It’s no secret that America’s economy is in rough shape. The nation experienced its worst inflation spike in the past 40 years in the summer of 2022. The he cost of goods, like food, is only expected to go up in price throughout 2023, according to the USDA.
This has forced many folks to find alternative solutions to ensuring that their families are fed, which includes heading to budget retailers like Dollar Tree and Dollar General for grub. In fact, Dollar General has even opened dedicated grocery store chains called Dollar General Market to meet the demands of consumers scouring stores in search of more cost-effective meal deals.
One TikToker who goes by Meatdad (@meatdad), who writes on his profile that he’s “here to save people money on meat while still eating good,” shared a grocery store hack of his own when it comes to buying deli meat, stating that the price of sliced turkey meat at his local supermarket comes out to around $17 per pound.
Astounded by the high cost of the grocer’s deli section, he decided instead to cure and cook his own chicken breast and then have it cut into deli-style chicken slices for a fraction of the cost. (The rub here is that he happens to own a deli slicer; judging by the comments, those aren’t common in households.)
He documented his entire prep and cooking process underneath a rant about his experience and ultimate realization that with a little bit of extra work, he was able to save on meat slices and prepare deli-style white meat slices for him and his family at a way lower price point that if he were to purchase it directly from a grocery store.
The clip has 2.4 million pageviews since being posted two days ago.
@meatdad Replying to @neilprakash887 $1.50 a pound compared to $17 a pound. I will make my money back in no time deli meat at home is way better anyway. Love the @Chardproducts ♬ Fast – Instrumental Version – Skrxlla
Meatdad says in his video, “I got a family of four to feed over here, that pound is gonna be gone in one lunch dude, I’m serious. I’m like no way man I can’t do it… So I grabbed some boneless skinless breasts. I seasoned them up, dude this was like $6. I threw a little curing salt on to make it taste like deli meat, then I threw it in the pan, threw a little parchment paper, a little bit of foil, cooked at 275 degrees cause I didn’t want it to dry out until it hit 158. I then took it to a cooling rack just let them rest man. It was fine. Put them in the fridge, pulled them out, brought them to the slicer… Dude $6 for like 4 pounds of fucking deli meat? Come on. I will never do it again.”
There were other TikTokers who seemed just as shocked at the prices of deli meat at their own supermarkets: “Bought a pound of Boar’s Head turkey. Almost died of sticker shock at $17. Never again,” one wrote.
However someone else thought that he put too much curing salt in his deli meat prep and suggested he use less next time: “Too much curing salt!!!!!!!!!!! be careful watchers it could get you very very sick in excess”
There were others who couldn’t understand how he was able to buy that much chicken breast for only $6: “Sir, that’s like $30 of chicken where I live,” one wrote. Another said, “$6 where you shopping 2004?”
Someone else said that the chicken he purchased was actually being offered at a discounted price and that it normally goes for $8.84 a lb: “If you all would pause the video you would see that he bought 8.84 lbs of chicken for $1.49 # on sale.”
The Daily Dot has reached out to Meatdad via TikTok comment for further information.
