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Original poster

Why are traditional "cheap" foods costing more than premium ?

43 replies

eldersis · 21/01/2023 01:07

I am angry and confused as to why historically cheaper cuts of meat are suddenly more expensive than the prime cuts,

Pork is my biggest red flag. I undesrstand all feed and rearing costs have risen but a pig is a pig, it only has so much meat, How come streaky bacon now costs double the price of middle ? How come belly pork is double the price of loin?

Beef mince is cheaper than the pork and beef mince mix that I have bought for decades.

I think that supermarkets are relying on people robotically ordering their "usual"

I ALWAYS check price per 100g and the differences are disturbing.

Anyone else or only me ?

OP posts:
purplecorkheart · 21/01/2023 01:35

I think a lot of it has to do with demand. People are becoming more educated in making meals out of the what was before cheaper cuts of meat and that often they have more flavour than the more expensive cuts.

purplecorkheart · 21/01/2023 01:39

Sorry and just to use an example from your post. Pork loin has little flavour where pork belly has much more.

Original poster
eldersis · 21/01/2023 01:54

Thanks , that is what I was thinking. As soon as the populace catch on they up the prices. Hope people do as I do , ie stop buying.

I wish this sort of info wasnt just on mumsnet but taught in schools,

6 pork loin chops £6.99 (600g) boned
Pork loin joint (600g) £4.99

Get a good knife and cut it up!

Not to be joking I am getting very upset ab out this very obvious scamming. Speaking to my mum who is 90 years old, she said this was criminal during the war !

To me, it is Criminal as well, it is a scam, but thats the way they are operating

OP posts:

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General food
Boringcookingquestion · 21/01/2023 01:59

I get it’s annoying if you prefer cuts that were traditionally cheap, but it’s to be expected, isn’t it? If more people want a certain cut, it will cost more. If a certain cut is unpopular, it will be sold at a cheaper price in order to shift it.

I don’t think it’s necessary a scam… just business.

Honper · 21/01/2023 02:01

I guess what it is is their loyalty card data is telling them that sales of eg belly pork have gone up (no shit : skint people buy cheap food and the whole fucking country is skint apart from rishi) so they increase the price of what's selling well. Bastards.

NewBootsAndRanty · 21/01/2023 02:01

The cost of pork production has gone up more than beef recently.

DeFacto · 21/01/2023 02:06

Much of it is fashion. The fattier meats are often the cheapest but also the most tasty.

Once every bugger cottons on they're no longer the cheapest.

And so, the previously favoured lean cuts are no longer the most sought after.

It's the fatty cuts that everyone wants.

There's only so much meat on a pig. Some of it is better than others.

NewBootsAndRanty · 21/01/2023 02:06

@Honper surely they can just go on actual sales, loyalty card or not...

Honper · 21/01/2023 02:13

True true, but loyalty cards show correlations and changes in buying habits. It lets them see more accurately where people are swapping out and in.

Takoneko · 21/01/2023 07:47

It’s not a scam. “Prime” cuts are culturally dependant. Whatever people want more is the “prime” cut. Streaky bacon used to be less popular. Now that it’s the cut that is more in demand it is priced higher and back bacon needs to be cheaper to compete. Chicken breast is typically more expensive than thigh in the U.K., but in lots of places in Asia it’s the other way around.

OliverBabish · 21/01/2023 07:51

By this logic, everyone leave chicken thighs alone please 😁

unclebuck · 21/01/2023 07:54

A scam? In what way? The 'prime cuts' are the most favoured. So now belly pork is more popular than loin it is more expensive.
I am a farmer and feed prices have more than doubled in the last 2 years. Pork is in the most part far too cheap as the majority is produced in horrendous conditions. Lamb and beef is likely to be UK reared, free range and grass fed.

unclebuck · 21/01/2023 07:55

OliverBabish · 21/01/2023 07:51

By this logic, everyone leave chicken thighs alone please 😁

These are already more than breast if you allow for bone weight, well they are on the herb fed, free range birds produced near me.

CakeCrumbs44 · 21/01/2023 08:02

How is it a scam? The prices are clearly advertised. Do you think every meat item should be exactly the same cost per kg? Just buy what's cheapest. If you think pork belly is inferior, surely you'd be happy that loin is cheaper and you can buy that. If you think pork belly is superior, that's your answer about why it's more expensive - other people think the same.

Although in the past belly was considered a cheap and undesirable cut most people now realise it's much easier than dry loin.

CakeCrumbs44 · 21/01/2023 08:04

I think that supermarkets are relying on people robotically ordering their "usual"
Maybe those people should be more savvy then.

ProfYaffle · 21/01/2023 08:08

It's fashion and taste. For years fatty cuts were unpopular and therefore cheap. Now that's changed and the flavour of the fattier cuts is more appreciated so their value has gone up.

In your example the loin is now cheaper - so just buy that.

BunnyFantastic · 21/01/2023 08:21

I agree the price of traditionally cheaper cuts has gone up, but that’s only partly due to COL, it’s also demand, as others have pointed out. I blame zeleb chefs and gastrogrubby restaurants. Beef cheeks, short rib, beef shin, belly pork, pork shoulder, mutton, etc. we used to eat them a lot because they were cheaper, but now only buy when on offer at the butcher.
(Please leave chicken thighs and chicken legs alone!)

NewBootsAndRanty · 21/01/2023 12:28

Re the phrasing of it being a "scam", OP seems to regularly get angry and confused by interacting within a capitalist society. One of her previous threads was about getting the police to investigate British Gas because she couldn't reduce her direct debit online...

Fairyliz · 21/01/2023 13:38

eldersis · 21/01/2023 01:54

Thanks , that is what I was thinking. As soon as the populace catch on they up the prices. Hope people do as I do , ie stop buying.

I wish this sort of info wasnt just on mumsnet but taught in schools,

6 pork loin chops £6.99 (600g) boned
Pork loin joint (600g) £4.99

Get a good knife and cut it up!

Not to be joking I am getting very upset ab out this very obvious scamming. Speaking to my mum who is 90 years old, she said this was criminal during the war !

To me, it is Criminal as well, it is a scam, but thats the way they are operating

How is it a scam because people are too lazy to work out the price?
If you can’t actually do the maths, it literally tells you the price per 100gm on the shelf label.
Another example of people wanting to moan ‘it’s not fair’ rather than take some responsibility for their own life’s

feelingrubbish2023 · 21/01/2023 13:48

@OliverBabish chicken thighs (boned and skinned) were much more expensive than chicken breasts in Morrison's this week. The thighs with bones and skin were about the same price based on weight but obviously once I'd removed the skin & bone they would have been more expensive.

larchforest · 21/01/2023 14:03

That would explain the increase in price of streaky bacon then, wouldn't it, since they and belly pork are the same cut of meat. If more people are buying it as belly pork, then there will be less of it available to turn into bacon. If something is in short supply, the wholesale price goes up.

AllAboutSlime · 21/01/2023 14:15

eldersis · 21/01/2023 01:54

Thanks , that is what I was thinking. As soon as the populace catch on they up the prices. Hope people do as I do , ie stop buying.

I wish this sort of info wasnt just on mumsnet but taught in schools,

6 pork loin chops £6.99 (600g) boned
Pork loin joint (600g) £4.99

Get a good knife and cut it up!

Not to be joking I am getting very upset ab out this very obvious scamming. Speaking to my mum who is 90 years old, she said this was criminal during the war !

To me, it is Criminal as well, it is a scam, but thats the way they are operating

I just checked with 12yo DS, and comparing price per 100g is taught in school.

newstart1234 · 21/01/2023 18:31

I though a lot of pork came from Denmark so I think at least some of the increase will be brexit related. I know drivers are less willing to drive to the uk from eu now. Also I noticed over Xmas when I was in Denmark lurpak is much much cheaper there now than uk where it used to be the other way around. So again maybe brexit?

Coffeecreme · 21/01/2023 18:33

its like a chicken isnt it,
a whole chicken is better value than thighs/quarters what not
as is a whole ham, better than sliced ham.

Hagpie · 21/01/2023 18:38

They will be justifying it using the CoL to get more money out of us. What can be done? We still need to eat and they still intend to scam.

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