Why is beef jerky so expensive
After many years in the beef jerky industry, from owning a jerky brand for 5 years to starting a private label beef jerky company to just selling many other brands of jerky one question I have always heard is why is beef jerky so expensive?
The short answer is that raw uncooked beef is somewhere between 58 percent and 62 percent moistier. So the majority of beef is water. It takes over 2 pounds, in most cases 2 and a half pounds of beef to make 1 pound of beef jerky after drying that moisture out. Not to mention the hours of labor involved from selecting your meat, trimming it, slicing it, marinating it, placing it, cooking it and so on.
Lets Ask The Experts
So in putting this article together we wanted to get some experts involved. JerkyUP.com represents over 400 independent small and large beef jerky brands, we asked a handful of them to give us their take on this very popular question. The following are their responses:
There are several reasons why beef jerky is expensive compared to other snack foods. The simplest reason is that beef jerky is made from meat, and meat is very expensive relative to other food ingredients. For example, corn chips are made form corn – very cheap!
Not only that, but it takes a lot of meat to make beef jerky. Meat will lose about 60% of its weight when turned into jerky. So, to make 4 pounds of jerky, you’re going to need about 10 pounds of meat. And, it’s going to take a lot of work to finish the process, which adds even more cost.
The cheapest products on the market are made from low-quality meat, and then cheaper ingredients are added to bulk out the weight. Sugar is often used for this, and cheap products will sometimes have over 20% sugar. This is true for other food products as well. For example, if you’re selling crumbed fish, it’s much cheaper to sell more crumb, and less fish!
Cheers,
We started our jerky brand – El Norteño – based on three simple principles. We were always going to be better tasting, use higher quality ingredients and be honest with all we interact with. The honesty part is free and comes naturally to us, but the better taste and higher quality parts can be expensive. Let’s face it – beef jerky can be ridiculously expensive. Who wants to pay ten bucks for a tiny bag of shriveled and often tasteless beef? That’s one reason we started making our own, which eventually grew into the El Norteño brand. We were tired of paying a lot of money for an inferior product and knew we could do better. At the time, we didn’t realize how time consuming, labor intensive and expensive making beef jerky can be.
We also learned that one reason jerky is so ridiculously expensive is the inherent cost of working with beef and meat. If you’ve made jerky at home, you’ve probably noticed how little you end up with compared with what you started with. It’s all about the yield – how much jerky do you get after prepping and cooking your beef. That’s where the real cost comes in. That being said, some brands will cut corners and add sugar and water weight to increase the yield. Essentially, you’re paying for those ingredients and not the actual beef. Our mission is to use more beef, less water and sugar, while keeping our prices at a reasonable level. That’s just how we are building our business; cutting corners is not an option for us.
Another reason beef jerky is so expensive is the introduction of super premium brands. They’re not necessarily offering a better product, but they are charging super premium prices. Back in the day, you only had 1 or 2 options for jerky at a gas station. That’s what we were buying when we were on the road and we didn’t have our homemade jerky with us. Now, you’ll still find those 1 or 2 options alongside dozens of choices and some of them cost north of $12 dollars for a relatively small bag. Boutique jerky can be great, but it’s not always worth the cost.
We love hearing from customers and we do hear about the ridiculously high cost of jerky quite often. Hopefully we’ve helped explain why the cost can be high and where our brand, El Norteño, fits into the jerky world.
Justin
www.ElNortenoFoods.com
Is it cheaper to make your own beef jerky
Not by much, after purchasing your beef from the grocery store at full retail price or even if you shop the specials you are still spending more than a beef jerky manufacturer will spend. That just gets you started, if you already have a dehydrator or plan to make it in your oven you have to have the meat trimmed and sliced to the right thickness. Some butcher shops will do this at no extra charge with their professional meat slicer or if you own a very sharp knife you can do this at home your self.
Preparing your marinade
You will have to purchase all the ingredients for your marinade. Soy sauce, garlic, honey, salt and all the others depending on how elaborate you want to get. My advice is keep it simple. Most people just love the natural flavor of dried meat and so much all of the other juice’s and spices. But some do…
Then after the allotted time for marinating your meat, you need to lay the strips on your dehydrator trays or your oven grates. On a very low heat, start drying your beef jerky. Some have used their barbeques to smoke/dry their beef jerky. After many hours keeping an eye on it you will have some great tasting jerky.
So in addition to the initial cost of the raw beef you can see just how labor intense and time consuming it is to make your own beef jerky. If you have never done it before, it is a fun little project to play with for a while however it won’t be long and you won’t mind paying just a little more for some store bought jerky.
What is a good price for beef jerky
Many small batch beef jerky brands produce jerky in small quantities. Some bags range from 1 oz. to 1 pound and many sizes in between. A common size is 3 oz. and you could pay $5 to $15 for that. So if you find some great tasting beef jerky for around $3 to $5 an ounce that would be considered a good price.
How long is beef jerky good for
Home made beef jerky is mostly stored in small Ziploc bags and most of it doesn’t last more than a couple of days before getting all eaten up but it should last a good week. Most small batch brands have sealed bags with oxygen absorbers included. Before opening the bag your beef jerky is usually good for close to 1 year. After opening the bag and letting the oxygen get to it it’s recommended that you consume it in a couple of days.
JerkyUP.com is a great resource for experiencing some beef jerky you have never tryed before.
Jerky UP! – The Craft Jerky Directory
About Us – Jerky Brands – By state – Canada – Add My Company – Jerky of the month
Jerky Up – Advertise – Contact Us – privacy policy – Box 534 Show Low, AZ 85902
Pingback: What is the Best Meat for Beef Jerky? – Beef Jerky Brands