Resources for buying meat. Price is getting ridiculous...

[viper]

I am curious if anyone has any other resources for meats other than the supermarket?  I am just having sticker shock with prices of meats lately and it seems Sams club has the best price but I would sure like to pay less! 

How about online wholesale bulk orders, local distributors, buying a 1/4? 

Also, as a side step from this, I would really like to learn what commercial companies pay for meats because by the time I calculate everything in for a big smoke, I really cannot save much money over just buying read to eat meats.  You take a 12lb brisket, that is 2lbs of fat cap, 40% cook down, you are left with 6lbs of eatable meat and at say $3/lb, that is $6/lb net cost minus all the other consumables. 

I know to cost of everything is going up but I think that is gouging just a bit when you can buy good steak for $8/lb

 

[diggingdogfarm]

If you think the price of brisket is a bad value, then grow your own or buy the steak!



~Martin

 

[dward51]

If you think back to last fall, all the news stations were telling us this was coming. 

It goes back to congress requiring a certain amount of corn to be converted to ethanol fuel no matter what.  They did not allow for any calculation of loss of crops due to the drought and a larger percentage of corn out of the total harvest ended up as alcohol fuel (which also has 30% less energy than gasoline). Then you have the reduced supply from the drought on top of this.  So farmers were culling their herds as corn and grain prices increased due to supply and demand.  Meat was cheaper for a while, but they all warned us it would swing the other way after the first of the year.

I was at Kroger on Friday and they now are charging $4.99 a pound for plain old hamburger (not the 90/10 stuff) and $3.99 per pound for the 5 pound chubs of ground up mystery trimings. 

End result is people will buy less as it continues to cost more, and that feeds further into the price spiral. As demand decreases, there will be less supply kept on hand and so it continues....  Loss of volume sales will also add to pricing increases.

There was even a story this week about less chicken wings being available for super bowl parties for the same reason.

 

[show me smoke]

would love to see the days of 99 cents per pound briskets like they were back in 2000...I do not know how we can get cheaper meat unless you buy cheaper cuts...but then again brisket use to be a cheap cut.

 

[charcoal junkie]

What part of the country you from? If you have some Hutterites in your area or maybe Amish check with them. The Hutterites around here want $1.20 lbs for chicken $2.00 for pork belly and $2.30 for duck. Not sure on beef price but the lockerplant close by wants $2.29 lbs for hamburger.

 

[kathrynn]

Ground Chuck was $3.99 a pound Saturday and so was the chuck roasts. This was at Publix..not really a Kroger fan.

 

[roger shoaf]

I went to the store yesterday and was noticing that the pork chops were cheaper than the ribs with a heck of a better meat to bone ratio.

In the poultry department wings were a buck a pound more than leg quarters.  It used to be that the cheapest way to get chicken was if you got the whole bird, but now it looks like the leg quarters are the deal.  (I think that is a good thing, as those are my favorite bits.)

I could not find kielbasa that was not made with some disgusting, slimy, "mechanically separated" chicken.  At over $5 a pound they can keep it.

 

[boykjo]

I totaly feel your pain... I do large batches of sausage and I will not buy pork shoulder at original price of 2.49 per lb. at the super market. Most of the time Sams will have the best original price but they go by market value which is 1.58. I usually buy 65 lbs at a time... 65x2.49= 161.85 compared to 102.70 thats almost a 60 dollar savings.. I just got 65 lbs from piggly wiggly for 1.19 which equaled 77.35... a savings of 84.50 from an original 2,49 supermarket price......I could'nt make sausage if it werent for sale prices..... I would'nt buy marked down meat but now I do because of the high prices.. I just bought a full packer that was going to expire in 2 days and was marked down to 1.89.. a sacings of around 15bucks.. I had to buy it... put in the freezer for a future smoke... The only thing I wont do is buy meat for sausage marked down.... It must be fresh.....

Joe

 

[roller]

Well if you do not mind freezing some meat I got to Walmart on Thursdays and they usually have alot of mark down meat because of the experation dates. You can get different cuts at a pretty good price. I may not need that cut at the time so I just unrap and vac seal for a later date...

 

[humdinger]

As if the growing popularity and drought weren't enough to drive up chicken wing prices, McDonalds is getting on the chicken-wing train too.

On the other hand, slight kudos to them. According to the article it appears they are rolling out their new chicken wings slowly in order to test new markets and while trying not to cause a price spike in wholesale chicken wings nationwide. It's going to be an interesting year in the meat market.

http://money.cnn.com/2013/01/28/news/companies/super-bowl-chicken-wings-mcdonalds/

 

[backyardsmokin]

In my area I have learned that the smaller chains usually have been having better prices than the bigger chains.  This weekend I went to a small mom & pop Mexican store and they were selling tri-tip for $4.99/lb marinated or not and whole chickens for 75 cents/lb.  Then I went two blocks down the road to a Save-Mart and it was $5.99/lb un-marinated tri-tip, $6.99/lb for marinated and $1.49/lb for whole chicken.

Talking to the neighbors there are 4 of use that like to smoke/que, so we are looking at splitting the cost of a cow, hog and a case of chickens to help cut down on costs.

 

[ifitsdeadsmokeit]

buy a deep freezer and find a rancher and buy a side of beef or half a hog...cheapest way to go.

 

[themidniteryder]

I was at Restaurant Depot yesterday and Angus briskets were $2.79/lb in the singles or $2.29/lb if you get a case of 5. Not bad for Angus. Your calculation of about $6/lb net is pretty close, but have you ever priced ready cooked brisket from a decent bbq joint? Out here $14-18/lb! As dward stated the corn situation has a lot to do with it, along with the drought in the midwest.

 

[show me smoke]

The one problem with buying a whole cow or pig...is that there is only 2 briskets on a cow...or only 2 shoulder on a pig...so it is not really worth buying a whole one just for those cuts.

 

[the duster]

I went to the store yesterday and was noticing that the pork chops were cheaper than the ribs with a heck of a better meat to bone ratio.

In the poultry department wings were a buck a pound more than leg quarters.  It used to be that the cheapest way to get chicken was if you got the whole bird, but now it looks like the leg quarters are the deal.  (I think that is a good thing, as those are my favorite bits.)

I could not find kielbasa that was not made with some disgusting, slimy, "mechanically separated" chicken.  At over $5 a pound they can keep it.

Sounds like they are charging more for wings and ribs because they are popular foods for the Superbowl party. 

 

[jirodriguez]

Find out what your local resteraunt supply stores are - in my neck of the woods its Cash & Carry.

Brisket - $2.49 lb.

80/20 burger - $1.99 lb. (or close to that)

All pork ribs under $3.00 per. lb. with spares usually being cheapest at $2.20'ish

Of course if you want individual steaks it's gonna cost more, most all of this is sold in big cryrovac bags, so you have to steak it out yourself (no big deal) if you want smaller chunks. I usually hit thier meat dept. once a month and stock up the freezer and I'm good to go.