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

[eldersis]

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 ?

It's not a scam; it's supply and demand.

It’s just supply & demand. I remember when lamb shanks were almost given away, like chicken wings. Then celebrity chefs started braising them on the telly, and suddenly they were £15 / Kg.

it will also be to do with profit margins, if the cheaper options had the smaller profit margins then they won’t be able absorb as much of the cost increases before having to pass that on to the consumer

You seem to be taking this very personally OP. Shops will charge the maximum they can whilst maintaining customers. That's life 🙄

I think it has a lot to do with cookery programs as well. Belly of lamb shot up in price a couple of years ago after slow cooked belly of lamb featured. It was fashionable for a while. Now less popular because it takes long slow cooking which is now seen as wasteful in terms of power.

I'm just glad you said belly pork! 😁 I ate out last week and afterwards my sister told me I said "belly pork" when I ordered and thought it was funny, and said the waitress was trying not not laugh!

It's never occurred to me that belly pork isn't the correct way to say it! I guess it is pork belly 😆

I think its because for around 30 years or so, fat= bad, but now people are eating more fatty meat because it tastes better but also we have learnt that the previous anti fat guidance isnt accurate and for people who are low carbing they will eat all cuts of meat and they fill you up more

So demand is higher so the price goes up. Its simple economics.

Tell me about it! Oxtail used to be very cheap (high bone to meat ratio) and when i went to buy one the other day it cost over £15!
I was astonished and the butcher said, well, there's only one tail per animal.
i said yes, but that's always been the case!

Too late. Chicken thigh prices have rocketed too.

'Belly pork' is the commonly used construction in England. 'Pork belly' sounds north American to me.

Some of it is because ‘cheap’ bits became trendy per se.
Look at any nice pub menu for the specials, slow cooked belly pork, pig cheeks, etc etc.

Thank you! 😆

It's because cheaper is more in demand!They know what their doing to totally screw folk over.

Spam, which I love in fried rice, its really expensive now, as is corned beef.

In this case one specifically says boned whereas the cheaper does not say boned so some of that weight could be bone. You’d be getting the same weight but less actual meat. If however, both are boned then that’s a different matter.

Yep I noticed this the other day.

This made me laugh, but it is true that oxtail is quite expensive now.

Yes, there’s a lot of ‘it’s not fair’ without any thought or understanding of the information already available. Not to mention that’s it’s obviously more labour intensive for someone to prepare 6 individual pork chops than one larger joint. Someone has to pay for that, and I don’t see why it should the person buying the joint!