What price per pound?

Chuck is usually the less expensive cut! You need something with a certain amount of toughness/connective tissue to really stew it--something that will hold up--but otherwise anything works. Skirt steak used to be dead cheap, but now that the world has discovered fajitas, and that the skirt is really tasty compared to most cuts of domestic beef, it costs a ton. Brisket has become beloved of the barbecue crowd, so it's no longer cheap. Well marbled meat makes poor stew because once the fat is rendered out the good of the meat goes too. I've made stew from lean sirloin by cooking the veg mostly separately, browning the meat, and combining just for the meat to get done. But that depends on a blowout price on the sirloin, or a plan for other use dying on the vine.

Because I trust the butchers where I shop, I don't mind buying "stew meat" which is a melange. It's nice pieces of meat trimmed off as they're cutting. They cook at different rates and have different flavors. The latter can make the stew more interesting, and the former doesn't matter if you're giving the meat plenty of time in the pot. I've heard that some butchers/companies throw "bad" meat together and call it stew. I don't know what that means. I don't mind paying less for odds and ends, and having to trim it up a bit.

By shopping around, I can find the same cut of meat varying by $2 per pound at different stores. I tend to rearrange my menu when something is too expensive, or when I find it on sale.

That seems really high for chuck roast unless it was organic, grass fed. I don't eat much beef so it's not an area I buy organic all the time but I do for poultry.

I do like chuck best but I don't have any answers to your question other than what's already been said.

I buy a 2 inch thick chuck steak for stew. I bet a chuck roast costs more per pound.

By the way, do be sure to brown the beef really well before putting it in the crock pot, and also be sure to deglaze that pan well to get every bit of the delicious browned bits into the stew for good flavor.

sushipup1 - $6 per lb.

That's a lot. I'd pass on it and wait until it's on sale.

I love buying chuck roast or blade roasts when they come on sale. I've making a well-done roast beef today with one. I also cut them up for stews. Sale prices are $3.99/lb.

This post and the cold is inspiring! One in the oven right now with lots of onions, garlic and red wine.

Usually, a chuck roast is the cheapest form of beef besides ground beef, that I can buy where I live. I can find it on sale for $2.99 lb! I make stew out of whatever is the cheapest meat I can find, that is usually a chuck roast. BTW, chuck roast is always cheaper than chuck steaks in my neck of the woods.