Prime Rib - A Heartbreaking story

[SherryDAmore]

Last Christmas, I bought a USDA prime grade Prime Rib from Wegman's at a whopping $212. Served six, twice. DH is STILL screaming about it, but damn, was it good. And I used this method: Perfect Prime Rib | Serious Eats : Recipes And it was perfect and delicious. Well worth the price, I said (to placate DH.)

The comes Valentine's Day, and so we had a Choice Grade prime rib for six again, but this time it was $55, and I used Kenji's method again.

Guess what? Everyone loved the second one a much as the first, couldn't tell the difference, and was just as happy as, well Christmas!

Sigh.

 

[CharlieD]

don't you just hate that...

 

[Snip 13]

$212!!!!! That's R1955 South African. That is 3 times my monthly meat bill!!!
I would get heartburn just cooking it lol!

 

[CharlieD]

As far as price sounds just about right for the high end peace of meat and especially the time of year when retailers try to get top buck for top product

 

[Snip 13]

As far as price sounds just about right for the high end peace of meat and especially the time of year when retailers try to get top buck for top product

We would starve on our income in the US

Good quality prime rib in SA is about R120 per kg. That would be about $13.

 

[Andy M.]

We would starve on our income in the US

Good quality prime rib in SA is about R120 per kg. That would be about $13.

That works out to about $6.00-$6.50 USD per pound (2.2Lb/Kg). That's a good sale price around here. Regular prices are higher.

 

[Steve Kroll]

I find the same logic applies to wine. I belong to a wine club and know quite a few people - myself included - who at some point in their lives have gone out and purchased a very expensive ($100+) bottle of wine, only to discover it wasn't the orgasmic beverage experience they thought it would be. To put it another way, a $100 bottle is not necessarily five times better than one that costs $20.

 

[Snip 13]

That works out to about $6.00-$6.50 USD per pound (2.2Lb/Kg). That's a good sale price around here. Regular prices are higher.

Guess we're pretty lucky then Prime rib goes on sale once a month at our butcher for roughly $3 per pound.

 

[Andy M.]

A lot of prime rib is sold for Christmas dinners. As a result, the price goes up for a while.

 

[Addie]

Last Christmas, I bought a USDA prime grade Prime Rib from Wegman's at a whopping $212. Served six, twice. DH is STILL screaming about it, but damn, was it good. And I used this method: Perfect Prime Rib | Serious Eats : Recipes And it was perfect and delicious. Well worth the price, I said (to placate DH.)

The comes Valentine's Day, and so we had a Choice Grade prime rib for six again, but this time it was $55, and I used Kenji's method again.

Guess what? Everyone loved the second one a much as the first, couldn't tell the difference, and was just as happy as, well Christmas!

Sigh.

You are always going to pay more than top dollar for a major holiday meal. Nobody I know makes prime rib in August. The one month that is no holiday. Buy one then and put it in the freezer.

 

[CharlieD]

Guess we're pretty lucky then Prime rib goes on sale once a month at our butcher for roughly $3 per pound.

You cannot compare prices in different countries. For example, back in my Soviet days a pair of Levi Straus jeans was about 200 rubles. At the same time I was paying about 20 rubles per month for 1 bedroom apartment and another 200-250 rubles were enough to cover food. All while making about 180 rubles a month and no credit cards. Go figure that one out.

 

[LPBeier]

I came from a family where Sunday Dinner was always a formal meal - beef or pork roast, steak, ribs and all the fixings. Every week. Turkeys and Hams were saved for the "holidays" though we could have the occasional ham or roasted chicken on an average Sunday.

Prime rib was a favourite of my Mom's so she cooked it when she could get them and as far as I know never worried about price (thought she was very price conscious about groceries in general).

I too try to pick them up on sale, and the last ones were a buy one get one free.... I honestly don't remember price.

 

[pacanis]

Guess we're pretty lucky then Prime rib goes on sale once a month at our butcher for roughly $3 per pound.

Nice. At that price I would buy a meat grinder and making my own hamburger
For comparison's sake, what do you normally pay per pound for minced beef? Ours is roughly half the price of prime rib, but I say roughly because we can see from the OP how much it can vary. Ground beef, not so much.

 

[Snip 13]

Nice. At that price I would buy a meat grinder and making my own hamburger
For comparison's sake, what do you normally pay per pound for minced beef? Ours is roughly half the price of prime rib, but I say roughly because we can see from the OP how much it can vary. Ground beef, not so much.

Normal price for ground beef (good quality lean) is about $2.2 per pound. Cheap ground beef is about a 3rd of that.

SA has great meat for very reasonable prices. South Africans are big meat eaters, very few vegans here. There is a big demand for meat so it's cheaper here.

Cuts like Prime Rib are not very popular with local Africans so it's cheaper because of that too.

 

[CharlieD]

I'm moving to SA, with that price of meat I'll be in haven, I do not like to eat anything but meat. But do you have potato?

 

[pacanis]

Yes! I gotta have my potatoes, too!

Looks like out prices are proportionate anyway, Snip.

OK, carry on with your prime rib problem

 

[Kayelle]

I think the point of Sherry's post is the huge difference in price between "Prime" and "Choice" grades of standing rib roasts. I too can't justify the cost difference in the grades, and around here the only time I can find a really good buy on what's now generically called "Prime Rib", and is actually "Choice", is with supermarket holiday sale prices. Other times of the year the cost of the same is outrageous.

 

[Siegal]

I was craving meat and my husband went out and bought a 2 lb $50 prime rib. Wanted to kill him but he said I deserved it! And I do haha!

I seasoned it with salt and pepper, made a few slits in it and shoved garlic in them, seared it, then cooked it at 300 for 36 mins for rare.

At 26 min my meat thermometer said it was 140 of course it wasn't as since I got that thing everything I cook comes out raw and ruins all my food instead if making it perfect. So we put it back in the oven and threw out the $35 thermometer. I read the time in my grandmas 50 year old culinary arts institute encyclopedic cookbook. The author seems to know what she is talking about so I will stick to her times for a while and see if I want a new thermometer or not.

Anyway our prime rib was great! We have enough for leftovers for Tm dinner too. It's fun to treat yourself once in a while. But still did not satisfy my meat craving -- the baby seems to be insisting on a juicy hamburger...sigh. Maybe Sunday.

 

[Snip 13]

I'm moving to SA, with that price of meat I'll be in haven, I do not like to eat anything but meat. But do you have potato?

Yes, lots of potatoes and they're very cheap ! $9 for 22 pound bag at the moment, sometimes a bag is $4.50.

Meat, chicken, potatoes, bread, maize meal, peppers, cabbage, onions and tomatoes are all cheap because they are considered staples.

 

[Barbara L]

I think you are about to get a lot of new neighbors Snip!