I love/hate beef ribs!

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radio

Master of the Pit
Original poster
Jul 28, 2013
1,090
408
S.W. Mo
I was in Sams club this moring and stopped at the brisket section to see if any particulsr one was clamoring to ride home with me. I forgot all about the brisket when i spotted a twin pack of ribs staring at me from among the briskets!!! I eagerly picked them up and was ready to lovingly place them in my cart when the price tag caught my eye. No way in H#!! I am paying 6.74 per pound for ribs!!!!:eek:
I also saw pork baby backs for $2.79, but pork loin was only $1.49. Makes no sense to me how a package of 50% bone can sell for more than a premium loin that is all meat!:mad:
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Beef ribs are not readily available here in the Cleveland area. I am sure those would have no trouble selling.
You can find them...West Side Market / Restaurant Depot.. Just not at the usual butcher shop or grocery store
 
Supply and demand? Everyone wants ribs for the holiday. Only thing that makes sense to me.
I'm certain it is the supply and demand that makes them so expensive. Just like gasoline goes up when summer arrives. Kinda makes one wish a nationwide boycott of ribs could be organized to bring prices down
 
Supply and demand? Everyone wants ribs for the holiday. Only thing that makes sense to me.

Exactly. And ribs are not 50% bone. I've seen tables listing spares (uncooked) are about 25% bone. I haven't seen a table for BB's, but they have more meat to bone than spares, so expect they are around 20% bone by weight.
 
up here, beef BACK ribs usually sell for that, and they have even less meat.

one store must have had an untrained wrapper, as they marked some "Soup Bones" and priced them at $1.99/kg.

I bought them all, about 25 lbs or so.

another thing I've done (cuz I'm cheap) is to ask the going rate for riblets. if they can sell them to me for under $1.25/lb, I tell them to bring in 10kg for me Frozen.
They are fun to gnaw on ( I learned that up north during a conversation with some Indian Girls over bowls of "neckbone soup") have a lot of meat considering, and taste great.
Also, I've been known to make stock with them in a slow cooker! I find pork makes tasty gravy.
 
I wish we had a Costco around here, but we do not.
 
If they were Plate-short ribs they'd be worth every penny and be a bargain.
But undoubtedly Chuck- short ribs and that's not a horrible price, only $.75 over what I normally buy them for.
If they were really beefy and/or already trimmed, I'd scooped them up.
They make more money when they cut and package as for Korean style short ribs.
 
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If it makes you feel better, those would be just over $200 here in Canuckistan. :( You Americans have it way to good for meat prices compared to us.
 
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If it makes you feel better, those would be just over $200 here in Canuckistan. :( You Americans have it way to good for meat prices compared to us.


:eek::eek::eek: Alaska I could understand, but you guys raise a fair amount of beef don't you?
 
If they were Plate-short ribs they'd be worth every penny and be a bargain.
But undoubtedly Chuck- short ribs and that's not a horrible price, only $.75 over what I normally buy them for.
If they were really beefy and/or already trimmed, I'd scooped them up.
They make more money when they cut and package as for Korean style short ribs.
they were plate short ribs, but were not as meaty as the last ones i bought at $4.99 per pound.
 
I don't remember the price, but the last time I stopped at Costco a few weeks ago the short ribs were too pricey for me. I can't get the kind of beef ribs you see in the Texas eateries without taking out a second mortgage on the house for the local butcher.

At the grocer where I shop, they cut the choice grade short ribs into roughly 2.5x2.5 inch cubes. I have the meat cutter get me an unopened vacuum bag from the back, asking him to pick me a good one. They usually run around 12-15 lbs. He'll mark them about 50 cents less per pound than what they have cut up and packaged in the display. I end up paying about $5 to $5.25/lb.

I'll trim them up when I get home, vacuum seal stuff for the smoker (thickest) or for stew (thinnest).
 
Well, In this Bear's opinion, the meat around the Ribs tastes much better than the meat away from the bones.
I hate to say this, but it's True!!
"The closer to the Bone, the Sweeter the Meat"

Xin Loi,
Bear
 
On average I pay $5.-$6. per lb for really nice choice Chuck-short ribs like my last cook.
I've never found or been able to order those huge 18" long Plate-short ribs that you see at a select few BBQ eateries and Fairs. But I've read about the big BBQ places complaining about paying as much as $10. per rib and barely breaking even.
 
I usually buy them when they go on sale post holiday.

Chris
 
I found a local supply of plate ribs, and will wait for the prices to come down a bit, or someone messes up the pricing!

When I was working as a meatcutter in a store, I couldn't give away short ribs so I learned to love them myself.
Lucky for me too, I couldn't sell prime rib!
yup... you guessed it! I ate prime rib every way possible. So much I didn't eat a BBQd steak for almost a year.
 
Yeah, if they have them, mine never has.

Yeah, I actually got those at the Costco Business Center near me. Not sure if the retail store had them in stock. If you have a Business Center near you check them out - much different meat selection than the retail stores.
 
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