I've been wanting to make some ring bologna and looking over my recipe, I'll need some pork as well as beef. The pork isn't the problem as we all know the standard pork butt is the sausage makers friend.
In regards to the lean beef, how do you purchase your beef. Suppose you need 7# of lean beef, do you buy ground sirloin which has a pretty good mark-up. I believe that anything in the meat case has the labor costs of cutting or grinding in the price.
I'd much prefer asking the butcher to just cut a chunk off his quarter hanging in the cooler to save on labor costs and added work. I don't think the meat business is the same as it was years ago where meat markets had hanging beef. I think everything is divided into primal cuts and cryo vac'd and consist of boxed packages.
Assuming that today's meats go the way of the cryo process, what do you experienced beef buyers ask for when you go into the meat department looking for a 7-10# chunk of lean beef? What kind of cut are you asking for?
Something that you intend on taking home and cutting up and grinding yourself.
Choice of, and how to buy lean beef to save $
"whole eye rounds, top rounds and bottom rounds, cryovaced in 8 - 10 lb sizes"
Thanks Bob, that's the information I was looking for! I know during the summer I'd buy a lot of cases of butts from Sam's for bbq catering jobs. Even though case prices were cheaper at $2.14 per lb. as compared to the 2 butt cryo packages in the meat cases at $2.68 per lb. I see they've since dropped down to $1.89 per pound.
I was talking with the butcher one day asking about meat and he told me anything I see in the case can be bought by the case. So I guess I'll talk to the butcher next time I'm there and get a case price on some of those cuts you mentioned.
Thanks Bob, that's the information I was looking for! I know during the summer I'd buy a lot of cases of butts from Sam's for bbq catering jobs. Even though case prices were cheaper at $2.14 per lb. as compared to the 2 butt cryo packages in the meat cases at $2.68 per lb. I see they've since dropped down to $1.89 per pound.
I was talking with the butcher one day asking about meat and he told me anything I see in the case can be bought by the case. So I guess I'll talk to the butcher next time I'm there and get a case price on some of those cuts you mentioned.
-
Butterbean
- Moderator
- Posts: 1955
- Joined: Mon Mar 05, 2012 04:10
- Location: South Georgia
If you are going to be making a lot of stuff through the year and you have the freezer space and you can afford to buy a year's supply of beef in one shot you could purchase a show steer at the high school 4-H or FFA steer sale.
On the surface the sticker shock on one of these animals may look horrid with calves bringing anywhere from $2 - $15/lb on the hoof and for a 1300 # steer this is a lot of money and turns many people away. However, nothing is as it appears. The sales are actually two tiered. The first and most important part is helping a child out and this is where the bidding is fierce and the money is steep but when I bid on a calf to help some child I have the option to either keep the animal or sell it on resale for market price and this is where you can get your meat.
So how this works is, say little Billy and little Sarah are kids of people I know and I want to encourage them and reward them for their work. I might run the bids up to $5/lb and end up owing paying each child $6500 for their calves. Now what am I going to do with all this meat? I could keep them or I can resale them. If I tell the show sponsors I don't want the animal they will then offer them to people who are on a re-sale list who want the meat. The ownership of the animal is then transferred to a person on this list and it is sold to them for the going rate of a fat. At the moment, that's about $1.57/lb. So rather than me paying $5/lb my donation to the child is now only $3.43/lb and you just helped me help a child but you get something tangible in return for your $2041 donation to the cause. Now you have a 1300 lb steer they will carry to the processor for you. For killing and processing the butcher will normally charge about $0.47 lb to cut and wrap but since you are mainly wanting him to pull only the steaks out and don't want packaged burger and stuff you should be able to get the price reduced. But just say it costs you $0.40/lb. In the end you will end up with roughtly 650 lbs of beef at a cost of $3.14/lb plus the $0.40 processing. So you have $3.54/lb in the meat.
Still expensive but this is a straight through price for t-bones, riibeyes etc.. Also, there is a good likelihood the meat will go prime. In addition to this, depending on your relationship with you butcher, there is the fifth quarter the butcher normally keeps but you should be able to work something out with him so you can get the middles and bungs for sausage making. Cleaning these is only nasty at first and you can always wash your hands but at $10 each for a bung your dirty hands are a small price.
What most people do is partner with another person and buy half a calf or I think it would be possible for you to partner with someone and sell them all the steaks at say $8/lb. For prime beef this would be a bargain and would further reduce your costs.
If this sounds doable in your situation, I'd suggest having the processor kill it and break it down into quarters, cut the steaks from the loin and stop there. You can break down the rest of the meat the way you want it. Its the packaging and the grinding that runs up the cost of processing. Also, doing it this way you can trim all the fat and keep what the butcher normally gets to keep in the fifth quarter. All these little savings will run your price down considerably.
On the surface the sticker shock on one of these animals may look horrid with calves bringing anywhere from $2 - $15/lb on the hoof and for a 1300 # steer this is a lot of money and turns many people away. However, nothing is as it appears. The sales are actually two tiered. The first and most important part is helping a child out and this is where the bidding is fierce and the money is steep but when I bid on a calf to help some child I have the option to either keep the animal or sell it on resale for market price and this is where you can get your meat.
So how this works is, say little Billy and little Sarah are kids of people I know and I want to encourage them and reward them for their work. I might run the bids up to $5/lb and end up owing paying each child $6500 for their calves. Now what am I going to do with all this meat? I could keep them or I can resale them. If I tell the show sponsors I don't want the animal they will then offer them to people who are on a re-sale list who want the meat. The ownership of the animal is then transferred to a person on this list and it is sold to them for the going rate of a fat. At the moment, that's about $1.57/lb. So rather than me paying $5/lb my donation to the child is now only $3.43/lb and you just helped me help a child but you get something tangible in return for your $2041 donation to the cause. Now you have a 1300 lb steer they will carry to the processor for you. For killing and processing the butcher will normally charge about $0.47 lb to cut and wrap but since you are mainly wanting him to pull only the steaks out and don't want packaged burger and stuff you should be able to get the price reduced. But just say it costs you $0.40/lb. In the end you will end up with roughtly 650 lbs of beef at a cost of $3.14/lb plus the $0.40 processing. So you have $3.54/lb in the meat.
Still expensive but this is a straight through price for t-bones, riibeyes etc.. Also, there is a good likelihood the meat will go prime. In addition to this, depending on your relationship with you butcher, there is the fifth quarter the butcher normally keeps but you should be able to work something out with him so you can get the middles and bungs for sausage making. Cleaning these is only nasty at first and you can always wash your hands but at $10 each for a bung your dirty hands are a small price.
What most people do is partner with another person and buy half a calf or I think it would be possible for you to partner with someone and sell them all the steaks at say $8/lb. For prime beef this would be a bargain and would further reduce your costs.
If this sounds doable in your situation, I'd suggest having the processor kill it and break it down into quarters, cut the steaks from the loin and stop there. You can break down the rest of the meat the way you want it. Its the packaging and the grinding that runs up the cost of processing. Also, doing it this way you can trim all the fat and keep what the butcher normally gets to keep in the fifth quarter. All these little savings will run your price down considerably.
-
Butterbean
- Moderator
- Posts: 1955
- Joined: Mon Mar 05, 2012 04:10
- Location: South Georgia
I wish they showed lambs here.
It is a good source of high quality meat at a good price. Attendance to these events are dwindling with more and more people moving away from the farm.
Bought a pig on resale a few years ago. The sale price was $15/lb - I think I paid less than a dollar a pound for it. Tickled me when we ate such high priced pork.
It is a good source of high quality meat at a good price. Attendance to these events are dwindling with more and more people moving away from the farm.
Bought a pig on resale a few years ago. The sale price was $15/lb - I think I paid less than a dollar a pound for it. Tickled me when we ate such high priced pork.
