I’ve been getting bacon from Cash & Carry for a couple of years now. It used to be that a 6-pound package cost about $2.95/pound. Yesterday, it was $4.67/pound. Good bacon. Not too thick, not too thin, and not too much fat. But you know? Those flat-packs of bacon at the supermarket aren’t bad. Sure, I’d prefer more meat and less fat than some of them offer. Perfectly acceptable, though. Now I’m wondering how much supermarket bacon costs per pound. Maybe it’s cheaper to just buy it there?
Supermarket prices for bacon are fairly volatile within a range; pork bellies trade as a commodity like wheat and sugar, etc.
I shop at a privately-owned chain in the Boston area whose prices are lower than the publicly-traded companies that own the others, and I’d say the prices for the store’s own brand fluctuate between $2.49 and $3.69, every once in a while hitting $3.99.
I typically pay between $3.50 and $6.00 a pound around here. It’s common to see 2 for $6.99 sales, one pound by itself varies a lot. Recent reports are that the price will rise in the near future because of some hog disease reaching the US.
I buy butcher counter thick-sliced pepper bacon, cured by a local producer from a local hog farm. It runs about $4.60 a pound and is lean and excellent. I can buy cheaper bacon on sale at around $3.00/lb, but the quality really suffers.
I get high quality slab bacon at the butcher shop, typically between $4 and $5 a pound. I generally get it sliced to 1/4" thick or more. Most of my bacon purchases are for quick eating so I pick up Oscar Mayer or Boar’s Head at the grocery. The other packaged brands are so full of water and fat the effective cost ends up around $20 a pound for cooked bacon. The slab bacon has to be cooked slowly to keep it from getting tough or hard as a rock, and I have to make sure they aren’t slicing from an overly lean portion. But you can’t beat that flavor. If I wasn’t on a low-carb diet right now I’d be making me some caramelized bacon right now.
I’ve started curing and smoking my own bacon.
Very easy to do and you cannot beat the flavor.
Works out to $4-5/ Lb depending on what I pay for the pork bellies.
I just checked the fridge and the slab bacon at the Polish deli is $6/lb. I’ll have to check the store, but I’m a bit surprised that people are finding it for under $3/lb. I could swear that even the Oscar Meyer bacon is something like $5/lb at Target.
Hmmm - I’d have to look at the store - I know our area has Oscar Meyer - the stores around here have Hormel, Corn King, we have Farmland, and Boar’s Head and some other one off brands - I don’t recognize that name. I will look next time I’m shopping!
Totally agree - I will get any old brand that’s cheapest when I am cooking with it. I won’t spend money on “premium” priced bacon when it’s an ingredient. For BLT’s though, or for breakfast, we prefer Oscar Meyer. Which is why I stock up when I can.
I haven’t seen bacon under $5 in years. (ok, $4.89 a lb.). I do believe the price has gone, and is, going up. Even the no-name brands are only about a dollar less than Oscar Meyer.
I get “Dailey’s Hardwood Smoked Ends and Pieces” from the outlet place (we call it the “Used Food Store”). It comes in 3lb bags and is AWSOME! Runs about $7.00, so you do the math.
