jerky homemade vs store bought is homemade really cheaper?

[hayshaker]

been wanting to make some jerky latley but with the price of beef
these days is it really cheaper to make your own. also do you really need to add
curing salt or no?

[canid]

Salt will act as an osmotic desiccant, flavor the beef and act as an (unnecessary, but beneficial) preservative in the finished product. Only you can determine whether it is cost effective to make your own, as your markets are likely to be different from mine. When I can buy lean beef on sale it is substantially cheaper, and at other times it is considerably more expensive. Jerky is not especially cheap here, but not outrageous, as say it is for my Australian friends, or probably is for people in Japan. Depending on the meat it will take from 5 to 8lb of meat to make a jerky dry enough for low biological reactivity. It is the final dryness that determines this, and not the amount you started with as various sources of meats, even of the same animal and cut may vary widely in moisture content. With this said; it is *nominally* safely dried if it has attained the texture you attribute to particularly dry commercial jerky. About 75g protein to 10g water minimum.

Note also that some parts of the world have beef which is more or less safe to cold dehydrate. This should be a consideration also. If you would't eat the beef bloody raw, drying it without appropriate heating is only going to be a small amount safer.

[Rick]

Curing salt isn't required. I use seasoning salt instead. 2 teaspoons for 2 lbs of beef.

[canid]

Indeed, any salt will work. Sugar works too. A healthy mix of salt, potassium salt (salt substitute) and sugar is not too bad for those on a reduced sodium diet.

[crashdive123]

When a 3 ounce package of jerky costs between $5 and $12 depending on how proud they are of it.....yeah, it's cheaper.

[Winnie]

When a 3 ounce package of jerky costs between $5 and $12 depending on how proud they are of it.....yeah, it's cheaper.

Only if you have self control and can put the homemade stuff down, just sayin'

[hunter63]

If you shoot the game....then make jerky it might be cheaper....if you use the oven.....Maybe.
As in "Get your self a deer, now slice him up in 1/4 inch strips.....

When you figure a smoker, grinder (some kits have them) electric knives, (helps slice part frozen meat, and make thinner slices), all the seasoning and make a lot of it....at some point it becomes cost effective.

I gave away all my gear to DD and SIL, and let them make it.
Besides I'm supposed to be on a low sodium diet.......Bag of jerky is a salt bomb....and will satisfy daily requirement for 3 weeks.

So I just buy a bag of the pepper jerky every once in a while.

[MrFixIt]

Only if you have self control and can put the homemade stuff down, just sayin'

A bag of jerky is like a bottle of good bourbon. Once you open it, you have to finish it all before it spoils...

[2dumb2kwit]

Only if you have self control and can put the homemade stuff down, just sayin'

Yeah.....I've run into that problem, with my homemade bacon.

[Winnie]

Yeah.....I've run into that problem, with my homemade bacon.

Ditto. Have you seen the Bacon Easter Egg?

[MrFixIt]

Ditto. Have you seen the Bacon Easter Egg?

*You have my full attention madam!*

[Winnie]

*You have my full attention madam!*

Psst, MrF see http://www.wilderness-survival.net/f...739#post453739

[your_comforting_company]

well, let's see. I have the cost of the bullet, and the gas to go hunting. We pretty much have all the spices already, and the electricity to run the dehydrator. I look at the grocery store and it is almost $3 per lb.
So I can jerk my own for pennies on the lb. homemade is much cheaper.