When to stock up on meat
Posted by Remote-Injury-8244@reddit | preppers | View on Reddit | 16 comments
Does anyone have an idea as to when the tariffs/deportations will start to affect food prices? I was going to stock a freezer full of meat but I'd rather not do it too soon.
Tallproley@reddit
Vacuum sealer, and anytime you grab meat pick up an extra pack, Vacuum seal it, throw it in your freezer, label each by date. Once you start hitting a fre months in the freezer, bring it out and use it, then put the meat you would have bought for groceries that week into a Vacuum sealed freezer.
This should secure you a couple months worh of meat at any given time, while rotating stockpile somewhen the shot hits the fan you don't end up with 8 yesr old freezer burnt meat.
Background_Wear_1074@reddit
My wife and I went in together with some friends and purchased 1/4 of a beef (grass fed and no antibiotics or steroids) and got what I thought was a pretty good deal. It was professionally butchered, individually wrapped and labeled portions. I wanted to get as much storage life out of it as possible because there are only two of us to eat it, so, I put the pieces which were wrapped in butchers paper in heavy plastic freezer bags, put in oxygen absorbers and vacuum sealed them. I really can't tell you if this will extend the storage life or by how much but stored at 0 degrees Fahrenheit, it should be good for at least a year and I'm hoping maybe two years.
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quietprepper@reddit
If tariffs are imposed on imports, it's very likely other countries will impose tariffs on us in return. The U.S. is a major agricultural exporter, it's very likely that that in the medium term meat prices will fall if that happen as foreign business declines for direct meat exports (pork exports to China for instance) and fodder prices drop due to reduced exports of things like corn and soy.
That said, now is a fairly good time to stock up on certain meats. Just before (and after) both Thanksgiving and Christmas you'll see turkeys being sold as loss leaders, in my area I can get turkey for between 33 and 49 cents a pound, and it's likely to drop just a hair lower the week after Thanksgiving. Ham is another meat you can find fairly cheap around Thanksgiving and Christmas, bone in hams going for $1 a pound or occasionally less around me.
Really the best thing you can do if you have the freezer space is to buy turkey and ham around now, and then deal hunt for other things. Watch sales and learn the rhythms of the local stores. I have a local grocery that just changed owners, and the new owners are AGGRESSIVELY marketing meats as loss leaders to get people in the door. A week ago I could buy chicken leg quarters in bulk, 10lb at 79 cents a pound and a bit better if you went for a 40lb box. Deals like that are what you should be looking for. Figure out what good deals look like in your area and go for those as you see them.
iridescent-shimmer@reddit
I think meat may take awhile. The inflation from tariffs will come around when machinery need maintenance, workers need raises, etc. Though, most factory farming rely heavily on immigrant labor.
flying_wrenches@reddit
Tariffs shouldn’t mess with meat that much unless you’re eating free range organic New Zealand lamb.
Also, hunting season is right now, do your research and prep for it and you can join next years season. Iirc my states limit is 3 deer, that’s a lot of meat.
Adubue@reddit
No time like the present! Check and see if any of your local butcher shops have Black Friday sales next week.
The other thing that I always recommend is just to (if feasible) grab one extra pack of meat every time you go to the store to throw in your deep freezer.
Keep in mind that meat doesn't have an indefinite life in a deep freezer and you should clearly label the date acquired and rotate through it.
ssshield@reddit
Now is the time.
A deep freezer is cheap like $300.
Im filling mine up. Its already half full.
ThisIsAbuse@reddit
Tariffs on China won’t affect food. However mass deportations could cause shortage of meat, milk, veggies and fruits. I could not guess on that.
Big-Preference-2331@reddit
I will buy it right now as you find sales. I bought a bunch of tomahawk steaks that I found on sale, as well as pork ribs and ribeyes. I also have a homestead and butchered a lamb this weekend. I have three more that need to be butchered before February when my new lambs will be born.
Grand-Corner1030@reddit
3 days after thanksgiving, ham and turkeys. Also after Christmas and Easter.
Beef is pricy, go to a butcher and buy half a cow.
qbg@reddit
My guess is that prices won't be affected much until at least Jan 20th. There is uncertainty about how much can be imposed and make stick, so we have to see how things go before that can really be priced in.
Additionally check the packaging of what you buy. If it isn't the product of a foreign country, then tariffs wouldn't directly apply to it. The main thing to be priced in then would probably be deportations, but it could take a while to make a real dent in the numbers. The bigger question is how effective the enforcement of existing laws will be that prevent the employment of people without work authorization.
TheSensiblePrepper@reddit
Most meat in the US comes from.....the US. So Tariffs wouldn't actually apply unless you're buying something unique like Kobe Beef or French Duck.
It's never a bad time to stock up on meat. The price only goes up over time.
Hamberder_and_Chief@reddit
Thanksgiving has some really good meat deals, .99 per pound turkeys, and cheaper than usually steak roasts and tenderloins. If you have a freezer being able to break stuff down and keep it is a game changer.
JustADutchRudder@reddit
Always a good time to keep a chest freezer or two full of meat. I have one that's filled to the gills with game meat and fish and another I fill by buying beef and pork from farmers. Some will sell 50lbs of ground beef as add ons or just by itself and that's nice for bulk buying. Wanna say I paid like $200 for that last time I did it. Then just getting quarter of a cow or half a pig can really set a family up nicely.
SAMPLE_TEXT6643@reddit
anytime you can affored it i'd suppose. but plenty of local butchers you can buy a half a cow from