The cost of food

[weinoo]

11 hours ago, andrewk512 said:

Popularization of cooking ruined most meat prices sadly - flank steak, oxtail, shanks, pork belly - prices of the cheap cuts only went up,

 

I'd go a step further and venture that restaurant chefs started using these cuts (though I believe in "ethnic" restaurants, they'd always used these cuts), making them scarcer and scarcer for the consumer, thus driving the price for "off cuts" through the roof, even pre pandemic.

[gfweb]

2 hours ago, weinoo said:

 

I'd go a step further and venture that restaurant chefs started using these cuts (though I believe in "ethnic" restaurants, they'd always used these cuts), making them scarcer and scarcer for the consumer, thus driving the price for "off cuts" through the roof, even pre pandemic.

 

That is certainly true. Short rib and oxtail never appeared on a menu at places I go to until the 2010s or so

Edited December 13, 2021 by gfweb (log)

[chromedome]

It irks me greatly that all the nice braising cuts are so expensive now; easily twice the price of a steak (because there's *always* a steak on sale). I'll go years between steaks, but I love my braises.

 

Of course it's all rather moot now, as my GF can't eat red meats for medical reasons.

[rotuts]

I did look at meat @ Market Basket a few weeks ago

 

the cuts looked very well marbled ,, and nicely trimmed.

 

8 - 9 $$  for sliced ( in the usual fashion ) for sirloin tips.

 

I used to get ' sirloin tips '  on sale for $.3.99 ( lowest price at that time )

 

and the butcher was happy to trim up some whole 'ST's '  and keep the whole

 

and i prefer that whole cut.  Ive watched this cut slowly move up

 

over the years , and now I haven't seen it on sale for quite some time.

 

I think more in terms of sales.  as the several circulars are right in

 

front if me :

 

I used to see ground turkey ( 20 oz ) on sale for $1.99    , not infrequqently

 

I think this was when GT was just beginning to be  widely available

 

then  $ 2.99  on sale.       now the standard sale is $ 3.49 a pack

 

SBFarms packs are 20 0z , others ( including TJ's ) are 16 oz.

 

Im very fortunate that I have no idea what Im going to be making

 

so am able to pick things that have their own SaleCyle.   

 

Ground turkey is on that sale cyle

 

but Id get it at full price as I prefer it  to ground beef.

 

water content varies w ground turkey brands 

 

SBFarms is the one I choose in my area.

 

tastier @ $ 1.99  Im sure !

 

 

Edited December 13, 2021 by rotuts (log)

[rotuts]

Re: tougher cuts :

 

' Ox Tail '

 

was once an Ox's tail 

 

that had fulfilled his Life , 

 

and indeed , that Ox did not have an OxHeatingPad

 

but the family and many others depended on that

 

Ox , for their daily bread.

 

and having a tail 

 

well there it is.

[Jacksoup]

Was at Costco today and the price of beef tenderloin was $22.99 a pound.  The price of Dungeness crab was $9.99 a pound, up $3.00 from last year.  Bacon was about $3.00 a pound more than last year.  That maybe California prices due to the new regulations on raising pork, not sure.

[heidih]

49 minutes ago, Jacksoup said:

Was at Costco today and the price of beef tenderloin was $22.99 a pound.  The price of Dungeness crab was $9.99 a pound, up $3.00 from last year.  Bacon was about $3.00 a pound more than last year.  That maybe California prices due to the new regulations on raising pork, not sure.

New California regs not in effect yet but maybe anticipatory. As @David Lebovitz always says from Paris and my sis from Australia - you Americans are paying so so much less for your food than we are. I tell the ancient ones here that the back story of food price supports and similar mechanisms gives us false reality. When my dad was managing a Los Angeles packing plant, as a child I heard all the drama. It was like living with a commodity broker. Do we buy X number of sides of beef from midwest and hold frozen as price is down, but when can we jack it up and move it etc.  Little real time reality.

[DesertTinker]

At the local Vons (part of the Albertsons, Safeway, etc. family), AA Large eggs are now $4.99 for 18 “cage free”, the lowest available grade/size. Of course our local economy (and grocery selection) is now heavily influenced by being the primary retail access point to Joshua Tree National Park.

Edited December 14, 2021 by DesertTinker
Clarification (log)

[gfweb]

I just checked Wild Fork. Much cheaper than costco for tenderloin.

 

I'm losing the need for costco.

[weinoo]

35 minutes ago, gfweb said:

I just checked Wild Fork. Much cheaper than costco for tenderloin.

 

I'm losing the need for costco.

 

Next step:  Losing the need for tenderloin!

 

[gfweb]

41 minutes ago, weinoo said:

 

Next step:  Losing the need for tenderloin!

 

 

Not likely. Its a big dish needed to serve a bunch of people and is brainless to cook whilst I fool around with other dishes.

[TdeV]

Sous vide?

 

 

2 hours ago, gfweb said:

 

Not likely. Its a big dish needed to serve a bunch of people and is brainless to cook whilst I fool around with other dishes.

 

[rotuts]

Wellington ?

 

its the Wellington additions 

 

that make the dish Festive.

 

Pork Tenderloin Napoleone ?

 

...   trim several PT's , and line them up

 

to resemble a BT.   

 

just , filling etc the same.

 

gravy would have to be altered a bit.

[gfweb]

16 minutes ago, rotuts said:

Wellington ?

 

its the Wellington additions 

 

that make the dish Festive.

 

Pork Tenderloin Napoleone ?

 

...   trim several PT's , and line them up

 

to resemble a BT.   

 

just , filling etc the same.

 

gravy would have to be altered a bit.

 

No, just filets mignon.

 

I ought to try a Wellington, though

Edited December 14, 2021 by gfweb (log)

[paulraphael]

Not trying to be a downer, but if we include the ecological / societal costs of raising meat, it should expensive as hell.

 

By these standards Australian lamb should cost $100/lb.

[Anna N]

1 hour ago, paulraphael said:

Not trying to be a downer, but if we include the ecological / societal costs of raising meat, it should expensive as hell.

 

By these standards Australian lamb should cost $100/lb.

Pun intended! If the cost of the meat was in reality an attempt to overcome its ecological damage then the price might be easier to swallow. This is about something much more related to profit than to care for the environment. 

[paul o' vendange]

On 12/12/2021 at 7:02 PM, andrewk512 said:

 

Koji is a great meat alternative -- I hope it becomes more mainstream. Won't replace the Christmas tenderloin, but could fit in for a few meals during the year to make up for things

 

Sorry - koji, aspergillus, the stuff you inoculate rice with to make sake, etc.?  I've not heard of this.  

[paul o' vendange]

23 hours ago, heidih said:

New California regs not in effect yet but maybe anticipatory. As @David Lebovitz always says from Paris and my sis from Australia - you Americans are paying so so much less for your food than we are. I tell the ancient ones here that the back story of food price supports and similar mechanisms gives us false reality. When my dad was managing a Los Angeles packing plant, as a child I heard all the drama. It was like living with a commodity broker. Do we buy X number of sides of beef from midwest and hold frozen as price is down, but when can we jack it up and move it etc.  Little real time reality.

 

Spot on.  I'm a hypocrite because I still do it, but industrialized meat kills me, and I cannot shake the immense cruelty involved in its production.  As you say, American meat is anything but a free market.  It will never happen, but Joel Salatin's rather Jeffersonian model of small farms dotting the land everywhere, providing clean...everything.... at reasonable prices to local consumers.  Well, a guy can dream.

[gfweb]

5 hours ago, TdeV said:

Sous vide?

 

 

 

 

yup.

[paul o' vendange]

2 hours ago, paulraphael said:

Not trying to be a downer, but if we include the ecological / societal costs of raising meat, it should expensive as hell.

 

By these standards Australian lamb should cost $100/lb.

 

I hear you but that's based on the industrial model of CAFO's and all the hell they embody.  Unfortunately that's the only paradigm we know in any practical way.  Beef cattle raised on a small, managed intensive rotational grazing basis is a totally different thing environmentally. 

 

Edit:  It's a paradoxical thing, I find, to know the animals we eat.  Even love them.  This was Charlie, a young bull l loved very much.  I used to help friends who raise 4-5 cows on 10 acres of very well managed paddocks; I used their raw Ayrshire milk to make French alpine cheeses, Abondance primarily.  Charlie was slaughtered and butchered on their land.  I ate his flesh.  I think the world would be a better place if we could all eat like this.

 

 

Edited December 14, 2021 by paul o' vendange (log)

[lindag]

A twenty ounce box of Velveeta blocks is $8.40 at my nearby grocery store.

Ahh.  Velveeta is my new guilty pleasure.  (no snickering.)

 

[scott123]

6 hours ago, lindag said:

A twenty ounce box of Velveeta blocks is $8.40 at my nearby grocery store.

Ahh.  Velveeta is my new guilty pleasure.  (no snickering.)

 

 

Have you tried this?

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Great-Value-Original-Melt-n-Dip-Easy-Melt-Cheese-32-oz/10452425

I can't speak for that, specifically, but, my life pretty much revolves around Walmart's Deli Deluxe knockoff.

[johnnyd]

We always buy locally-bred meats from farms around Maine. It's pretty expensive but it's just better for you.

 

Scallop season just started and they went to $36.50/lb this year. They are usually $20. Lobsters are steady at $10/lb. There are a gazillion new oyster farms so they are about a buck each.

[Annie_H]

1 hour ago, johnnyd said:

We always buy locally-bred meats from farms around Maine. It's pretty expensive but it's just better for you.

 

Scallop season just started and they went to $36.50/lb this year. They are usually $20. Lobsters are steady at $10/lb. There are a gazillion new oyster farms so they are about a buck each.

Our local HudsonValley farm share is a bit more expensive but the quality is above most others. Cryovac'd in small portions for the freezer. All their sausages are tender lean without so much fatty fillers and less salt. Pastured eggs, etc. 

Lobster and plenty of oysters on our 'holiday week' menu plans for the same reason. 

 

We just eat less of it. 2 thick NY strip steaks make three steak meals. I trim and cube it. The trimmings go into my burger grind with brisket, short rib, chuck. I'm making 5 burger from a pound now instead of four. 

More salads/greens and less meats.

 

Dry rub 6-12 hours. 

[gfweb]

Just went to a once-reasonable source of short ribs.

Now 10.05/lb!

And every package had a bone with no usable meat in the group of 4.