Watch those grocery store butcher prices!

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Watch those grocery store butcher prices!

Post by Chuckwagon » Tue Feb 22, 2011 04:40

When you shop for meat, watch those prices! Butchers say because meat has a refrigerated shelf life of just five days, it then MUST BE THROWN OUT, (what a shame). Most meat departments in grocery store aim for a minimum of 30% markup, and often much higher, to make up for losses. Steaks, for instance, are marked up 40% to 50%. Some cheaper cuts, such as round and chuck meat, are marked up as much as 60%.

Lesser cuts of meat (those typically used for Swiss steal or cube steaks or cut into pieces for stir-frys or stews) are marked up as much as 300%. Do not buy them at full price because they're always discounted at some point.

Never buy anything that's been cut into small pieces! Always buy the large cut of meat. Now pay attention! Some larger cuts of meat will always be on sale. Shoppers can ask the butcher to cut it into small pieces FREE OF CHARGE!

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Chuckwagon
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Post by crustyo44 » Thu Jun 16, 2011 23:58

Hi Chuchwagon,
I never buy meat at supermarkets anymore unless the specials are super SPECIALS.
Most meat wholesalers and abbatoirs have outlets that sell to the public direct here.
I buy whole rumps, selected by me, for $ 4.99 kilo, Pork loin $ 5.99 kilo etc.
Whatever you need is available at discount ptices.
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Jan.
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Post by ssorllih » Fri Jun 17, 2011 00:11

all of this depends on your market area. I can go into the city and find shops that still buy meat by the fore or hind quarter. But that is a 60 mile round trip and half a day in Baltimore traffic. The local shop knows what their product is worth and I can't afford that. Lately I have been able to buy Australian beef for half the price of local beef. Go Figure.
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Post by Chuckwagon » Sat Jun 18, 2011 06:58

Hi Crustyo,
You wrote:
Most meat wholesalers and abbatoirs have outlets that sell to the public direct here.
You are lucky to have such a thing. Are you able to get a slab or partial belly for bacon? I have to order 4 full bellies at a time to even get them. You wouldn't believe the size of the box they come in. I usually split an order with a friend.

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Chuckwagon
If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, it probably needs more time on the grill! :D
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Post by crustyo44 » Sat Jun 18, 2011 21:53

Luckily a lot of butchers have woken up to the fact that if you are not flexible enough your customes will be going elsewhere to buy.
I can buy for the price I want to pay and the quantites I need. Mind you, super specials have me always filling up the deepfreeze to my good wife's dismay.
Luckily she is going for a 4 week UK holiday and man-o-man will I be busy with sausage making , curing, smoking it all including salmon.
Regards,
Jan.
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Post by ssorllih » Tue Nov 08, 2011 21:47

This is a good place for this .
Yesterday I bought chicken leg quarters for 59 cents per pound. They came in ten pound bags and I got a couple. Today I boned one out and the yield was 6 pounds of meat and of course four pounds of bones that are in the oven roasting prior to being cooked for stock. I will save the rendered fat for pastry and will pick the meat form the bones to combine with the stock for future soup.
The meat I wil grind and make into sausage wrapped in an equal weight of bread. I bought the flour for bread making for 20 cents per pound. So when the final tally is made allowing that the meat was a buck a pound and the bread 20 cents, bread and meat combined yields a cost of about sixty cents a pound for sausage in bread rolls.
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Post by ssorllih » Wed Nov 09, 2011 04:55

And now the rest of the story. I got 2 quarts of stock and a half pound of meat picked from the bones. Not too bad for six bucks.
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Post by Bubba » Thu Nov 10, 2011 00:37

Hi Ross,

I never used to keep the chicken bones, and since recently I have started doing this as learnt from you.
I also don't buy "de-boned" pork, have taught myself to de-bone and save the pork bones for brining, then smoke them. Winter is on our doorstep, Ham and Pea soup goes hand-in-hand with this time of year!
Ron
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Post by ssorllih » Thu Nov 10, 2011 01:23

After I picked the meat from the bones I threw them out for the neighborhood fox. This morning there were bones left that hadn't not enugh meat left for the fox to pick them up. ;)
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Post by ssorllih » Sat Nov 12, 2011 03:29

We ate a half pound of the chicken fried and the rest I seasoned and ground. I made a batch of sour dough and wrapped the sausage. Sausage and bread combined to yield 8 pounds and a little leftover dough for dinner rolls. I didn't count the pieces but there are lottsa.
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Post by unclebuck » Sun Nov 13, 2011 02:54

Sobey's has fresh pork shoulder at $1.00/lb!!!! I have no problem doing it up to grind or cure up a "picnic ham", as they are called in Canada. The little fat man will be picking up quite a few pounds for moose, elk, and deer sausage. They brought it on at the right time of year.
"What can't be smoked can't be eaten."
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Post by ssorllih » Sun Nov 13, 2011 16:02

WOW! be sure to use the bones and hocks for cured and smoked soup base. Smoked hocks around this neck of the woods run close to two and a half dollars a pound. Even the skin has good uses for food.
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Post by unclebuck » Sun Nov 13, 2011 22:21

I buy hocks at $1.29/lb on any day from a butcher out in the country. He is also a pseudo sausage maker!!!
"What can't be smoked can't be eaten."
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Post by ssorllih » Sun Nov 13, 2011 23:49

I think that I am too close to the city. Ham hocks and lamb shanks are gourmet food here. Lamb shanks cost more than leg of lamb.
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Post by Bubba » Mon Nov 14, 2011 02:14

I have the same problem with prices although my city can not be classified as a "big city" there is a large up-market equestrian community around here and prices follow the trend to cater for them.

The meat quality is outstanding though, and given the time I will venture around to the smaller towns to find some butchers to compare prices. I'm thinking a 1 hour drive is a fair trip if I had to buy in bulk.
Ron
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