To all the meat eaters , how do you afford to eat it than a couple of times a week?

[scarystuffyo]

I'm a meat eater also but I mostly buy chicken .
Beef prices are insane...
I was having some friends over so I decided to buy some steaks for the outdoor grill





$68.00 total for a cook out for just 4 people

You have to be rich to eat beef now a days

[Agnosticsherbet]

1. I write up a menu for the week and shop to the menu.

We do not have steak often.

[scarystuffyo]

4. I don't write mine but

when I'm shopping everything I put in the cart I'm deciding the day I'll be cooking it.

[yeoman6987]

7. Milk is the travesty in my opinion

4.65 in Florida on Saturday. It has gone up, up, and up.

[scarystuffyo]

12. It's 3.99 here in CT

[DrDan]

18. not everywhere - paid less than $3.50 in Daytona over the weekend

[Frustratedlady]

100. Butter has gone thru the roof...nearly $5/lb.

Did the cows go on strike? Perhaps it was only due to the fact I needed some...I rarely buy it anymore.

[scarystuffyo]

138. I noticed that also

I buy the store brand which is $4.29 a pound

[yeoman6987]

5. Beef at Publics is 12 dollars for 3 pounds

I buy 6 pounds and freeze it. It lasts the month. Not a bad deal.

[csziggy]

133. I check the sales and make a menu based on what is cheap that week

That and when meat is cheap I buy extra and freeze it for future use. For instance, this week Publix has skinless, boneless chicken breasts for $4.69 a pound but it's buy one, get one so it is effectively $2.35 a pound. A decent price for meat with no waste. Since I tend to not make meals with large portions of meat but stretch the meat with casseroles and stews, two packs of chicken breasts make a lot of meals for us.

I also bought zucchini, summer squash, a sweet onion, and mushrooms on sale. Tomorrow I'll make risotto with the vegetables and rice. While that is cooking, I'll season and bake the chicken breasts, cut up what I don't need to go with the risotto and pack the cooked, cut up chicken into containers to freeze. With 1.5-2 cups of chicken per package, I can pull out one to thaw and add it to quick cooking side dishes and vegetables to make no fuss, fast preparation meals for busy days.

They also had boneless pork loins on sale this week, but the price wasn't as good and I have some pork in the freezer already. Previously I've bought entire loins, cut into my own selection of chops, small roasts, and pieces for stir fry - it's boneless so it's easy to do. Wrap and freeze, and one good sized loin provides all the pork the two of need for months.

I never buy steak to cook at home - I am hopeless at cooking steak so it's one of the things I get when we splurge on a dinner out.

[Earth_First]

2. Once or twice a month...

Same with chicken/pork.

Usually purchased in 'club packs' which offer a better purchase per pound price.

The club packs last us 2-3 months at a time as needed from the freezer.

[scarystuffyo]

10. In the store I shop at they label it the family pack

That's the only way I buy chicken .
I also will buy a bunch of whole chickens when they are on sale and I will then split them down the middle
and cook a half at a time.

[Lochloosa]

3. Less quality cuts. Cook low and slow.

[riderinthestorm]

19. +1. I also only buy meat that's in the discount bins that have dates about to expire

My local store discounts 50% and sometimes more.

That's the only meat I buy anymore. I don't plan any meals ahead, I plan around what I got on sale.

Also company never gets steak anymore - I'll make spaghetti with meatballs or italian sausage for example to "stretch" the meat farther. If I were grilling I'd use cheaper chicken and have a lot of carb and vegetable side dishes plus a big chocolate cake for dessert that everyone sees ahead of time and so they " save room"

[Bettie]

57. When I make things with hamburger

I grind up mushrooms and saute them with the meat. Stretches the meat and my kids never even notice that they have eaten...gasp...mushrooms! Plus, I think the mushrooms absorb a lot of the flavor of the meat and it makes it ever better.

[dixiegrrrrl]

69. Beef soup bones....

Fantastic favor, cheap, has plenty of meat on them, makes a marvelous soup or stew, and all the gelatin from the bones is great for your joints.
That's the way they used to cook back in the day, the way I learned from my Grandma. She had to feed a family of 9 on a squeaky budget.

This July bought a small whole grass fed beef, came to about 4.00 a pound.
Had to save up for a whole year for it, but sure is worth it.
Lots of "cook low and slow" cuts.
Incredible flavor.

[Lochloosa]

73. I love Southern Women. And there food.

[Warpy]

80. I get grass fed beef

for my once a year beef meal and if I don't braise it one way or another, I could repair my shoes with it. If it's a small roast, it goes into the pressure cooker.

[Frustratedlady]

101. I learned years ago that if you have a cheap piece of beef...like a

chuck roast...add a couple tablespoons of vinegar as you start baking. It will tenderize the meat as it bakes and you won't taste the vinegar. It is a natural tenderizer.

[RKP5637]

151. Wow! That's a great tip! Thanks, will try it! n/t

[Eleanors38]

120. Still going on 2deer/yr from last season & 45 dove so far this season.

steaks, sausage, burgers, stews, chili, dirty rice, bbq, etc. Tough hunting this yr: No deer so far. Will try again.

Cost est. for deer <$3/lb. All natural!

[Lochloosa]

123. You can keep the deer but I'll be glad to send you an address to ship the dove. Yummy...

[Eleanors38]

126. Ha! Those get the BBQ treatment, as well as breakfast w/grits.

[bravenak]

6. Small portions of meat.

I eat fish and chicken more. And lunch meat. And hot dogs. I have kids.

[scarystuffyo]

11. Maybe fish is cheaper where you live but here it's very expensive

I don't buy fish at all

[bravenak]

15. Yeah, sorry.

It's Alaska. I usually get it free from friends who fish. I had twenty pounds of Salmon in my freezer this year.

[scarystuffyo]

17. That's pretty nice

no sorry needed

[bullwinkle428]

74. You took my answer!

I'm a "grown-ass man", and 4-5 ounces of meat (uncooked weight) is more than sufficient along with a side salad, a carbohydrate-centric side dish, and maybe some cottage cheese with that.

I eat my share of ground beef, ground turkey, ground lamb, ground bison, split chicken breasts, boneless chicken thighs, salmon, tuna, swordfish, and small sirloin steaks pretty regularly without busting the food budget.

[bravenak]

84. Yep. Me too.

I grew up on massive portions of meat I was forced to eat to save starving kids. Now, I buy bulk of each item I want and use my foodsaver to pack it into individual portions. I only defrost what I need and make enough to have one meal each and a bit extra. We eat too much in America. I still have alot of weight on me that I do not need. Size 10, but I'm short.
I had to leave alot of stuff alone and use beans for protein sometimes and lots of steamed vegetables. My plate is mostly veggies, a bit of carbs, and a small portion of meat. Too much diabetes in my family. Don't want to go there.

[Erich Bloodaxe BSN]

8. Our butcher gives bulk discounts, and we've got a chest freeezer.

Even with chicken, we're often buying in bulk, when it goes on sale every 6-8 weeks.

Also over the years, it's gone from the 'centerpiece' of the meal to one part among several, and as time goes on, I'm sure it will turn into more of an 'accent'.

[Xyzse]

9. Very rarely eat steak.

When I do. I ground and pound.
I kid... Tons and tons of butter, olive oil, garlic, pummel it like crazy in a ziploc bag.

Still, I have never paid that much for steak. Then again, I go for the cheaper cut, but with the way I prepare it before grilling, it is friggin delicious.

Oh, and yeah, butter it up again during resting period.

I eat it rarely enough that when I do, I say good bye to any sort of semblance of healthy eating.

I use Costco.

[ReverendDeuce]

29. I prepare my steaks in a way that would make some blush...

Or freak out.

The key, in my experience, is a great seasoning blend. I have my own which I won't get into, but it includes coarse ground salt and black pepper.

I season the steaks and let them raise to room temperature over the course of an hour before grilling. When the steak is a uniform temperature and the salts have broken down the proteins on the outside, once they hit the grill they get wonderful grill marks and seal up nicely to contain the flavor.

I like mine well done, but my version of well done is no pink but still juicy and tender, never dry.

[Xyzse]

31. Sounds pretty damn fine.

I sure hope you're talking about charcoal though...

[ReverendDeuce]

36. Nope... infrared!

I have a gas-powered infrared. The firebox can easily get to 700 degrees! I never take it that high, though.

Don't knee jerk and get on a coal pedestal, now. Infrared is about a hundred times better than the old charcoal grills I learned on. Easier to clean, gets hotter faster, same great flavor.

[Xyzse]

59. But but but but but...

Smoke flavor?
Ok, fine, I've never tried infrared.

[ReverendDeuce]

62. It's a different type of grilling, no doubt...

You can get the smokey flavor by using the same wood chips they sell for regular gas grills. On mine, you put them between the grates, under your food. In others, you can put them into a foil bag and let 'em cook.

Not exactly the same, but the benefits of not having to deal with charcoal are worthwhile.

Sometimes I really crave that charcoal grill taste, but most of the time I can live without.

Nothing beats taking a turkey fryer and, instead of a turkey, tossing in two dozen brats though. Nom nom nom!

[Xyzse]

72. Ah, so it doesn't have the charcoal grill taste.

I can understand actually. Still, since I so rarely do it.
I just say grilling = love. Due to every single step and cleaning involved.

[former9thward]

13. This is why they say there is no inflation.

Food is not included when calculating the inflation rate or Consumer Price Index.

http://www.bankrate.com/finance/personal-finance/is-inflation-higher-than-you-think-1.aspx

[scarystuffyo]

23. interesting , didn't know that

[roamer65]

46. You got it!

The 1980 measurement of inflation included everything. We are running 8-10 pct by that old measurement right now. That rate feels just about right. Everything is about 10 times as high as it was when I was a young kid in the very early 1970's.

An old silver dollar was 3/4 an ounce of silver. That silver dollar would buy nearly 4 gallons of gas in 1963. Guess what 3/4 of an ounce of silver will still buy me in 2014? Right around 4 gallons of gas.

People laugh and think its a joke when I say the current inflation rate calculation only includes Chinese cat toys. I'm only half joking.

[Recursion]

83. The CPI includes food and energy

BLS also publishes what's called a "core" CPI that doesn't include them because they are so volatile (though at this moment including them would make inflation seem even lower because oil is so cheap compared to a few years ago).

http://www.bls.gov/cpi/cpiqa.htm

[former9thward]

104. No, I'm sorry they are not that "volatile".

Food has been steadily going up. It is not volatile. Oil is not that much cheap. It has recently gone from about 100-110 $ a barrel to about $75 a barrel. But the prices that consumers pay have not gone down that much. Including food and energy would show inflation up not down.

[Recursion]

111. But the CPI U includes food and energy and is lower than 2%

So... There's that.

And food prices do go up and down pretty predictably by season.

[kelly1mm]

14. Buy it on the hoof. Our extended family (6 adults) buys and has processed

at a local Mennonite butcher one head of cattle a year. When it is all said and done, we get about 150 lbs per family unit from one head. The total cost works out to just over $3.00 per pound (2014 was $3.07 per lb).

[scarystuffyo]

22. You have the butcher cut it all up into steaks and hambuger for you?

[kelly1mm]

50. Basically, yes. Since we buy the cow (this year we got a Free Martin - yummy) we know

where it comes from and even get to pet it/take pictures (the kids love that part). Since we are having it butchered for our own use (not for resale) we can have it done onsite at the Mennonite farm. While not USDA inspected, this farm processes all the Mennonite/Amish/BIC beef in the 3-county area. Good reputation and that is good enough for us. Been doing it for about 17 years now.

Here is how it works:

1) find a beef to buy (family connections with dairy farms)
2) meet at the Mennonite farm with the farmer who brings the live beef.
3) the animal is weighed
4) we pay for the animal (directly to the farmer) based on weight
5) we take pictures (tradition) with the beef
6) we tell the processor what we want as far as cuts (mainly more stew meat or more hamburger)
7) we go away and the animal is processed (dispatched, hung, aged, cut into different cuts)
8) we come back in 3 weeks.
9) we pay a set price to the processor per lb based what we wanted done.
10) Take the processed beef home and split the 1lb or so packages into 3 piles for the 3 families.

[Bluenorthwest]

124. This is what my family did when I was a kid. It' a great system.

Back then it was also the only way to get higher quality, properly raised beef according to Dad....

[A HERETIC I AM]

145. Ours too...

Though my mom and dad bought a side at a time (4 kids).

Of course, one needs plenty of freezer space to do this.

This is actually a service I would like to get into. I worked in a small town abattoir when I was a teenager so I can break it right down to quarters with the right tools, no problem.

I'm no butcher though. For that I would need either help or instruction

[peacebird]

33. We do this as well, for beef and pork.

I know the schoolteacher who grows our grassfed meats. The animals are well cared for, live a good life with tons of pasture. The meat is tasty, but extremely lean - I have to add butter or olive oil to the pan to brown the hamburger.

[Xithras]

49. Yep, that's what I do too.

We have an old fashioned butcher nearby. We put in our order, and he places it with other waiting orders until he gets enough to butcher all the animals on the list (usually within two or three days of the order). The animals come from a local organic ranch, and are butchered right there in the shop only hours before we get the call to come pick it up. We pay around $3 a pound for a 75-100lb pound box that is mostly beef, but also contains a mix of various pork cuts, chicken, lamb, and some of the best handmade sausage I've ever had. And the bacon...

If you have a freezer to store it, have the cash to buy in bulk, and aren't in a hurry, buying from a local butcher can save a lot of money. Even if we just want some specific cuts (like some tri-tip for a BBQ), my butcher is cheaper than his grocer competition. I do still have to order it a couple of days ahead of time, but it's worth the savings to plan ahead. There's no way we'd eat as much meat as we do if I had to buy it from our local grocery store.

As a bonus, there's nothing like having a personal relationship with your butcher. Once they get to know you and understand what you like, the good ones will bend over backward to cut your meat exactly the way you want. Mine even knows to toss in a few pounds of 50/50 Italian Sausage/Lean Ground Beef mix into each package, because that's the way my wife learned to make lasagna when she was growing up. When he found that out, he started premixing them so she wouldn't have to. You won't get that kind of service at a supermarket.

[uppityperson]

52. Us too. It travels 50 miles in its life, max. My local farmer had a different type beef last yeart

the burger was great but the steaks were meh. Still, at $3/lb, knowing where and how it was raised, killed, butchered, a good deal.

[postulater]

16. My nephew shoots a couple deer (legally with a bow)

And that's all the meat he eats.

It lasts all year and is cheap.

[scarystuffyo]

21. I don't know anyone that does that , I know people hunt here though

I wouldn't know how to begin to do something like that.

[GGJohn]

66. We do, on top of raising our own beef, chickens and hogs,

we hunt for deer, elk and game birds. Much healthier than the meat you buy in your typical market.

[Eleanors38]

122. The biggest problem is land access; sounds like you may have that beat...

No lease fees, maybe a place to stay, share expenses. The rest is a suitable weapon, range fees, a license, goodwill camo. I've got costs way down; sometimes less than $2.50/lb. depending on how much self-butchering.

[scarystuffyo]

139. For me to start hunting I would have to go through all the courses first

then get licensed to buy a gun and ammunition in CT

There's a abundance of deer in CT and it's never a problem finding a place to hunt

We have a lot of state land open to deer hunting.
It's just something I have never done .

[Eleanors38]

148. You think of things never considered when hunting

Those things have only a tangential relationship to hunting. It really is primal wiring one can experience rather than "learn" abstractly.

[Doctor Who]

39. Eastern Pennsylvania has an abundance of deer.

You see them hit/dead on the side of the road. I have a friend that bow hunts one or two a year. Uses it to feed his family.

[gwheezie]

20. When I ate meet I bought a 1/2 a steer

i also had my own chickens.

[NV Whino]

24. I don't eat much meat

When I do, I buy The"managers" specials" at Safeway. Stuff near the sell by date at a big discount.

[ReverendDeuce]

25. $68? Where are you located? That's ridiculous...

Beef prices here in the midwest aren't too bad...

Aldi has 5oz bacon wrapped filets for $3.99 a pair, if I recall. USDA Choice, so it's standard butcher store fare. Hy-Vee has their regular filets for $8.99/lb, so that's about $4.50 for an 8oz, which is all I need. Their "prime" cuts are double, but they are about as close to USDA Prime as you can get from from a grocery store.

Chicken breasts are ridiculously affordable at Aldi and, if I recall, all are non-steroided types. Hy-Vee has free range breasts for $5.99 a pair.

[scarystuffyo]

27. Connecticut

Meat is pretty expensive here

[ReverendDeuce]

30. There are a few Aldi stores in CT... try them out!

Their ground beef is an excellent value and I have it on good authority that it contains no "pink slime".

Their pork chops are excellent as well. I marinate them for at least a day and they come out sweet as honey!

[Jamastiene]

108. Great advice.

I will try them for meat sometimes now. Thank you.

[dembotoz]

128. yes aldi

[avebury]

26. Chicken is not the deal that it used to be so I don't buy

it as much as I used to. We have a grocery store that often offers thin steak (boneless or w/bone) at a decent price. I check for discounts when the date it about to expire and then freeze them in individual freezer bags. About every other month I may cook a roast in a crock pot. I use either ground turkey or hamburger when I make stew.

I prefer to buy smaller cuts of meat. I have several recipes where I can take a package of 3-4 small pieces of meat and end up with 3-4 lunches to take to work. If I use ground hamburger or turkey I can make a batch of soup that will create at least 7 servings. Roast beef will cover 5-6 meals easily.

[Skidmore]

28. First, I don't by steaks.

Cheaper cuts of meat and cooked in stews or pour overs to stretch it. We eat chicken or pork more often and some fish.

[BlindTiresias]

32. Costco

I also don't eat meat in a western style with huge portions of it, I use a modest amount in more things instead. I also only eat pork and chicken these days, beef is way too expensive.

[Faux pas]

34. It's not easy. Eggs, cheese, cottage cheese

and yogurt are my meat substitutions. When I have hamburger, I make 2 bean chili, Spanish brown rice, or brown rice pasta spaghetti.
My total weakness is pork, I might have baked porks steaks maybe 4 times a month. I try to eat smart and cheap.
PS-have also lost 45 pounds eating like this

[roamer65]

35. I eat a lot more chicken. Been a long time since steak.

I buy organic, no hormone, no antibiotic fed ground sirloin when I do eat beef. Try for organic chicken as well.
Even the ground sirloin is expensive, $7 a pound.

[malokvale77]

37. It is insane.

I'm not much of a meat eater myself, but I prepare meals for those that are.

They buy, I cook. I'm having to get very inventive with ground meat.

[Brother Buzz]

38. Smart meat eaters marry the butcher's sibling

You know what I mean, Vern?

[Jamastiene]

109. Hmmm, I need to look into that idea.

[840high]

40. I limit meat to once a week.

[notrightatall]

41. I use the money I save not avoiding gluten.

[JustAnotherGen]

67. And processed foods

I cook a lot from scratch - and it helps that my husband is from italy so lots of fish and veggies in our house.

[raging moderate]

42. small portions and leftovers

When my son visited this summer, he was unhappy with our usual small steaks. Two days later, he went out and came home with HUGE, THICK steaks for us all. I can well believe it may have cost him more than fifty dollars. However, for our very occasional steak dinners, I look for those thin little sandwich steaks, etc. Usually, we eat chicken rice dishes, vegetable beef stew, and hamburger noodle dishes. Or those little chicken pieces.

[GoCubsGo]

43. Coupons and manager's specials.

If it's not on a big sale and I don't have a coupon for it (for things like chicken sausages), I don't buy it. I eat meat. I just don't eat it that often, especially not beef. I have steak once a year, at most. When I have something like that, it usually gets stretched over a couple of meals. I mostly eat vegetarian or fish (again, with a good deal.)

[LostInAnomie]

44. Roadkill

Just gotta pay for gas.

[A HERETIC I AM]

147. In many areas that's a perfectly legitimate way to get protein N/t

[Hekate]

163. After a certain episode of Doc Martin featuring a roadkill diet, I think I'd pass

The family got sick from parasites or something; I don't remember exactly what. Ew.

[NorthCarolina]

45. Get a Freezer unit, buy in bulk on sale and useable markdown stuff. Get some freezer bags

and a permanent marker. That's what we do. Had Lamb Loin Chops tonight...spotted them with a reduced tag sometime shortly after last Easter holiday. Took them out this morning to thaw in the refrigerator, then cooked them up when I got home from work. Was pretty damn good and I think I paid about $4 for 5 chops. Fed 3 people with it.

[MannyGoldstein]

47. May I ask what cut you got?

That sounds pretty pricey.

When we do eat beef, we tend to get cheaper, tougher cuts and either cook a long time at low heat to break down connective tissue, or use a terrifying tenderizer called a Jaccard which I highly recommend.

Also, possums are abundant, easy to catch, and the old versions of The Joy of Cooking have a reasonable recipe.

[scarystuffyo]

89. New York strip steak what ever that meant?

It was really good , juicy and real tender but I wouldn't buy it again unless I have company over.

It's just to much money

[Iris]

48. Buy in quantity during off-times

For example, ribeye usually goes on sale in the winter because less grilling. Likewise, roasts go on sale in the summer. Buy off-season and freeze.

[Frustratedlady]

103. I've also noticed that our local stores have great sales right before the end of the month.

I don't know it it's due to taxes coming due or suppliers' invoice dates, but I tend to hold off buying the major part of groceries until the last weekend.

[Iris]

114. I hadn't noticed that before. I'll definitely check into that. Thanks! n/t

[fasttense]

51. After the crash, I saw that food would be priced too high

For the average person to afford so we became farmers. We raise chicken and lamb. All on pasture with no growth hormones or antibiotics. We slaughter our own chickens and take our lambs to the slaughter house. It ends up costing about $3.00 per pound for lamb and half that for chicken.

[dballance]

53. In my local Safeway they have a "Manger's Special" bin.

There are often decent pieces of beef/chicken/pork in there that are just at the end of their shelf life at the store. I buy those and freeze them if I can't use them right away.

Yep, we all have to be very frugal these days.

[grasswire]

54. I am stunned by grocery prices these days.

Meat is crazy expensive. I feel so sorry for moms and dads who are trying to feed their families these days. I troll the meat counter and come up with very few things that seem to be affordable. Whole local chickens on sale for 97 cents a pound are a good buy. And small pork roasts can provide enough for two meals for two or three people. We h .ad one this week: roast pork the first night, delicious pulled pork the next.

Forget about beef. We are eating it rarely.

Bread has gone WAY up too, and I feel very sorry for families with no time to bake their own, who can only afford the really cheap awful stuff. The mid-level brand here is often $4.99 a loaf!! And the seedy nutty stuff is more than $5!! Crazy. I have a good source for good bread at discount, and I often load up an extra bag to give to a family with children nearby.

[Bettie]

55. Have a freezer, buy on sale

Realize that steak is off the menu for a while.

If I watch, I can get pork roast cheap, hamburger goes on sale every so often, bone-in chicken breast can be had for 98 cents a pound if you watch. When that happens, I buy a whole lot of it and we eat a lot of chicken and a lot of soup (since I can't bring myself to waste the bones.

Honestly, everything is expensive lately, so meat, veggies, etc. It's all way higher than it was.

[Abnredleg]

56. We buy animals at auction at the county fair.

All the animals not going on to the State Fair are sold at auction at the end of the fair. The processor takes them to the slaughter house and then cuts and packages the meat. We usually buy a lamb and half a steer, and that gets us through most of the year. Works out to around three bucks a pound, which is a great deal considering it's from grass fed animals with little to no drugs in them.

We also eat a lot of chicken, which we buy in bulk packs and freeze.

[Le Taz Hot]

58. Make each meat purchase last for several meals.

2 lbs. of hamburger meat will make an enchilada casserole with 12 servings

1 chicken will make a chicken dinner, and chicken and dumplings

1 roast with bone in will make a roast beef dinner, roast beef sandwiches and vegetable beef soup.

Knowing how to cook from scratch is the key.

[Phlem]

60. Flat iron steaks are great, not tough at all and cheap.

Usually an $8 to $10 steaks feeds 2 quite thoroughly with left overs. I get the from QFC/Krogers.

[alc]

61. feed my wife and I meat almost every night for $3-5 of meat

I go to Kroger 3-5 times a week and they have a great manager's special meat section. I have to cook it that day but I can get something for 1 day (2 people) for $3-5 and enough for 2 days for $5-8. Beef, chicken, pork, lamb, turkey. Steaks, ground, chops, etc. depending on the day. Lately I've been getting some pretty good beef steaks as cheap as ground steak. The best deal is 4lb ground turkey for around $8. I brown it all and freeze what I don't need that day.

On the occasions they don't have a good special I get tofu ($1.50-$2.50) or kielbasa ($2.50-$3.50) which both last us 2 meals. And I have a bag of frozen fish in the freezer that are $1-$1.50/person. I get a bag when it's on sale and keep it until I don't get to the store or there's nothing cheap.

[markpkessinger]

63. I eat very little beef these days . . .

. . . for precisely the reason you cite. And that has not been an easy adjustment for someone who was raised on a "meat & potatoes" diet like I was. Growing up in rural PA, I had an uncle who raised cattle for slaughter. He would sell to my mother an entire side of beef once a year at a very discounted price. I remember going once a year to the local meat packing plant, where the side had been processed into various cuts of steaks, roasts, ground beef, etc., where we would fill the trunk of the car, and much of the back seat, with these cuts of beef, which we took home and put into the deep freezer. Needless to say, we ate a LOT of beef when I was a kid!

[Dorian Gray]

64. I don't eat beef

More than once or twice a month. But burgers are cheaper if you must cook out and want to watch your bucks.

I did have steak tonight. Visiting my mom and she cooked three 12 oz steaks. Had half of mine and it was still a lot.

I'm trying to cook vegetarian or vegan a fee meals a week. Lots of soups and stir fries. Cheaper and can make more for easy leftovers.

[GGJohn]

65. We raise and butcher our own cattle and chickens hogs,

also, we hunt deer, elk, turkey, other game birds, we have 2 freezers full of different meats, so much healthier than that store bought crap.

[Jenoch]

153. It appears you live in cattle country somewhere out west.

We get grass fed beef from our neighbor cattleman who cuts clover off our pasture land in northern Minnesota. We also eat venison we harvest on our property. We butcherd a deer on Saturday. I don't know if I woild wish to butcher an entire steer. We're not equipped for that. However, I would like to break down a side of beef someday.We had smoked pork ribs for dinner tonight, tomorrow it will be venison bolognese on pasta.

[GGJohn]

154. You would be correct about living in cattle country out west.

We raise black angus cattle, have a few swiss jerseys, every year we'll butcher and dress a couple of them, 1 for us and one for the food pantry in our town for the less fortunate.
If we have a good hunt, we'll also donate venison to the pantry, along with a turkey every year.

We're pretty much self sufficient as far as food goes, we have our own garden for veggies, have a couple of apple, orange, plum and peach trees.

We do love our homestead and our privacy.

[Jenoch]

155. You don't need to tell me where you live,

but approximately what latitude to have an orange tree?

Aren't Swiss Jerseys dairy cattle? Do you have a dairy operation in addition to beef cattle or do you mostly raise cattle for your own consumption?

Our cattle guy has a fairly small operation. His cows produced about 60 calves and he'll sell them as feeder cattle in February. (He has a full-time job as well as his cattle. We own more land han he does, most of it woodland and wetlands.)

[GGJohn]

157. We live in AZ up around Flagstaff way.

We bought the Swiss Jerseys because my wife loves the way they look, they're more pets than anything else.

We do raise the Black Angus for consumption and we sell a few calves a year to a rancher friend of ours in SoCal.

We also raise and butcher our own hogs, chickens for eggs and eatin.

[Jenoch]

164. Flagstaff explains why you can have both

the citrus AND the apple trees.

The brown jerseys sure are both docile and sort of cute.

My father'd family had pretty much the same animals as you do, but it was during The Great Depressian in NE Minneapolis. My grandparents never owned nor drove a car. My grandpa would respond to people "how much milk do you get from your car?"

[RebelOne]

68. I save a lot of money on food because I am a vegetarian.

My dog also will not eat meat. I buy it for her but she turns up her nose at it. I guess she only wants to eat whatever I eat.

[d_r]

70. I went to a country butcher they other day

and bought a whole boneless rib roast for 4.99 a pound. He cut some thin and some thick steaks. It was $52. I divvied them up in freezer bags for family of four meals and got six of them. So I when I read the $68 for a cook out for four I had to gloat. So that's one strategy buy in bulk.

[Brickbat]

71. We have beef once a week or so. The rest of the week, I roast a chicken and use that up, or just get

chicken thighs, fresh fish in season, pork once every two weeks, venison in season (heading out again tomorrow and hoping for some luck), and we have meatless nights maybe two or three times a week.

[closeupready]

75. Hamburger!

Yes, beef is expensive now. Funny, I was just thinking today how long it's been since I had a really good steak. I'll eat organic ground beef from Costco, but otherwise, I kind of DON'T eat it.

I like chicken and pork, so while I miss good beef, the 'white meat' works fine as a substitute.

Hell, I recall the days when even on a modest income, as a single member household, one could eat t-bone steak from a butcher. Admittedly, that was over 20 years ago.

[HereSince1628]

76. With beets at $3/lb what fucking difference does it make?

I ate cabbage at 40 cents a pound until the store quit selling it at that price

I ate collards at 69 cents a pound until the store quit selling it at that price

I ate winter squash at 79 cents a pound until the store quit selling it at that price

I ate collard at 85 cents a pound until the store quit selling it at that price.

I ate russet potatoes at 89 cents a pound until the store quit selling it at that price

I've noticed that whatever I eat becomes expensive to buy.

Green onions....1.50 per two bunches

Radishes 1.69 for 4 ounces and that includes leaves.

Beets $3 per 4 roots.

[DustyJoe]

77. Hunting

Whitetail and Elk are plentiful this year.

[Brickbat]

135. Where are you?

Our whitetail numbers are down after a bad winter and a stronger wolf population. It sucks.

[randome]

78. It still surprises me why so many think they MUST have meat for 2 meals a day.

That's as ridiculous as the prices.
[hr][font color="blue"][center]The truth doesn’t always set you free.
Sometimes it builds a bigger cage around the one you’re already in.[/center][/font][hr]

[Warpy]

79. I believe it.

It's getting to the point where the grass fed stuff is almost cheaper than the feed lot stuff with all the fat in it.

It's going to get cold later this week, time for my once a year beef meal, which I'll buy on Saturday. I'm sure I'll be in a state of shock next week.

Most weeks, I live on broiled fish, soups, sandwiches, salads, and the occasional fancy chicken.

The cat eats better than I do.

[eridani]

81. We don't. Meat is an occasional thing for us. n/t

[bhikkhu]

82. Cheap cuts, small portions. And I love my pressure cooker

We had a curry this evening with onions, potatoes and carrots, and $4.00 in pork. The pork cooked to tender in the pressure cooker while the rest boiled up in a pot, and rice on the side made for an excellent meal for 4.

[Major Nikon]

85. Living in Texas helps

Basically what I do is pay attention to the sales circulars. Choice top sirloin is on sale for $3.99 per pound this week and this is the right time of year to buy turkey, which is 59 cents per pound right now.

[DisgustipatedinCA]

86. When I want steaks, I usually smoke a roast for several hours instead

You can get a nice ribeye roast here for about $25 for 4 pounds or so. The dollars work out a lot better than buying the steaks individually. Keep the grill at 225 until the inside of the roast gets to 150, and happiness will accrue.

[PADemD]

87. Eat at a Chinese Buffet

A couple times a month we dine at the small all-you-can-eat Chinese buffet about 2 miles from my house. The buffet only costs $6.95, and it offers clams on the half shell, fish, pork, chicken, and other Asian dishes. There is another all-you-can-eat Chinese buffet, with an even larger selection, about 12 miles away.

We don't eat many steaks anymore, mostly hamburger made into chili con carne, tacos, meatloaf, or western casserole (hamburger, corn, onions, and chopped red and green peppers in tomato sauce).

[Historic NY]

88. Ck your market for the day they reduce the price to make room for the.new

sometimes it can be 1/2. Flatiron steaks and older cut from years back is reasonable enough to feed friends, marinate it.

[lumberjack_jeff]

90. A quarter of a beef at a time. n/t

[AnalystInParadise]

91. I eat the Paleo lifestyle for my health

and I have to say I am healthier now then when I was on a grain/carb based diet.

As for the cost, I admit groceries are a tad expensive, my wife and I maintain separate households right now, I work as a Defense Contractor in Arizona and she works at SeaWorld in Orlando and I would say between the two of us, groceries are roughly 700-800 dollars a month for us combined.

However most of my shopping cart is fresh food: veggies, fruit and meat. I happened to go to the grocery store yesterday and looked at my receipt because of this thread. My total bill yesterday was 130 dollars, of which 75 dollars was meat, 35 dollars was fruits and veggies, and the remaining 20 dollars was coffee, canned tuna, soup and dark chocolate. That bill included 2 Ribeye Steaks, 2 New York Strips, 6 pounds of Chicken Breasts, 4 Pork Chops, a bag of Frozen Tuna Fillets, a Bag of Frozen Cooked Shrimp, and a Dozen eggs and a slab of Bacon. That meat plus the Soups and Canned Tuna will make me 20 meals or in other words it will last me ten days, I have a pizza or something else bad for me one day out of every 10, so my average grocery trip lasts me about 11-12 days.

It can be done, but you are right it is slightly more costly.

[JI7]

92. does the average family eat steaks regularly ?

i always viewed it as a once in a while and usually for some special occasion thing.

[scarystuffyo]

96. When I was a little kid it was pretty regular for my mom to cook steaks

a couple of times a week or make a pot roast , rump roast things like that

[customerserviceguy]

93. I have a union job

and I try to look for sales, but the lack of them doesn't necessarily stop me. Having to feed only the two of us makes things pretty reasonable to afford.

Also, while I enjoy craft beer and quality wines, I really don't have a lot of other expensive habits.

[Algernon Moncrieff]

94. Pork -- even with the price increase -- is insanely cheap right now

You are right -- steak is up there right now. It should start coming down, but the national herd is down due to droughts in TX and the Midwest in the past few years.

[dembotoz]

130. pork loin big hunk 2 bucks a pound on saie

trim, cut into smaller chunks for the slow cooker.
ymmmmmmmmmmmm

she who must be obeyed sent the kid out for stew meat about a week ago and wen ballistic when he came back with stew meat at 6 bucks a pound
went shopping for her yesterday
confirmed the prices....stew used to be a dollar strecher...not anymore

[Silent3]

95. How much steak did you serve each person?

$68.00 for just the steak, and nothing else, for four people?

$17/person?

If the steak had been $10/lb, which is on the high side, that's enough to give everyone a 27-ounce steak. That's a huge f*cking slab of meat, and even bigger if the meat were cheaper the $10/lb.

So how do I afford to eat steak 2-3 times per week? 6 ounces at a time, which is a perfectly reasonable, albeit not typically American, portion.

[scarystuffyo]

98. The steaks really weren't that big

[Silent3]

117. If they weren't that big, then they were well over $10/lb

In which case the price you paid has nothing to do with what anyone typically pays for steak.

[Lochloosa]

131. I disagree. See this add from out local Publix. New Your Strip on sale for 9.99 lb from 15.99

Publix GreenWise New York Strip Steaks


9.99 lb

Boneless, USDA Choice, Angus Beef, Antibiotic-Free

SAVE UP TO 6.00 LB

[Silent3]

132. Even at that not-on-sale price, you could provide each person with more than a pound of steak...

...which is a good bit more than the average carnivorous human needs at every meal. That's more of a special-occasion serving, or a body-builder-on-a-low-carb-diet serving.

Please keep in mind that the title of the OP was addressed to meat eaters, not just consumers of premium-grade steak, wondering how people could afford to eat meat more "than a couple of times a week".

You can certainly get decent cuts of beef, chicken, pork and other meats, served in reasonable portions, and easily eat meet every day of the week without having to spend anywhere close to $17/person just for the meat portion of a meal.

[Orrex]

149. Super--and the nearest Publix is only 900 miles from me.

What a bargain!

[hunter]

97. My wife is entirely vegetarian now, I'm mostly vegetarian.

We don't ask that of our three dogs, however. We probably spend as much on their food as we do on our own because we don't buy any dog food that has corn meal or meat by-products as the first few ingredients. If I get a good deal on ground turkey or something I'll sometimes make the dogs food out of that.

In my culture dogs are "family."

I'm not going to do the cost accounting on dog food, however. It makes me sad, especially when I think about hungry people.

My niece is very interested in goats as meat and dairy animals, which would probably make her cattle ranching and dairy cow ancestors cringe a bit.

As a kid our primary source of animal protein was fish my dad caught, and later fish we ourselves caught. Occasionally there were parts of pigs, deer, and sheep in the freezer too.

In my own cooking I typically use meat as a flavoring, not as a primary source of fat or protein.

[flvegan]

99. I still can't sort out why *most* people still eat meat.

*flamesuit on*

I expect many emotional responses.

[Evoman]

105. probably cuz it tastes good.

No flame here... Eating meat is not really necessary and it's not great for the environment. But damn it tastes good.

[Prophet 451]

159. It tastes good

And it's cheap protein. Eating a "proper" diet adds about $1.50 a day per person.

[RebelOne]

160. No emotional response here. I am a vegetarian.

After almost 20 years as a vegetarian, I can't understand the consumption of meat. I watch cooking shows and wonder why all the recipes have to include meat. I would like to see a vegetarian cooking show.

[Scout]

165. it tastes great

it's filling, it's satisfying, you don't feel hungry again too soon.

can't stand many vegetables, they taste bad, they feel weird when you chew them, and if they taste bad enough they make me gag and i can't swallow them. sometimes i can't even put them in my mouth because the smell makes me sick (brussels sprouts).

takes all kinds i guess.

[SheilaT]

102. I generally buy on sale.

The advice about a freezer is nice enough, except that not everyone lives in a place large enough for a big freezer. Still, you can buy on sale and do some freezing in a regular refrigerator/freezer unit.

Maybe it's because I live alone, but I've been managing on the same food budget for the last four years now. I do most of my cooking from scratch, which saves a lot of money. Don't eat out too often, but I do eat out.

I have never mastered cooking steak properly, so I only get a steak once in a while in a restaurant.

[laundry_queen]

106. I can't afford it.

We mostly only buy ground beef on sale, or eat chicken (again, on sale). Sometimes we'll buy pork tenderloin and cut it up so everyone has a very small piece. Even chicken we only have once a week because to buy enough chicken that everyone feels like they got enough ends up costing $12-15.

This summer I finally got a BBQ set up (my house happened to have a gas hook up and my brother gave me his old bbq) and I thought we would celebrate with steaks. o-m-f-g. way too expensive. I'll probably be a once a year thing- if that.

As a single parent, we now eat a lot of pasta and vegetable based soups. Meat and dairy prices have increased easily by 50% where I am just in the last 4-5 years. I remember hearing my mom talk about how poor they were when I was little - and they were - but we ate meat every single night and steaks at least once a week. I definitely cannot afford that for my kids. Even the cheapest stuff is too expensive.

[Jamastiene]

107. You went to the wrong store or didn't buy it when it was on sale.

Beef has been pretty expensive for the last couple of years. I do eat it, but I buy it only when it is on sale. I won't pay their astronomical "regular" price for it, with the exception of ground beef. I do buy small amounts of that and dole it out per meal to make it last as long as possible. Still, that sounds rather high, the price you paid. Wherever you bought it, they must have the prices jacked up higher than normal. Unless it was filet Mignon, wow, that's steep. Where I live, four rib eyes would cost around maybe $40-$50 at regular price, and that is on the higher end for a 3/4" to 1" thick rib eye. I've never had the luxury of trying filet Mignon. I heard it is good, but never have been able to afford it, even once.

[fizzgig]

110. we eat beef maybe once a month

and it's usually a cheap cut when we do. i stock up on pork chops and roasts when they're on sale and we have that three or four times a month, the rest of the time it's dark chicken meat as it's perpetually on sale. but we go meatless about three times a week, too.

[Populist_Prole]

112. I like it but eat it rarely: 3-4 times/year. I treat it like a guilty pleasure

I make a point of being friendly to my heart and arteries, but I just can't get into eating small amounts of what I like, like little bits meat and this 2 ounces of pasta BS; that's torture. I eat it rarely but tend to over-indulge when I do. I'll grill a beautiful 14 ounce rib eye medium rare with onions and mushrooms; enjoy it thoroughly: but be bloated/distended and not take a proper shit for 3 days.

In short, I like it, but boy oh boy do I gotta pay for it.

Sorry for any TMI issues. but I'm into exactitude.

[PeteSelman]

113. Brisket is cheap, London broil is cheap.

If you know how to cook them properly they taste as good as the more expensive cuts.

I've been opting for more chicken myself because I'm out of work again which totally blows but there is beef to be had on a budget.

[hobbit709]

115. I buy it according to what's on sale.

Cut it up, wrap it, and freeze it.

[FSogol]

116. Ask the butcher for skirt steak. That's what restaurants use for fajitas.

Marinade over night, grille over charcoal, slice on a bias and serve with grilled onions and peppers.

[ileus]

118. I harvest organic deer and turkey.

We buy very little beef products other than ground beef for different meals. Maybe twice a summer we'll bother with nice steaks for the grill, We also buy chicken and pork for different recipes. The rest of the time we dine on quality natural meat we harvest and process ourselves.

I did make some connections at my sons football practice this year, and believe we'll go in half on a beef and hog next year with the neighbors.

[oneshooter]

119. I raise my own. n/t

[spinbaby]

121. One roast, three meals

Put a chuck roast into a slow cooker with a packet of onion soup mix. Serve it for dinner. A day or two later, fry up leftover beef with peppers and onions and serve it on rolls with or without cheese. Any leftover bits after this and the "juice" from the slow cooker go into vegetable soup.

[Orsino]

125. I don't.

A couple of times a week seems to suffice.

[DFW]

127. I had to give up red meat ten years ago

So now it's mostly fish for us, although here in Europe, it's more expensive than meat.

[MissB]

129. We have steak about 6 times a year.

I usually get a package of steaks from Costco - tenderloins. Package of 4 for our 4 person family runs about $35. Rare treat. If there is any leftover (2 teenagr boys- ha!) then I will make beef stroganoff the next day.

Other than that, I will make a salt-crusted prime rib roast for Christmas or new years eve.

I buy chicken thighs and drums when they go on sale for .59/lb and use my food saver to package them into dinner portions. We have mostly chicken in some form (boneless or bone in) several nights a week. I rarely cook meat such that a slab of it is the main course. It becomes part of a meal, as in chicken tikka, where a little goes a long way.

We've shifted to using lentils for taco "meat". My kids prefer it to meat (we used ground turkey before) and love taking leftover soft tacos to school the next day. We usually have two bean or lentil based meals a week.

Our combined income allows us to eat really well. I prefer to not spend all of my 'spending' money on groceries. As long as the food tastes good, the family does not complain. I shop in bulk, cook and bake from scratch, plan a month's worth of meals at a time and shop sales at a couple of stores.

I recently had a coworker comment on the tea that I was drinking. She wanted to know where I bought it and I told her the name of the store- WinCo for those that live in the northwest. She doesn't set foot in there - maybe too lowbrow? I dunno. It's cheap. I don't just shop there but I do go there for certain items.

[azmom]

134. My husband buys t-bones when on sale

Which lately has been frequently. He gets a good price, which is good, but then I have to hear him complain about the greedy stores because they trim off the tenderloin side of the T.

[B Calm]

136. Pork steak is my MMMMMM. I need to go on the Atkins diet

and lose 20 pounds, but meat is so damn high now days!

[Mosby]

137. try ribeye steaks

Even at the select grade they are good on the grill.

[Iggo]

140. Stater Bros. (n/t)

[NickB79]

141. Cheaper cuts, less red meat, smaller portions, meat substitutes

More hamburger, much less steak.

More chicken, less beef and pork.

More egg-based dishes for protein (it helps that we have a flock of 5 chickens to provide eggs for this).

More soups and stews, loaded with vegetables (our large vegetable garden helps with this).

Crockpot and pressure cooker recipes that use tougher cuts.

Buy in bulk and stock a chest freezer whenever something's on sale.

Buying a side of beef or pork from a local farmer to stock the chest freezer.

Hunting: squirrel, rabbit, and woodchuck are all easy to hunt, abundant, have long seasons, don't require as much dedication as duck or deer hunting, and make excellent soups and stews. Hell, I've even had good results hunting farm pigeons on a nearby dairy farm; they live off spilled grain and are very tasty on the grill.

Adding vegetable substitutes (mushrooms, beans, vegetables) where possible.

[LWolf]

142. Like this:

Some days I don't eat meat.

Sometimes I use a very small chunk of meat to flavor a great big pot of beans or soup.

Often I use quorn instead.

And I'm only feeding myself. Generally, I will eat chicken 3 times a week. When you say meat, do you mean red meat? I buy some locally raised grass fed beef a few times a year. I buy some buffalo when I can get it. But I don't eat red meat more than a couple of times a month.

[Rex]

143. I only eat it a couple times a week.

[panader0]

144. Wait'll you get my age and your teeth are sensitive or worse (64)

I used to tear up a ribeye, now I eat much less meat and in smaller portions. Damn. But I'm saving money.....

[REP]

146. Beef prices are due to the drought. No rain, no grass. Pork is cheap.

Cattle got sold off earlier this year; ranchers couldn't graze them or afford to buy hay (most US beef is still pastured and corn finished) due to the drought in the west.

Pork is almost completely factory farmed, and will continue to be cheap and flavorless.

[noamnety]

150. $68 is our entire monthly grocery bill for two adults.

That's about what we spent 3 of the last 4 months. We eat meat most nights, but I try to average the cost out to about a dollar per pound when I buy meat of any sort.

This is a stock up month, I ran our freezer low recently. I bought 10 pounds of chicken quarters for 47¢ per pound at a local fruit ranch. I got a markdown spiral ham at aldis for just over a dollar a pound. And I splurged this month and got a whole beef tenderloin. It was $4.99/lb at the arabic market, I paid $18 total for it and they cut it into 16 portions, so just over a dollar a serving if we want to live the good life a few nights. Except for aldis, I don't do markdowns on meat at major grocers because their prices are still way higher, even with the markdowns, than just buying a whole cut of meat. Like strip steaks - I can buy individually packaged markdown ones for $8 pr 9 per pound, or invest in a whole one, which is $3.29/lb, and freeze portions. That also works out to about a dollar a serving because we eat larger portions of that, but it averages out with the chicken legs, which are maybe 30¢ per person.

[ecstatic]

152. Frozen buffalo wings. :( nt

[madville]

156. Restaurant Depot

They have locations in 31 states, stuff is cheap there, you or a friend just needs a business license to get a free membership, any kind of business. Whole chickens are $0.79 a pound, broken down into 8 piece fryers it's like $0.89 a pound. Ribeye steak $6 a pound, beef brisket $2 a pound, baby back ribs $1.99 a pound, etc, etc.

I also like the rotisserie chickens all the stores around here sell now, usually $4.99-6.99 each. I can make like 6 multi-portion dishes out of one chicken, maybe 12-18 servings depending on what I make.

[Prophet 451]

158. I only eat a little meat these days

There's a little in the can of chilli I'm going to have tonight, half a pack of pepperoni on the pizza I'm having tomorrow, a pack of spicy prawns (prawns are cheap here) in my TexMex meal. Once a month, I have fast food as a treat. I'm disabled so my idea of treating myself is cheap fast food. Only time I have steak is for xmas dinner. Traditionally, xmas dinner in this country (UK) is turkey but neither my SO nor I much like it so I have steak and she has fish. Oh, and always organic and free-range and those words are actually legally defined here.

[sir pball]

161. I buy it through the restaurant :)

Nothing beats wholesale. I can get the aforementioned strip for $6.99 a pound, same Choice grade as you get in the market. If I feel crazy I can get 40 day dry-aged Prime for a whacking $13 per. Rank hath its privileges..

[Hekate]

162. Chicken. There's only two of us, so I buy the roast chicken at Costco usually. Then use the bones...

...to make soup after we finish the bird over a couple of days.

You can add chunks of tofu to soups and chowders to bump up the protein, too. I don't often use it alone, but as the chicken disappears from the soup I can add some tofu, and it soaks up the flavor of whatever it's cooking in.

Turkey season is here. Look for a store that offers you a discounted Thanksgiving turkey when you purchase $35 of groceries or whatever the current deal is. I used to do that even when I was having TG in someone else's home. Those birds go a long way when you debone them after dinner and stuff all the bones in a giant pot to simmer forever to make stock; freeze parts of the roasted bird for later; make turkey tetrazzini (my late Mom's favorite), turkey pot pie, and on and on. I always freeze the stock in manageable portions.

It's not that I don't like beef, but I got turned off of it quite a few years ago because of the sanitation scandals and Mad Cow Disease, so I eat it seldom. Last month though I splurged on some grass-fed beef chunks from Trader Joe's -- not a steak, but the kind you make into stew, which is what I was craving.

Really, I don't serve steaks to other people, never have. For a cook-out I'd do chicken, sausages, shish-kebabs, and grilled veggies. You were generous to your friends, and I'm sure they appreciated it.

[fadedrose]

166. Store had gr. round for $3.99/lb

went out of budget to buy 4 packs of 2-lb each for chili, spaghetti, meatloaf and stuffed peppers.

I hate to use frozen meat when we live so close to the store, but who knows how much the beef will be next week...and we are getting a bit tired of chicken. Never was real fond of pork, pulled or not. Breaded pork chops are good, but center-cut on the bone (which tastes best) is almost or the same as beef.

Haven't had a steak for years, except maybe round cooked a long time.

Don't know who your company was at your cookout, but I hope they are smart enough to know that you have a high opinion of them to spend that much.

Green beans $1.00 each, fresh lemons, $1.00 each...

But gas to get to the store is cheaper. We can all just go window-shopping. Wages aren't low, food prices are astronomical!