How has your grilling/smoking changed?

[ssv3]

Hasn't changed much for me and it's business as usual. I just don't order much from online retailers like Creekstone or SRF anymore. On the bright side pork has gone down in price significantly. I get baby backs for less than $2.50/lb, spares less than $2/lb, butts at $1.19/lb etc. Beef is reasonable depending where you shop. Lamb and chicken are pricier than before but that's about it. Seafood is also very reasonable. I usually alternate so it's been relatively ok. We have a lot of choices in different distributors both big and small so it all depends where you shop from. Even egg prices vary wildly as some smaller ranches haven't been affected much so they pass down the savings to us.

 

[Hoss]

Mine changed drastically when Covid hit.I always hosted 3-5 big cook outs per year.Covid shut that down.My family is kinda stuck in a rut.Only like the same things over and over and over.If I try something new they turn up their nose.I hate to cook something I wanna try just for me.Oh well,hoping to get back to the cook outs starting next weekend!!!

 

[Colorado0321]

I got into sausage making recently to make sure everything gets used up. Really not the most affordable way to be save money initially (casings ain't cheap), but it's one more great skillset to have and it's magnitudes better than store sausage.

 

[jermoQ]

My love and I are slightly on the frugal side, along with not getting beef cravings most of the time. We don't make beef roasts often but that is more common than steak. The only thing that has changed is that I will buy tri-tip to cook like a brisket because it is smaller and cheaper and cooks up super yummy when I do that. Otherwise, I like pork a lot so shoulders, tenderloin and ribs are common. We still eat a lot of eggs through the week though.

 

[jzadski]

Like Adams I always look for the yellow tags. That being said not much has changed for me. I just stock the freezer when I find the good deals. Believe it or not just picked up one of those Walmart 60 count egg boxes for $14.66 :-D

 

[Fooball]

Like Adams I always look for the yellow tags. That being said not much has changed for me. I just stock the freezer when I find the good deals. Believe it or not just picked up one of those Walmart 60 count egg boxes for $14.66 :-D

I've never seen eggs tagged at Walmart! Ha!

They ticked me off about two years ago or so started only giving 15% off on yellow tags. Employee says it's loaded into their computer and they can't change it.

15% isn't worth looking for, may as well get fresher meat. It used to be 40 or 50% in the good old days.

 

[NickTheGreat]

My biggest change is more effort to not waste food. Not always successful, but we are doing our best to not over order at restaurants and to not make too much for dinner or when we have parties.

I was really proud that I cooked super bowl for 35 people, everyone ate really well and there was very little leftovers.

I cooked 8 racks of ribs for our Superbowl party. 15 kids, and probably 10 adults.


Still had half or 1/3 left over. I thought the ribs turned out really well, just had a lot of other food.

 

[Mikhail]

I've switched more to cheap pork chops lately, but not smoking. They're just too thin.

Cheaper cuts of beef as well. Chuck instead of strip or ribeye. More top sirloin and flat iron. Surprisingly tenderloin has not gone up much at all, but I only buy those when they are center cut and really nice. Most of what you see these days is butt end stuff. Good beef, but not what I'm looking for for the grill.

Always did prefer dark meat chicken, so no change there.

Still buy some lamb here and there. Found some beautiful chops at Costco the other day. Much nicer cut and trimmed than usual, $6.99 a lb.

 

[Back9Q]

Ill chime in on different approach. For me I really dont care about prices. But as far as temp goes I started at 225 and only temp I would cook at. Now im at 300+ majority of time. Sometimes 275. Better BBQ and much better comp results. So my change has been temp related


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[snadamo]

Well I definitely don't order briskets as often as I'd like...but lately been making a lot of salumi/sausage so getting a pork is pretty reasonable for that. For beef, I cut back from ordering from WF from once a week to once a month or longer, depending on the occasion. And, of course, whatever is on sale locally.

 

[blackdogbbq21]

Biggest change for me it's gotten tougher to find certain cuts. Prime briskets have been hit or miss instock around me. I used to buy Duroc spareribs and they are much tougher to find. I used to splurge on an occasional creekstone brisket but the price has gone too high on those to justify it for me.

 

[sandro]

I'm cooking much more pork loin and chuck than I used to. I also switched to veal brisket from beef brisket (it's half the price, and more than half as good). Price hike on our side of the pond looks something like this:

whole chickens, $0.90/lb to $2.40/lb
chicken thighs: $0.90/lb to $1.90/lb
chicken breasts, $2.30/lb to $3.70/lb

beef boneless rib primal: $7.40/lb to $8.90/lb
beef chuck: $6.50/lb to $7.40/lb
beef tritip: $3.25/lb to $4.20/lb
beef brisket: $4.60/lb to $11/lb
veal brisket: ??? to $5/lb

pork butt: $1.60/lb to $3.20/lb
pork loin: $1.80/lb to $2.30/lb

it's quite awful. And I'm talking "Costco prices", not general retailers

 

[BDAABAT]

Interesting question!

FWIW: Everything has changed for me.

I first joined this place in 2010 after getting a wild hare and buying a cheap gas smoker. Learned a lot from those early experiences and from the feedback from folks here. My understanding of cooking and my food has improved a great deal over the years. Thank you Brethren!

FYI: I'm someone that likes solving problems and enjoy doing for others. I also enjoy eating. Smoking provided an opportunity to figure stuff out and to provide food for me and others.

Back 10 or so years ago, briskets were much less expensive, but so was everything! Butts were cheap and easy to do. Most folks seem to enjoy pulled pork, so I made a lot. I'm the only one in my home that enjoys pulled pork, and I went through a phase of, "if you're cooking something in the smoker, might as well pack it!". I ate so much pulled pork over the past 10 or so years (even after giving away loads of it) that I no longer enjoy it very much.

Having that mentality of needing to stuff the cooker no longer applies. Life is short. If I want to just do a couple small meat loaves or a couple fatties, I'll now fire up the cooker without (much of) a second thought. :mrgreen:

Grilling has changed as well as I've gained knowledge/experience/equipment. Have added a little flip flop charcoal cooker to the collection. That little cooker does an outstanding job on steaks, chicken, sausage. Still use the gasser when I'm in a hurry, got something that doesn't fit into the flip flop cooker or when I need additional cooking real estate.

As a result of hanging around this place, I've added a Blackstone pizza oven and a griddle to the outdoor cooker collection. My family enjoys the products that come off those cookers more than most of the food that I make that's smoked (my son and wife are both super picky and don't enjoy most proteins).

The challenge I'm working on now is pizza. The Neapolitan style is coming along nicely, as is Detroit, but there's always more to learn and ways to improve!

TL;DR: Came to this site to learn how to smoke stuff. Am now chasing pizza perfection.

Bruce