Pork Butt Prices

The market reports on pork say we are supposed to get a break on butts in the next couple of weeks.

The retailers have a hard time with beef ,so I guess they make a lot of cuts from butts.

Look for a loss leader from Winn-Dixie,Albertsons,etc. on any cuts from the butt.

Ask the manager to sell you the two packs in cryopak and freeze ahead.

No answer,but it usually works for me.

They usually beat Sam's $0.50/lb on these promos.

i agree with tom on that the price should come down...as a former market mananger at winn-dixie years ago it is still the same...supply and demand will rule...right now the butts are way overpriced and they should backlog in the wharehouses...i have seen a lot of merchandising into pork steaks etc. of the product in an effort to move them at the higher price...my last butt buy was at harris teeter food store here on the island...88 cents a lb...i bought 125 lbs for my freezer and i buy them in the cry-o-vac for freezer protection...a small freezer is necessary for me to keep my costs down...

Save Rite ,which is Winn Dixie ,is offering country style ribs in the family pack for $0.88/lb. starting today .

Ask the manager,he can mark two packs of butts as country style ribs and he never has to touch them.

Just got my weekly flier, butts are $0.99 a pound. Seems to be the norm in Arkansas - Razorback country!

Can you freeze fresh pork, thaw, cook the butts, then process into pulled or chopped and refreeze?

The quick and best answer is yes.

Look for the sale and buy in the cryovac 2 pacs.

They'll last for years.

Refreezing the cooked pork is a function of your packaging method.

Hey, Wheelz, which store was the flyer from? W-D here has 'em for $1.29, which is a lot higher than the $.89 of a couple months back.

Of course, W-D isn't trying too hard in this area, since they'll be closing up shop soon and rumor has it that there's already an offer for the nicer stores.

No, mine was "Sexton's" They have several stores throughout the state. I'm in Searcy.

tom
thanks for the idea!!!!
i of course will let peggy do the talking since she could sell an eskimo a freezer i think.
as an aside the winn dixies here are looking pretty poor and i wouldn't be too suprised if they closed one of the two stores
jack

If pork seems high now it could be because packers are bidding more for hogs. Corn/Soybean based feed prices shot up this spring so a lot of farmers got out of hogs, or cut back. We are getting nearly $60 cwt [$.60 per pound] for a live hog which is the highest we have received since 1997. I hope prices stay here but they generally don't. Corn and soybeans prices are coming down, due to higher yield expectations this fall, and, whenever hog prices go up this high, greed strikes [see: goose that laid the golden egg] and more hoghouses get built followed by lower prices [supply/demand] like we had in 1998 when they were lower than the depression era prices. Unfortunatly for the consumer, the lower prices weren't passed on to them.

Hey jack,

When Winn Dixie runs their $0.79-$0.89/lb butts ,they have had various suppliers.

Bryan and Gwaltney have been coming in not tumbled,so ask the manager.

You probably know that Gwaltney is a Smithfield brand.

Tom,
Can you explain "not tumbled"?
thanks

tom
thamks for the heads up on that one.
i had heard the gwaltney was smithfield but it sure was nice to get the confirmation.
plus i learned something. i always wondered where they cut country ribs from and now i know!!!!!
jack

Here, W-D advertises their pork as "all-natural" and as far as I know, none of it has had the cursed "solution" for a few years, anyway. Not that it'll matter soon.

Tumbled is essentially injected.

The packers say they are adding enough salt water back in to make up for the weight loss of the killing/cutting process and makes the meat hold better/longer on the shelf.

Think of a pressurized tumble clothes dryer,that
can force salt water back into large roasts.

Faster than a brine pump.

To put things into perspective - the prices that you get are still quite cheap. I live in Switzerland and I just bought two butts at the butcher (8.4 lbs total) and they cost around 45USD.

In all fairness it is a very small butcher that slaughters himself and buys only locally. Very lean - almost too lean for BBQ and very good natural (not treated at all) meat.

cheers from Switzerland

Reto

Swiss Smoke:

Happy Independance Day

Real free range pork is $US4-5 here. The prices you see here are the national factory hog machine prices at large retailers. They vary in quality. You are way ahead of the program with good fresh meat to start with.

What machine do you smoke with?

Lang Price

thank you for the feedback. It is interesting to see how the free range pork prices compare. I do like our fresh meat and (grumbingly but still) am willing to pay the price for it.

I have a standard offset smoker that I use. First season though and still trying to get a grip of it. All fun though :-)

cheers