I blew a friends mind one lunch when we stopped at the store to get dog food - by pointing out the giant bag of frozen boneless skinless chicken breasts was cheaper per pound than the dog food.
10 piece boneless wings at my nearest chain sports bar type restaurant now costs $16.99. They have specials on Wednesdays where you can buy 10 get 10 free (with beverage purchase). In 2022 it was $12.99 for the same. In 2021 and 2020 it was $8.99. In 2019 it was $6.99. All pre-tax and pre-tip, of course. Only four years difference, and I don't think chicken shortages were the cause.
> but that also applies to the rotisserie chickens ($5/3lb vs grocery stores at 2lb).
It's a common myth that rotisserie chickens are cheaper than frozen. If you do the math you'll find that rotisserie chickens are slightly more expensive.
My record for chicken is $.35/lb for chicken drumsticks. It was however from a wholesale store and came in a 40lb box. To me that's more frightening than anything. Like how is that chicken so cheap...
Surely price is comparative? If you only earn $10 a week then $10 for a chicken is expensive, but if you earn $1000 a week then that chicken is pretty cheap.
> Where are you buying your protein for $3 per pound?
That's easily doable, at least here in the southern US. I regularly buy $10/3lb of chicken tenderloins. You can do much better if you're prepared to buy in bulk. Of course, venison is cheapest, if you're willing to kill it yourself/eat fresh roadkill/get the excess from hunting friends. ;)
Catfish runs about the same here as chicken, but tilapia can be had for super cheap. Of course, that's another one you can get for almost free after the investment of a fishing rod and a weekend.
Your egg prices are insane. I can buy 60-packs of eggs for $8.72.
As I said, I usually buy what's on sale (it really is a good way to keep up variety). When chicken breast is on sale it's usually pretty good, in the $2-3.50/lb range which is about half off. Whole chicken is almost always economical. That said, there are a lot of other cuts of meat (pork chops, roasts, etc). After the holidays you'll be able to pick up turkey and ham really cheap. I got a ham last year and threw a party, it was ridiculously cheap and delicious. It's all about being flexible, if you're alright with going with the flow you can get away with spending much less than you'd think.
It's a fun challenge for me and I've come up with some fun recipes as a result. That said, I do splurge where it counts--good quality olive oil, parmesan, fresh herbs, etc. At the end of the day I'm in it for a tasty meal, not a cheap meal.
I just bought 2 chicken breasts. Price on the package was Canadian $7.50. So say US $6 (guaranteed to be more in SF). That for me, was 2 meals for one, though obviously nice meals (the vegetables, spices, rice probably increased the price of each dinner to about $7-$8 US). So basically I just spent 1.5 days of my budget on 1 meal.
I have several friends who claim to be socially and environmentally conscious but still get sucked in by the cheap baked chickens at the grocery store.
It's $5-6 bucks, seasoned, cooked, in a plastic container. You know there's no way that's a fair price, right?
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