Price on beef chuck roast

[DWCowles]

I am planning on smoking a couple of beef chuck roasts this weekend so I called my local butcher to check on the price. He told it will be 5.99 lb and they are prime. Is that a reasonable price or is that high?

[_John_]

Sounds good, my last batch was $4.99 for choice.

[Strat50]

With the beef prices being so volatile, 5.99 sounds pretty good, especially for prime, and especially for retail.

[DWCowles]

Good...I'm going to have him cut me two 5 pounders

[The Burn]

Yeah, I got a 2-pack of chuck roasts from Costco - total of 5 lbs - and it was $5.19/lb for choice.

[David C]

Speaking of Choice vs. Prime, how accurate (I hesitate to say honest) do you think butchers tend to be in telling you which their meat is? The reason I ask is that locally, our largest and best-organized butcher shop generally charges _a lot more_ for Prime (like 50%+), but then I keep hearing stories of other people where prime seems much more common/pedestrian (one friend said when they asked for a Prime Standing Rib Roast for the Holidays the local butcher said "this time of year that's all we sell.") Given what even a quality Choice rib roast costs, I find that hard to believe. Do any of you meat gurus have any thoughts on this or done any experiments? Does prime really always mean USDA Prime, or do you think some butchers just use it to refer to quality meat?

[Jerod Broussard]

Prime, should mean USDA Prime. As to the integrity of various people, who knows. I give the benefit of the doubt. I don't touch Prime. Choice ribeyes, if they are on clearance, I'll get one or two- "No yellow taggey - No go in my buggey"

[Dewesq55]

Why do you want prime chuck roast? Are you planning in cooking it medium rare? Or are you going for pulled beef? If the latter, I would think that prime is a waste of money.

[Jerod Broussard]

I doubt any of the chuck roasts we get here are even Choice. Needless to say they are all cooked past well done.

[DWCowles]

I never said that I wanted prime chuck roast. I called the local butcher to see if he can cut me two 5 lb chuck roast and he told me that it was prime @ 5.99 lb.. So I just wonder if that was a good price or not. I got a friend that works at Krogers and he told me he can cut whatever size I want for 4.99 lb but it is choice. It doesn't really matter to me bc I'm going to smoke it and pull it. And yes it will be well done.

[W.A.]

We need to start a war over these prices. Or maybe I should immigrate to TX?

[Trailer Trash]

We can't start a war... The opponent who has the most to lose... ALWAYS loses... They have leverage over us poor blood thirsty carnivores. We're doomed to their powers... Damned our weakness!

[Guy]

This is a sad thing in our society. Who is honest and who is not. You almost have to see it with your own eyes. This is just a small part of it but the more money a butcher makes the meat department the longer he keeps his job or business.

[Guy]

We need to start a co-op for meat. LOL To control all of the stock with members of the Co-op.

[DWCowles]

Only problem Guy you can put a Choice and a Prime side by side and I wouldn't know the difference

[DWCowles]

Dew, it's never a waste of money when I put good food in my families tummy

[Dewesq55]

That is undoubtedly true, DWC.

DEW

[Huskee]

DWC, I don't think there'll be the slightest noticeable difference in Choice or Prime when doing pulled beef...but $5.99 for anything Prime is still a great deal where I come from. To be honest, you could make fine pulled beef with Select too. Pulled beef has more to do with the cut and the method, more than the grade. Brisket & steak are another story for grades.