Buying guide

• Meat shopping gets easier when the cut name, the usable meat, and the price all match up.

Publix

• Chuck eye gives ribeye-like eating from the chuck at a lower price and looked like a strong buy at Publix.
• T-bone and porterhouse come from the same cut area; the T-bone has a smaller filet and the porterhouse has a larger filet.
• When porterhouse and T-bone cost the same, porterhouse gives more value; the shown T-bone had so little filet that it was mostly bone and strip.
• Ribeye at $17.99 per pound looked reasonable for Publix.
• Filet mignon at $32.99 per pound looked overpriced, especially with silver skin still left to trim.
• Petite shoulder tender is tender and good; chuck tender roast sounds similar but is tough and needs long braising.

Walmart

• Walmart meat arrives pre-cut and not from on-site cutting, which makes selection harder.
• Some New York strips include a top-sirloin end piece, so the package carries strip pricing for part sirloin.
• Porterhouse pricing looked high there, but mislabeled porterhouses can still turn up in the T-bone section.
• Ribeye at about $23 per pound did not look like a bargain.

Kroger

• A chuck roast with two grain directions and a fat seam through the middle can be split into Denver steak on top and chuck eye on the bottom.
• Flat iron is inexpensive, tender, flavorful, and a favorite cut.
• New York strips with a sirloin end piece are worth skipping.
• Tomahawk looks impressive but adds bone cost at steak pricing.
• Bacon-wrapped fillets looked like low-grade meat wrapped in bacon.

Target

• Target had a lot of ground beef, including lean blends and grass-fed options.
• Pre-cut ribeye at $18.99 looked acceptable against the other stores.

Costco

• Costco had the strongest beef value in the tour.
• Whole beef strip loin at $9.99 per pound beat pre-cut New York strip at $12.99 per pound and only needed simple slicing at home.
• Flat iron packs at $9.99 per pound and whole top sirloin cap at $8.99 per pound stood out as strong buys.
• Boneless pork butt works for barbecue and is very good for sausage.
• Costco ground beef is cheap and works well when vacuum sealed into one- or two-pound portions.