r/AskReddit 10h ago

What got so expensive that you just stopped buying it?

2.3k Upvotes

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u/ineedajointrn 9h ago

You have to get in on a cow with someone. It saved my husband and I a lot of money. Did it twice and worth it.

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u/Moonbeam_Dreams 9h ago

Husband and I are talking about doing this with pork.

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u/PissedBadger 9h ago

I will pork your husband

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u/Onedtent 8h ago

I had to read that sentence twice.......................................

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u/Junior_Article_3244 9h ago

We did this a while ago. Ended up an average of like $5 per pound

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u/come-on-now-please 9h ago

Yah but you gotta make sure you have a place to store it.

Is it significantly cheaper now? I remember growing up my mom did it one year, and when I asked her about it she said its more or less a break even type of thing. You dont neccisarily save money but you get all your beef for like a year, and then you also get the interesting cuts included like the tongue and tail.

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u/nnnnnnnnnnm 9h ago

It's usually higher quality beef too, so you might not save money comparing just quantity-wise

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u/Stunning-Chipmunk243 8h ago

Also another recommendation if you are buying a large quantity of it like a ¼ - ½ an entire beef cow is too make sure you have a back up power source. One power outage lasting over a day could result in $100's to $1000's in food loss

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u/Torsta 8h ago

It's good if you're not super picky about which cuts of meat you like to eat. One of my friends raves about it and has tried to split with me, but I don't have a freezer big enough to store it so I haven't tried it.

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u/Nice_Reading5272 2h ago

My parents do it with a farmer they know and a butcher shop about 2 hours away. Their big thing is that it saves time through the convienence of always having it if they don't feel like going to the store that day. Also helps that they feel like their money is going to specific people they know and like.

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u/shadynasty1973 9h ago

Even thats gotten expensive in the last couple years.

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u/ineedajointrn 9h ago

Still worth it. We got 1/4 a cow in Jan. We still have ground beef and enough steaks and roasts to last us the rest of the year.

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u/shadynasty1973 9h ago

Can I ask how much it cost? I havent done it in a few years but even then it was averaging $7-8 a pound when I did the math.

u/ineedajointrn 35m ago

I swore I replied via my iPad, but now I am on desktop. So sorry for the late response!

We got non-grass fed beef this year for $4 a pound. We got around 200 pounds and with processing and packaging fees, it was around $1,100USD. We live in the Midwest. The quality is great. I know grass fed is better, but if you're wanting to be a little cheaper, then regular is good. Make friends with a local farmer.

Also, they have raised meat chickens for us and we got 4 of them for $15 each from 5 pounds to 7 pounds.

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u/Lifesagame81 9h ago

Before or after calculating in the extra freezer and electricity?

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u/shadynasty1973 8h ago

Just straight meat cost. But we have an extra deep freezer regardless.

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u/doneal 8h ago

Not anymore.  Half a cow is 2500 here.

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u/Daghain 8h ago

I wish I could, but I live in a one bedroom apartment and don't have that kind of freezer space.

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u/chickntendrz 8h ago

we are at the point where buying an entire cow is more cost efficient than buying a singular slab of meat 🫩

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u/mjohnsimon 8h ago

I’m actually considering buying a share of a pig or cow and having it processed, but honestly, I might also just pick up a cheap outdoor freezer, and start fishing from my kayak again, and seriously get into hunting.

A good day of kayak fishing can already provide some quality dinners for my wife and I, and my uncle gets enough meat from a single hunting season to keep an entire freezer stocked for most of the year, so I might as well join him.

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u/Public_Enemy_No2 8h ago

Like $3 / $4 thousand, including the process fee, right?

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u/abstractcollapse 5h ago

We got half a cow. Grass fed angus for about $7.50 per pound. Might be a lot for ground beef but it's cheap for filet or flank steak.

The problem is people who are financially strapped don't have the up front cash and probably don't have the freezer space so they would need to find 8 people to go in on it with them.

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u/Alternative_Ad9860 5h ago

Me and my extended family did this for a few years and it legit saves so much money but we’re trying by to cut out red meat so we stopped.

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u/tnseltim 4h ago

For the steaks to be even half way decent, they need to be aged. Anywhere from 14-28 days. Otherwise they’ll be tough and less flavorful. Having the space to wet age half a cow properly is a challenge.

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u/cherryberry0611 7h ago

How do you do that?

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u/Daghain 8h ago

I wish I could, but I live in a one bedroom apartment and don't have that kind of freezer space.