Had to pick between ground beef or chicken thighs for the week got half the beef for the same price

So I'm at Aldi last Tuesday and ground beef is $4.50 a pound but chicken thighs are $1.30 a pound. I usually do beef for tacos and stuff but man the math hit me different this time. Grabbed 4 pounds of thighs instead. Made a big batch of shredded chicken with canned tomatoes and beans. Lasted 6 dinners for me and my roommate. Cost like $9 total vs $18 for beef. Still kinda miss the beef taste but honestly the thighs came out good after I got the seasoning right. Anyone else swap out their usual meat just cause prices got stupid?

2 comments

2 Comments

james_torres9d ago

Is it really that serious though... like yeah beef is more expensive but you're acting like you just discovered fire or something. Chicken thighs have always been the cheaper option and people been doing this swap for years. You said you missed the beef taste so obviously it wasn't a perfect substitute. Sometimes paying a little extra for something you actually want is worth it instead of trying to convince yourself that shredded chicken with beans is just as good as ground beef tacos. I get wanting to save money but you're out here acting like you made some huge sacrifice for the cause when really you just bought chicken instead of beef one time.

amybarnes9d ago

Hang on, everybody's talking about the cost of beef versus chicken, but nobody's mentioning the water footprint. Beef takes like 1,800 gallons of water per pound to produce, chicken is way less. So yeah, I missed the beef taste too when I tried this swap, but looking at it from a drought perspective, it actually is kind of a bigger deal than just pocket change. Cutting back on beef even once helps with that, not just your grocery bill. Plus, all that water usage is tied to grain feed that drives up corn prices, so it loops back to everything being expensive anyway.