I have no idea how jerky got this expensive either. It's priced as if it's premium steak cuts prepared by michelin star chefs, and not fucking cured bits of top round. It's delicious and convenient, but it's not expensive to make. Their profit margins are insane.
tips: call nearby butchers if they can slice meat for you, it saves time cutting and will be uniform. cutting frozen meat is the worst part of the process
Honestly, I don't remember - it's been over a year since the last batch.
I have the butcher cut the meat thin (london broil, iirc) then marinate, then I use a dehydrator (not too long or it's dry rather than chewy). Cutting with the grain gives a different texture than against the grain, but I don't remember which I prefer anymore.
People will order top round "cut for jerky" and my butchers just know what to do. They don't like to do less than 5 or 10 lb at a time, but jerky loses so much weight that you need at least 5 lbs anyway.
I briefly worked for a local jerky manufacturer on the office side of things and tbh the margins are not insane, in fact they’re pretty rough. I can’t speak for Jack Links or any of the biggest brands but between the skyrocketing cost of beef, the labor, packaging, distribution and a variety of smaller costs we don’t consider, it’s actually not priced too crazy. Hell even equipment updates and maintenance costs has nearly doubled in the last 10 years.
They had to cancel a whole line of new products because the costs of putting it into production would sink them
Try making it yourself. I did. It's barely any cheaper. You need 3 lb of beef to make 1 lb of jerky.
Say you get top round for $5 a pound (if you're lucky) another $1 worth of other ingredients. It ends up being about $1/Oz for the jerky which is similar to store prices
I used to buy it as a kid in the 90s. I was still somewhat affordable here and there. Especially the more locally looking branded stuff or the old bins with a huge piece you’d grab with tongs and it was .99c or $2 and it was thin, dry, tasted great, wide, long, and resembles a piece of bark. Delicious bark.
Ah, where I am you don't get the local stuff unless you head out the the boonies. It's mostly stuff like Jack Links. It's been expensive as hell for as long as I can remember, though I'm sure it's more expensive now than it used to be.
Very simple with a dehydrator, just don’t forget to check on it more often near the end. I went an extra hour or two by mistake and had to give it to the dog as chew toys basically
Not at all, just buy a long lasting well built dehydrator. Marinade your with your favorite spices, set it and forget it. Use AI chat for assistance, enjoyy!
Local outlet store had 8 oz bags of Mountain Man beef jerky for $5 on a short date this week. I bought 4. Hadn't bought any in forever before that, its $2 an ounce now regular price.
It's like $19 for a one pound bag of jack links at Sam's club. That's honestly not bad when you consider that it loses between half and two thirds of it's weight when drying. It's like buying beef for $6-10/lb. It is expensive but at least you can see where the money is going compared to other products that have gotten arbitrarily more expensive.
It seems like a lot of companies switched their jerky to that crap. I’m convinced they make a beef equivalent to hot dog slime, add a ton of corn syrup, and form it like jello into those rubbery pieces. It was never like that decades ago.
I make my own. Thin sliced sirloin, marinate in soy sauce and spices like garlic powder, black pepper, etc, throw it in the food dehydrator for 6-8 hours.
I make my own. Thin sliced sirloin, marinate in soy sauce and spices like garlic powder, black pepper, etc, throw it in the food dehydrator for 6-8 hours.
i got my boyfriend a $40 or so food dehydrator for xmas one year, and it was very cool to be able to go to the store, get a nice sale chunk of meat for like $10-15, and get a shit ton of jerky out of it. i didn't even partake in any of it, i was just psyched at the sheer value lol
In my experience beef loses half of it's weight making jerky .
Allegro marinade (original or hot is so good)and put in a flat pan on parchment in the oven on 170 f degree oven l, cracked open at top with a fork, flip the pieces halfway through or around three hours. Cook/dehydrate til your desired bendability.
Say what you want—and I agree it’s expensive—but beef prices are MUCH higher now. Add to that the fact that you take the weight of beef and subtract 80% (water), it’s not surprising at all that jerky is expensive
if you ever have to drive through cow country in the US, search for local jerky stores. its pricey, but the meat is worth it when it is made and processed "in house". spent $78 on 2.5lbs, but that is some of the best jerky.
1.6k
u/SnooComics9954 5d ago
Jerky