Normally I love Costco for my meat, but am I missing something here? The price difference seems too good almost…
I saw some posts here about local grocery stores’ holiday sales. At full price, this Stop & Shop prime rib roast would be $17.29 so only a little more than Costco. On sale, so much cheaper.
AFAIK they are the same. Both are choice cuts of beef. Both are primal cuts (thus “prime rib”).
I saw a different deal for even less for “end beef ribeye roast”, but deduce that is not primal and it has no grading listed (online).
by Both-Activity6432
14 Comments
Super markets have great meat deals around the holidays. I’ve already gotten a free turkey and ham from Giant and bought a nice 6.5lb tenderloin for half off.
Prime isn’t for primal. Prime is marketing trying to call it the kind of roasts.
HEB in Texas – $5.47/lb this week
So I can’t say for certain here, but “Butcher Shop Choice” means nothing. It sounds like a marketing term to make you think it’s USDA choice. I don’t like giving away too much on Reddit but I own two companies that make me extremely aware of the value of red meat. I also can’t tell if your meat is Giant Company, Giant Food, or Stop N Shop, but I live near one of their 6 corporate headquarters and interact regularly with their higher ups. I say all that to say: they will often put out hellish loss leaders at the holidays. My gut tells me that’s what this is. I rarely if ever see them offer low grade meat. With that said, I want to dig into what “Butcher Shop Choice” is.
I am right now making my rounds to find the best deal for my roast. I usually like it sooner but this is the time I have.
The end beef rib roast likely refers to the “small” end of the rib roast which is usually less valued. Still good eating. And this is likely a loss lead price meaning they market the roast to get you through the door so you buy your other stuff there. They eat the loss on the roast but make it back on the other items. This is usually what most advertised sale prices are for weekly circulars.
Call and confirm the USDA grade of their roast (has to be the USDA grade not marketing tricks like “Butchers choice”) and if they cut their roasts in house and you’re a nice person sometimes the butcher will cut you one from the big side and set it aside for you. We used to do it all the time at my store but YMMV.
100% loss leader. I’m in a high COL area. Bought mine today at the grocery store for $6.99/lb with an additional purchase of $50 of groceries (USDA choice with bone in). I went to Costco immediately prior and the same cut/grade as $17.99/lb. Costco isn’t discounting them. Other grocers are heavily discounting them to get you in the store and hoping you fill your cart while doing so.
I haven’t seen that price in beef for ages around here. The lowest I’ve seen choice ribeyes for a while is $15/lb. Butcher counter gave me the biggest one he had so I could hand cut my prime rib for XMAS and some steaks to freeze for later. It doesn’t have the best marbling … but it will do.
If you want it – don’t wait until the last minute to pick it up. At my grocery they will most likely run out. Today was day 1 of the sale and there was a line for them. It’s limited availability.
Winn Dixi has the choice bI ribeye roasts for 8.99 as well. Cut and tied any size.
So, it’s really hit or miss with any grade, cut, and type. CAB is supposed to be held to higher requirements than regular Choice, but can vary wildly.
Ignore the grading. Look for consistent marbling throughout the cut and the least sinew. There may be Prime cuts that aren’t as good as the Choice alternative (meat is graded by entire carcass). I’ve found packages of Choice Rib eye steaks at Costco that were much better than the Prime alternative.
Likewise, I have found cheap ass Choice prime rib roasts at Stop and Shop that are really amazingly well marbled and delicious. You just need to go through two stores and 50 odd roasts to find a good one.
And FYI – you really have keep an eye on the prices at S&S vs advertised. I recently went in for a chuck roast to make chili- and it was priced at $13.99 in the flyer but $16.99/lb. in store. While I found much better cuts at Big Y and Roche for $8.99/lb.
They had a deal like this around Thanksgiving at my local market. $8.97 per pound, limit 1. Went to the meat section and didn’t love any of their prime ribs so asked the butcher what they had in back and they had a whole 7 bone prime rib back there. He said he’d cut me the amount I wanted but could only sell one piece at that price, so I took the whole thing and cut it myself at home. We ended up with five really nice prime ribs and still have one in the freezer. Gonna do the same thing for Thurs Christmas deal.
ETA the whole thing was about 23 pounds, cost around $200.
at Amazon Fresh we got this deal. I got two 5lbers
https://preview.redd.it/k1cy2t529w7g1.png?width=506&format=png&auto=webp&s=a972238f54173a219e19a6186b7cbb5bb36dcb08
Yeah, I’ll be shopping the stores in the area before I buy
Instacart prices are higher than in stores
The local Kroger affiliate (Smiths) has choice grade whole prime ribs (7 bones and all the cap meat, etc. – vac sealed) for $6.99/lb. I plan on getting a 20# roast tomorrow. We will cut out a 4-rib roast for NYears and freeze a 3-rib roast for later.
I believe it is a loss leader, albeit a huge one.
I could also go to a local food/restaurant wholesaler open to the public and get the same price, but it would be Select grade.