Why is bacon so expensive these days?

[bbqgeekess]

It seems like it would be much more affordable to smoke ourselves assuming the pork belly cut isn't expensive. How can a cut of meat, predominantly fat, be that expensive? It seems like $1.50 a pound would be about right. Compare that to the $5 per pound they are fetching for bacon these days.

[YetiDave]

That's cheap. Even the basic, run of the mill bacon here is $4.50 for 0.6lb. Uncured belly I get for $2.80/lb and that's the cheapest I've ever seen it

[peeps]

It seems like it would be much more affordable to smoke ourselves assuming the pork belly cut isn't expensive. How can a cut of meat, predominantly fat, be that expensive? It seems like $1.50 a pound would be about right. Compare that to the $5 per pound they are fetching for bacon these days.I figured out how expensive it was about a month ago when I did bacon wrapped this, and bacon wrapped that for a party. I think I had more money spent in bacon than the 12 lb brisket and the 10 lb butt that were also cooking that I got on special!

[luke duke]

Because it's worth it.

[landarc]

Cured meats are expensive for a few reasons.

1. they are more labor intensive
2. they lose a lot of moisture during the curing process
3. they have more ingredient costs

The fact is though, that at a wholesale level, bacon is one of the least expensive items you can add to food, that has the cache of being an upgrade, so burgers, sauces, snacks, everything has bacon in it, and the people selling it know that. And they are charging more, because they know people will pay for it.

[Fwismoker]

3 words... homemade buckboard bacon

[grillinguy247]

There are some stores in southern California that sell it for like 7 or 8 bucks a pound. :crazy:
Costco is 4lbs for 10 bucks.

[Teleking]

Keep your eye out as some brands are dropping from 16 oz to 12 oz for the same price.

[YetiDave]

There are some stores in southern California that sell it for like 7 or 8 bucks a pound. :crazy:
Costco is 4lbs for 10 bucks.

Dry or wet cure? Wet cure can be done in a day through injecting meat, dry cure takes a week or more. Doesn't take much to see why some bacon is way more expensive than others

[sslak]

My butcher shop just put bacon on sale for $1.50/lb.

I'm seriously thinking about buying a chest freezer for the basement JUST for this bacon sale. The little box on top my fridge just isn't cutting it.

They have Butts on sale for 2.19/lb so seriously. I really need a chest freezer...

[Bludawg]

Whole pork loin 2.10 lb 12 lb loin = 4 lbs Canadian bacon,- 4 lb loin roast,- 4 lb double cut loin chops ( suitable for stuffing) If bought separately 4 lbs Canadian bacon 50.00,- 4 lb loin roast 22.00,- 4 lb double cut loin chops 32.00. savings 67.00 after my labor the cure & a roll of food saver bag material. My knife is sharp :biggrin1:

[Smok'n n Joke'n]

Pork Fat Rules... :thumb:

[Pigs on Fire]

It's like a toll to get out of New Jersey or New York.

Expensive, but worth it.

[LanceM88]

Because it's worth it.

HAHAHA Totally true!

[PatAttack]

Supply & Demand!

[Big George's BBQ]

Because peopple like it and are willing to pay for it Use to be that it was an insult to serve someone lobster in Main They use to throw the lobsters in the fiends if caught Now look at it

[Ackman]

Yea I pay $5-6 a pound for pork belly in the CT area, and then have to do all the work--however two things.....1) mine is much better than store bought and 2) I never look at the price in the store so I don't know any better :-o

[pitbossJB]

Bacon @ Costco here is $15.?? for 4#

[2dumb2kwit]

It's my fault. The price went crazy, when I started using a lot of it.

The same thing happened to the price of diesel fuel, back when I bought my first diesel pick-up.:icon_blush:

[pitbossJB]

Yeah, that happened the same week I bought my diesel, too!:sad:

[legendaryhog]

Personally, I think it is because of the damn foodnetwork and all these chit cooking shows that are driving up the cost of what used to be the cheaper cuts. They always talk about these "hidden" cuts, as if everyone was duped into buying cheaper cuts and slow cooking them, and now all the sudden they are the rage.

Everything comes with bacon on it now. It is getting kinda ridiculous. A pound of bacon shouldn't cost more than a pound of ribeye. Brisket is through the roof. Skirt steak! Farking skirt steak at 10 bucks a pound!!! What the chit! Damn you foodnetwork!!!! Damn you all!!! *head explodes*:evil:

[spinningwheel]

Another question: Why is 1 pound of 'thick' sliced bacon $7.50 and 1 pound of 'regular' sliced bacon $5.00? A pound is a pound is a pound in my math. :confused:

[early mornin' smokin']

Well, I make bacon. So I pay over $3/lb just for the raw belly. So traditional pricing would say if I was just cooking it, i'd sell it for $9/lb. However, it's being dry cured, air dried and smoked. So that drives the price up to around $12-15/lb. My bacon doesn't shrink when it's cooked because its dry cured, and hot smoked to a food safe temp 145ish. bacon shrinks due to water being injected. When I sell you a lb of bacon, you'll get at least 3/4lb worth of meat. No store bought bacon will live up to that.

[Mo-Dave]

I have been buying a 10 lb box of bacon, which cost between 1.50 and 1.80, depending if its on sale. I break in down into 1 lbs to freeze, these are not the ends and pieces, but are full bacon strips.

As has been said, bacon is in everything these days.
mayo
salt
air freshener
salad dressing
cologne
Candles
Many other items. I blame brisket, rib and butt prices on competition bbq contest. :laugh: I do make buckboard from time to time , but I prefer using it for seasoning other things.
Dave

[Wornslick]

Chicken wings use to be cheap too.

[Teleking]

Chicken wings use to be cheap too.

Yep Tyson flash frozen went from $1.15 / lbs to $2.49 in the last year and thats BJ's prices

[PaulieG]

It's because of the porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PED) it's a swine disease that was only in Europe and china but has infected swine in 15 states. It increased the price of pork bellies from $135 per 100 pounds to over $189.

[dport7]

Too bad "we" the end user's, take the hit for every little price increase by the industry
"They" turn the increase to us four fold, to keep profits high.

I went through that in the oil industry.

[Vision]

Probably because the current bacon fad.

[coastal]

it seems like it would be much more affordable to smoke ourselves assuming the pork belly cut isn't expensive. How can a cut of meat, predominantly fat, be that expensive? It seems like $1.50 a pound would be about right. Compare that to the $5 per pound they are fetching for bacon these days.

china

[swbill]

Bacon @ Costco here is $15.?? for 4#

Yep that's what I just paid at Costco in Michigan

[bbqgeekess]

As a substitute to bacon, I've been browning up leftover pork butt in some fat, making it crispy.. tastes really good :) I got a deal on pork butt the other day for only $1.40 a pound--yeah!

[popeye]

Supply & Demand!

you got it

[captndan]

Another question: Why is 1 pound of 'thick' sliced bacon $7.50 and 1 pound of 'regular' sliced bacon $5.00? A pound is a pound is a pound in my math. :confused:

For the same reason that pork belly is $3.29/lb. and packaged bacon is $2.50/lb. Who in their right mind would pay more for the really good stuff?

[aawa]

As a substitute to bacon, I've been browning up leftover pork butt in some fat, making it crispy.. tastes really good :) I got a deal on pork butt the other day for only $1.40 a pound--yeah!

Looks up buckboard bacon that you can make with pork butt. I think you would be pleased with how good of a substitute of bacon it is.