Price of beef

[GentleJadeOP]

Visited Sainsbury’s today and was shocked at the price of a small joint of beef at £25. I haven’t bought it for years. Is this a reasonable amount to pay? For 4 people Sunday roast

How much are those people eating?

Livestock prices have been high this autumn. Finished cattle and lambs are doing very well and even culls are £££ but equally the replacement stock- dropped calves,store lambs, breeding ewes, heifers- all ages and stages. farmers buying in stock to bring on are having to pay fortunes at the mart if they don't want to go home with an empty trailer.

On the bright side, it was a good summer so everyone got plenty of silage cut (apart from early summer when it was so dry yields /ha were low, but better later in the summer). The cattle round here are still out as the ground is dry enough, so they'll not start eating their way into the silage yet, and the dry autumn also meant that everyone was able to get the slurry out. This year is the closest you'll ever see to happy farmers (don't mention IHT!)

We paid around 12 for a carvery joint from Tesco two weeks to feed 4, not the best cut but ok cooked slowly

^I mean the good silage hopefully translates into lower costs this winter, easier to make it pay and maybe cost to consumer bit less next spring? I know it doesn't always translate like that though!!

Well what weight was it, cut and are you sure that wasn’t the per kg price?

I picked up a silverside top cut of beef from M&S today, 1.148kg serves 4 and was indeed £20.09! It's a treat for our roast tomorrow, if it doesn't shrink much I may get some slices for sandwiches on Monday but not much more.

Organic beef mince is now over £9 for 500g at Tesco

I paid £15 last time I bought it, 5 weeks or so ago

It would be nice if farmers made a decent margin if there’s some slack in the system.

750g of 5% fat mince was £7.49 in ALDI. It wasn't long ago that it was £4.99 for 1Kg. I bought a bit of brisket from the butcher to feed 4, it was £15. Brisket used to be what you bought to feed a crowd!

I think its been a very hard year for our livestock farmers, but I will only buy meat from the UK due to not trusting welfare standards anywhere else. We will just be having a few more veggie meals each week, and stretching the meat I do buy a bit further.

Edited due to typo.

Livestock price inflation is mental at the moment. Perhaps if the government wasn't on a warpath for farmers and trying to destroy farming, then perhaps farm products wouldn't be so scarce to drive prices up. But here we are.

Sainsbury’s have half price lamb joints with nectar card. It’s the only time I can afford it.

This isn't why beef prices are high.

The extremely dry weather we have had has meant farmers burnt through their winter feed in the summer, as there was no grazing. They still have to buy in winter feed, which is much more expensive as there is such high demand.

The cost of feeding cattle has gone through the roof thanks to the extremely hot dry weather. Therefore beef is much more expensive.

I keep messaging eyes open and when any of the supermarkets have a half pric deal on beef, lamb or pork I buy several joints and freeze. Then I pull them out and cook when prices are full price in supermarkets. As another poster said lamb was on offer this week.

I’ve switched happily to roast chicken or pork for Sunday roast. Lamb is also a good bet at the moment.

The price of beef mince has gone through the roof recently. It used to be a cheap go-to, but now I use half the weight in lentils to make it go further.

Is this some sort of website or app to alert about offers? This is what I need in my life

That’s what I’m wondering! My husband bought it and thought it was right size. Hopefully will get another meal out of it!

I went to buy some last week for a roast. We had chicken instead.

Wales beef movement barred this summer due to blue tongue. We didn't get the droughts in our area.

The Welsh government intend to cut beef production by 50% by 2030.

It's all a bit nutty here.

Silverside, 1.54 kg . It’s 17.00 per kilo!

Usually the supermarkets gave good sized joints on special offer in the run up to Christmas and Easter.

"The Welsh government intend to cut beef production by 50% by 2030.
It's all a bit nutty here."

Was just at a farmers' union debate about net zero carbon. The latest target - thing. As always with these things, somebody gonna make dollah out of it (the sharp witted opportunists and pals of the powerful) and somebody gonna pay (normal farmers and you, dear consumer).

Lamb is on offer at sainsburys.
The meet offers usually start November. We have two fridge freezers and a freezer. We're both from big families so we freeze when on offer. I use a lot of mushrooms too.

I agree meat prices have exploded, but a portion of red meat is 90g. So even allowing for double as a roast treat you've enough for 8 people!