Meat Grading Info (started out as a price inquiry! LOL)

(Candy Lind) #1

I’m so red-faced asking this question, but I really don’t know! This sounds like a good deal. Is it?

(Chris) #2

Not great, not bad though either.

#3

That can depend on where you are. Prices on meat can vary from place to place. I’ve seen lower around here. I’ve seen higher. Compare it to some other store in your area to get an idea?

(Banting & Yudkin & Atkins & Eadeses & Cordain & Taubes & Volek & Naiman & Bikman ) #4

Decent. Not a must buy, but I’d compare to a whole choice strip loin and see what’s lower.

(Chris) #5

Currently cheaper than my Costco (or prices 2 weeks ago). But 7.99 was a pretty standard price the last few months.

#6

Interestingly, while I love costco for a lot of things, at least mine doesn’t seem to be lower priced in meats than my local grocery store (that isn’t considered the cheapest grocer either). I usually get my meat from the local grocer instead as a result, since then I don’t have to worry about going through costco portions before they go bad.

I’ve heard costco has better quality meat in general though. And I know for my area they tend to have a larger selection of prime cuts (which will be even more expensive), so there may be advantages to getting the similarly or higher priced costco stuff. I just don’t know for sure.

(Garry (Canada)) #7

It’s reasonable depending where you live.

This week our Walmart has AAA Black Angus prime rib roast $4.77/lb.
Should be lots of sales this weekend. Keep an eye on the flyers.

(Karl) #8

Indeed they do. They consistently have USDA grade A meat, and often have “Choice” (even higher grade than Grade A). Usually local restaurants snap up those inventories before your supermarket chains can get access to those grades.

Grade A is sometimes available at my local supermarkets, but more often than not I have to go to costco to get them, at least in the northern NJ/NYC metro area.

#9

I’ve honestly never seen anything lower than choice in any of the grocery stores around me (I’ve looked). I figured anything lower than Grade A was just stuff that fast food and catering places buy or for animal food.

(*Rusty* Instagram: @Rustyk61) #10

13.99 here in NE Oklahoma

(Doug) #11

Candy, I think it’s a good deal. Prices tend to rise for another 2 or 3 months, so in general now is a good time to buy, unless one waits until late summer.

RibPrices
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(Jay AM) #12

What is that graph from? It’s beautiful.

(Doug) #13

From this site:

If you hover your cursor over the part of the cow you’re interested in, you can click to see price trends.

#14

Compared to this it’s a good deal!

Can I have a 50g steak please? It’s all I can afford.

(Candy Lind) #15

:dizzy_face: :flushed:

(Carolus Holman) #16

I had 8oz (225g) of Japanese Waygu at “CUT” in Las Vegas last year. IT WAS AMAZING. Yes it cost a lot of money, we were celebrating a work victory and we could have anything on the menu. It was the only time I have had it, I could never buy it for myself, if you can try it DO IT! It should be on every Ketonauts bucket list!

#17

If you have a WinCo grocery store in your area they have prime rib for $4.88 per pound, as of right now.

#18

Like you I have tried genuine Waygu on the boss’ dime. It was about a quarter of the size of a slice of bread and 1/2 a centimeter thick (2 mouthfuls) and cost about $15. It was amazing. Like all the best flavours of the meat in a rich creamy texture. It didnt really feel like meat in the mouth, no chewiness at all.

They showed it to us before cooking and it wasnt marbled or streaked. It was evenly speckled. I’ve only seen meat like it in photos since. MSA grade 5-6 meat here is a bit of a luxury which I do a couple times a year. This stuff would have been grade 9+. For reference, most common supermarket meat here is not graded, but if it was would be 2-3 for the good stuff and grade 1 for the bulk packaged meat.

(Ken) #19

There appears to be a little misunderstanding about beef grading here. The letter designations such as “A” etc. have to do with maturity, or how old the animal was at time of slaughter. Grade A means the animal was between nine and 30 months old, a normal range for beef cattle. The following letters show older animals, typically breeder cows and bulls, which are usually used for hamburger. So, since normally beef cattle are less than 30 months when slaughtered, stores normally carry only Grade A beef. One exception could be the rolls of prepackaged hamburger, coming from specific plants who process only older animals. However, most of that goes to other food processing plants that use hamburger as an ingredient for their prosessed foods. If a seller emphasizes the Grade A aspect of their beef, I’d be highly suspect, as it could very well be used to distract from the real quality grade of the meat. The normal grades are Prime, Choice, Select, Standard, Commercial, Utility, Cutter, and Canner. You usually find Grade A Choice and Select in grocery stores.

There are even breakdowns within the individual Grades themselves.

https://meat.tamu.edu/beefgrading/

(Candy Lind) #20

I think the misunderstanding is that the grades in @Sunder’s post were not for US grading. But thanks for the info - I never can remember everything about grading here in the US, and only recently caught on that my local store is actually selling “Select” ribeyes for MORE than the “Choice” ones! :face_with_symbols_over_mouth: The main office got a note from me about that.