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I saw huge increases in CT back in 2010. Back then I was fairly poor and had food stamps for a year, so I was acutely aware of prices. Meat skyrocketed, pasta was no longer 10/$10. I hadn't bought ice cream in years and decided to treat myself one day (it was a hot summer). Not only had that gone crazy but it also suffered from the shrinking package syndrome.
I'm like you where I do sandwiches once in awhile and just buy what I need at that time. Our Stop & Shops are also putting out pre-packaged but freshly sliced meats and cheeses for lunch, probably not the best cuts but easy to grab if you need something quick. I will sometimes buy meat and cheese and roll them together for snacks on the way to a night job if I'm in a rush.
Funny, my immediate reaction was: No, delis near me have always been pricey.
But then as I read your post, I realized: Yes, at my local market, things would routinely go on sale for maybe $4/pound for ham and $6/pound for roast beef. No more!
Is there any possibility that, unbeknownst to me, there were various name brands, and the cheaper brands went out of business, leaving only the expensive ones?
Not true but i'm not going to argue. Obliviously, deep down cost and savings really aren't issues for you.
1) You are arguing with this presumptuous post.
2) Everybody has different items they think are worth spending a bit extra on, even you, I imagine.
3) I have looked at the deli meats at Costco several times. The bargain shrinks considerably when you consider repackaging all that meat at home into food saver bags which you also purchased and having to eat the same kind till your sick of it. If you're happy with this situation, that's no skin off my nose, but we don't eat enough deli meat to want to deal with it.
Tonight I'm cooking a bargain counter special 2 pound pot roast that I got for $6. I seldom pay retail on anything else from the meat department.
When I was a young kid going pheasant and quail hunting back in the early 70s on my grandpas farm I knew EXACTLY what a box of 20 12ga shotgun shells cost because I bought them with my own paper route money.
I paid $3.50 for a box of 12ga shells from Star City hardware in Miamisburg OH
fast forward 40 yrs and I can go to Walmart and buy a 20ct box of 12ga shells for near the same $4 a box.
Not with meats or grocery items though
Last edited by StrkAliteN; 09-24-2017 at 05:56 PM..
This is the ham I bought yesterday, Smithfield Lean Generation Honey Cured Ham, for $5.99/lb. I ate it with Swiss cheese and Maille honey mustard, on Dave's Killer White Bread Done Right. Tasted fine.
I'd love to know what you cold cuts mavens think is wrong with it. I don't eat cold cuts often, and I don't give that much thought to what I'm choosing. I never buy chipped ham, or the cheapest available selection, but neither do I select the most expensive. I'm not enough of a connoisseur in this area, the way I am with, say, ice cream or cake.
Those stats are for one slice, just under an ounce. A typical sandwich would contain at least four ounces so you'd be at 40% of your RDA of salt just on that part of your lunch, add more for the bread and mustard. For those who do give a fair amount of thought to what we eat, taste and texture are important and at one slice per ounce that's going to be quite thick for an enjoyable texture.
I am paying less for boneless pork loins in 2017 than back in 1990 when II was buying them for institutions.
I buy flats of strawberries for $8, the same price as in 1990. Ditto on lettuce.
I was at US Food's Chef Store Saturday and I was pretty surprised that despite the increases in the cost of labor, gasoline and other commodities, how cheap food remains.
Beef prices are much higher due to higher production costs. Fish and seafood prices are much higher due to fish stock depletion. And lunch meat prices are higher too.
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
But that roast beef, raw, is about $6 a pound and loses about 30% of the weight when cooked. It's been handled, trimmed, brined, roasted, packaged by workers earning $15 an hour. Then it is shipped with a driver who gets $25 an hour and the government law says he must park his rig and take a 30 minute break every 4 hours, which he is still being paid for.
Well, don't you think the guy's gotta pee sometime?
At the market, workers paid $15 an hour move the roast into the deli case and then slice weigh and package it for you. The market is paying for the electricity to keep the meat cold and for the lights so you can see it. They are also paying SS taxes, disability insurance, and health insurance for that $15 an hour employee.
I suspect you are buying it for very near cost.
In Seattle, you could try the deli counter at Winco. They might be cheaper and they sell good products. Costco sells good deli meats, but you have to buy a 2 pound package.
( I am sympathetic. Gritting my teeth to be paying almost $5 for a loaf of my favorite Seattle sour dough bread)
I worked behind the deli counter for about 5 years at a popular chain and thought I would post a few comments.
A few people were asking about nutritional information...not only will it be on the outside of a new turkey/ham/roast/etc., it should also be on the sticker that is slapped on your deli bag. It is actually a requirement unless the item is nutritionally exempt (usually imported items for those who splurge and buy stuff like prosciutto).
So many people are jumping on the 'no nitrates' bandwagon, but most don't realize that a certain level of nitrates is NOT in anyway harmful to you, BUT the bacteria that the nitrates kill IS in fact harmful. Plus, when you get meats with no nitrates you should probably get just enough for a day or so, because they turn brown pretty fast.
As far as prices are concerned, you may want to keep that mind next time you sweetly try to convince your deli worker to open up a new turkey/ham/roast, etc. because God forbid it was opened just a few hours ago and not fresh enough for you. I can tell you that nothing will irritate your deli slicer more than this annoying request, and we used to get maybe 10-15 a day at a relatively busy deli.
"I don't want the end!"
"Is that the only one you have?"
"Is that still fresh?"
"Can you open a new one for me?"
We hear these comments all the time, so of course we have to comply (usually begrudgingly). And that ham that still had 4lbs. left on it that you didn't want me to slice a half pound off of will likely go to waste. Once any of these meats are opened, you have just reduced the shelf life by a few weeks, and we will have to eat the costs. On an average day we throw away between $150-$200 in cheese & meat ends. Most deli slicers will not sell you the ends anyway, so these requests are unnecessary and are a factor in prices going up...
Cold cuts have always been expensive here in NY especially Boars head brand. That being said, Have you read the actual ingredients in these cold cuts? I am talking about all brands even store brand. A lot of crud and preservatives. I always check labels now before I buy something and if it means spending more to get good quality ingredients in my food then I will. The sliced turkey breast and sliced chicken breast (store brand) had very little ingredients in it and no preservatives I couldn't pronounce. I bought them. LOL American cheese had more crud in it than the Muenster and Swiss I bought. American cheese is more processed than any other cheese I found. Some cold cuts have corn syrup in them which I refuse to buy and eat.
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