I can’t be the only one to have read/seen this NPR piece on controlling the cost of the Thanksgiving meal and thought it read like early-seventies Pravda, can I?
The article concocts “replacements” for the main components of the traditional Thanksgiving dinner:
Turkey is by far the most expensive thing on the table. Turkey prices have risen about 50% in the last two years, largely because of production slowdowns and an outbreak of avian flu [and, of course, trillions of dollars poured into the economy – a fact NPR goes to great lengths to avoid talking about. Ed]. On average, a 16-pound bird will run you $28.96 and stuffing (prices are up about 70%) will run you $3.88.
NPR Global Economics Correspondent Stacey Vanek Smith decided she would stick with meat for the main dish (many vegetarian options are cheaper), even though that’s not easy. Meat prices have risen significantly across the board: Beef, chicken, fish and even Spam are all pricey. So Stacey opted for pork. Specifically: bacon.
Stacey’s local grocery store was selling family packs of bacon for just $4 apiece. And, of course, a little bacon goes a long way.
Instead of stuffing, Stacey sliced some tomatoes — a relative bargain that she hoped could be put to use with leftovers to create a new holiday tradition: The Thanksgiving BLT.
The worse news: it’s not the their worst idea.
They took a photo – and I swear, this is not a Babylon Bee spoof:
This article alone could be a Casus Belli for a second civil war.
Yea, a few outlets were touting eating bugs, using cricket flour, making salads from weeds and substituting tofu for turkey. When I see these same hypocrites eating that stuff, I might give their stories credibility.
The economy is weird, for sure. I’ve avoided bacon over the last few years because it had gotten expensive. Recently I’ve been getting a lot of bacon because it’s suddenly on sale almost every week. Meanwhile, eggs have gotten as expensive as bacon used to be. This actually works in my favor because I’m on keto and all of that bacon grease is good for me.
DaveInPittsburgh;
Yup, I’ve noticed that, too. We love bacon in our house. I’ve been buying my beef, pork, (including ham and bacon), occasionally chicken, eggs and in season produce from Minnesota farmers. Overall, it’s much fresher and cheaper than store bought, especially when I can buy a whole steer and hog, then split them with my 3 siblings. It also saves the farmer costs of handling those animals. The only issue is that not many farmers are certified as processors, so they refer that to local meat markets. So far though, it’s been working for me.
We have our Strategic Bacon Reserve (SBR). When we get low on it or bacon is on sale, we’ll pick up 3 pounds of it. I section it out -4 pieces a section, wrap the sections in cling wrap, then place in a large freezer bag and freeze the sections. Easy to take out what we need. And we save the bacon grease. An aside, i was making bacon at my daughter’s house and asked her if she saved the grease, she looked at me like I was nuts and said ‘No’. So kids don’t do that sort of thing anymore.
So there has never been an outbreak of avian flu before?
When you follow the link in the MPR story, it explains that Turkey costs are higher because of high diesel prices and high feed costs.
Virtually al of the incredible food cost inflation we have seen since January 2021 are a direct result of Biden administration policies.
-Massive injection of dollars into the economy
-discouraging the exploitation of fossil fuels
-Chaotic Afghan withdrawal and mixed messaging from the Biden administration that encouraged Putin to invade Ukraine.
You eliminate those unforced errors and you would have food inflation close to to what it has been historically, 2% – 3%, instead of the 25% or so that we are seeing now.
Bettyboop, when I make a pot roast I start by frying slices of bacon. I sear the roast & veggies in the bacon grease before they go into the slow cooker along with the crumbled bacon.
BH, hiring an FDA certified processor takes a lot of the savings out of farm sourced meat. if you and your siblings really want to save money, and have a suitable place to do it, buying a live animal and processing it yourself is the way to go. Farmers might let you kill the animal on site and haul it off, too.
We raised a 2 hogs last year, at our soon to be sold Extremist Compound™️. We invite a few fellow extremists to come help with the processing, and share the meat with them. We make an event of it, with a big sit down dinner after were done.
Now that we’re moving the compound HQ to new land, and selling the city house to live there full time, things will expand. Our new neighbors have horses, and a large pasture (3/4 of our property is heavily wooded, and sloped as you get down to the lake). Miss neighbor says we can pasture a cow, if I get her an Emu. Don’t ask me why, the woman just wants an Emu.
We’ll also keep hogs, and rabbits; they don’t mind the shade of our woods.
Next year, after the dust of construction has settled, I’m going to purchase a sanitary meat band saw, which will make the job of food processing go much faster. Also gonna have a genuine smoke house.
Normally, all tolled raising your own meat really doesn’t save a guy much $; especially if you consider caring for animals work. But you can’t put a price on having control over what you eat, as well as a guaranteed supply.
*USDA not FDA
Man, there’s something about that picture that really angers me.
its not that we could get by cheaper
we know we could
its that we shouldnt have to
Regarding USDA regulations, my uncle used to own a small town butcher shop/meat locker, and he looked into the costs that would be involved. As I remember things, the biggest hitter would have been paving the parking lot, which was to go into the tens of thousands of dollars. Not quite sure what paving the parking lot would have done for food safety, to put it mildly. And a lot of the inspections–basically a sniff test–are about the least ineffective possible way of ensuring food safety. But they do make food more expensive while cheating farmers, which may be the goal.
My favorite example of “savings” was using baby food instead of butter. Um, these guys are apparently completely unaware of a whole range of oils and solid fats that can be used? Really?
Maybe I’m just weird, but having been a cook since I was six, and having learned things like “how to bake bread from scratch” and “how to work with dry beans”, the substitutions they’re making are just hilarious to me. Even these days, I’m able to eat pretty well with a kitchen budget that isn’t much more than they recommend with SNAP/food stamps.
Blade;
Funny you mentioned making a hog processing an event.
When I was a kid, we used to go to my uncle’s farm. He raised chickens, ducks and a couple of dairy cows. His brother’s farm, was across the road and he raised a few hogs and beef cattle. They both grew corn and soy beans. For years, after the grain harvest, they processed two or three hogs and a couple of steers. That was a family event, too. By the time I was old enough to participate in much of anything, they were no longer doing it, for a variety of reasons. His brother stopped raising the hogs and cattle.
my son has two deer hanging in the garage right now
there is a butchering party this weekend
nobody thinks twice about it
did pheasants and grouse earlier in the fall
but home butchering a steer or a hog or a chicken
omg what kind of savages are you
funny when you think about it
^ Depends where you live, big guy. Out here, for many, that deer carcass is part of the food “budget” for the coming year. Squirrel and rabbit can make a meal – and, oh my goodness, the turkeys.
… oh, sorry, and butchering steers, hogs and chickens is performed as well. This year’s Thanksgiving turkey was a meat turkey butchered a few weeks ago.
Did you know that those meat turkeys are so effed up genetically that it could be considered animal cruelty to *not* butcher them? Their bones can’t handle the muscle weight.
Butchering isn’t something one does in a suburban garage, Bigman (unless you’re a 75IQ Somali, probably). If you’d have ever butchered a hog, you’d know when you open the belly, the smell would bring a HazMat team and the squealing would bring a SWAT team.
Cows are a lot bigger, but actually easier to process; no scalding and scraping for one thing.
Funny chicken story. I went to visit my buddy one evening, back in Cowboy California (which no longer exists), and smelled something good. I ask his ma “what’s for dinner?” She says “Fried chicken. If you want some, go get ya one out back, but be quick ’cause I’m not heating this oil up again just for you.”
So I did!
Speaking of 75IQ Somalis, the Strib says y’all (that’s right, golfdoc. I said y’all, lol) just got a fresh batch:
They pledged allegiance to the flag for the first time as U.S. citizens
“Nearly 2,000 immigrants became naturalized citizens Tuesday in St. Paul”
From the pictures, it looks like most are from Mogadishu, but the story says some are from Ghana…for diversity, I guess. MSP is gonna have to do another expansion to provide more walls for all those new porters to lean against all day.
The comments tell the story. 99% are reprobates cheering and suggesting y’all (there I go again; cope) need more, with a few Patriots™ chiming in with “weeell, so long as they’re legal, OK then”.
I’ve heard that the muzzy call to prayer is blasted out across Minneapolis 5 times a day…is that true?
Blade, it’s OK for you to say “y’all” because you live in the South. My beef is with people who culturally appropriate the word. Mitch I’m glad you listen to NPR for people like me. The photo is a hoot. Why are those two hamsters still wearing masks?
Because they are hamsters, doc. Human forms with mental capacity no more than a hamster. With apologies to hamsters everywhere, of course.
On a side note related to comments from yesterday, if you live in the metro area, Lund’s Byerly’s annual bake sale, started yesterday. They have a dozen eggs for $1.99 if you are one of their Extras members. A pound of Crystal Farms butter is $2.99. My wife and I are both Extras members, so we are stocking up. There is a limit of 1 per day.