Why Is Corned Beef...

[Jackdaw33]

...so flaming expensive?

Just bought 3 slices at Sainsbury's - £2.50, equivalent to £2 per 100g! I could almost buy prime topside steak for that price. It used to be a cheap, nourishing food. Not anymore. I don't know what a tin costs these days but I bet it's not 99p, the price of the last one I bought. I now realise why, when I was in hospital, that the corned beef hash did not contain any corned beef.

[mallyh]

a tin of princes 340gr £2.00 from asda

[Mamyalynne]

There were problems with Cattle shortages in South America a few years ago,prices rose then - not sure of the state of play over there just now though.

[EDDIE51]

4 slices for £1 at Morrison's or a tin for £1.79 if you get the own label brand.

[Jackdaw33]

...then I wuz robbed. Should have bought a tin, although I don't like Prince's stuff. Hate to think what Fray Bentos costs.

[Jackdaw33]

Thank you. Sainsbury's? Robbin' ***!

[ummmm]

Was corned beef really considered nourishing?

[Jackdaw33]

I see the swear filter has become much more sophisticated. Despite my best efforts to circumvent it it still reduced my word to ***, which was meant to be illegitimi.

[MargoTester]

Try their basics £2.50 400g - 8 slices its lovely with very little fat

[-SharonA-]

4 slices for 2 quid in Asda!!

[Mamyalynne]

It has been popular because of the fact it is preserved so keeps well and of course when fresh meat was rationed it made a reasonably priced tasty meal.

Now as said it's a bit of a treat.

[Jackdaw33]

Yes, Mamy, but meat rationing ended in 1954, and corned beef was still cheap until a few years ago. Not to worry, as soon as Corbyn hands the Falklands (sorry, Las Malvinas) back to the Argies we'll be awash with the stuff.

[EDDIE51]

ALL corn beef is imported to the UK in plain tins. The various makers buy it in bulk and label it with their own labels. So you get the exact same product with many different labels and prices. If you do not believe me just look at the 'packing station' and batch number on the bottom of each tin. Normally the same numbers on several different brands with different prices.

[hc4361]

£1.89 for a 340g tin at Morrison's. MySupermarket is a fab website for comparing prices

http://www.mysupermarket.co.uk/Shopping/FindProducts.aspx?query=tinned+corned+beef&store=Morrisons

[Jackdaw33]

Now that IS interesting, Eddie.

[melv16]

Are corned beef batch numbers the new train spotting :-)

[hc4361]

I love corned beef and Morrison's doesn't taste the same as the corned beef I buy from my butchers. Tesco's is different again.

Maybe it is fiddled with after it gets to the UK

[Mamyalynne]

Yes, as I mentioned above Cattle problems in South America started the rise.


Of course if you could find hand raised and preserved British corned beef,you'd pay a lot more.


I can make a pan of Hash from a 340g tin that will feed six happily.

[EDDIE51]

butchers buy corn beef in 6lb tins like this and slice it.
http://www.colbeck.co.uk/shop/c-soup-vegetables-canned-meat-products-mattesson-s-smoked-sausage/p-south-american-corned-beef-6lbs-1-tin-016636

[knockavacca]

eddie51, is absolutely right,same tins many different labels,"jackdaw33" fray bentos would put there label on dog****,today not like years ago,just relying on the name to charge what ever they like,the old folk were brainwashed, i could go on and on however enought for now

[Jackdaw33]

You could be right, knocka. For years I loved Fray Bentos tinned steak and kidney pies. The last one I bought put me off for life.