings things home.

Unfortunately, the negatives seemed to outnumber the upsides. As I often fear with microwaveable products, there's a fine line between undercooked and dangerously hot that always comes down to your individual device (as well as potential mistakes you're making). This one could clearly have used about 30 to 45 more seconds of zap time, as parts of each bite felt a little bit too cold for my liking. The other issue was the egg, which was limp, strangely wet, and completely devoid of flavor (which might be the only thing worse than an overcooked egg). Ultimately, this felt like eating breakfast of necessity from a gas station. I think it might make sense in that context, but if you're looking for the best options for what to take from home, you can (and should) do better.

I have a complicated relationship with egg bites. Even though it feels like they've found their way onto menus all over the place, none of the options I've found in the wild have come across as more than middling to me. Still, this piqued my interest as a relatively healthy vegetarian option with a decent protein serving (at 10 grams per two frittatas).

While it couldn't be easier to set them up, I wouldn't say they were exactly speedy: These took about 15 minutes in the air fryer, which felt a bit long. However, they can also finish up in 45 seconds in the microwave if you're really running for the door, even though the packaging warns they won't be as crispy.

With many of these egg bite-style products, I usually suffer with the texture and flavor of reheated egg, but that isn't the case here. They're nicely crisped on the edges and moist in the middle (at least with the air fryer preparation method), with nice pops of spinach and tomato that brighten everything up throughout. My wife suggested adding cheese to crisp up on top, but I think it's good as is! I'll happily add this to my breakfast rotation for those mornings where pulling out the frying pan to whisk up an omelet feels like too much work.

To come up with items for this list, I took a trip to the Costco warehouse in Brooklyn, New York, to size up the inventory. I consulted with staff to ensure I was picking up products that could be found at other locations and weren't seasonal, also taking special care to avoid anything marked with the Costco death star. As the title suggest, I stuck to the freezer section only, which means skipping over the refrigerated items I found in the deli section.

Once home, I followed all preparation instructions on packaging and chose the "preferred" method whenever one was listed. I chose between whether to "buy" or "skip" based on overall taste and quality of the products first and foremost, while still keeping ease of preparation, convenience, and customizability in mind at the same time. 

When coming to my final decision, I also weighed each product's pricing and whether they provided a good value, as well as dietary limitations for some shoppers (e.g., whether they're vegetarian or vegan). And since this is breakfast we're talking about, nutrition of items was also taken into consideration. Ultimately, I trusted my own gut instincts on whether or not these were products I would ever want to buy again.