What is a chub? If it’s a typo, I can’t even figure out what it’s a typo for.
I don’t see any evening out in this. I run events at work and have to feed 60 in Feb. They mentioned steaks–my caterers (4 dif. guys) won’t even attempt to quote it. I said “hey, go on the high side and then I can be happy when it’s not so much.” They said their brokers don’t see a ceiling on this at all.
This is a chub of ground beef.
OK, I found the weekly flyer for our Price Chopper:
Certified Angus Beef Boneless Chuck Roast 4.99 lb
Certified Angus Beef Bone-In NY Strip Steak 9.99 lb
Butcher’s Promise Bone-In NY Strip Steak 8.99 lb
Certified Angus Beef Flat-Cut Beef Brisket 7.99 lb
It doesn’t have any ground beef items listed.
Ground beef at Stop & Shop (typical grocery store) can be anywhere from $2.99/lb (80/20, bulk value pack) to $5.49/lb (93/7, ~1lb pack). Steak ranges from $6.99/lb (steak tips, select, bulk value pack) to $14.99/lb (tenderloin, choice), with all of the different cuts slotting incrementally in there about where you’d expect.
Whole Foods has stuff at, well, Whole Foods prices. $24/lb for the dry aged ribeye, $30/lb for tenderloin, etc. Definite “occasional treat” territory, not so much a good comparison for day to day spending.
Most chubs I see were packaged in distant third-world states. I had a friend who bought them regularly and found spoiled meat in about every third or fourth one.
All issues considered, I’ll take freshly-ground on-site over nominally “better” beef ground and shipped from some other corner of the US.
About 1-2 times per month, one of the local grocery stores runs a special on ground beef for under $3.00 per pound for family packs. I stock up then - with four kids, we use lots. After I brown and drain it for most applications, I lose about 1/4 of the bulk, but @ $2.59 or $2.79 per pound, that still cheaper than the usual price of $3.99-$4.99 per pound. (When ground beef isn’t on sale, I just don’t buy it. I either buy a better cut for the same price, or an entirely different protein.)
By next fall, I hope to have a big freezer again, and I’ll get my cousin to raise a cow and butcher her for me. Maybe a hog, too. Cuz one of those organic, free range, cruelty-free farmers, and I’d really prefer to have my meats raised ethically and locally. I’d raise the critters myself, but there’s no way that my daughters would let me butcher an animal that they fed and named and gave ear scritches to.
$2.78 per pound for regular ground beef where I work.
$3.29 per lb at the Pete’s Fresh Market in the west Chicago burbs. Not sure what %fat that is, though. I generally buy slightly higher quality, and $4 to $5 seems fairly common.
Moving to CS.
I actually just came from the Pete’s by my house on the Southwest Side, and it, too, was $3.29 for the family pack ground beef, and $3.79/lb (I think. It may have been $3.49) for the familiy pack ground chuck (which is the one I usually buy.) They’re usually both around 80-20, but I prefer the taste of the ground chuck to the ground beef (which I assume is a mix of different muscles.) Ground sirloin usually runs about a buck fifty or so more expensive (but I don’t really like ground sirloin) and ground round is somewhere in between (also another ground cut I don’t like.)
That said, it was only a couple years ago where I could find those for about $1.99-$2.49/lb.
I’ve never had the spoiling problem, but I’ve never had good ground beef from those chubs. It’s weirdly tasteless and often watery, and usually not all that much cheaper than than the grocery store ground beef. Seriously, try making a plain ol’ hamburger with salt & pepper from meat from one of those chubs, and another one with some 80-20 ground chuck–the difference is quite pronounced (surprisingly so, to me.) As for grass fed beef, surely, I can’t be the only one who doesn’t really like it, could I? I daresay, I prefer the grain-fed stuff.
Locally grown, grass-fed ground beef is about $6-8 a pound.
I don’t eat much meat.
Yeah, I agree with that. Much less chance of contaminated meat, too.
The 88/12 was $3.79/lb at Costco about an hour ago.
ETA: I just saw puly’s post, and wanted to say that I don’t necessarily prefer one over the other, so I don’t ever buy grass fed. I’ve never done a tasting, though.
No, no you’re not. I was so looking forward to my chef nephew’s Xmas dinner of prime rib. One taste and I asked what the meat was.
Nope, don’t like it
We pay $1.69 a pound for ground turkey, but it is frozen.
Ground beef is not on sale here this week and is $3.99 a pound. I would not buy it at that price unless really desperate.
re: Chubs of ground beef
I’ve never had a spoilage issue with them and my experience has been that they are generally significantly less expensive than ground beef in a tray or out of the meat case.
It is true the flavor isn’t great, I suspect the flavor and texture issue is that the meat has been through more than one freeze and thaw cycle.
I wouldn’t use them for anything where the meat itself is taking center stage. I find they work best in dishes such as taco meat or chili, where it’s just a conveyance for the peppers, spices, and beans.
No matter how you serve it though, beef prices have skyrocketed. I like to barbecue brisket and I can’t hardly afford to do one anymore. I haven’t seen price increases hit the burger joints or steakhouses, yet. They can’t be too far behind.
I buy locally from the farmer. Ground beef is $8 a pound, steaks are generally $16 a pound, roasts more like $12. Bison is $9 a pound ground, and upwards of $20 for steaks. I tend to buy more pork and chicken.
I’ve had the same experience with chubs. Not a lot of taste, but definitely not bad meat. I also agree with you about grass fed beef. My dad isn’t a hunter and I just can’t get used to that gamy taste in grass fed beef. The few times we’ve done sides of beef the steers were grain finished (fed grain for the last month or so before butchering) and even that was almost too gamy for me. It did make for some of the best hamburger I’ve ever had though. I’m hoping we can buy a side this year just because the prices are so high at the grocery store and we’ve saved money in the past buying by the side.
$4/lb beef is cheap hamburger around here. 
We haven’t had more than 2-3 days worth of beef in a month in ages. That’s just weird for us. We live in a ranching area so beef is usually pretty reasonable. I miss it. Chicken is boring night after night after night. My kids don’t like beans enough to do too many vegetarian nights.
Don’t blame ethanol. The price of corn is the lowest it’s been in four years.