Anybody else been on a pork butt hiatus?
 

I love cooking....I love bbq..and more to the point I love pork bbq and a good pork bbq sammich(in NC its just called bbq sammich).

HOWEVER, over the last several months the price of untreated natural pork butts, even at Sams, has been no lower than $1.68/lb and has sit over $2+ for the most part. I refuse to pay those prices as it defeats the whole idea of bbq to me when I can by ribs for less per pound and brisket for 20 cents more per pound.


Well.....today my hiatus is over my friends!!! It may not be .99 a pound but I got two natural butts in the cryo for $1.28/lb. And lemme tell ya I'm excited.


But, it got me to thinkin'. Has anyone else been either going without pork butts or at least smoking other meats more often due to the prices being closer???





.......Oh and butts go on in the next couple days. Pics shall follow.:clap2:

I just took a hiatus by not cooking a butt last weekend. Gave me the shakes, so one is definitely going on this weekend.

Every time I fire up the smoker, I put in a butt. I stocked up on 99¢/lb butts, but I'm down to my last three. Need to find another sale!

Glad you got back on the wagon. Or is it fell back off the wagon?!?!

pork butts have been $0.99 to $1.29 for the past few years @ Wegmans (they lock in pricing) up here in the northeast. I can honestly say I get tired of pork. I love cooking it for others but will bypass it if beef is around.

Beef on the other hand is high priced in these parts

I buy shoulders, cheaper than butts and bigger.

Pork butt is what I smoke the most often. It's so much more affordable than brisket and ribs. I get tired of chicken fast so I haven't been doing them much lately.

I am going to buy a case of pork butts at sam's for $1.38/lb.

I use pork butt in place of bacon these days because bacon is INSANELY high. I just take leftover smoked pork but and fry it up good in the frying pan to a golden brown.

Not to highjack, but if you like bacon, check out a buckboard bacon recipe (made from a pork butt)

I went with out pp from mid 2011 until Dec 2012 because it was over 2.00lb I haven't bought ribs in a year and a half I refuse to pay 14.00 for a rack of spares. Butts where 1.98 lb last week so until. It goes on sale I'll have to suffer with Choice brisket for 1.85 lb.

I haven't had butt in a while either, but grabbed an 8 pound one for $1.49/lb the other day. It wen to the freezer, but at least it is there now if I want to do one quick. I have another in the freezer, but it is 13 pounds so it is waiting until I need a big one. Same thing with ribs... I have a bunch in the freezer, but haven't grabbed any replenishment stash because the prices are outrageous right now.

[Deleted as I got the maths wrong] :tape:

Now that you mention it recently everybody has been asking me for brisket & ribs so I bet it has been 2-3 months since I've cooked a butt. Even used up all my vacuum bagged stash from the freezer. Guess I'm gonna need to man up a just tell folks PP is next.

Butts have been on sale for a few weeks here in the $1.50/lb range. Prior to that, picnics were on sale for about 2 months straight at $1.00/lb for the tamale season. I bought at least 7 picnics during that time, and just picked up a nice 9lb butt for $1.47/lb yesterday.

Ribs on the other hand have been on the expensive side for anything decent at $2.98/lb for whole spares, and $2.97/lb for st louis cut spares. $3.99/lb for loin backs, and finally, about $3.79/lb for pork loin. I've been abstaining from my usual loin purchases because I can't find any decent prices for them. No good deals on pork sirloins or any other similar cut either.

The best most consistent deal I've seen lately is for pork brisket tips (trimmings from whole spares) at $1.77/lb, and these are pretty meaty. One cut of pork that is gaining popularity down here is called a Texas style pork ribeye steak. They appear to be slices off of a pork sirloin roast? These have been selling between $1.98, and $2.98/lb, and are all meat. They make a great hearty sammich simply pan fried, and tossed on a bun with some fixins.

Yeah it's been a few weeks. Having withdrawals, but cooking a few this weekend :grin:

Nope, I don't let price get in the way of smoking.

Kroger in Raleigh had them on sale for $0.99/lb last week. Costco here is usually not much higher.

I can find butts from $1.28 ~ $1.50/lb. at a couple of different places not far away. However, spares rarely get below $1.99/lb and I won't even consider baby backs, since they have been at or above $3/lb. locally. I stock up on cheap butts when I can find them and keep a few in the freezer, but I never go without them. Still my favorite pork to cook & eat.

Never seen brisket around here for less than $2.69/lb. for CAB/choice, so it is rare that I cook brisket, except for comps.

Gotta finagle an RD membership somehow. Last time I went, they made a copy of my DL & KCBS card, so I think they are on to me.