Farmscape for October 29, 2025

A recently retired southwestern Manitoba butcher encourages consumers to watch the flyers and to consider the more economical cuts of meat in order to reign in the increasing costs of feeding their families.
With food prices on the rise, planning family meals has become increasingly challenging.
Hubert Muckel, a retired southwestern Manitoba butcher-meat cutter, says when he started cutting meat in 1980, he bought a side of beef, a side of pork and freezer to keep it in for under a thousand dollars but today, you're looking at over 13 hundred dollars just for a side of beef.

Quote- Hubert Muckel-Retired Southwestern Manitoba Butcher-Meat Cutter:
The lower cost cuts, 30 years ago doubled and tripled in prices.
I remember times when I had to throw away chicken wings.
Now a days chicken wings, if you want to buy them, they cost you more than chicken boneless breast at times and a wing is only half the meat and the rest is bone.
Tenderloin used to be something you would cook maybe once or twice a year.
Now, if you watch it, they have pork tenderloin cheaper out there than you can buy hamburger and that must be because there's an over supply so watch out for something like that.
It's the same with boneless pork backs.
Everybody wants some back ribs so what are they going to do with the boneless back?
They put them on sale.
There again, if they are on sale, they are cheaper than buying ground pork.
In my household I tend to eat more pork and chicken.
This weekend I bought a barbecue chicken from a store and it cost me something like 12 dollars and I had three meals out of that.
You can't do any better than that because you can't even buy a fresh chicken for 10 or 12 dollars now a days.

Muckel suggests watching the flyers.
He says stores will offer excellent deals to lure you in in hopes you'll buy additional items that aren't on sale.
For more visit Farmscape.Ca.
Bruce Cochrane.

       *Farmscape is produced on behalf of North America’s pork producers