• Localhorst86@feddit.org
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    9
    ·
    1 day ago

    Jack Link’s is probably the cheapest beef jerky you can find in supermarkets in Germany. Its about 5€ per bag (~$5 USD), 3€ if it’s on sale.

    Its absolute garbage though. Way too sweet.

    I switched to making my own jerky at home, using a cheap food dehydrator. That comes out cheaper and tastes a lot better.

    • Nalivai@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      2
      ·
      1 day ago

      They now have Biltong version, and that one is actually good. The regular is indeed garbage, meat candy, both not good as a jerky and as a candy.

    • DragonTypeWyvern@midwest.social
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      16
      ·
      edit-2
      2 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)

      • Nalivai@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        2
        ·
        1 day 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
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          1
          ·
          8 hours 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.

        • Zedd_Prophecy@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          6
          ·
          1 day 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.

  • coyote@lemm.ee
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    5
    ·
    1 day 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.

  • yesman@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    3
    ·
    1 day ago

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

  • 🇰 🌀 🇱 🇦 🇳 🇦 🇰 🇮 @pawb.social
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    26
    ·
    edit-2
    2 days ago

    I bought a dehydrator to make my own, only to find out buying the meat to dehydrate cost exactly the same as an equal amount of already made jerky.

    If a 16oz bag of Jack Link’s was actually $16 here, I’d start using the dehydrator again since the fresh, pre-sliced meat I’d use is only $8/lb.

  • Venus_Ziegenfalle@feddit.org
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    15
    ·
    edit-2
    2 days ago

    These have always been ridiculously expensive where I live. I used to import jerky from South Africa. Theirs is cheaper (even after shipping) and honestly better. Biltong they call it.

    • hansolo@lemm.ee
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      2
      ·
      1 day ago

      And you can make biltong much easier than jerky. Literally just a hanger and a room running AC.

      Plus, absolutely 20 times better.

    • tigeruppercut@lemmy.zip
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      5
      ·
      2 days ago

      It’s pretty easy to make biltong on your own too. I’ve done it with strips of meat hanging in a cardboard box with a fan pointed at it

  • witchybitchy@lemm.ee
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    27
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    edit-2
    2 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.

  • Ledericas@lemm.ee
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    8
    ·
    edit-2
    2 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.

  • tflyghtz@lemm.ee
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    18
    arrow-down
    3
    ·
    2 days ago

    Slice and marinate beef and put it in the oven. 30 mins work for a pound of jerky

    • SupraMario@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      14
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      2 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@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        6
        ·
        2 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
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          2
          ·
          2 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.

          • Refurbished Refurbisher@lemmy.sdf.org
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            1
            ·
            edit-2
            1 day ago

            You can fake it by setting your oven to the lowest temperature and leaving the oven door slightly cracked. I did it last winter with some flank steak and it turned out great.

            I think I left it for about 4-5 hours?

      • Hideakikarate@sh.itjust.works
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        3
        ·
        2 days ago

        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
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          2
          ·
          2 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.

    • 🇰 🌀 🇱 🇦 🇳 🇦 🇰 🇮 @pawb.social
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      5
      ·
      edit-2
      2 days ago

      30 minutes works for a pound of jerky

      I have to assume you’re using a high temp in which case that’s not jerky. You’re just cooking the meat. 🤦‍♂️

      If you want to actually dehydrate it and make jerky, you would use the lowest temp your oven can go (typically 150-165F) and let it go for 6-8 hours. Longer if you’re using a wet marinade and not just salt or a dry rub.

      • tflyghtz@lemm.ee
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        3
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        2 days ago

        Obviously, you dehydrate it, maybe 30 degrees. I’m not making mini steaks, and i didnt write a receipe. 🤦🏼 Thats why i said 30 minutes of work

    • ViperActual@sh.itjust.works
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      4
      ·
      2 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.