Meat prices in your area

BJ's Wholesale Club

bone-in butts 2.09
brisket flats 6.29 Choice
st Louis ribs 2.99
loinbacks 3.49
no packers

Just nuts

SAMS
Loin Back Ribs $3.99
Spares $2.99
Brisket $3.68 (Case price $3.63!!!)
Butts $2.68

USF

Brisket flat 7.58
packer 3.70
butt 2.50
Loin back 3.84
spare 2.99

Things are crazy here too. Briskets over 3.50 at Wal-Mart, buts 2.68 on sale at the local grocery store. Luckily, Wal-Mart has what they call 'st Louis cut' ribs have been holding at 2.99 all summer. I've cooked them a few times, but they are in 8 percent solution and I think kinda salty for my taste plus, they just don't come out right for some reason. If I read hog futures right, prices should be coming down, but who knows. Beef, not for a while. We have a couple of cattlemen in our church who are lovin life right about now.

I kinda wonder if it's some kind of tree-hugging vegetarian conspiracy to make us all eat healthier.

Feed prices are even on their way down and I still can't grow my own pork and eat it myself for under 2.50 per pound if I have someone else process it. I charge 6.00 per pound for our farm raised USDA packaged pork but there just not enough margin there to make a living.

quote:

Originally posted by Chaplain Bill:

I kinda wonder if it's some kind of tree-hugging vegetarian conspiracy to make us all eat healthier.

If God wanted us to be vegetarians he would have made broccoli more fun to shoot at!

Hunt to live, live to hunt!!

from the butcher shop/locker I visit....

prime brisket(packers)...4.19/lb by the case

Pork butts.... 2.00/lb I get to chose which pack

Duroc ribs.....4.19/lb by the case

nice guy, heck I make sure I take them a package of comp leftovers every now and then...

Was at Wally World over the weekend. Packers $3.68, butts $2.68, bought a couple of the St. Louis spares at $2.99. Getting expensive.

CAB CHUCK @ SAMS $5.98!

How are the Duroc Ribs? Any distinctiveness over other pork you've tried?

quote:

Originally posted by Chaplain Bill:
How are the Duroc Ribs? Any distinctiveness over other pork you've tried?

Not quite as meaty between the bones, more pork flavor, but will turn mushy a lot faster if you over cook them. The bones tend to be straighter though.

This was today at Sams, Joplin, MO

Cal, interesting on the Duroc ribs. I have not tried my Tamworth ribs, but they will probably go in the stock pot, as the packer didn't leave any meat on the one rack of spares or the baby backs when he pulled then side meat and loin. I may just smoke them up just for nibbles and grins and cook treats. All the rest of the tamworth meat has been excellent. We'll see.

Chaplain,
That's about $1/pound cheaper across the board. Enjoy it while you can!

Here in So. Cal. I paid $2.53 at cost-co for the pork butt/picnic 2 pack. And that was the case price. 3 months ago I paid $1.85.

I paid $1.79 per lb case price for bone-in butts at Restaurant Depot last weekend here in Florida

Here's our prices off of the truck for tomorrow. We are in SE Iowa. They update every Friday. All are case prices.

Choice ribeye $7.68
80/20 ground chuck $2.72
Pork Butts - bone in $1.63
Pork Loin - boneless and strap off $1.94
Choice whole (certified Hereford ) brisket $3.19

Good prices on the ground chuck and pork. I aint paying no three bucks a pound for brisket. They used to give them away free back in the good old days along with chicken wings..skirt steak and ox tails.

Wonder when the insanity in the cattle market will end? Several groups of 400 wt steers brought over $1700 this week at our local sale barn. The feedlot that bought them said they had the feed, the employees need a job and they want to buy 30,000 head so their banker agreed it's better to keep the wheels turning and fill it and lose $150 per head than to not fill it and have the ripple down affect in the community. These were going somewhere in Oklahoma but I can't remember the towns name now.

I thought I'd never live to see $4 per pound calves but I guess it's happening! This will work itself out but someone will lose their butt along the way.

From another thread:

Several threads have commented about beef prices, so I did a quick online search and found the top three reasons cited were: 1) significantly smaller herds due to years of extended drought in the west, 2) higher feed costs due to corn shortages from government ethanol requirements, and 3) increased demand from foreign markets, especially Asia. For what it's worth.

Yup...the perfect storm has come to roost and it could last another TWO YEARS.

quote:

Originally posted by Jay1924:
From another thread:

Several threads have commented about beef prices, so I did a quick online search and found the top three reasons cited were: 1) significantly smaller herds due to years of extended drought in the west, 2) higher feed costs due to corn shortages from government ethanol requirements, and 3) increased demand from foreign markets, especially Asia. For what it's worth.

Sounds like you covered all the bases. I tend to mostly blame commie tree huggers for forcing 40% of the corn crop to go for making ethanol. Ethanol is for drinking not for ruining cars.

I have a flex fuel Nissan Titan, but I only buy fuel with ethanol if it's the only thing available. I only bought it because it was the only one available with a tow package.

I refuse to be responsible for people going hungry because some idiots still believe in man made global warming. It's called weather.

Not to get political and pollute this forum but if you look at NOAA data, the average global temp hasn't increased in 16 years, despite massive increases in atmospheric CO2. For what it's worth. That said, the climate is definitely changing, as it always has. Data is everything, as usual. We all have to deal with rising beef prices, and that is real. What do we do about it, is the question.

As rains return to the huge grassland areas in the west and southwest the momma cows will return as well and beef supplies will improve thus moving prices lower. If the rains continue this will still take a couple more years to show in the retail price of beef. Jay 1924 you are spot on!!

quote:

Originally posted by cal:
from the butcher shop/locker I visit....

prime brisket(packers)...4.19/lb by the case

Pork butts.... 2.00/lb I get to chose which pack

Duroc ribs.....4.19/lb by the case

nice guy, heck I make sure I take them a package of comp leftovers every now and then...

Cal,
I've seen some post of yours on this forum and noticed you were from Freeman, MO. I am from Belton and recently became a new owner of an FEC 100 that I purchase at the Royal this Oct. I'm hoping/planning on trying a few comps this next year. If you don't mind if I ask Who/where is the Meat Locker you are working with? Is it Peculiar Meat packing? I'm not familiar with any other around our area. Any help would be great.
Thanks
Greg

ghastie55,

You might want to PM him direct as he may not see this post if he doesn't have notifications turned on.

Click on his name and you'll see the option "invite XXX to a private topic" and you can go directly to him.

Thanks Smokin', I did catch it though I don't have my notification on. I sent a PM, but will follow up here.

Yes, Peculiar meat market will work with the comp cooks, you just have to buy full cases of special order items. When buying cases of Creekstones you tend to have 3 comp briskets and 2 that are not what I would want to use for comps. I throw those in my freezer and when someone wants brisket, they sure cook well for that.

You should have seen the reaction when I catered for a group of 200 at the Royal this year and they got to eat prime briskets

quote:

Originally posted by cal:
Thanks Smokin', I did catch it though I don't have my notification on. I sent a PM, but will follow up here.

Yes, Peculiar meat market will work with the comp cooks, you just have to buy full cases of special order items. When buying cases of Creekstones you tend to have 3 comp briskets and 2 that are not what I would want to use for comps. I throw those in my freezer and when someone wants brisket, they sure cook well for that.

You should have seen the reaction when I catered for a group of 200 at the Royal this year and they got to eat prime briskets

I'll bet they got a treat. I was fortunate to spend the day with the Hawg with a Heart, Operation BBQ Relief folks at the Royal on Friday this year. Taking a Ribs/Pork and surprise Brisket class with Sweet Swine o Mine, Boars Night Out, Natural Born Grillas and The Shed. Really really a good day.

Nonetheless I say this to say that was the first time I got to try a Wagyu brisket and compare side by side with a restaurant depot brisket. Holy Cow!!. I've read this fall many people saying "don't cook the Wagyus", its not needed but I'll tell you what if the people you are competing with are cooking Wagyu's and cooking them well there is no comparison. I was blown away by the flavor, tenderness etc. Mark Lambert isn't a bad cook either.

Thanks again for the response Cal. Hopefully we'll catch up with each other at a contest. I'm going to call Charlie tomorrow and see if he can get me a last minute Standing rib roast.

Thanks Smokin' for the heads up. This started with ultimately my first post and wasn't sure if I should PM or start in the thread. Found you article/class on the Prime101. Good info. Thanks

Pork butts were $1.29 this week which is the lowest I've paid in a year but the brisket took a big jump. $3.84 for the choice certified Hereford. That's up $0.32 in one week! I've been seeing some notices of price increases on a few major BBQ restaurant Facebook pages this week. I was hoping we had seen the peak but now I'm not sure.