Have you noticed the lack of sale items on meat?

M

mariadnoca

Moderator
Beef seems crazy expensive nowadays, but I’ve noticed it’s not in sales flyers anymore. They used to be the lead item, but even for memorial bbq day, they didn’t even have hamburger meat and hot dogs on sale. I wonder if they are simply unwilling to list something like tri tip on sale for $40 bc those prices are so high they don’t want to print them?
 
Pork loin ribs are on BOGO sale this week, but since I don't cook them, I have no clue if this is a good price. This is BBQ country.
Screenshot 2026-05-24 at 12.28.45 PM.png
 
Even at Costco and Freshfield Farms, meat is expensive. We are lucky still to have a Winn-Dixie nearby, and they have sales on meat. Aldi also has good prices often, and they have things I can't buy at all anywhere else, namely lamb ribs, and enormous treat on the grill for former South Africans.
 
This is the front page of my local Safeway flyer. This was the only meat listed at all when back in normal times they have several choices. I have no idea what flanken style ribs are.IMG_6599.jpeg
 
lana-in-fl said:
Even at Costco and Freshfield Farms, meat is expensive. We are lucky still to have a Winn-Dixie nearby, and they have sales on meat. Aldi also has good prices often, and they have things I can't buy at all anywhere else, namely lamb ribs, and enormous treat on the grill for former South Africans.
Click to expand...
It is. I can’t walk the beef aisle and not even paying attention to cut, unless ground, I don’t see anything lower than $38. Some waaay over that. Also most of that is now choice cut vs prime. Even at Costco.
 
Flanken ribs are short ribs (beef) that have been cut ACROSS the bones, rather than lengthwise. Here is a good image:

1779753756328.png
It's used in korean barbeque a lot, but I found it annoying, because I've only ever used long "beef short ribs"
 
I just got back from visiting Lisa's family in San Diego, and as usual, I was shocked at the food prices. Wowza. Farmer John Bacon (12 oz., NOT EVEN A FULL POUND) on SALE at Albertsons for eight bucks a package. Unreal!

325 miles away, in Phoenix, we get FULL POUNDS of good bacon, albeit not name-brand, for $3.29 to $4.99 a package.

CHEESE. Forget it!

It's absolutely SICK.

As for beef, we have boneless chuck roast on sale at $6.99 per pound, so it's down from late last year, when it was $9.99 a pound on sale.
 
michael-in-phoenix said:
I just got back from visiting Lisa's family in San Diego, and as usual, I was shocked at the food prices. Wowza. Farmer John Bacon (12 oz., NOT EVEN A FULL POUND) on SALE at Albertsons for eight bucks a package. Unreal!

325 miles away, in Phoenix, we get FULL POUNDS of good bacon, albeit not name-brand, for $3.29 to $4.99 a package.

CHEESE. Forget it!

It's absolutely SICK.

As for beef, we have boneless chuck roast on sale at $6.99 per pound, so it's down from late last year, when it was $9.99 a pound on sale.
Click to expand...
Yes, it’s difficult to find a full pound of bacon anymore. My sister in SoCal and I just mentioned we both stocked up on no name ground beef on sale at $5.99 lb at grocery outlet (Not sure if they are only in California.)

On a side note, I splurged and bought a beef box (nothing fancy) that was to be delivered before memorial day and not only did it never arrive, the communication was a hot mess. They refunded my $250 and are sending a new box for free. So yay for small favors. (Turns out what they are sending includes those weird ribs I’d never heard of.)
 
speaking of bacon...I prefer Smithfield (Hatfield and Jimmy Dean have an off-taste to me these days).
To that end, I always wait for it to be a BOGO deal and then buy one package. Original 12 oz price is $6.57, so I got it for $3.30.
Screenshot 2026-05-26 at 7.53.56 PM.jpg
But check this out...this was one of the slices in the package:

IMG_1508 2.jpg

Now I KNOW this slice was added to make it a full 12 oz package and is probably a function of their slicing machine, but COM' ON! It's so thin I can READ THROUGH IT!

I cooked up the whole package and can eat one or two half slices each day. Today for breakfast, I pan-toasted a jalapeno-cheese slice of bread, smeared on guacamole, added sesame seeds and topped with a half slice of crispy bacon.

Dunkin Donut sells the same thing (but not as tasty) for $5.28. Note THEIR bacon is little bitty pieces, while mine is a double-thick slab of happiness.

Screenshot 2026-05-26 at 8.05.22 PM.png
IMG_1511.jpg
 
Last edited:
marilynfl said:
speaking of bacon...I prefer Smithfield (Hatfield and Jimmy Dean have an off-taste to me these days).
To that end, I always wait for it to be a BOGO deal and then buy one package. Original 12 oz price is $6.57, so I got it for $3.30.
View attachment 4110
But check this out...this was one of the slices in the package:

View attachment 4112

Now I KNOW this slice was added to make it a full 12 oz package and is probably a function of their slicing machine, but COM' ON! It's so thin I can READ THROUGH IT!

I cooked up the whole package and can eat one or two half slices each day. Today for breakfast, I pan-toasted a jalapeno-cheese slice of bread, smeared on guacamole, added sesame seeds and topped with a half slice of crispy bacon.

Dunkin Donut sells the same thing (but not as tasty) for $5.28. Note THEIR bacon is little bitty pieces, while mine is a double-thick slab of happiness.

View attachment 4116
Click to expand...
I haven’t seen a bogo on bacon in I don’t known when it’s been so long (if ever).

I don’t know if it’s true anymore, but there was a time you could buy “bacon ends”. The ends of slices packaged all in a wad. It was considerably less expensive than the nice long slices.

I did recently get a full pound pkg of Walmart brand bacon for $4.54. However, at Safeway Jimmy dean 12oz is $9.99 and farmer John 12 oz on sale is $8.99 (Marked down from $10.49). Hormel is $11.99 for a lb. Safeway is the main grocery store everywhere in NorCal. It’s considered on the expensive side, but WF and specialty independent grocers are more.

And as a whole NorCal prices are alway more than SoCal. Every time I visit family there and go to the store it’s at least 1/3 less If not more. I also don’t understand the Midwest getting strawberries as low as .99 (probably not anymore) but they sell for $4.99 here…and they are both Driscoll brand grown about 30 miles from me. No fair.
 
marilynfl said:
speaking of bacon...I prefer Smithfield (Hatfield and Jimmy Dean have an off-taste to me these days).
To that end, I always wait for it to be a BOGO deal and then buy one package. Original 12 oz price is $6.57, so I got it for $3.30.
View attachment 4110
But check this out...this was one of the slices in the package:

View attachment 4112

Now I KNOW this slice was added to make it a full 12 oz package and is probably a function of their slicing machine, but COM' ON! It's so thin I can READ THROUGH IT!

I cooked up the whole package and can eat one or two half slices each day. Today for breakfast, I pan-toasted a jalapeno-cheese slice of bread, smeared on guacamole, added sesame seeds and topped with a half slice of crispy bacon.

Dunkin Donut sells the same thing (but not as tasty) for $5.28. Note THEIR bacon is little bitty pieces, while mine is a double-thick slab of happiness.

View attachment 4116
View attachment 4118
Click to expand...
Shame on Smithfield selling sheer bacon. Naughty! 😲
 
Had to go in WM yesterday, I normally order all my groceries for pickup these days, and they didn’t even have ribeye steaks. Or pretty much any steaks, they had a super thin cut pack of I don’t know what steak, but nothing that says throw a steak on the grill worthy. In addition, most online sources (maybe in person too?) don’t say what grade it is. If anything it says choice. Nothing prime, not even at Costco. Is all our beef imported these days?
 
Here's my "meat" contribution for today. Publix is suddenly including the following poultry items under their own label:
  • chicken backs
  • chicken gizzards
  • chicken hearts
  • chicken livers
Now, the livers I get. But Publix already sold those produced/packaged by a separate company. And those containers were the only chicken offal parts they sold. I think this is an effort to package EVERYTHING for sale while they process the breasts, thighs, legs and wings since costs are rising so quickly. I was just surprised not to see chicken feet there somewhere.

And by the time I went back to take a photo, ALL of the chicken backs were sold. Oh...and they were $2.69/pound.
 
Last edited:
marilynfl said:
Here's my "meat" contribution for today. Publix is suddenly including the following poultry items under their own label:
  • chicken backs
  • chicken gizzards
  • chicken hearts
  • chicken livers
Now, the livers I get. But Publix already sold those produced/packaged by a separate company. And those containers were the only chicken offal parts they sold. I think this is an effort to package EVERYTHING for sale while they process the breasts, thighs, legs and wings since costs are rising so quickly. I was just surprised not to see chicken feet there somewhere.

And by the time I went back to take a photo, ALL of the chicken backs were sold. Oh...and they were $2.69/pound.
Click to expand...
way back, I had a friend who was feeding kids on a tiny budget. She bought gizzards regularly. I tried them once and didn't hate them. Livers are good, mixed with rice, curry, tomatoes, etc. Maybe the store are just trying to help out people trying to survive in a very costly world.
 
mariadnoca said:
Had to go in WM yesterday, I normally order all my groceries for pickup these days, and they didn’t even have ribeye steaks. Or pretty much any steaks, they had a super thin cut pack of I don’t know what steak, but nothing that says throw a steak on the grill worthy. In addition, most online sources (maybe in person too?) don’t say what grade it is. If anything it says choice. Nothing prime, not even at Costco. Is all our beef imported these days?
Click to expand...
Our Walmart has flank, ribeye, blade as well as a bit of the more expensive. It's all Canadian (well of course these days) but if I buy or were to buy (afford) a prime rib, or even a ribeye, it would be elsewhere; one big enough for 4 would be close to $100. That just very well may be why I don't buy them. I sometimes just stand and laugh when I see $80 on a roast.
 
Marg CDN said:
Our Walmart has flank, ribeye, blade as well as a bit of the more expensive. It's all Canadian (well of course these days) but if I buy or were to buy (afford) a prime rib, or even a ribeye, it would be elsewhere; one big enough for 4 would be close to $100. That just very well may be why I don't buy them. I sometimes just stand and laugh when I see $80 on a roast.
Click to expand...
Yes, I look but don’t buy. It seems the prices are crazy. Now I look just to see what they have. WM only had very very thinnest cut ones I’d ever seen (too thin to grill and call a steak), Safeway had them in a pkg of one (choice/$45) and Costco shows them online in a pkg of 3 (prime/$95.90) but when I saw them in person they were marked choice.
 
Here is our ad preview for the Kroger/Fry's markets. Prices go live tomorrow. Good deals!! Plus, check the top banner. If I shop tomorrow, the 3rd, I get an extra geezer discount of 10% on my entire order.

1780423919680.png
 
We used to have Fry’s market yrs ago. Safeway pretty much has a lock on the grocery chain market in NorCal. We have Trader Joe’s, grocery outlet, WM neighborhood grocery only, and Whole Foods too, but those don’t have everything like a true full size grocery store. We have a couple of small local chains w a couple of stores that lean Italian or produce. The only other big chain is Raley’s, but they are few and far between, more $ than Safeway. None have senior discounts. 😩 We are getting a new Asian mkt from Canada, T&T, but it’s not open yet. It’s weirdly going to be located in the middle of a mall.

i wish we had a winco. They carry a lot of bulk items and are employee owned. They are scattered throughout California, but not here in the local Bay Area.
 
michael-in-phoenix said:
Here is our ad preview for the Kroger/Fry's markets. Prices go live tomorrow. Good deals!! Plus, check the top banner. If I shop tomorrow, the 3rd, I get an extra geezer discount of 10% on my entire order.

View attachment 4127
Click to expand...
Yikes, those prices are unbelievable from where I sit. Chicken is $4 when it is on sale here.

I utilize geezer days (how I refer to them as well) extensively but have never seen them attached to food stores. In fact, I complain about discrimination when prices are 3 or 4 for some decent price, that singles and geezers have neither the room nor the need for a multitude of anything. And liquor stores....why can't we get a deal there?!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top