Back in the day you could buy hangar steak for little money. Oxtail was cheap. Chicken wings were cheap. And so on.
Now, none of that stuff is cheap except in relation to even more expensive cuts.
Is there any meat that is inexpensive to buy anymore besides low quality, crappy “select” or “choice” steak (which is still over priced)?
ETA: My local supermarket (a great big one) does not have a butcher anymore. All meat is pre-packaged. And they have no Prime selection. It’s all “Choice” grade meat. And it is priced like it was Prime.
In general, I find Pork is still the king of cheap meat critters. Even higher end options (like Duroc) is often 5.99 a pound for a nice chop.
Drumsticks, even the better quality providers, are also quite cheap in many cases, and thighs (bone-in and skin on) are also frequently on sale for around $2-2.50/lb. Or buy a quality whole bird and break it down yourself.
Beef? Fuhgeddaboudit. Nothing is what I’d call cheap.
I agree with this but I am a single person living alone so a whole bird, while cheap(ish) on a per pound basis is not ideal since some inevitably goes to waste (I cannot eat all of it before it goes bad).
I get that is unique to my circumstance. I am considering ways to stretch that out but I have not figured it out yet (and not get super tired of another chicken dinner).
Beggars can’t be choosers though. I can afford better but I don’t want to if I do not have to.
Yeah, I found this out a few weeks ago and I think even posted about it here. Some friends were coming over for dinner and I thought a prime rib roast would be nice. Apparently I had not shopped for prime rib in some time, and things had changed – though I do remember once paying over $100 for a sizable one even quite some time ago.
But it appears that at least for now, prime rib isn’t even put out in the prepackaged meat section any more. In fact, I found it wasn’t even on display at the butcher counter. An older guy who appeared to be the head of that department told me that it was now so costly that they don’t even have prime rib roasts out for customer display any more. He said they could cut a piece for me, but the minimum single-bone piece they could cut would be at least $70 and probably more.
He showed me some prepacked roasts and said they were pretty good and I might want to consider them instead. Unfortunately by then my mind had wandered to alternatives and I wasn’t paying attention, so I’m not sure what it was. But from looking at what they had on display the next time I was there, I’m pretty sure it was chuck roast or something quite similar.
Chuck roast of course is one of several good choices for pot roast, although some recipes suggest it can be oven-roasted medium-rare, but I suspect one would have to put up with some toughness. But pot roasts are delicious and I plan to make one soon, especially while the weather is still somewhat cool. They’re perfectly tender and flavourful and the only thing you give up is the satisfaction of prime rib slices that are both tender and also medium-rare.
Yes, and the reason why it’s cheap is because you’ll likely have a negative reaction to it like many Americans when I tell you what it is:
Liver
Heart
Tripe
Sweetbreads
Pigs Feet
Chicken Feet
Pigs Tail (although not oxtail anymore)
Blood
Suet
Fish Heads
There’s plenty of cultures around the globe where such meats are prized and they go for correspondingly high prices but Americans find them unappealing. Thus, if you can learn to love them, you are arbitraging the system.
These are not what a “pot roast” is to most Americans (or Canadians, for that matter). A pot roast is a large chunk of beef, usually floured and seasoned, put into a pot with vegetables and some water, and then covered and stuck into an oven at 300–350 degrees and allowed to cook until the meat is fork-tender.
What you’re describing sounds like what the British call a “hot pot,” which can contain mystery meats like you describe. From what I understand, each individual regiion has its own hot pot, and they can be quite tasty!
Do you have a freezer? You can butcher it eat one portion and freeze the rest in portion sized pieces to eat over the next month or two. Alternatively make something sized for multiple portions such as a stew or a stir fry and freeze what you do not want immediately, then you just microwave it when you want it.
I recently bought a little device that vacuum bags fresh food. I can keep things in my freezer now without worrying about them getting burned. Considering how much food I’ve had to toss because of poor storage, this unit is well worth the $100 or so I’m paying for it.
I recommend buying one that stands upright, since they occupy much less space on a kitchen countertop.
It is the only acceptable pot roast cut FOR ME and should always be cooked to fork tender. Tons of fat and collagen add tons of flavor. Medium-rare is for roast beef, not pot roast. Round or sirloin tip roasts are too lean for pot roast or really much of anything if you ask me, brisket points are okay (flats are too lean) but inferior IMHO for that use. Better to save brisket for smoking. Ribeye would be an utter waste of tender meat
Wow, yeah, what the previous poster described sounds like stuff you’d put into a hazardous waste container!
But I differ with your description of what a pot roast is. For me, it’s definitely not floured, though certainly seasoned, and then seared in a large heavy pot on the stove top. It never goes in the oven – once seared, a liquid is added (almost always beef broth in this house) and then it’s simmered for hours while the lovely aroma drifts through the kitchen and surroundings.
While pot roast is cooked completely differently from prime rib, there’s no reason one could not make up a batch of gravy just as with prime rib or even better (hell, I just used Knorr Hunter gravy mix with about 1/4 red wine instead of water for prime rib – with pot roast, you could add some of the beef broth to the gravy) and serve it in exactly the same way as prime rib, with mashed potatoes and gravy. And even super-hot horseradish!
Beef shanks are often inexpensive. Until some trendy chefs start making them into expensive popular entrees. That’s what happened with hanger steak and short ribs. Every pound of a whole cow costs the butcher the same amount but you pay more for popular cuts.
As someone above mentioned, pork and dark meat chicken (thighs, drumsticks) are really the only fresh “meat” that I would consider cheap. Beef ranges from moderately expensive to ridiculous.
Early in the COVID days I bought a chest freezer and a vacuum sealer and it’s been great. Only my younger daughter and I eat meat, so I can make larger meals like brisket and then portion and freeze the rest. After holidays like Christmas, I can buy whole turkeys for as low as $0.49/lb. I smoke the whole bird then portion and freeze.
