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43 sats \ 4 replies \ @justin_shocknet 4h \ on: My favorite food is skyrocketing in price econ
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.
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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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