$4.25 would be a sale price for ground beef here -- even for high-fat ground beef.

Not only beef, all food will be pricy in the coming years, especially meats and seafood. Prices will never come down again in the future due to bad weather and increasing world demand.

I have a very significant advantage in dealing with meat prices. My sous vide cooker helps a lot. I can use the cheapest cuts of meat, and all meat shrinks 4% to 6% less cooked by sous vide.

I don't mind soy products, as a matter of fact, I enjoy them. Soy and other beans of course give me options for protein.

Some of you may also consider having neighbors shop food for you. There are supermarkets where they have "Senior Discount Day" with 5% to 10% discounts.

dcarch

Sounds like a deal to me. Just regular grocery store extra lean was $5.99 a pound yesterday and I paid just over $9.00 a pound for ground chicken thighs. Ground turkey thigh was the same price. These are grocery store prices. Last week one of the local butchers had ground chuck for $7.99 a pound and ground chicken and turkey for $9.99 per pound.

~Ann

Pork, the "other" white meat, has been holding steady for years, and with all the interesting cuts - loins, tenderloins, chops, butts, shoulders, etc - it's become our primary meat. When I do cook beef, I cook either beef brisket or beef ribs (not the short ones that are useless for anything but stew.) If I'm using ground beef, I'm making sauce so it doesn't matter if I use the cheap stuff or not. Lamb and goat, though expensive, are something we eat several times a month, but only when it's on sale.

I've never liked ground turkey, even the ones with a bit more fat content, and ground chicken is just gross. We eat a lot of chicken thighs and wings, which you can usually find for $1.99 a pound.

Fish, of course, must be sushi. Cooked fish is either calamari or shellfish, both of which are reasonably priced here in South Florida due to the abundance of fresh seafood.

Yeah - meat here (in FL) is on the pricey side as well - anything super cheap around here is suspect in my book. I can get organic chicken legs for $2.99/lb @ 1 local market - which is a steal, & premium ground turkey is $4.79/lb @ Publix. I find it funny that cheeses & some produce are way more per pound than most meats...

I’ve been buying Kirkland Organic at Costco for past several
years. It comes in a 3 pack of 1 ¾/pound packages for $19.99 that works out to
$3.81/pound. We like it better that the leanest at my local grocer for $5.59/pound
on sale. If I remember correctly when Costco first put this out it was $14.99 a
package of 3. I buy all our beef and chicken at Costco now that they have
organic but still stock up on pork when we make the 2 half hour trip to Whole
Foods a couple times a year.

dcarch..

I’m a senior and have never come across a Senior Discount Day
at any grocery store in my area of California.

Claudia

Claudia,

Fine Fare Supermarket here (NY) has Wednesday 10% Senior discount.

A & P , not sure which day, 5% Senior discount.

Try Googling "senior discount grocery stores" in your area.

dcarch

dcarch

If you knew where I live you would know how funny that is. In
my area we have one little family owned market that caters to tourists. I do
have a Von’s 15 miles away but it’s small, dirty and I never go there. My main
shopping is 60 miles away down in Bakersfield and even they don’t have many
grocery shopping choices. We usually shop Trader Joe’s, Winco and Costco once
or twice a month my DH calls it the spending marathon and is thankful we don’t have
a bigger car.

Claudia

I just checked this weeks food flyers and one store is featuring ground sirloin, 93% lean for $3.99/# while another has ground round for $4.29 per #. About two weeks ago I bought 80/20 ground chuck for $2.99 on a sale. The chuck roasts were $3.69/#. Go figure.

I try not to look too closely at the price because I'm going to buy it anyway. I just let it be part of the overall total, and if that's okay, I just don't care. Vitamins cost a lot more. :) Y'all are making me feel better about what I pay, though. TJ's all natural 90% lean is $6.49 or something close (I forgot between checking the receipt and here). I only use that for ground beef to put into something, and because it's hermetically sealed and lasts awhile in the fridge. The ground bison I use for dishes where the meat is the star is $8.99 this week. Still within shooting distance (I figure if it's under triple, it's okay). :)

Pricing is about what they can get for it, rather than intrinsic worth. If they want to get rid of chuck roasts, they'll charge less for it. People will say, "I can grind my own for that price," rather than, "Why should I do the work?" Or they'll choose to make a potroast instead of meatloaf.

Ground meat used to be cheaper because they put the scraps in, but there are no scraps nowadays (the packers have a market for them), and rarely is the ground beef produced onsite where you buy it. It's just a commodity like any other. OTOH, where it is produced onsite (it is where I usually shop), if it's not a full on, traditional butcher shop (though sometimes then too) they're not bringing in whole carcasses, but vacuum packed cuts. So, again, instead of using scraps, the butcher is grinding the sirloin or chuck roast and you might be paying more for the labor.

plllog

The Costco where I shop has ground bison I can’t remember the
exact price I think about $16.99 or so it comes in a package of 2 sealed 1 plus
pound packs. The one little market I do have here in town still does the whole carcasses
butchering I don’t do it often but I can
still get them to cut just about anything I may want if I call a few days before
and order it. It helps that I’ve known the butcher for 30 years. What’s odd to me is Bakersfield doesn’t have
any butcher shops at all and only 1or 2 bakeries that I know of.

Claudia

*Bakersfield* doesn't have a butcher??? Yes, that's extremely odd. Have you tried Google or Yelp? Interesting that Costco's price for ground bison is pretty similar to Whole Foods. I'm not nearly so far away from Costco as you are, but it's far enough not to be worth the gas going to to save a dollar on groceries when I can walk to WF and TJ. Even when I've lived in very small towns we had more food available than what I hear is common nowadays. I do remember having to go to the city to buy a broom off season, though. :)

plllog

I have googled but the few that come up aren’t really what I
would call a butcher shop maybe I’m just wishful looking for something I had
when we lived in Northridge back in the 70’s. The one I had them you could call
in an order at 2:30 in the afternoon have it wrapped and ready for you to pick
up on the way home from work or even grilled on the BBQ if that’s what I wanted.

For us it’s always worth the cost of gas to go down the
mountain for any shopping. We live in a resort town that caters to tourists and
you can’t buy much here but T-shirts and flip flops and those you can buy at
the local market! I always have a list going for Bakersfield and I do a lot of shopping
on line. The UPS guy gets worried if he doesn’t stop here for a few days.

Claudia

I took these pictures back in 2007. One of our local butchers. I can get just about any cut I want, Pork, Lamb, beef, chicken, turkey, etc.... or buy whole, halves or quarters. All of the meat comes from their own farms.

2007 prices.

Wow. Fortunately, I'm flush on ground beef right now. The last beef we got was cut incorrectly...they cut my half according to the other person's cutting instructions and ground up my pot roasts. Their mistake, so they gave me pot roasts from their beef and the burger.

Everything else is low, though so we're getting a half from a friend in a couple of months. I don't care what it costs...I know how it was fed and taken care of. I did just spring $3.80/lb for a 15 lb brisket to corn for St Pat's. Costco wanted nearly $7/lb so we went to the restaurant supply across the street.

I had to look up the weekly fliers, as I grow my own beef, pork and chicken. Fish too, now that I have ponds, probably.

Anyway, here ground chuck is $3.59 per pound, pork loin halves are $1.69 per pound, chicken thighs and drumsticks are 98 cents per pound, and hams are $1.49 per pound, tilapia is $4.99 per pound, all at the local Meijer in Big Rapids, which I guess is now my local grocery store. Boneless/skinless chicken breast is $2.50 per pound, but you have to buy a 4 pound package to get the deal. Prices here are much like Peppi's, I think.

None of those prices are for organic or farm raised or grass fed, or anything except strictly commercial meats. Lamb chops usually run about $12.99 per pound and bison is about $10 a pound for ground meat.

The prices are similar at the small local grocery in White Cloud, and they do have a senior citizen discount on Tuesdays, but it's smaller, I think 3%.

Fawnridge, I'm not a fan of ground turkey either, it just seems far too bland, and I never really liked ground chicken until I started raising my own. Now I grind chicken to make breakfast sausage and it's acceptable, but haven't found any other use for it that I like, not even in chili.

It's funny, I raise my own and always have a freezer full, plus venison, and I often go two or three days and don't eat any meat at all. I don't mind tofu occasionally, as I've found that it mostly just tastes like whatever I cook it with, it's not offensive. It's got to be extra firm though, I have that odd texture thing that I can't get past.

Annie

Ann-t

That’s what I want in a butcher shop. The only time I see anything
close to that meat case is when we go down to Whole Foods.

Claudia

Meat prices seem to have gone back down a titch here recently. I hope it's a new trend! I see a boneless pork roast on sale that I'm going to go buy for $1.68 lb! I'm stocking up on those suckers! I have to shop ads!

You can get fantastic deals in my area.

Slightly blemished bananas - $0.29 a lb. Nothing wrong inside, the peak of ripeness.

Slightly blemished apples, and all other assorted vegetables - $1.00 a large bag (about $ 10.00 to $20.00 worth).

Crippled crabs and lobsters - 1/2 price, or cheaper. With a leg or a claw missing. Nothing wrong at all.

Slightly crashed boxes of pasta - 1/4 the price.

dcarch

Prices of everything always go up and down, and usually with an upward trend over time.

The thing about being in a lower than average cost of living area, is that they're not infrequently also lower than average income areas and lower than average job opportunity areas. People in such places aren't necessarily better off than others living where prices (of all kinds, including salaries) are higher.

Sure, there are people who like to buy dented/damaged grocery items, and there are stores that cater to these customers. There are also plenty of people who like to buy premium items and often don't pay attention to the prices. There are also a lot of people in between the two extremes. I myself prefer buying undamaged food items and I pay no attention to prices of what I want to get or how much I spend overall, but there's no right or wrong.

At our Krogers, I just bought 2 bags of chicken hind quarters for 69 cents a pound in 10 pound bags. I have found hind quarters in such bags in a nearby IGA for as low as 49 cents a pound. Not organic, but perfect for what I wanted--dog food. This time, I cut off the thighs for DH and me (ending up with about 22 nice-sized thighs) and ground the raw legs and meaty parts of the backs (including the bones) for dog food. I freeze them in 1/3 cup balls and add one a day to our dog's dry food. She strongly approves.

I seasoned our thighs and let them sit in the fridge for 24 hours, then, for the first time ever, I cooked chicken in the sous vide. Each thigh went into a cheapo fold over sandwich bag to help keep the vacuum bag clean and preserve the liquids with each thigh. Thanks, Dcarch for the verbal push! Most of them went into the freezer, but I kept enough out for two meals.

They are delicious. Moist and flavorful. Before serving I will brown them quickly in a very hot skillet, add the drippings and some wine to the skillet and cook it down, pour it over the thighs, and enjoy. Or I may use the meat in a salad. Or. . . .?

>>Fish, of course, must be sushi. >>

Just a quick mention: I'm assuming you meant fish must be 'sashimi' - raw? 'Sushi' just means cooked rice seasoned with vinegar, which can be shaped, combined, and eaten in many different ways.

I just looked at the circulars. They're for stores I don't buy meat at, and rarely, if ever, shop at at all. Some are discount, some are semi-wholesale, one I've never seen. They advertise steak (New York and/or Rib Eye) in a range of $7.99-10.99/lb., chuck roast for $3.99-4.99, tritip $4.99-5.99, ground or taco style (chopped) beef $4.99 ($6.99 for grass fed), pork tenderloin $1.99-3.49, dark meat chicken pieces $0.89-2.99, salmon fillet $5.99-9.99 with a range of previously frozenness to colored to farmed to wild.

Jakkom, I think he meant as prepared sushi. Could be wrong. :)

>>Jakkom, I think he meant as prepared sushi. >>

No biggie, it's a common error. But I will correct people because if you like it and eat it, it's always preferable to know the correct nomenclature. One would never sit down at a sushi counter and tell the chef, "So give me a bunch of sushi" and expect to receive nothing but fish-topped rice, LOL.

I have one book on Japanese cooking that I keep strictly for laughs. It's a translation of a small cookbook first printed in Japan for young housewives who were learning how to cook. There's a whole section on making sushi with "exotic Western ingredients" - there's nigirizushi with mayo and Spam, and a temakizushi with pineapple and cream cheese!

I find myself buying very little ground beef these days; I just buy the whole cuts of beef like an occasional tri tip or ribeye and it's probably healthier to buy soy, poultry and fish. I too have been taken back by the cost of ground beef. I see the forecast is for continued rising prices, due to drought and severe winters reducing supply as demand rises.

claudia, try Yelp for a listing of butchers in Bakersfield. There are several

Thanks Gooster

I found one on Yelp I haven’t been to and will check it out
next time I go down to Bakersfield.

Claudia

Spam? Cute! I get it. Our Japanese-American friend makes PBJ sushi. :) And they do have other than fish at all the local places. I'm all for understanding the words. The ones that get me are "hummus" used for a bean paste or puree made without chickpeas (hummus means chickpea and is (appropriately) the name many dishes that use whole chickpeas) and fajitas used for other than skirt steak since it literally means skirt steak. The problem with being multilingual is that the borrow words aren't as thoroughly borrowed and stuff just doesn't make sense!

One thing I have to say for good sashimi, or fish sushi, is that the fish is newly caught enough, and cold, so I can usually eat it without an allergic reaction. :) Not hardly on a ground beef budget, though.

@pillog -- spam sushi and musabis (rice balls) are quite common in Hawaii -- they may be a reverse import back to Japan. The mayo thing is a Japanese fetish -- in my travels I've even seen it on pizza. A local bakery makes pbj and chocolate/peanut butter rice cakes (mochi).

If beef keeps rising, I'll just source sashimi-grade fish at the local Japanese market instead of steak.

@parts: I had a direct link and it appears Houzz does not like yelp links. I'm fortunate that I have a local butcher and cheesmonger less than a mile away.

PBJ mochi makes sense. My favorite is red bean (daifuku). I've had chocolate, but it doesn't hold a candle to red bean (and I do like chocolate in general). Strawberry is good, but it's always too sweet so I only like the first half. :) I love mochi. :) Like sushi means the rice, mochi means the actual rice part, and there are all kinds of things made out of it besides the better known sweets. I just don't know any Japanese and can't keep the words straight, so use the Americanization of "mochi" to mean daifuku plus other flavors with the same presentation.

The PBJ sushi is a roll, I think. I haven't seen it. The maker just told me about it. I wouldn't be surprised if it was mostly for the grandkids.

Around here, in restaurants, we commonly see omelette sushi, fried sweet potato (very yummy), other vegetable varieties, and any number of things I can't pronounce. :)

Spam sushi in Hawaii makes total sense given the Hawaiian love of spam and the large Japanese population.