Brisket Prices

Summer prices are always higher. It'll drop back to $2 and change for prime grade during the winter months.

Shadowdog500 said:

How do you find out the kill date???

Thanks!!

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If you shop the inventory in the walk-in (not the meat case), all meats are un-labeled and still in the cases which have the pack date/kill date on the ends of the boxes... once you pick out what you want.... then they get an official weight and print a label with the price. Since the meat is now officially out of their control (the walk-in cooler) the label shows a "use by" date. So, this brisket was packed on 7-6-19 and they will sell from that case for several weeks, but I bought it the morning of 7-18-19, so the "use by" date automatically said 7-20-19. Now here is where it gets creative, we wanted our test cook the second week of August and I wanted a 20 to 30 day wet aged brisket, so first I asked about the box dates then asked to see some briskets from that case because of the time frame. In reality, they actually wet aged those briskets for 12 days under ideal conditions, then I'm going to continue to wet age it until 8-7 or 8-8-19 in my beer fridge.

This seems like a long process, but actually I rang the buzzer and said "I want to wet age a prime brisket, what do you have in back with a box date in the last two weeks?". Five minutes later the meatcutter brought out 3 for me to pick from and said the case was dated 7-6-19.

Jbowie said:

What's up with the Ground Beef label on the brisket

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It was a label mistake I didn't even notice until I was replying to this thread today. The meatcutter helping me was familiar with dry aging, but visited with me for 10 or 15 minutes about wet aging and about cooking briskets in general. When he went to print the label I needed he must have selected the wrong item (the ground beef) so the wrong price was printed and the short "use by" date which was for ground beef. Had he printed a brisket label the use by date would have been 7 or 8 days out.

Here in eastern NC :

Sam's Club -- Choice : $3.19/Lb
Sam's Club -- Prime : $3.68/Lb
Restaurant Depot (Cary, NC) -- Choice : $3.40/Lb (if you buy over 50Lbs down to $3.09/Lb)

Best I recall-Last 4 I’ve bought have been USDA Choice $1.88
They go on sale every 4-6 weeks here.

In NJ prices are in the $6 range....if having company over and brisket and ribs are on the menu, almost have to take a loan out. LOL

@RonL, I need to come up to the Chi and pick up some brisket! Those prices are awesome.

I picked up a couple of full packers at Costco Business Center (Hayward, CA) at $2.99/lb over the weekend for Choice grade. Normal Costcos in the area have had Prime packers at $3.89/lb.

Loving this thread, I think this is a very interesting discussion

Costco Prime briskets have been $3.99/lb for the last several months here in Atlanta.

unreal41683 said:

Costco Prime briskets have been $3.99/lb for the last several months here in Atlanta.

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In Chicago it's about the same @ Costco, maybe 10-20 cents less.

2.96/lb for select at Wally World south of Detroit.

Just left Sam's NW Texas.
Prime 3.50
Select 2.88
No Choice out --didn't look for Bin sticker

Checked Costco $7.XX for choice. I think we get screwed here all the time.

Western NY

Choice: $3.19/lb
CAB: $3.59/lb

Prime @ Chicago Costco, $3.99

Eastern Iowa -

$2.97 at Wal-Mart
$3.99 at Fareway grocery store - Choice - On sale this week.

halfcocked said:

Checked Costco $7.XX for choice. I think we get screwed here all the time.

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That’s for a flat only. Knock on the window and ask a butcher for a full packer.

In SC Wally World has select for $2.96

Brisket in NJ is hit or miss. Cosco had packers on sale for a decent price for a brief period, but flats are the norm here.

There is no way I'm going to pay near or more than triple digits for a brisket.

I'll find other meats to smoke.