Sticker shock

[smokin fool]

Shopped this morning and tripped over these two gems
Mexican t-bones. What is that????
Asked the butcher, it’s meat from Mexico....duh
Brought two flats as it was less than half the price of any home grown beef in the bunker,
Pork ribs $52, I damn near fell down considering I’d brought the same value pack there a few weeks ago for $12-15 a flat.
Prices keep rising like this I’ll be eating the lawn clippings.

[jfmorris]

Good Lord! That is highway robbery for those pork ribs. Some "value"! I saw high prices the last time I was at my local Sam's Club - I think they were up to $3.99 per pound, which is the highest I've ever seen them. That price for the steaks is not too bad though. A little lean but the price is right.

[wrgilb]

Our Costco has baby backs up to $4.99/lb. now.

[Argoboy]

Those pork ribs work out to C$8/# or US $6.60/# by my calculations. My wife’s sister went to store to buy steak today but found out it was Mexico and she did not buy it. Interesting to see how yours turns out.

[smokin fool]

Argoboy cooking a flat tomorrow will let you know

[Jim White]

I guess you could say those prices are...looney.

[smokin fool]

looney tunes!

[Jfrosty27]

They call that a "Value Pack"? That’s just crazy.

But meat prices are jumping up here too over the last week or so. Nothing that crazy but higher than ever for here. And the chicken wing shortage has hit here too. Used to be that you could find them any day of the week for no more than $2.99 per pound. $1.99 on sale. Now a sale price will be $3.99 per pound if you find them at all.

I was talking with the owner of a little tavern near my house yesterday afternoon. He had to take wings off his menu this week. His wholesale cost is now about $1.10 per piece. Per PIECE! He now offers Buffalo style chicken quarters instead.

Crazy times indeed......

[jfmorris]

Wow! I've been craving wings, but guess I will start making drumsticks instead. I used to do that a lot when the kids were young anyway, as a big pack of those is much cheaper than wings.

[Mosca]

Anthracite Cafe took wings off their menu, too. Subbed boneless bites, which are good, but they aren’t wings.

[JimLinebarger]

What is a "Mexican T-Bone" steak?

[smokin fool]

Product of Mexico ungraded beef.
Cut in store, doesn't go into whether it comes up here on the hoof or butchered.
I'm thinking this may be a result of the Cargill meat processing plant in London that was shut down last week due to Covid outbreaks in the workers.

[Willy]

Select grade or lower.

[Clark]

JimLinebarger I was raised in El Paso, TX and went to many Bullfights in Juarez, MX. whenever relatives/friends came to visit. Immediately after the last bull was dragged out of the ring, they were butchered and meat was given to peasants who were in line outside the arena waiting for free 'beef'.

The standing joke was always don't go to a Juarez restaurant on Sunday evenings.

[bbqLuv]

Looking at the size of the Filet in the T-bones they look more like Porter House steaks.
About the price hike, we are seeing that here in Oregon too.
But the price of Wine and Olive Oil seems to be unharmed.
Happy Grilling to you.

[jfmorris]

More drinking, less eating!

[smokin fool]

Yup, PBR's are soon to replace beef as a staple in my diet.

[pkadare]

Costco!

[smokin fool]

Yeah, guess I shudda got a corporate membership while I was still at Purolator.
Guy up the street goes to the one on Ridgeway, says the meat selection there is getting worse and worse. Prices are steadily climbing there too.

[smokin fool]

jfmorris Its kind of not surprising, I was up in what was Ontario beef country on Tuesday.
There used to be feed lot after feed lot in the area. My uncle ran a beef farm until he retired.
Very few cattle on the land now and its been like that for years.
Its soy beans and canola now.
I get why farmers switched, they pour money into fattening up animals and get peanuts from the slaughter houses.
I really hate to seen like a whiney complainer but it is frustrating how this country has gone from a land of plenty to we are actually importing beef.

[bak01]

My experience eating Mexican beef in Mexico is that it's a lot chewier than its American counterpart. It might be worth sous vide then sear to perhaps help tenderize the steak. The Mexican steak I had was cooked open flame at several Mexican steak houses. Be interesting to hear your experience.

[smokin fool]

bak01 going to toss em on the fire tomorrow night, will report back.

[jfmorris]

I just went in to build a pickup order just to do some price checks for the local Sam’s Club, and a few things I noticed:

Flank steak, which I was paying $5.98 a pound for in the spring, and which was 7.98 a few weeks ago, is now 9.98. Brisket both choice and prime was around 4.99 a pound! And they appear to have no chicken thighs, wings, or legs. Just whole chicken, boneless skinless tenderloins and boneless skinless breasts. I didn’t check pork prices but already know those are about double normal.

[smokin fool]

I'm going to go back there tonight and see if anyone bought those ribs.
If so find out who so they can adopt me since they seemingly have money to burn.

[leol2]

I just paid $5.19 a pound for chicken wings. Called my local butcher like always expecting under $2 a pound like usual. My fault for not asking the current price so I took them. Will not happen again

[Jfrosty27]

Ouch.

[Michael_in_TX]

My chicken price barometer is HEB's Value Pack of 10 drumsticks. It should be right at or just below $5 (basically $1/lb.) I just went on their website -- the inventory is customized for my local store -- and, indeed, it is still that price; however, chicken wings are nowhere to be found! (Obviously, they take them off the site if the supply is not reliable.)

For me here's what I see:

Select Flank Steak: $8.23/lb
Select Skirt Steak: $9.23/lb (the 'ell.....)
Pork Butt (cyrovac): $2.00/lb
Prime Brisket: $4.62/lb
"American Waygu" Brisket: $8.23/lb
Pork Tenderloin: $2.97/lb
Prime Beef Tenderloin: $30.89/lb

So it looks like something are normal (pork butt cryovac, drumstick packs), or at least until the supply runs low, but other things have gone slightly crazy.

[Stuey1515]

Sorry to say that we have been paying around $20-22/kg for ribs for the last few years, and that's in Oz pesos!!
Ever since we picked up the low and slow BBQ, anything destined for the smoker is sadly at a premium price.

[smokin fool]

I did not know about your price glut too.
So your in the same boat then, a country like Oz that had/has huge beef herds that pay the farmers pennies and retailers dollars.

[Jerod Broussard]

Mexican Beef aka COOL

[latenight71]

All you need to know about Mexican beef - it's delicious!

https://pitmaster.amazingribs.com/forum/the-pit-mastery-program/beef-steak-brisket-roasts-prime-rib-etc/994326-mexican-cows-taste-good

[smokin fool]

Very interesting read, missed that when you first posted it.