Costco's Frozen Shrimp Fried Rice Has Instagram Divided

Food names don't get much more straightforward than "shrimp fried rice." Those three words give away the whole game, at least in theory. If you order it from a restaurant, you might not know the exact oil used to fry it or every vegetable joining the shrimp in that mix of seafood, seasoning, and those pellet-shaped parcels of starch we call rice. But you might have a general idea. And if you've ever tried out our recipe for fried rice prepared in an instant pot, you might expect to find eggs, soy sauce, garlic, peas, carrots, and other familiar ingredients someone might normally cook with at home. And really, you can select whatever veggies you want and try to buy shrimp sourced from a location you trust when you get all the ingredients yourself.

However, a third option is the sometimes shaky middle ground between restaurant-made and wholly homemade meals: buying a frozen grocery store option and cooking-slash-modifying it. There's less choice, but let's face it – sometimes you just don't want to or don't have time to do all the food prep. Enter Costco. When Instagrammer, @costcobuys noticed Hanoomul's Shrimp Fried Rice with a price tag of $16.79 for seven 10-ounce packets, they decided to share the find with Costco fans. The post sparked division among people on the page, some of whom were not happy about what went into this premade shrimp dish.

The Instagram poster might not have expected many objections when they wrote, "Shrimp Fried Rice is at Costco! This is full of fresh veggies and shrimp and is super easy to prepare!" However, not everyone willingly embraced that excitement. While the post has received more than likes and had people asking friends to pick up some shrimp fried rice for them, many comments seemed quite concerned with the ingredients. Some people thought the sodium content was incredibly high. Each 10-ounce bag contains over 1,000 milligrams of sodium, and the American Heart Association recommends around 1,500mg per day for the majority of adults. However, one person even suggested adding "plain white or brown rice and cut it between two meals" to reduce the sodium.

Others were concerned about where the shrimp had been sourced and whether they were wild or farmed, and some took issue with other ingredients. As one user complained, "Filled with a bunch of garbage ingredients canola oil, high fructose corn syrup, as well as of lots of other stuff you can't pronounce! Hard Pass." While some users think this offering "looks yummy," others concluded that it would be wiser and maybe tastier to make their own.