• @DragonTypeWyvern@midwest.social
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      3 days ago

      Jerky is seriously price inflated with a surprisingly large amount of defenders who babble about the cost of meat without apparently having ever made some themselves.

      Or maybe they’re just bad at math?

      Buy $20 of beef, rub it with some salt and spices and stick it in a dehydrator, it’s not rocket science, it’s literally just how humans have preserved meat for our entire history (minus the dehydrator convenience)

        • @Zedd_Prophecy@lemmy.world
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          63 days ago

          Not much at all. I’ve made salmon, venison, and beef jerky - at most the meat contracts maybe 18 to 20 percent in size. If you have a multi level dehydrator and do it in bulk you can make it very cheap. Bonus is you can season it any way you like. I love teriyaki salmon and super spicy beef with mustard powder and onion.

      • @Nalivai@lemmy.world
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        23 days ago

        Jerky is always a food of convenience. It’s a food that is always on the shelf, you eat it if you’re dead. If I had time, energy, equipment, space, and desire to cook, I would be cooking a meal.

        • @Corkyskog@sh.itjust.works
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          12 days ago

          Yeah, but you can make like 20 servings of Jerkey at once. You could even buy a large amount of beef at Costco or a bulk meat market and use part of the beef for a meal and Jerky the rest of it.

          • @Nalivai@lemmy.world
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            1 day ago

            Yes. If you have time, energy, equipment, space, skill, and desire to cook. Working people this days rarely have it all

  • @witchybitchy@lemm.ee
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    4 days ago

    it’s because they’re sold by weight and since all the water is gone, the jerky pieces weigh so little. to then make a 16oz bag, you gotta add a lot of jerky. backtracking to make that happen means you need way more meat, which means way more money to buy that meat.

    I agree though that the prices are ridiculous. I just think it helps to know why, too.

  • @coyote@lemm.ee
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    53 days ago

    Not to mention that stuff is just garbage. Pumped full of chemicals. You can buy jerky with no added ingredients except flavoring for the same price.

    • Jesus
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      284 days ago

      Only 30min?

      You sure you’re not just eating poorly cooked steak?

      • Jesus
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        64 days ago

        Yeah, most of the oven recipes I’m familiar with are several hours at fairly low heat. You’re trying to dehydrate the meat, not bake it.

    • @SupraMario@lemmy.world
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      104 days ago

      Anyone reading this, please don’t do this if you want jerky…just buy a dehydrator, they’re cheap.

      Then use eye of round or London broil cuts…most deli places will even cut them thin for you.

      • Jesus
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        54 days ago

        I mean, you can do it, but if you have steak that feels like jerky after 30 min in the over, you just likely just created overcooked steak.

        Oven jerky takes many hours and you should occasionally open and remove the escaping moisture.

        • @SupraMario@lemmy.world
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          24 days ago

          The issue with making jerky in the oven is the temps. 99% of the ovens can’t get below 200, where most dehydrators do 160 easily. But you are correct, you can do it in the oven, it’s just not recommended and it uses so much more energy.

      • I want to buy a little tabletop meat slicer for the very reason. Wife bought a dehydrator because she wanted fruit leather (although I almost never get “leather”, instead becoming “chips”). I want homemade jerky.

        • @SupraMario@lemmy.world
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          24 days ago

          Hit up used restaurant equipment stores or check on used marketplace. The good ones new are stupid expensive, but used they’re reasonably priced.

    • ViperActual
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      44 days ago

      I’ve never done it but I do know you can technically make it by slicing up nice lean cuts of steak. Marinading them so they soak up the flavor. Then dangling them on the rack in the oven on the lowest heat setting with the door cracked open for a few hours. A friend of mine did this and they came out amazing with deer jerky.

  • @Ledericas@lemm.ee
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    4 days ago

    shrinkflation and cheapflation is just as bad. people can tell if you use cheaper ingredients and try to be sneaky and keep the same labels, and pictures.

  • @yesman@lemmy.world
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    33 days ago

    Even before inflation, jerky was stupid expensive. Slim-Jims were, per-pound, more expensive than prime beef.