My favorite food is skyrocketing in price \ stacker news ~econ

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My favorite food is skyrocketing in price

450 sats \ 17 comments \ @Signal312 2h econ

Since going carnivore about 2 years ago, my shopping list has shrunk dramatically. Aside from grocery shopping taking less time, another benefit is that I can mentally track food prices more easily...there's just so few foods to track.

My favorite food is BEEF. I wrote a post on how most people eating the carnivore diet tend to converge on beef It seems like all carnivores converge on this one favorite food.

And I'll be damned - the price of beef has jumped dramatically, over the time that I've been carnivore. Just tracking the lowest cost ground beef, going off sale prices at all the local groceries, I'd say it's gone up at least 50%, maybe more like 75%. Now, even with the best sales at the restaurant supply places, you can't get beef for $4/lb anymore. The average good sale price at an average grocery is around $5/lb.

Eggs were really high a while back, and have since come down again. I really hope the same will happen to beef. I'm not sure that it's the same type of situation, though - I know that a lot of chickens were killed off because of supposed bird flu concerns.

In case anyone thinks that buying beef from the farmer gets you a better deal, think again. Maybe that used to be the case, but it ends up being much more a gourmet experience, as opposed to a bargain experience.

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64 sats \ 0 replies \ @Scoresby 2h

I'm not carnivore, but I eat a lot of beef and I also have seen this general rise. It is especially notable in the last 2 years (but maybe I just wasn't paying as much attention before).

I used to be able to reliably get chuck cuts for $7/lb. Now I rarely find it under $9/lb. Ground beef is the same. I must be missing the sales, because I haven't seen $5/lb ground beef this year at all.

30 sats \ 0 replies \ @Undisciplined 2h

I think there is a similar issue with beef as eggs: i.e. contagion concerns.

There's some Central American parasite that they're trying to keep from spreading to America, so they've shut down imports and presumably have culled infected herds.

51 sats \ 7 replies \ @k00b 2h

We were carnivore back in 2017 and got well acquainted with beef prices, and how best to find bargain beef, in California. Hands down, our best bet was Safeway's Weekly Ad. IIRC when ground beef was on sale we'd get it for $1.99/lb, and choice grade ribeye, or ny strip, for $5-6.99/lb. (Not-on-sale GB was $3.99/lb and not-on-sale ribeye was $14-16/lb.)

I went and looked at their weekly ad just now and you can still get GB for $2.99/lb (cheaper than I've found in Texas), but that's consistent with the 50% increase you've noticed.

Their not-on-sale choice grade ribeye is similarly 50% more expensive.

The all time best beef deals happen, or at least used to, around holidays where stores go big on main course loss leaders. During Ramadan, we'd get ground beef for $.99/lb in big 10 lb sleeves. Around Thanksgiving and Christmas, we'd get entire sides of ribeye, still vacuum sealed from the processor, for $4.99/lb.

67 sats \ 4 replies \ @Signal312 OP 1h

I'm completely shocked that ground beef can be 2.99/lb in California! That goes against my bias about prices there.

I've definitely been doing the big 10 pound rolls of ground beef. I have a developed by trial and error a pretty good way of dividing it up (after messing around WAY too much, weighing out ground beef in ziplock bags).

My method is - just cut the 10 pound roll in 3 parts, of 3.3 pounds each. Leaving the existing plastic on. Then take a circle of plastic from a cut-up thick ziplock bag. Put it on each of the cut ends, and secure with a silicone band (silicone bands last way longer than rubber bands, and are far more resistant to cold and heat).

Then I don't need to worry about freezer burn, and using 10 pounds of ground beef at one time.

Also, even if a don't need the 3.3 pound package, I'll always just bake some meatballs or patties of the leftovers. Nothing is wasted.

21 sats \ 0 replies \ @justin_shocknet 1h

~3lb packs are perfect for meatloaf, makes for a few easy dinners. If you have a smoker, highly recommend smoking a meatloaf... satisfies a craving for brisket.

34 sats \ 0 replies \ @k00b 1h

California beef on average was higher quality and less expensive than what I find in Texas. I don't know why.

Maybe it was our proximity to Harris Ranch.

0 sats \ 1 reply \ @k00b 1h

We'd freeze the 10lb rolls whole to avoid exposing them to air. We'd go through a round in no time - I'd eat at least two pounds/day and my wife at least one pound.

We'd would roll up the open end like a bag of chips and use a chip clip to keep it shut. We'd keep it all in the same bag to reduce exposure to air.

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @justin_shocknet 1h

Ziplock bags increase your per lb cost a bit too, suckers ain't cheap, and washing/reusing them is a recipe for funk

21 sats \ 1 reply \ @justin_shocknet 1h

"Loss leaders" like that are great to keep an eye out for if you're going to town anyway, always gotta check the flyers if your pinching sats.

That ground beef they're probably losing 25% or so on, but the ads get people in the door... they know you'll buy other stuff when you go to take advantage of that ad.

Actually scored a whole tenderloin for $16/lb not too long ago from the flyer, winner winner filet mignon dinner.

17 sats \ 0 replies \ @jennann 1h

Yea for some of those things, I go in with the mindset to find something I like on sale instead of deciding what I will get before I arrive...unless I know about the sale ahead of time.

43 sats \ 4 replies \ @justin_shocknet 2h

There's price-fixing as there's only a few major packers, regs created a mess. But also it takes 3+ years for supply to adjust and people are realizing beef is health food.

Local beef from someone in town saves us about 30% and that's even with individual items. I haven't bought a half steer in ages but that was closer to 50%... but I had a freezer die that wiped out years of would-be savings so not dealing with that again.

17 sats \ 3 replies \ @Signal312 OP 2h

How did you find your local beef? The people that are easily findable in my area for local beef are strictly targeting the high-end gourmet shoppers, prices are at least twice what you see in the grocery.

The freezer going out...what a nightmare! So far we've avoided that.

34 sats \ 2 replies \ @justin_shocknet 2h

I live in a very rural area so I literally have to drive by pastures of cows at points to even get to a grocery store, folks with beef critters often have a cooler on the front porch or a shed with a cash box. I've got about 5 sources within 7-8 minutes of me.

Local facebook groups tend to be where folks trade anything, that's actually how I got into the half-steer as that's a little more coordination required than raiding a cooler. Small farmers tend to need people to make a deposit for the butcher, get a cut sheet etc.

Funny thing though is its hard to get tallow from folks, it goes fast, our last few tallow buys were from calling the grocery store butcher and having them set it aside from trim and my wife renders it.

0 sats \ 1 reply \ @Signal312 OP 1h

The local grocery used to give beef fat trimmings away for free. Now they charge a little bit for it - only $.49/lb. An amazing bargain. I now prefer tallow over butter.

34 sats \ 0 replies \ @justin_shocknet 1h

That is a good price, I think last time they whacked me almost $2/lb

Tallow is especially good for searing in a hot skillet where butter or olive oil would burn. The wife will also use it to make seed-oil-free chicken tenders in bulk for the kids.

34 sats \ 0 replies \ @0xbitcoiner 2h

👀 The Surging Price of Beef in America (1 Oct 2025) #1245027

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @DP0604 54m

It's very interesting to know the prices of meat 🥩 in other parts of the world. Here in South America, I can buy half a kilo of ground beef for 4 dollars, or at the current exchange rate.