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OP, you obviously have a Costco card. That $5 roasted chicken they sell makes a premium sandwich. Seriously, best sandwich ever, unless you add a couple of slices of crisp bacon, and that is an even better sandwich than just chicken. Costco even sells really fresh bread to make that sandwich with. And avocados to add to your chicken sandwich.
Another great sandwich cheaper than deli meat is to buy a ham steak. It's real ham packaged with just one slice. Excellent sandwich material. It's cheaper than deli ham and almost always better ham.
If you don't mind a little cooking, buy a New York strip steak and quickly brown each side. Then slice thin and pile onto good quality bread. Much better than deli roast beef and about half the price. I buy New York steak by the whole piece so I can always get it for less than $6 a pound for the choice grade certified Angus. It usually costs more than that in the market but I see it on sale for a good price every now and again.
OP, you obviously have a Costco card. That $5 roasted chicken they sell makes a premium sandwich. Seriously, best sandwich ever, unless you add a couple of slices of crisp bacon, and that is an even better sandwich than just chicken. Costco even sells really fresh bread to make that sandwich with. And avocados to add to your chicken sandwich.
Another great sandwich cheaper than deli meat is to buy a ham steak. It's real ham packaged with just one slice. Excellent sandwich material. It's cheaper than deli ham and almost always better ham.
If you don't mind a little cooking, buy a New York strip steak and quickly brown each side. Then slice thin and pile onto good quality bread. Much better than deli roast beef and about half the price. I buy New York steak by the whole piece so I can always get it for less than $6 a pound for the choice grade certified Angus. It usually costs more than that in the market but I see it on sale for a good price every now and again.
I am no stranger to Costcos rotisserie chickens - you are correct, they are fantastic ! Both tasty and excellent value.
I buy at least 1 a week. And get more than a few meals out of it.
Boar's Head went into a good number of the small Chicagoland independents and told them that either they carry ALL of the Boar's Head products or they get nothing. Some caved; others told them where they could stick it and carry a very complete selection of excellent delyi products.
The local Kroger's affiliate carries Boars Head ham at $8.99. That is way overpriced for the quality. However, Kroger's carries their own Private Selection quarter spiral cut ham for $3.99/# (approx 3#). The Private Selection brand is much better and there is no wait at the deli counter.
For roast beef sandwiches, a top round or bottom round roast wproperly roasted will taste better with a small of the sodium in the Boars Head product..
We don't do deli turkey in any way. We roast our own chickens for sandwiches. At $0.89/b, they are a far better deal.
Because we have a free source of eggs, we have been eating a lot of egg salad recently.
I am not rich nor poor ... just happy middle class. yet I was raised very frugal and taught the value of money and saw my mom shopping using coupons and always looking for things onsale to make my fathers GM paycheck work for a family of 5 that included a stay at home mom ( gotta love the 60s )
fast forward to 2017 ...
I am SHOCKED when I peer the the glass inside my local grocery store ( Hagens - for those in the Seattle area ) It's not a 'designer' store like whole foods or other upscale grocers. But it is a step above the Safeways and Albertsons and Fred Meyers. Similar to a QFC
Anyway.... I always loved making subs - nice sandwiches from cold cut deli meats as a well made sandwich or sub constructed with great ingredients on fresh bread or a bun or roll is an amazing thing. Going all out with sliced onions or spicey brown mustard. I love the snap of fresh crispy iceberg lettuce and a dab of mayo on a turkey sandwich. or the richness of that bite into a roast beef sandwich stacked high with meat and alittle brown mustard on a fresh hoagie roll.
The cold cut sandwich is an American icon that myself and millions of other working class men jammed into a lunch box and marched off to work to 'Make America Great'
Yet here I am in shock in awe as I peer thru the glass at the small price markers placed ominously at the end of the rows of cold cuts that mirror tombstones. As they signal the end of an era.
I refuse to pay $13 per lb for decent cold cuts of roast beef or black forest ham. or I refuse to pay $11 per lb for sliced turkey breast etc etc ...
How did this happen ? Although I am a male I have always grocery shopped and have seen the evolution of price change and it was always quite subtle until the past 2-3 yrs
prices hovered around $6-7-8 lb for years here in the north Seattle area. same meats I listed
I always thought that was alittle steep, but begrudgingly paid as I loved my sandwichs. Then I started seeing the occasional. dreaded double digit $10lb and switched to waiting till it was on sale to purchase at the lower $8-9lb
It seems as if things price warped right by the $11-12 zone and landed at $13lb which is well beyond what I will pay for deli cold cuts.
yea I know I could purchase the big slabs the grocers do and slice my own to cut costs. but who is going to eat 10lbs of roast beef before it spoils ?
The whole point of the deli is to get the EXACT amount of fresh cold cuts you need to make the sandwichs you wish to build
is this just happening here in my area ?
yea I understand Seattle has a higher cost of living than a lot of places. But its all relative to price trends and what the same item cost just a few years ago
signed:
sandwichless in Seattle
I really haven't noticed it here particularly except for one market. Of course we are not huge users of deli meat and that helps a lot. We do get good quality ham off or on the bone for about $4.99 or $5.00 a ls most of the time on sale and other meats like turkey and chicken for just a bit more, but we rarely buy anything other than ham or maybe salami. I will buy liverwurst about twice a year. Our sandwiches are mainly tuna or egg salad. It is the bread that drives me up the wall. A sandwich on anything other than quality bread is not worth eating and good bread is $3 a loaf at Aldis and much more a lot of places.
I've joked with my wife for years that price increases will eventually have us shopping in the pet food aisles. Yesterday I needed a couple of batteries, went to a dollar store, and noticed the food selections -- we are there, the stuff in the "meat" case was little more than over-salted dog food.
Next up -- bugs. Protein is protein, and what's a good sandwich without wholesome protein? The Mexicans are far ahead of us as they've been using grasshoppers in tacos for hundreds of years.
OP - I rarely buy a whole pound of cold cuts; it's maybe a 1/4 pound or 1/2 pound so the $$$ isn't as bad. If you don't eat sandwiches a lot it's not going to take a big chunk out of your grocery budget.
I like Boar's Head and don't mind paying the price, but we just VERY occasionally buy some ham and/or turkey to make grilled sandwiches on rye or just cold deli sandwiches with mayo, lettuce, tomato with soup or chips. Whatever's left over we dice and use for omelets.
If you just want a sub, there are lots of places that you can buy one without spending all the money you would spend buying the individual meats to make your own - Subway, Firehouse Subs, Jimmy John's, Jason's Deli. We end up doing that a lot because I like subs/heros/hoagies that are what I would consider the classic kind, with salami. My husband doesn't care for salami and he would more likely order something with corned beef or pastrami, which I can't stand! So if we go to a sub place we can each get what we want.
Anyone from Chicagoland, NY, or any other big city should venture to Polish or German area and buy great, fresh baked European bread and their coldcuts. Both countries are famous for excellent quality of those items. They are cheaper than in your local market too. (WARNING: after you try them, you will never buy those at your supermarkets again!!!!)
I'm single. I have a deep freezer and I buy 20-80 lbs of beef/poultry/pork at a time. I prep it, cook what I can, and freeze. I save money and always have a homemade dinner on hand.
Your complaint about 4 lbs...ha ha. Why not freeze it? A regular refrigerator freezer can hold 4 lbs of deli meat.
I just can't see why people don't look beyond their next meal when purchasing food.
This
You like turkey? Buy a chest freezer and load up on frozen turkeys at Thanksgiving when they're $0.49/pound. I get the meat guy to saw them in half for me. Roast, slice, keep what you'll use in the next week in the fridge and freeze the rest.
I grill boneless/skinless chicken thighs & breasts. $2.00/pound pretty much anywhere since somebody always has it at that sale price. You can slice that up for sandwiches.
You like ham? Buy whole pork loin. Around me, it's $1.79/pound. Chop it into 4" chunks and freeze most of it. You brine it in the fridge for a few days days. There are hundreds of recipes for the brine. I use zip lok freezer bags. Salt, something sweet like sugar, brown sugar, or honey, spices, maybe some booze. Boil it. Bake it. Cold smoke it.
You can slice up a cheap cut of marinated steak like London Broil for sandwiches. It's more expensive than turkey, chicken, or pork loin but you can find it on sale and buy/freeze it when it's a good deal.
The grocery store deli is a profit center. They make all their money off of convenience food. The labor argument is kind of nonsense. That deli worker is probably slicing up $500 worth of meat/cheese per hour. They're making $25.00 to $35.00/hour fully burdened cost. Labor cost is a bit of the cost of deli meats but most of it is grocery store profit.
You like turkey? Buy a chest freezer and load up on frozen turkeys at Thanksgiving when they're $0.49/pound. I get the meat guy to saw them in half for me. Roast, slice, keep what you'll use in the next week in the fridge and freeze the rest.
I grill boneless/skinless chicken thighs & breasts. $2.00/pound pretty much anywhere since somebody always has it at that sale price. You can slice that up for sandwiches.
You like ham? Buy whole pork loin. Around me, it's $1.79/pound. Chop it into 4" chunks and freeze most of it. You brine it in the fridge for a few days days. There are hundreds of recipes for the brine. I use zip lok freezer bags. Salt, something sweet like sugar, brown sugar, or honey, spices, maybe some booze. Boil it. Bake it. Cold smoke it.
You can slice up a cheap cut of marinated steak like London Broil for sandwiches. It's more expensive than turkey, chicken, or pork loin but you can find it on sale and buy/freeze it when it's a good deal.
The grocery store deli is a profit center. They make all their money off of convenience food. The labor argument is kind of nonsense. That deli worker is probably slicing up $500 worth of meat/cheese per hour. They're making $25.00 to $35.00/hour fully burdened cost. Labor cost is a bit of the cost of deli meats but most of it is grocery store profit.
Yes I understand the buy in bulk concept and I get the math involved as well as the $$$ savings
I guess my beef ( no pun intended ) is with the grocers themselves who are selling at these crazy prices.
You are correct ... the deli worker is slicing a ton of the WHOLESALE purchased product quickly and placing it for sale at close to 300% profit if not higher. I just think that's alittle too much. That's my BEEF
Yea its convenient and yes its a huge profit center of the grocer ... but come on .... do they have to be that greedy as a corporation to fleece the consumer in that fashion ?
Yes people are paying the asking price which is why they have it priced as such. That is the problem.
I used to buy at least a couple pounds a week of deli meats years ago ... currently I doubt I have purchased 3lbs total in the past 3 years. So I am doing my part to boycott the prices
Quote:
Originally Posted by luzianne
I like Boar's Head and don't mind paying the price, but we just VERY occasionally buy some ham and/or turkey to make grilled sandwiches on rye or just cold deli sandwiches with mayo, lettuce, tomato with soup or chips. Whatever's left over we dice and use for omelets.
If you just want a sub, there are lots of places that you can buy one without spending all the money you would spend buying the individual meats to make your own - Subway, Firehouse Subs, Jimmy John's, Jason's Deli. We end up doing that a lot because I like subs/heros/hoagies that are what I would consider the classic kind, with salami. My husband doesn't care for salami and he would more likely order something with corned beef or pastrami, which I can't stand! So if we go to a sub place we can each get what we want.
I have been to those places and would never return
The quality and quantity of the tiny pre-portioned packets of slimy deli meat they put on a sub is laughable. They are putting like 3-4 slices of deli meat on a 6" long sub roll ?? hahahaha
Then they cut a square piece of cheese IN HALF so its now a triangle and call THAT a slice of cheese ! hahahah You want extra ? sure pay more $$$ for an extra 1/2 slice of cheese
The subway biggest scam is not cutting the sub in half and making a full size sandwich like everyone would make with a top and bottom piece of bread.
NOOOOO .... their trick scam is make a slice along one side of the sub roll and jam a smaller quantity of product into the small slit so it sticks out and creates the illusion of over flowing ingredients which is completely misleading.
I walked out of a subway 10yrs ago without paying when I saw them trying that scam on me. Do they think the consumer is blind or stupid ?
Last edited by StrkAliteN; 09-24-2017 at 09:03 AM..
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