# Are there any cheap cuts of meat we can buy or is it all expensive? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** food-cooking\ **Created:** [April 8, 2025, 5:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-cheap-cuts-of-meat-we-can-buy-or-is-it-all-expensive/1016782 "2025-04-08T05:56:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2025, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-cheap-cuts-of-meat-we-can-buy-or-is-it-all-expensive/1016782/121 "2025-04-14T15:05:02Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > Tripe is a primary ingredient of [Pepper Pot](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pepper_pot_soup). > [@Dr\_Paprika](#): > > Tripe is good in soup. ISTM it has no taste on its own. It adds nothing but mass to whatever it is in. I guess that is some protein content but not much use otherwise. And way too chewy for my liking. The texture is yuck. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2025, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-cheap-cuts-of-meat-we-can-buy-or-is-it-all-expensive/1016782/122 "2025-04-14T15:21:40Z")
I agree. A good Pepper Pot should be good and spicy so whatever flavor tripe had won’t get through. Pepper pot is the only dish that I’ve had with tripe clearly identifiable. It’s been chopped up and blended into other dishes, but no discernable flavor I could detect. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2025, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-cheap-cuts-of-meat-we-can-buy-or-is-it-all-expensive/1016782/123 "2025-04-14T16:21:22Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > Is there any good recipe ever for tripe? I had some fabulous tripe at my brother’s wedding banquet. (He married a Chinese woman, so it was a Chinese wedding banquet.) The tripe had essentially no flavor, except a vague “meatiness”, but it was in a really delicious sauce, and was one of my favorite foods at the event ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2025, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-cheap-cuts-of-meat-we-can-buy-or-is-it-all-expensive/1016782/124 "2025-04-14T16:39:17Z")
> [@solost](#): > > Bought a pork tenderloin this weekend on sale for $3.99/lb. Gave it a spice rub with shawarma spices and grilled it. Yummy. $1.99 / lb for me. Cut it into 6 potions to split between me and the dogs. Except after I ate the sirloin part I saw a video on how to make it into boneless ribs for the crock pot. That was a meal my mom made growing up. Country ribs, good barbeque sauce, crock pot all day. What’s left in the pot when you take the meat out is dipping sauce for tots. Speaking of pork, my mom used to cook a pork butt all day then use the drippings to make pork gravy over rice. Pork is too lean nowadays to do that. Hey, how did you know I grew up in the 70’s? ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2025, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-cheap-cuts-of-meat-we-can-buy-or-is-it-all-expensive/1016782/125 "2025-04-14T16:39:41Z")
> [@Dr\_Paprika](#): > > T&T is an Asian supermarket that became popular in Toronto and Vancouver. Loblaws, the biggest Canadian grocer, bought them out and has their products in other stores. Interesting! You learn something new every day! **[T&T is the brand of pork & vegetable potstickers](https://www.tntsupermarket.com/eng/51991401-tnt-pork-vegetable-potstickers.html)** that I buy all the time for making dim sum. I didn’t know that they were (and apparently still are) an Asian grocery store chain. I get them at Loblaws. IIRC, Loblaws used to have their own President’s Choice brand of frozen dumplings, and then they disappeared and these appeared instead. Now I understand why! ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2025, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-cheap-cuts-of-meat-we-can-buy-or-is-it-all-expensive/1016782/126 "2025-04-14T16:46:36Z")
> [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > $1.99 / lb for me. Cut it into 6 potions to split between me and the dogs. Wow, that’s a great price. For pork _tenderloin_, or for pork loin? [There is a difference](https://simplyhatfield.com/pork-loin-vs-pork-tenderloin-whats-the-difference/). If I found pork tenderloin for $1.99, I’d be buying in bulk and freezing it. > [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > Speaking of pork, my mom used to cook a pork butt all day then use the drippings to make pork gravy over rice. Pork is too lean nowadays to do that. That might be true of modern chop or tenderloin cuts, but pork butts still have plenty of fat. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2025, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-cheap-cuts-of-meat-we-can-buy-or-is-it-all-expensive/1016782/127 "2025-04-14T16:47:50Z")
> [@solost](#): > > That might be true of modern chop or tenderloin cuts, but pork butts still have plenty of fat. Not like they used too. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2025, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-cheap-cuts-of-meat-we-can-buy-or-is-it-all-expensive/1016782/128 "2025-04-14T17:03:29Z")
> [@solost](#): > > Wow, that’s a great price. For pork _tenderloin_, or for pork loin? Loin, has the fat cap ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2025, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-cheap-cuts-of-meat-we-can-buy-or-is-it-all-expensive/1016782/129 "2025-04-14T17:15:19Z")
Growing up in a Polish family, we would eat _flaki_ every so often, which is a tripe-forward soup spiced mainly with pepper and marjoram. It is one of my favorite soups (just like Mexican _menudo_ is), but I’ve never made it at home myself, as it tends to stink up the house. Mom always cooked it a couple of times to get most of the funk out of it. Tripe definitely has a flavor of its own, but pretty mild when cooked well. I have no issues with the texture – I don’t find it chewy at all. It’s almost like offal noodles to me. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2025, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-cheap-cuts-of-meat-we-can-buy-or-is-it-all-expensive/1016782/130 "2025-04-14T17:17:21Z")
Yeah, loin is quite different from tenderloin. Tenderloin has the texture and appearce of beef filet. Loin is more like sirloin or something like that. And while it’s true pork isn’t as fatty as it used to be, pork shoulder/butt still oozes out ungodly amounts of fat. I can’t even imagine what yesteryear’s pork butt must have been like. Ya know, pork tenderloin sounds like a good idea for inner today. I discovered my kids like it and, for me, it can be used just like you would filet mignon. I think I’ll put some nice Walkerswood jerk rub on my portion today. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2025, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-cheap-cuts-of-meat-we-can-buy-or-is-it-all-expensive/1016782/131 "2025-04-14T17:18:24Z")
I was thinking tenderloin because except for the fatty end and the fat cap, there is basically no intramuscular fat. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2025, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-cheap-cuts-of-meat-we-can-buy-or-is-it-all-expensive/1016782/132 "2025-04-14T17:19:19Z")
Sure, but if you poke a tenderloin vs a loin, you’ll very much feel the difference. Loin is much most stiff. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2025, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-cheap-cuts-of-meat-we-can-buy-or-is-it-all-expensive/1016782/133 "2025-04-14T17:29:25Z")
> [@LVBoPeep](#): > > You can’t go wrong for size and flavor with a bone-in pork shoulder roast. I got a 9+ pound one recently for just over $20, I used about 75% to make carnitas that will last about 7 meals plus a batch of enchiladas (some of it frozen for later use) and still had about a 2 pound loin-type piece I cut off to make a smaller roast another day. Chicken thighs are the next best bet- I can get 10 of them boneless/skinless for $10 or so and even less if I want them with the skin. Beef prices are terrible here. I’m about to go to the grocery to pickup one of these for $1.97 a pound. My wife has a method for coating it with a sugar-based glaze and cooking it for hours at low temperature. We get a meal, pulled pork sandwiches for another dinner, a tamale dinner, and plenty left for sandwiches. ---
**Author:** ![HoneyBadgerDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honeybadgerdc/32/1033_2.png) [@HoneyBadgerDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HoneyBadgerDC)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2025, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-cheap-cuts-of-meat-we-can-buy-or-is-it-all-expensive/1016782/134 "2025-04-14T17:36:12Z")
This was the main reason I bought a sous vide. I can buy large cheap round roasts and shoulder roasts. It makes them tender without falling apart. Not quite as tasty as the fattier cuts but still very good when seasoned. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2025, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-cheap-cuts-of-meat-we-can-buy-or-is-it-all-expensive/1016782/135 "2025-04-14T18:41:55Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Ya know, pork tenderloin sounds like a good idea for inner today. I discovered my kids like it and, for me, it can be used just like you would filet mignon. It tastes completely different. 🤷‍♀️ ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2025, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-cheap-cuts-of-meat-we-can-buy-or-is-it-all-expensive/1016782/136 "2025-04-14T18:47:17Z")
> [@Dr\_Paprika](#): > > T&T is an Asian supermarket that became popular in Toronto and Vancouver. Loblaws, the biggest Canadian grocer, bought them out and has their products in other stores. T&T is where I see chicken or pig feet for sale as well as my personal favourite: pig uterus. (Never tried it.) ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2025, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-cheap-cuts-of-meat-we-can-buy-or-is-it-all-expensive/1016782/137 "2025-04-14T18:59:13Z")
It does. I would similarly say pork shoulder can be used in most recipes that call for chicken thighs and vice versa (or beef chuck). I said nothing about how they taste. Of course different animals will taste different. ---
**Author:** ![BippityBoppityBoo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bippityboppityboo/32/5745_2.png) [@BippityBoppityBoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BippityBoppityBoo)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2025, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-cheap-cuts-of-meat-we-can-buy-or-is-it-all-expensive/1016782/138 "2025-04-14T19:08:33Z")
> [@Dr\_Paprika](#): > > I can stomach it, but washing it down with whiskey helps. ISWYDT ---
**Author:** ![Patx2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/73ab20/32.png) [@Patx2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patx2)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2025, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-cheap-cuts-of-meat-we-can-buy-or-is-it-all-expensive/1016782/139 "2025-04-14T22:50:52Z")
I just did a small pork tenderloin last week. I did it in the oven. It was a good price and came out great. ---
**Author:** ![LVBoPeep](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/858c86/32.png) [@LVBoPeep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LVBoPeep)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2025, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-cheap-cuts-of-meat-we-can-buy-or-is-it-all-expensive/1016782/140 "2025-04-15T00:18:34Z")
It is also the only kind of pork I feel is easy to make delicious- everything else is so dry if you don’t time it exactly right. Pork shoulder can take some abuse and still come out tender and flavorful. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-cheap-cuts-of-meat-we-can-buy-or-is-it-all-expensive/1016782.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-cheap-cuts-of-meat-we-can-buy-or-is-it-all-expensive/1016782.md?page=8)