Haha. Recognizing that people have different tastes and habits, some would say that when a fast food place is out of raw materials and can't serve its normal fare, that does the community a public health favor.

Your prejudice is showing. Wendy's is no worse than any 5 star with their way too much salt dinners.

Can I come for dinner, L.J.?

I too am lucky in that there are some local places raising beef and selling it. It is pricey but of good quality.

Wendy's claim to fame is never using frozen beef. I guess this proves that to be true.

Doesn't seem to be a problem here...not sure about how Wendy's is faring because I don't eat fast food, but I went to a small organic (mostly) grocery near me this morning and bought organic chicken hindquarters, thick cut heritage pork chops and some hamburger. We don't eat much pork or hamburger here, but they will be nice to have in the freezer for when we do want it. I buy steak fairly often for my grandson, because it's something he really likes, but I have plenty in the freezer for a while.

We have a local grill that has not gotten it's supplies for a few weeks now...

Wow LoneJack that's a lot of meat! We split a cow with another couple a year ago March - still have a ton of it in the freezer. Grass fed beef is the only kind of meat I ever want to buy again. It's the best tasting beef we've ever had. The local farmer we bought from is selling out now - hopefully it will help him maintain his farm.

We just picked up our beef from the processor yesterday. We split it with my nephew, he's got a wife and 5 kids. I won't need to buy beef for quite awhile. Weird, cos I eat mostly chicken but hubby likes beef

Went to the market yesterday and they had plenty of beef. I did notice they had less chicken than usual.

Sam's didn't have any of their wonderful fresh burger patties on Friday but they had steaks, bulk ground beef and roasts galore, not a lot of chicken and a good bit of pork. Of course I was mainly interested in the hamburger patties. I did get some sockeye salmon and a package of lamb chops, which I never knew they even sold. Then when I stopped at Publix they had little beef and pork, lots of chicken though. It's always a roll of the dice each time I go.

As far as fast food I don't know if they have burgers. I guess I will find out next week when the grandgirls stay over. The grocery store is limiting the amount of ground meat you can buy. I have part of a cow and a deer in my freezer, so I don't need any ground meet.

In a news article the rats in cities are getting so desperate for food since the decrease in food being thrown away that they are eating each other.

I received an email this morning from HyVee which is one of the stores I shop that stated they were placing limits on how much meat could be purchased at one time. One of my local stations said that there was a limit of 4 packages at checkout for this area. Other stores in their eight state area may have different limits.

Seattle news today is saying there is no shortage in Washington or Oregon or their supply chains, but that some stores like Costco, Fred Meyer, Safeway are limiting numbers of packages that can be purchased each trip to avoid people hoarding like has happened with TP, hand sanitizer, flour etc.

I haven't purchased any meat in over a week but I saw no shortages of any meat product when buying that day. Unless you count the little half hams that Costco often carries, but they don't have those every month that I go anyway. I did notice I was paying $2.00 more per package on the bacon in my usual brand, product at a chain grocery not Costco.

Fortunately, we raise our own grass fed Beefaloes and currently have 2 freezers full which we share with our oldest son and his wife who live locally. And to make all that even better, our DIL loves to cook, and about once a week she sends us out a complete meal that we just have to heat up!

LoneJack, I don't know what the weight of the steers were you hauled in for slaughter, but with that much meat being dressed out, I certainly hope you have a very good processor who packages it sufficiently so that it can be frozen for a couple or so years without having freezer burn or a major change in the flavor.

I noticed that our local stores have put a limit on the meat purchases of 1 package per type (cut) per visit.

The day before all our city's power went out, I was seriously considering a road trip for curbside pickup for the burger I get once every other week at Hopdoddy. Man, I miss a well made cheeseburger. If COVID-19 or our power outage don't shut them down, the beef shortage will. Sigh. Guess I'll never get another burger from them.

I'm buying local meat from the butcher shop now. Ground chuck is $7 a pound and I was paying $6 at the supermarket, and it is so much better because they trim off the connective tissue and leave the hard white fat that makes for a juicy burger and lighter meatballs. I wish the supermarkets would trim like that so I didn't have to pick out the connective tissue. I lose my appetite when I'm eating a meatball and hit something hard and chewy.

gmatx - The 3 steer were all between 1100 and 1200 pounds. The old cow was 1770 lbs.!! 1 and 1/2 of the steers have already been sold and I think the other half has been as well. We will split the rest between the 4 families that are partners on our small herd.

They package the burger in 2 lb. plastic tubes and the steaks and roasts are well packaged as well. I have a 15 cu/ft chest freezer that is empty and about 1/2 of my upright is empty as well.

The butcher called us yesterday and said that it is ready for pickup and if we don't pick it up today they will start charging $25 per cow per day storage fees. They are getting slammed with people wanting their animals butchered due to the looming covid-19 induced meat shortage and need to make room in their walk in freezer. We are heading down there this afternoon to pick it up.

No meat shortages in either grocery I visited before noon today. The shelves looked a bit 'picked over', but I suspect that is because Thursday mornings are for Seniors. I'd forgotten. I avoid going on one of those days!

Lone jack...glad you don’t live too far away 🤣🤣...we know good beef in our area!

I called two local butchers this morning...one had none and their slots are filled for butchering for the next 4 months...and the other one sold their ground beef weekly supply within 15 minutes of opening. I called a rancher friend who said he was taking 2 more steers to the locker today and was having them both ground in hamburger, so I should be able to get some next week. I did go to our local grocery store this morning, and they are limiting meat purchases to 1 package of beef, 1 pork and 1 chicken.

chisue...no meat shortage here either. It's supposed to happen in 4-6 months. I just purchased 8 pounds of ribeye. $5.77lb. That should last us about 3 months. I also found a glutt of eggs for .25/dozen.

I don't eat much meat, and it's a good thing. the beef I get around here usually tastes terrible to me. my BIL gave me a lb of grnd beef from Sam's so I'm going to try that. I don't know if that is grass fed or not, or what my regular stores sell, but I would like to find some I can stomach for a burger or meatloaf. I have a few pieces of ham steak in the freezer and 2 pk chops - those'll last me a long time and I have a turkey breast in my sister's freezer so I can pick that up to cook if I need it.

I haven't noticed the stores here to be low on meat / chicken in the past few weeks.

My husband asked me to pick up some steak to grill. There was plenty of meat although some of it is packaged differently. HEB had limits like four beef, four chicken, two of other meats.

Desertsteph meatloaf does not have to be made from beef. In fact older recipes used a mixture of meat. Some were beef and ground pork not sausage but others had veal or turkey. I have not seen one with ground chicken, yet, but no doubt it too could be used. Meatloaf used to be a method to extend what meat was available with all kinds of fillings and whatever seasonings you had available. I grew up with ground beef, one onion, a can of tomato sauce, white bread, one or two eggs and salt to taste. Husband grew up with using oatmeal instead of bread.

Although I did not like the smell my mother made a meatloaf using canned mackerel or salmon.

I was at an independent specialty market (San Francisco Bay Area) and they were fully stocked. The butcher told me because they sell better quality beef and have used the same supplier for over 30 yrs, their processor "takes good care of them."

He said that bigger grocers, who deal in the cheaper quality/high volume meats, are the ones who are having some shortages.

maifleur03

"Desertsteph meatloaf does not have to be made from beef."

thx. I haven't gotten good tasting ground beef at the store in a decade or so. It could be my 'taster' tho 'cause I've notice other things I've eaten for years that I no longer like or eat. otoh, I thought back to eating burgers my BIL grilled and brought over to me on holidays (like the 4th) and they were good. so I'm hoping this Sam's club beef will make the difference. I'll cook up the Sam's club meat this next week and find out. but using another meat might be something I could try. the only option that I might like for a meatloaf would be a mild sausage. thx for the idea, I really hadn't thought of using a different meat for it.

I wonder if I still have a meat grinder. The pre-ground beef we've been getting is 'wet' and tasteless...at $6/lb. I suspect some kind of 'filler' is added.

nicole -- Yes, I'd expect it to take some time for the supply already there to be used up, but we have no freezer other than one side of our fridge.

Today's Chicago Tribune has a story about a meat supplier to restaurants who is making up small boxes to deliver to the public. He can barely keep up.

A lot of our restaurants are not only doing curbside of their food, they are also do a curbside grocery. They are breaking down their big commercial packages into home size and selling the raw ingredients.

I bought a meet grinder to make ground beef, this way I can control the quality that goes into my ground beef.

What cuts make good hamburger meat? I'm guessing chuck, but something more specific?

To make good hamburger you need a fatty piece of meat. Fat is where the flavor comes from. The reduction of age for beef to be slaughtered and the desire for leaner cuts has reduced the amount of fat that is acceptable for the general public.

You would have to cook the burgers well done but until they were caught one grocery store that was selling "hamburger" that people raved about used the meaty part of chicken and turkey gizzards in what they were selling. I had one burger made of the stuff and it really had a beefy flavor.

For an actual hamburger, I like ground chuck or ground round. If I am cooking anything else, like spaghetti, meatloaf, stroganoff, etc,, I like the extra lean ground that has little to no fat. So, for me, what is "good" hamburger depends on what I am cooking.

ETA: For meatloaf and meatballs, I like a 75/25% of lean beef and pork or venison and pork.