Should You Buy Your Christmas Ham From Costco? Here's What You Need To Know

It's ham season, or as some call it, Christmastime — when many in the U.S. go looking for some gorgeous, juicy cut of meat to serve as a centerpiece on the holiday table. Ham is a traditional option, and as a bonus, there's a good story behind its prominence at Christmas. But once you've appreciated that story, you've still gotta get the ham.

Depending on the size of the crowd you're feeding, Costco offers several affordable and popular options. The easiest, most classic? Kirkland-brand spiral sliced ham. Averaging 9 pounds, it's hickory-smoked and pre-sliced and comes with a packet of glaze (made with brown sugar, honey, and warm spices) that can be reconstituted with water. Prices vary, but entering several different zip codes right now yields a delivery price of $2.39 per pound — so, just north of $20 for the whole thing.

Want a smaller option? Try Costco's Kirkwood Signature Master Carve Half Ham, a boneless, applewood-smoked, antibiotic-free variety priced for delivery at $3.09 per pound. With an average weight of four pounds, this will feed eight or so. For a party, on the other hand, consider Costco's online-only frozen bone-in ham. At $139.99 for about 16 pounds, it could feed 20 or more. This ham is slow-cured and hickory-smoked on Wisconsin's Jones Dairy Farm, which has been in business for over a century. It's out of stock currently, but keep your eyes peeled — one reviewer rates this as "perfect for our family," describing it as "juicy, smoky, and not too fatty."

Here are a few more things to remember if you're doing your holiday ham shopping at Costco — or anywhere else. First, a refresher on the terminology: "Ham" refers to a cut of meat taken from the hind leg of a pig — you can buy a fresh ham, for instance, and cook it like a pork roast. But what most people mean when they talk about ham is the salty, cured, and often smoked preparation of that hind leg (aka "city ham") that comes fully precooked, on or off the bone, and just needs to be heated up at home. 

If you're shopping Costco's holiday ham selection, that latter category is what you're considering — all the options we've been discussing are cured city hams that only need to be warmed before serving. (In addition to fresh and city, there's a third traditional category: country ham, which gets a dry rub put on it before being smoked and aged, yielding a prosciutto-like product that's chewy and super-salty. Here's more on the difference between city ham and country ham.)

How much should you buy? As a general rule, get about ¾ pound per person if you're buying a bone-in ham. With boneless, get closer to ½ pound per person. Didn't finish it all? There are worse problems to have — what you're facing in this scenario, after all, is just several days of great sandwiches or other delicious Christmas leftovers