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I walk right past the beef section when I'm in the grocery store. My pockets forced me on a pork and chicken diet. I buy those little boxes of Banquet frozen sausages to put in my stew, I close my eyes when eating it and pretend its beef.
A few weeks ago, a truck carrying meat over-turned on the highway near me and spilled boxes of meat all over the road. It looked like an Easter egg hunt, people were swooping down like vultures tearing into the boxes and carting off all kinds of meat. A cop said, " It would probably have to be thrown away anyway."
Location: Living near our Nation's Capitol since 2010
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Although I do not cook beef too often, I have also noticed how crazy expensive some "modest" cuts have gotten. A perfect example of this is the price of oxtails. I love them. They are perfect for making beef stock or soup. They used to be pretty inexpensive, but now they are as much as steak!
Short ribs used to be quite reasonably priced. Now they are wildly expensive. I only make them about once a year now.
Chicken is still pretty inexpensive. Ho hum...I get tired of it.
Don't even get me started on the price of fresh fish!
I like necks. The last price I saw on a package of them was $2.39 a pound. What a fantastic soup you can make by adding a bunch of necks and what delicious nibbling.
When I got married oxtails were $.79 a pound and I also cringed inwardly the first time I saw one on a cooking show because I knew it was all over. Chicken wings had already been elevated, as SNACKS, to almost $4 a pound.
Chicken wing prices are insane. They were more per lb than thighs last time I was in the store.
One day years ago I saw pork loins on sale for 1.99/lb. The pork loin chops were 2.99/lb. Lightbulb went off & now we buy the large pork loin & cut it into small roast, chops & bring the trimmings.
Same thing with beef roasts. Top round roast goes on sale for 2.99 we buy the largest one there freeze it for a little while so it's easier to cut & make it into a small roast, stew meat, thin slices for rouladen, & grind the trimmings.
Switch to Lamb! I am so much happier. US beef is better, by far, than Danish beef (from old milk cows, not steers), but I've grown so fond of lamb, I prefer it by far to beef, here in Denmark and on my annual trips back to the US...from whence I came. Ostrich is pretty good, too.
Sometimes people get nostalgic for the food they ate as kid..it was once 'poor peoples' food.. but it suddenly becomes hip and desirable.
Osso bucco ( veal Shank) used to be what was left of veal at the village market after the rich took all the prime cuts..
Now it is stupid expensive..same with oxtail..
Veal, during the Depression, was cheap..Chicken was not, in some cookbooks of the time, Veal was prepared to try to taste like chicken.. the veal was called 'City Chicken'
I remember City Chicken. By the time I knew what it was, it was expensive.
Today, hubby went to the store for me to buy stew beef. I didnt say anything, but he paid almost $16. for 2# of stew beef. Yikes.
Same problem with things like short ribs, spare ribs, brisket, and flank and skirt steaks.
Why?
Forgive me, I know it's totally sexist, but the operant word here is HUBBY.
Most men don't know how to shop, and don't care to learn. They think they're above it. They never learned from their mothers. They never tried to eat well or feed a family on a tight budget. They don't check expiration dates to select the freshest food. They don't know how to look for marbling in meat. They buy exactly what they want, whenever they want, and don't even look at the prices, the dates, or the quality. They shop at whatever store is the most convenient, or is their habit.
Yes, there are men who know how to shop. And there are women who don't. But mostly, the above holds true.
If stew beef is $8/pound, don't buy it! It's always half that price at Costco, and probably better quality than what you get at the supermarket. If chicken is on a great sale that week, serve chicken instead of beef. Same goes for fish, pork, lamb, whatever. There's always something on sale at each store.
Get to know what the prices tend to be at your local warehouse stores. Look at the store circulars online before you leave the house. Shop the sales, and plan your meals around them. If something that freezes well is on mega-sale, stock your freezer with it.
And remember, you can always cut it up yourself for stew. Chuck is chuck, whether it's sold prechunked, or bought as a giant roast that you can easily cut into cubes yourself.
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