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The problem here is that in 2021whole chicken per pound can be the same price per pound as a box or Ronzoni pasta
yet the chicken is much harder to produce and takes far longer to produce
and think of the amount of pasta that could be made using a lifetime of grain that is in their feed
This means the pasta is greatly inflated in price as I see it
Or we could go to plain flour
This is not an uncommon price for a 2 pound bag in the North East, of common white flour, low end
$ 2.49
(about $1.25 a pound, Gold Medal brand)
That has got to be greatly inflated if you can get chicken at that price
You could get a similar brand Pillsbury 5 lbs for a lot less $4.29 if you want to commit
( .85 cents a pound )
This is a far more complex scenario than one might imagine. Farm subsidies, big Ag, and how the two intersect. Vertical integration. Economy of scale. Grain futures. Crop failures, weather concerns. Different varieties of wheat sell for more per bushel than others. Chickens that have been bred and raised to be ready for market in a matter of a few weeks rather than the months that it once did and the costs to do so. Underpaid, overworked workers in the processing plants--many of whom are undocumented and as such, are far less likely to complain about working conditions, unionize, or require basic benefits or even worker protections that most Americans take for granted. All of that plus their undesirability relative to breasts or thighs plays into how inexpensive those chicken legs are at your local store.
Another reason why pasta is more expensive lately than in other years is due to record low wheat harvests (particularly durum, from which most pasta is made) in the U.S. and poor weather conditions in our friendly neighbor to the north, Canada. Using white flour packaged for the retail market as your comparison model is not apt as durum wheat is processed differently than softer wheat varieties. All of that feeds (no pun intended) into the final cost of that box or bag of pasta found on store shelves.
For those who are not on the retail receiving end, costs for milled products go up much more quickly than those for retail consumers such as yourself, which is why you might have noticed that the cost of bread has increased (particularly breads from the local bakery), but flour on your grocery's shelf has not (or, if it has, not nearly as much). (Most retail price adjustments for flour are made annually while commercial prices are usually on a forty-five day cycle.)
In short, grain production is far, far more nuanced and complex and reliant upon several factors over which farmers have little to no control as opposed to chicken production, which is more easily managed (relatively speaking, of course) and controlled from egg to the slaughterhouse.
You mentioned Chicken Drums. Remember there is a bone in them so it is not all meat at that cost. Compare Chicken Breasts (all meat) with pasta per pound.
So why do crab legs cost more than chicken legs? I mean really...food that is more desirable costs more. Demand drives prices more than the net cost to produce the product. But with that said, I never pay over a dollar for a pound of pasta and I don't buy chicken legs, but I do buy boneless, skinless breasts for $1.99 a pound
Same product. The type of product being consumption product fall under the same category. Same type of demand. So they'll price it that way. Like corn beef hash. It is the same thing.
So why do crab legs cost more than chicken legs? I mean really...food that is more desirable costs more. Demand drives prices more than the net cost to produce the product. But with that said, I never pay over a dollar for a pound of pasta and I don't buy chicken legs, but I do buy boneless, skinless breasts for $1.99 a pound
Ever see the show on how they harvest those king crab legs in those rough seas compared to raising chickens in a coop ?
I haven’t had them in years so we got some this week …there was really not much to eat on them so we won’t do it again .I rather get some nice lobster tails which I don’t have to pick at
Price check today at Aldi:
"Regular" pasta: 79¢ per 16oz box (but out of stock!)
Italian bronze-cut pasta: $1.15 per 16oz box
Whole chicken: 97¢ per pound
Tenderloin is not the cheapest white meat chicken and if name brand dry pasta went on sale for 99 cents here, I'd buy the place out.
To the first point, you're right. A mental lapse on my part.
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