FAQ
Why is beef jerky so expensive?
The short answer is that raw uncooked beef is somewhere between 58 percent and 62 percent moistier. So the majority of beef is water. It takes over 2 pounds, in most cases 2 and a half pounds of beef to make 1 pound of beef jerky after drying that moisture out. Not to mention the hours of labor involved from selecting your meat, trimming it, slicing it, marinating it, placing it, cooking it and so on.
There are several reasons why beef jerky is expensive compared to other snack foods. The simplest reason is that beef jerky is made from meat, and meat is very evpensive relative to other food ingredients. For example, corn chips are made form corn very cheap!
Not only that, but it takes a lot of meat to make beef jerky. Meat will lo. turned into jerky. So, to make 4 pounds ofjerky, you ‘re going to need about going to take a lot of work to finish the protess, which adds even more cost.
The cheapest products on the market are made from low-quality meat, and then cheaper ingredients are added to bulk out weight. Sugar is often used for this, and cheap products will sometimes have over 20% sugar.
If you’ve made jerky at home, you’ve probably noticed how little you end up with compared with what you started with. It’s all about the yield – how much jerky do you get after prepping and cooking your beef.
That being said, some brands will cut corners and add sugar and water weight to increase the yield. Essentially, you’re paying for those ingredients and not the actual beef. Our mission is to use more beef, less water and sugar; while keeping our prices at a reasonable level. That’s just how we are building our business; cutting corners is not an option for us.