I am amazed at what meat prices are doing these days. I was at CostCo the other day and regular 88/12 ground beef was something like $4.30 a pound. For freakin’ hamburger! It still seems like just yesterday I was getting it remaindered for less than $2/#. Fortunately I have a pretty healthy supply of the stuff in the deep freeze and, honestly, I don’t eat it that much. My go to is usually chicken breast and, as of late, various pork cuts. WinCo sells boneless skinless chicken breast at $1.99/#, which is reasonable, and pork for around $1.85/#. For my cooking, which is often a stir-fry type of affair, those types of meat are just fine.
But, good grief, hamburger at almost four and a half bucks a pound? What the heck are they feeding those cows? Imported Swiss hay?
But, this is the sort of thing I suppose we should be getting ready to encounter on a more frequent basis. Some of you may be old enough to remember a time in the 1970’s when inflation and meat prices were driving many people to designate one day of the week as “Meatless [weekday]”…Meatless Mondays, etc, etc.
I’m an omnivore, as all of us human-ish types are. I do , however, like meat. In fact, I am of the opinion that a meal is not a meal if there is no meat. (Eggs kinda count but that’s getting pretty nitpicky).
Here’s a really odd thing – I’ve been taking pictures of the pricing board at the CostCo meat department for the last few months and the price of some meats has actually come down. That kinda puzzled me until it occurred to me that with ‘supply chain issues’ and whatnot, it may make more sense for ranchers to slaughter their herds (and thus flood the market and drive prices down) than to pay higher prices for feed as the supply becomes unpredictable. What you wind up with is a glut and price drop…for now. The other side of that equation will not be a happy one for the consumer.
I’m lucky because I can live with ‘cheap meats’. I have a pressure cooker, cast iron cookware, a penchant for cooking, and rather low standards. I can take pretty much any cut of meat and make it into something I’m willing to eat. So…I’ve no problem with switching over to cheaper cuts and critters.
But, geez Ruiz, $almost four and a half bucks for burger is just alarming.
The globalists of Schwab/SPECTRE don’t want the little people eating protein.
Pods and bugs as part of the you’ll own nothing and like it Great Reset Leap Forward.
Burger meat is extremely versatile, it being added to rice, pastas and other meal extenders. When we process venison, at least two thirds of the meat is ground into burger meat, with two types of fat (pork and beef) added for extra ease and taste. Wrapped into 1 pound packages, it is very easy to use for a family of four.
Hold on to our butts, 2021 was just the beginning to what can become a very different year.
The wife sent me to the store to pick up cake and ice cream for our son’s birthday. I got the cake from the bakery and was headed towards the ice cream and had to pass all the fresh meats. Happened to see a bunch of yellow “sale” stickers in the pork section. They had 1-2 pound pork loins on sale for $3.89 a pound. On sale or just back to normal? I started to put several into the cart when I looked over at the larger 6-7 pound pork loins and noticed the price was $1.89 a pound! Put the little ones back and grabbed 3 6-7 pound loins. I would have grabbed more except freezer space is an issue right now as we have been keeping our freezer topped off. I got home and the wife was having a fit and then she heard the price and cooled her heals. I noticed that the prices were down on pork but not beef. There were a few fresh turkeys on sale for 49 ents a pound.
Reports indicate Safeway had rib roast for $3.97/lb with a digital coupon. Talked to a guy who got 15 lbs worth then had his girlfriend do the same. Had them cut it up into 1″ steaks, guess it pays to shop around.
I hate having to play the coupon game at Safeway, but it’s the only grocery store in town here. Any other options are 90 miles away, for which we keep lists. The coupon “member prices” are often 50% off of “regular” prices, and that kind of nonsense really adds up.
This weeks ad flyer has the premium hamburger (93/7) for $3.49/lb, and eggs for $.97/dozen. This is cattle country here, and we have networked our way into local, grass finished beef, cut-n-wrapped any way we want it, from small boxes to 1/4, 1/2 or whole animal. Our current limiting factor is no more space in the freezer.
Ingles here in the upstate of SC, had standing rib roast on sale for $9.98/#. It’s usually up around 16 bucks. When it’s in sale, I buy about 10 pounds and have it cut into thick steaks, saving the cut off bones for bbq ribs.
90/10 ground sirloin is just over 7 bucks a pound. Ham Shanks/shoulders are about $1.49/# on sale. Stir fry beef is over 7 bucks, as is stew beef. Even chuck roast is over 7 bucks unless it’s on sale, then it’s a little over 5 bucks. Haven’t checked chicken prices in a few weeks. And bacon is ridiculous. Carolina Pride is over 5 bucks and Black Label and Oscar Meyer are right at 10 bucks.
That would ~%100 inflation rate, wouldn’t it?
beef finishers need to move their stock to the packers at a certain weight and receive new stock at the same time to finish/add weight. early in the covidiocy packing plants were shutdown/curtailed as covid ran thru the tightly packed immigrant labor force. (i’ve been to 3br ranch homes where 30 plus lived.) great for saving, bad for hygiene. anyway the cattle backed up, had to be fed the extra days/weeks. this occurred all down the supply train. soon the cows were too big at each stage. the poultry industry just killed off the excess, but that’s a little harder to do with 800lb animals. i don’t worry about the supply, i worry about the transport.
They killed them off and pit dumped them,too many regulations to even sell them off live to butchers(very few real hoof to case left). It was predicted over a year ago this would happen. Just finished vacuum packing/freezing 50# of choice chuck($3.99#) for new deep freeze and waiting for cryopacked pork spare ribs to get delivered.
In one of our freezers is a whole beef, grass fed, no hormones, no steroids. Cost….. $3.00 a pound. By local, local, local.
buy. Not enough coffee yet.
The results of the drought the upper midwest/Rocky mountains suffered 18 months ago?
My local Safeway had hamburger in 1 1/2 pound packs at a couple bucks a pound recently. I put about 50 pounds of that stuff in my chest freezer. Feeling pretty glad I did.
80/20 burger is on “sale” here in the mountains of NC for $5.99/lb. Glad we put a half of grass fed beef away in the freezer early in the year likewise for $3.00 per pound but that is hanging weight. On sale at the same Food Lion are skinless chicken breast and pork loin for $1.79/lb which is up $0.20 to $0.30 from sale prices a year ago. We have 3 freezers already well stocked but will see if there is space for a little more. In the past 4 months we bought a chest freezer for my daughter’s family and one for our son as well which we help keep stocked plus it will provide needed space if we have a freezer go down. I suspect it will get much worse heading into 2022.
Hamburger here in Houston at our HEB chain stores (from showcase stores to filthy holes, but mostly nice, and most with decent to very good meat) was $3.89/# last week. I’ll look again later today. HEB stores consistently have the best pricing overall in my area.
On the other hand, vac packed pork shoulder was .87c/# and makes good carnitas or shredded pork. Chicken legs, thighs, quarters all still go on sale for $1/# but are usually around $1.29.
They had ribeye roasts on sale for Christmas (<4$) and I bought about 15#. Cooked 4.5 for our dinner. It was select, great for roasts, less great for steaks. If I get choice or even prime (when it's half price to move quickly) I slice off steaks and make 3# roasts vac sealing the steaks for later. The roasts are a great low effort meal.
Variety and some brands are still limited in Houston. I haven't been able to buy the breakfast sausage links the family likes in three store visits. There was NO pasta on the shelf last time I was there. Soda is hit or miss for anything but the major flavors. Canned veg is one style only, but there were three brands to choose from and the shelves were stocked deep.
Canned soup is very hit or miss. The less common flavors are usually out of stock, but there is plenty of chicken soup in a couple of styles. A couple of months ago, there was nothing in the soup section but a few shelves of chicken soup.
So there are still issues. I expect there will continue to be issues for a couple of years, even if nothing major changes for the worse.
n
Well hold on to your hat. All you salad lovers. Fresh tomatoes are going through the roof thanks to Junkie Joe. All tomatoes from Mexico are now banned from importation. Why. Because some Effeminate Beta Boy at the Dept of State has an issue with the way they treat their farm workers. Well if you have the ability to think this bullshit through to a logical conclusion the farm workers are going to be laid off to starve because there is no work. All the while the crop rots in the fields like the maggot infested liberal brains of the members of the Biden Regime.
Where I go to hunt deer we drive by a big finishing lot. First time in a lot of years it was empty. No cows or activity at all. They usually had things going on 24/7 but it was dark.
That can’t be good.
The big problem there is the number of cattle and hogs that were in the pipeline when COVID19 hit. The meat processing plants were shutting down because the workers were get the Bejing Bug. Thousands of cattle and hogs were euthanized and buried to keep the pipe line moving. It’s only logical that sooner or later this would all catch up with events. From birth to packing house it takes about 12 to 14 months to feed a steer so it’s ready for market. Hogs a bit less.
The interesting thing around my area. I have a hog operation on the outskirts of my little village. They are one of the many that are popping up to furnish hogs to a new modern hog processing operation in Coldwater MI. We used to have a lot of dairy hearts around here. I know of at least 6 that dairy operations that are doing nothing but crop farming. Corn and Soy beans. That’s about the extent of what is grown. Vegetable farming started getting big in our area about twenty years ago.or more. Green string beans, cucumbers, carrotts. One of our biggest farm operation is a family operation that grows cabbage. Ten million pounds per year.
Tomatoes have been another crop. The thing with cukes and green beans is you get three covers or plantings a year for beans and two for cukes.
It’s been something to see these farmers change with the times and address the hot commodities in the market place.
The meat shortage will level out sometime late this year(2022) or early in 2023. Depends how much interference they get from Joe Stalin ah Biden. To note. These beef and pork growers have been hit hard. Some won’t survive. At least when the agro businesses were harmed by Trump’s policies he compensated them. Biden just wanders off to the toilet with his new dog.
My wife and I avoid going into the stores in person and do our shopping online for pickup. As a result, we don’t get to see the markdown bins anymore. Due to my wife’s health and age (80), she is hesitant to get around groups of people, especially those who have had the clot shot. I believe this is prudent under the circumstances.
For years, she used to give me crap about checking the markdowns at the stores, but it saved us a lot of money over the years.
Wright brand thick cut bacon has shot up to $5.50 a pound at Sam’s Club. I shifted gears, bought pork butt for $1.50 a pound, cured it with Morton’s Tender Quick, smoked it and sliced it. The result is called buckboard bacon and it worked out to about $2 a pound, and that was allowing $2 for the cure and the pellets used for smoking. I’d like to make real bacon with pork bellies, but the butcher shop I stopped at today wanted $7.98 a pound. Yep, for uncured, uncooked, frozen pork bellies … not even trimmed, skin on. So, I’ll get by making my buckboard bacon at $2 a pound and turning $1.98/lb pork loin into Canadian bacon, which comes out like incredible deli ham.
My farming friends say we haven’t seen anything yet. I guess this is the time of year they start planning and ordering fertilizer for their fields. It’s running two to three times what it cost last year, apparently tied to the cost of oil in some way.
Fertilizer is made from methane (natural gas) and nitrogen from the air. China has announced that it is halting the export of fertilizer, and the European makers are cutting back production by 40%. Of course the world’s largest stockpile of fertilizer is in Washington D.C.
That pile in Beirut didn’t go so well either(if you do the chemistry a blast that big would of needed 3-4 times the available oxygen,so maybe the Israeli jets flying over had something to do with a kiloton blast)
Many people think the only petroleum by products are gasoline, diesel fuel, home heating oil and kerosine.
Add fertilizer and plastic to the list. Thanks to the Supreme Idiot by cutting mire then 40% of the nation’s oils production it follows that everything that’s trucked, plowed, molded or manufactured is subject to these pressures on supply.
I need flash of sorts. From Biden on down to the dog walkers in his regime. None understands how the economy works. Nor do they understand cause and effect. AOC has a degree in economics. I think she needs to get a refund.
Because of the vaunted DC Bubble these people haven’t a clue as to how WE THE PEOPLE live. In the Heartland things are very much a reality way of living. Common sense is the best weapon we have to deal with uncertainty and calamity. In DC they check their common sense at the District boundaries.
Washington is inhabited by a self styled Aristocracy along with their servants and chamberlines and those who wish to restrict dealt to only a few.
Look at Europe. Because of idiots like B Hussein Obama they think Europe has all the answers. They don’t but the idea of a few in charge telling everyone else what to do and how to live for them is the way to go.
Actually they will very soon be disabuse of those notions.
Once you realize THEY WANT YOU DEAD! It all makes a lot more sense.
apparently tied to the cost of oil in some way.
–some of the stuff is made from oil, some is a by product of other processes that are not happening right now due to supply chain issues.
There is a lot of chatter about farmers cutting back on fertilizer which will mean reduced yields, and higher prices. On the other hand, one of my trade magazines talks about farmers having a positive outlook and a bumper crop next year. Who really knows?
One thing I know, inflation is going nuts, so every (cheapening) dollar you spend now, will buy more than that same dollar next month and next year. With some local exceptions. Some luxury items might get cheaper if there are no normal buyers, and there might be weird local oversupplies as producers react to the markets and do things they wouldn’t normally do.
Every account I’ve read of long term conflict ends up with people eating grass. If it goes on long enough even the well prepared might end up there, but if so, the ill prepared are going to be in a world of hurt long before then. Hungry people become less than people and do things people don’t do. That’s one of my fears, and why lead and secrecy are both important.
nick
@ky, I have been buying the HEB (texas chain of grocery stores) house brand thick sliced family pack bacon. Hill Country Fair. It was 24c/oz for over a year, when “premium” bacon was 48c or more. (Including wrights and blue ribbon, and other recognizable brands). Unlike most cheaper bacon brands, the slices were consistent thickness, and there was a lot of meat vs fat. A couple of months ago the price jumped to 36c/oz, a 50% increase. It’s currently back down to 32c/oz. It’s still the best deal in the meat cooler for bacon.
FWIW, I save all the fat too, and use it for cooking. Bacon fat in buckets on the shelf was over $6/pound so I feel pretty good about saving and reusing it, just like mama and grandma did. When I get ahead of my usage, I put it in canning jars and throw it in the freezer for later.
I must not be the only one saving it, there are lots of choices for storage solutions on amazon. IDK what happened to the canister from my mom’s counter… or when it disappeared but the modern ones from amazon work fine.
n
A price reference point for you all, southern Minnesota Sam’s Club hamburger at 90/10 for a roughly 10 lb. tube is $3.78/lb. and has been fairly stable but slowly creeping up. Get a 5 lb. flat or pre-formed patties and that price jumps.
I’ve also seem 80/20 tubes higher priced than the 90/10.
This post is another reason why the comments are gold for the perspectives from all over.
Steelheart
Spoke to a friend that is farming 100 acres part time preparing for 2022. He mentioned fertilizer 4x more expensive than last year. He also mentioned farmers in general (livestock & grain farmers) are making about 30% less profit overall. According to him the best margin is grain farming and not livestock. I’m not sure where all the extra cost is going but it sure sounds like it’s not going to the small farmers.
Just saw that the PPOTUS ( Phoney President of the Untied States) just became aware of the wrecking ball he is taking to the economy. Friends and relations of Dummy and Nurse Jill were in the kitchen of one of the Biden’s palatial homes in Delawierd. They have six. But you only get one. But I digress. When one of the guests remarked that hamburger was at over $5 a pound. Monkey Boy said he had no idea. To that I say BULLSHIYSKA..