# What the heck...hamburger $3.77 a pound at walmart....



## illinoisguy (Sep 4, 2011)

What did I miss? I know a couple of months ago there was the "shortage" of pork...so that would go up. Beef ..ground beef through the roof and now supposedly chicken is going up.

Again, what did I miss?


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## Kristinemomof3 (Sep 17, 2012)

Drought out west.


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## elkhound (May 30, 2006)

3 years of drought and huge numbers of cattle were killed off.huge winter kill last year in early snow fall in dakotas. cattle the last 6 months here are $2 a pound at all local stockmarkets at that price you wont see cheap burger.

not to mention..fuel and production costs and transport cost..labor..health care for all involved...the list goes on and on.

we have 3 times the population we did in early 40's and now ots estimated we are at the same cattle numbers as then.that alone should say volumes or what is happening and will happen in the very near future.


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## terri9630 (Mar 12, 2012)

Man that's still cheaper than our sale prices. It's $3.99 for the cheap stuff here. $4.59 if I go to the local meat market.


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## haley1 (Aug 15, 2012)

Pink slime shortage


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## Harry Chickpea (Dec 19, 2008)

"Pink slime shortage"
That and the price of water is going up...


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## elkhound (May 30, 2006)

haley1 said:


> Pink slime shortage





Harry Chickpea said:


> "Pink slime shortage"
> That and the price of water is going up...



chemical prices are rising...lol....:spinsmiley: :sob:


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## thestartupman (Jul 25, 2010)

A government that keeps printing money, and a people that keeps their hands out for free handouts from the government.


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## TnAndy (Sep 15, 2005)

thestartupman said:


> A government that keeps printing money, and a people that keeps their hands out for free handouts from the government.



Yep.....that is a whole lot of it. Drought and low cattle numbers didn't cause this:












And wages, inflation adjusted, using the extremely 'conservative' CPI:

Down almost 7%











Meanwhile, the FED continues to print, mostly to bail out the banks:


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## donnam (Sep 27, 2005)

We bought 500 lb feeder calves for our family use and they were $2.00 a pound. I wonder what winter meat prices will be in the stores this year.


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## elkhound (May 30, 2006)

i agree tnandy...but both the value of dollar along with less product overall,higher fuel etc.(other numerous reason both in open and hidden).its a combination of the multiple items of it all combining that is driving it as a whole.we are so in trouble.

wonder how many remember..at least here..the day Katrina hit...fuel was $1.17 a gallon at my hometown exxon station...that was just in 2005...just a short 9 years ago.

as time goes on this time will be looked upon as a time of semi-hyperinflation.i use term semi as we are yet to see the type in Weimer/Zimbabwe....but i think we will as time goes on. 

people will lose their minds when that happens.


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## elkhound (May 30, 2006)

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going to store for a soda pop or a candy bar i bet.....just sad


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## elkhound (May 30, 2006)




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## MO_cows (Aug 14, 2010)

How did you miss it?? There was major drought in Texas, the number one beef producing state, in recent years. Then there was a historic drought pretty much nationwide in 2012. A lot of cows went to slaughter that were still able to produce, there just wasn't any feed for them. So the nation's cow herd is down to 1950's or 1960's levels, depending which ag journal you read. Feeder calves are bringing historically high prices. And beef production doesn't rebound overnight, it's a 3 year process minimum. And in the meantime, those extra heifers kept for breeding are not in the meat pipeline.


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## Calico Katie (Sep 12, 2003)

I live about 15 miles from a stockyard and when it's full, the wind carries the smell across the prairie. People around here joke about it and say, "Smells like money". It's been a long time since I smelled money.


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## Twobottom (Sep 29, 2013)

"The biggest hoax ever perpetrated on the people is that inflation is a natural and inevitable event, rather than a deliberate one" - Peter Schiff


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## paradox (Nov 19, 2012)

Absolutely agree with all those saying the economy is crap and our dollar is devalued. But the drought hit the nation hard enough that packing plants are closing because they cannot get cattle. I work in a company that uses rawhide to make a product and we are having a hell of a time getting hides. It's the perfect storm for rising meat prices.


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## Alice Kramden (Mar 26, 2008)

The price of beef, as in steaks or a roast, has increased to the point that I can now buy fresh lamb at a comparable price. Lamb used to be untouchably expensive. Beef is gaining on the price of fresh buffalo, also. 

The guy who cuts the grass raises hogs, and I am hoping I can buy some pork from him, when he next takes one to be processed. 

It is awful to walk by the meat case and see $20 and $30 steaks and roasts and know they will not sell. Shameful waste.


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## Ohio dreamer (Apr 6, 2006)

Check and see if you have a farm near that has it's own butcher shop. I get much better quality meat for quite a bit less then it is for in the grocery store. I bought bulk sausage for $2.59 a pound this morning......ground beef was 3.39 (didn't need any beef....just bought 1/2 a cow from them). That's about $1 a pound cheaper then I can get for the "pink slime" quality meat at the grocery (the "no slime" meat at the store around here is pushing $5 a pound), and the meat tastes SO MUCH better. It also doesn't have any preservatives in it.....they flat out tell you to use or freeze within 24 hours.....I like that!


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## lynnabyrd (Oct 15, 2007)

Around here it's $5/lb... for the 80/20.

The 93/7 is $6.50/lb.

It's insane.


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## terri9630 (Mar 12, 2012)

The stockyard here closed. Was as WM today and the 80/20 hamburger went up to $4.20lb. The 95/5 is $5.20lb, or whatever make up the super lean stuff is..


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## bigjon (Oct 2, 2013)

84%lean-local chain store-$2.68lb


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## Aintlifegrand (Jun 3, 2005)

Its around 4.50 here...3.99 was the last sale price but thats been a few months. We eat mostly ground goat and chicken.


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## wogglebug (May 22, 2004)

The BLM charges $125 to "adopt" a wild horse or burro. A bullet costs between 25c and $1. a burro has about 250# of meat, and is a traditional Native American food. A mustang has about 400# of meat.They are at least as good eating as deer and antelopes, and much better than mud-fat greasy desexed male feed-lot cattle. I'm sure an intelligent person could avoid paying $125 to establish a paper trail.

Lots of places feral hogs are totally uncontrolled; and while no-one may yet have noticed, I'm convinced there's lots of feral goats (equivalent of antelopes) around as well.


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## terri9630 (Mar 12, 2012)

bigjon said:


> 84%lean-local chain store-$2.68lb


Where on earth do you shop? We haven't had prices like that in.......well I can't even remember how long.


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## terri9630 (Mar 12, 2012)

wogglebug said:


> The BLM charges $125 to "adopt" a wild horse or burro. A bullet costs between 25c and $1. a burro has about 250# of meat, and is a traditional Native American food. A mustang has about 400# of meat.They are at least as good eating as deer and antelopes, and much better than mud-fat greasy desexed male feed-lot cattle. I'm sure an intelligent person could avoid paying $125 to establish a paper trail.
> 
> Lots of places feral hogs are totally uncontrolled; and while no-one may yet have noticed, I'm convinced there's lots of feral goats (equivalent of antelopes) around as well.



The adoptions aren't final for a year and during that year the BLM can do inspections to check on the animal at any time. You'd have issues.


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## TnAndy (Sep 15, 2005)

lynnabyrd said:


> Around here it's $5/lb... for the 80/20.
> 
> The 93/7 is $6.50/lb.
> 
> It's insane.



Wow....what do ribeye and T-bone steaks run ? I ask because we haven't bought beef in 10-12 years, and I never look at the meat area when we go to the store.

Last Thursday, we put one like this in the cooler, and will be cutting up and grinding the next couple days.


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## calliemoonbeam (Aug 7, 2007)

In my area, ground chuck 80/20 is $4.99 a pound on sale. I didn't notice prices on any other grinds. Interestingly, rib eyes were only $6.99 a pound when they have been running $8-9.99, and they weren't advertised as on sale. They averaged a pound apiece, in packages of two. I bought half a dozen packs and put them, singly wrapped, in the freezer. They'll make a nice splurge every now and then, and I may not see that price again.

I used to buy a lot of lunchmeat since it's just me, and sometimes I'd just have a sandwich and some fruit for dinner, but now it's running between $4.99 and $6.99 a pound! Even the cheapest hot dogs (I try to not think about what's in them, ROFL!) are over $2 a pound, and the good ones are $4+.

Never thought I'd see the day when hamburger, hot dogs and lunchmeat would be considered luxuries, lol!  My other go-to staple, tuna, has gotten outrageous over the past five years or so too. Sadly, though, I think we're going to look back on these prices as really good before it's all over.


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## margoC (Jul 26, 2007)

We've had droughts before. 

The weather is just the excuse because it's unpopular to imply that this current administrations policies and actions have ruined the economy. 

THe new normal gas price is 4 bucks a gallon or roundabout. We have turned down the ability to be less dependent on gas, so Canada is going to sell it elsewhere. We have a gas source right above us, yet we will be getting it third hand from overseas. 

You don't even want to know about the changes in health care. (I work in a hospital) or the shortages in some of our supplies we have now for unknown reasons. It's unprecedented. 


But go ahead and blame the weather.


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## margoC (Jul 26, 2007)

elkhound said:


> i agree tnandy...but both the value of dollar along with less product overall,higher fuel etc.(other numerous reason both in open and hidden).its a combination of the multiple items of it all combining that is driving it as a whole.we are so in trouble.
> 
> wonder how many remember..at least here..the day Katrina hit...fuel was $1.17 a gallon at my hometown exxon station...that was just in 2005...just a short 9 years ago.
> 
> ...


And yet there are people that still insist Obama "saved" us from a horrible economy. I have "friends" in California that have not worked in over 2 years. They deny there is inflation. They can't remember that they were doing really well before 2008. 

It's like they believe the chocolate rations have gone up. To them it's real.


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## Calico Katie (Sep 12, 2003)

margoC said:


> ... You don't even want to know about the changes in health care. (I work in a hospital) or the shortages in some of our supplies we have now for unknown reasons. It's unprecedented. ....


 My daughter is a nurse. Yes, it's unbelievable what is being done now. If you're one day over your 70th birthday, prepare to die.


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## bigjon (Oct 2, 2013)

terri,i'm in central ny.our local chain store is shurfine.their ALWAYS 2.99lb or under.just like last winter I paid $2.59 a gallon for propane.where most of the country got royally ripped off!


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## terri9630 (Mar 12, 2012)

bigjon said:


> terri,i'm in central ny.our local chain store is shurfine.their ALWAYS 2.99lb or under.just like last winter I paid $2.59 a gallon for propane.where most of the country got royally ripped off!


Our propane hasn't changed but grocery prices, especially meat have been going way up.


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## terri9630 (Mar 12, 2012)

margoC said:


> We've had droughts before.
> 
> The weather is just the excuse because it's unpopular to imply that this current administrations policies and actions have ruined the economy.
> 
> ...




I agree that policies are ruining the country. We've had gas prices hovering on the $4 mark for a couple of years now but the ranchers have been dealing with not just the high gas prices, but those prices causing hay and feed prices to go up. Higher feed prices would be tolerable if, like normal years, only feeder cows were being fed. With the severe drought making it next to impossible to graze and requiring that ranchers buy hay they wouldn't normally be buying, ranchers are selling all but their best breeding stock trying to survive. The feed I buy for our rabbits has doubled in the last year and hay for the goats has gone up by 50%. The economy has quite a bit to do with it but there are fields here not being planted because farmers are loosing money because of the drought. No water and the crops die. There are wells going dry around here so people are having to spend $$$ digging deeper ones.


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## haley1 (Aug 15, 2012)

One excuse like others have mentioned is the drought with less feed to give to cattle there should be less cattle thus less beef in stores to justify more cost, but coolers are still full of beef so is there really a shortage?

But on upside of inflation and lower wages, the average CEO pay has skyrocketed so not all is bad


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## BlackFeather (Jun 17, 2014)

Up here the chain grocery store has a month long sale for 2.99 a lb were trying to stock up and freeze some ahead, last month boneless, skinless chicken breast was 1.99 a lb for a month. Stocked up on that too. The meat is all predicted to go up.


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## terri9630 (Mar 12, 2012)

haley1 said:


> One excuse like others have mentioned is the drought with less feed to give to cattle there should be less cattle thus less beef in stores to justify more cost, but coolers are still full of beef so is there really a shortage?
> 
> But on upside of inflation and lower wages, the average CEO pay has skyrocketed so not all is bad



Maybe the coolers are full because its to expensive to buy. I know I'm not paying $5lb for hamburger or $14lb for a steak. Well be eating more chicken, turkeys and rabbit. All of which we raise. We'd have a calf outside if I could make myself pay for it. Just can't do it.


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## Shrek (May 1, 2002)

Although pork prices jumped, some types of pork haven't increased as bad yet. 

GF buys lean name brand strip bacon for at home use and a couple weeks back vented to me that the price of a one pound pack had almost doubled.

After I got divorced and retired within 6 weeks of each other I switched from using strip bacon with my breakfast to buying a 5 pound pack of seasoning bacon pieces and ends. At that time a one pound pack of strip bacon ran about $1.80 and the 5 pound pack was $4.

In 14 years the price of my 5 pound pack of pieces and ends has gone up to $6 but that is still better than $4 a pound that some name brand strip bacon is at.

All I do is keep the pack frozen and cut off three or four two inch slices with my ginzu knife to equal the bacon that would be in a strip and most times when I fry the sliced frozen pieces, they hold together unless I intentionally break them up to mix into the scrambled eggs omelet style.

When she asked me why my choice of bacon hasn't gone up as much as hers , I said all I could guess is more folks like a few nice looking strips beside their eggs instead of bite sized floor sweeping cuts :shrug:


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## terri9630 (Mar 12, 2012)

Those bacon ends and pieces are $9 here.


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## DryHeat (Nov 11, 2010)

This is a financial futures site, but it includes a lot of commodity prices: http://finviz.com/futures.ashx If, for example, you click on the square for "feeder cattle" a graph for daily prices comes up going back over a year, where you can click to switch it to weekly going back farther, or hourly for very recent price moves. Feeder cattle show a gradual, then recently accelerating, price rise of 60% over the past year, though there's been a modest downward move very recently. I find looking over various futures for pork, beef, grains, sugar, lumber, and such, occasionally can give a heads-up that the present might, or might NOT, be a good time to do some stocking up in various areas. Soybean prices have dropped around 25% over the last six weeks, for example, I suppose reflecting good harvest predictions; coffee is down 25% over the last three months, but still up 30% from where it was six months ago.


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## TripleD (Feb 12, 2011)

My local IGA just put 80/20 on sale in the large packs for $2.38 per pound.


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## Calico Katie (Sep 12, 2003)

A small grocery store near me has put bacon on sale this week for $2.50 a pound. I don't even remember when I last saw it that cheap. I'll be stocking up!


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## Cancer_survivor (Aug 7, 2012)

My local grocery store had hamburgerfor $2.49 #. I got a ccouple big packs. They Had Bacon last week For 2.50# I bought 10 #


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## unregistered353870 (Jan 16, 2013)

wogglebug said:


> The BLM charges $125 to "adopt" a wild horse or burro. A bullet costs between 25c and $1. a burro has about 250# of meat, and is a traditional Native American food. A mustang has about 400# of meat.They are at least as good eating as deer and antelopes, and much better than mud-fat greasy desexed male feed-lot cattle. I'm sure an intelligent person could avoid paying $125 to establish a paper trail.
> 
> Lots of places feral hogs are totally uncontrolled; and while no-one may yet have noticed, I'm convinced there's lots of feral goats (equivalent of antelopes) around as well.





terri9630 said:


> The adoptions aren't final for a year and during that year the BLM can do inspections to check on the animal at any time. You'd have issues.


Yeah, BLM adoption is not the way to go about it, but the general idea is good. Those who will eat what others won't are a step ahead when it comes to food prices skyrocketing.


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## logbuilder (Jan 31, 2006)

TripleD said:


> My local IGA just put 80/20 on sale in the large packs for $2.38 per pound.


My local store is an IGA too. Real small town and they are the only grocery store. But they have great sales. I watch the circulars and get ground beef always below $3 for either 80/20 or 85/15. I bring home and freeze in food saver bags. BS chicken breasts for $1.99/lb. BS thighs for just over $2. BB ribs for $2.99/lb. Those are the sale prices that I usually get. I don't get my steaks there. They are ungraded and tend to be less tender than most but they are good prices.

Generally my strategy is that I buy only on sale and immediately freeze. Some stores print how much you saved. I get real happy when I hit my target of 50% savings.


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## scooter (Mar 31, 2008)

Yesterday at Sam's, hamburger 90/10 was 3.18 a lb. That's a good price around here.


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## Terri in WV (May 10, 2002)

The Sam's nearer me usually always has the 80/20 for $2.98, 90/10 for $3.18, the BS breasts and thighs for $1.98 and $2.18 and pork loin for $1.89. The prices fluctuate very little. 

I have noticed that their case price on meat has gone up though. Not long ago I could get BSCB for $1.65# case price and yesterday it was $1.85# and the burger was the same price for case as the single packs. Maybe after grilling season it'll drop some. Hey, I can dream...


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## TnAndy (Sep 15, 2005)

Cutting up our steer over the last few days.....ended up with about 200lbs of hamburger, bunch of steaks, roasts, etc, and even 55 quarts of canned trimmings for the dogs.


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## terri9630 (Mar 12, 2012)

Yum!!


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## Wendy (May 10, 2002)

We just had a small beef all ground into burger. It ended up costing $2.82 per pound. I like knowing where my food has come from.


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## Smallhomestead (Feb 25, 2011)

Ground beef here is 2.69 ground chuck is 2.99 to 3.89 if you like fat it can be cheap if not you have to shop around


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## Esteban29304 (Apr 29, 2003)

I buy most of my groceries at a " bent & dent store ," & a " Sav-A-Lot." The bent & dent store has been having fresh ground turkey for $1.99/lb. & their 80/20 ground beef at $2.85. Turkey it is !!


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## Dixie Bee Acres (Jul 22, 2013)

With prices of meat what they are now, and what they will likely be in the next year or so, I am so very glad i was able to start raising pigs this year. I raise chickens as well, and did have turkeys.
I don't really have the space to raise beef, so we are lacking there, but venison is a good substitute. We have gone through almost all of what I got last fall, so the freezer is looking quite empty right now.
I shot 3 deer last year, hope to do the same or better this year, and this year any venison will last longer because of the pork we are currently feeding out.
But still, I need to get things in place and get a few rabbits, and by spring, the plan is to be set up for a trio of goats or sheep.


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## wogglebug (May 22, 2004)

Don't forget that goats are close relatives of antelopes. If you like deer you'll likely like antelope, and if you like lean dark antelope you'll likely like lean dark goat (except of course for stinky billies - they need castration and half a year for the bodies to get rid of stinky billy urine smell). Goat meat isn't near as fussy as venison though - none of this picking around scent glands and siverskin - just drop'em and chop'em. You don't get the huge rush of slaghtering a beef either. You process everything one goat-worth at a time. You also don't risk losing everything all at once, either in the field or in the freezer or in between.


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