Why is bacon so expensive? Excessive pork prices are making it tough for Americans to carry bacon home. Last month, the index for one pound of sliced bacon broke $7 for the first time, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
This reflects a 28 percent increase in price from a year earlier when a pound of bacon cost $5.56 on average. According to CNN, bacon prices in the United States are at their highest level in 40 years, even when inflation is taken into account, and they aren’t anticipated to drop significantly anytime soon.
What is bacon? Bacon is traditionally made by brushing pork loin or belly pieces with a solution of salt and spices then leaving them for a week before being washed, dried, and smoked. If you’re willing to pay for it, you can still buy bacon prepared in this manner.
Why Is Bacon So Expensive?
The pandemic is the most significant factor in the soaring price of bacon. When restaurants and commercial diners such as school cafeterias closed in early 2020, supply chains were thrown out of whack.
Now that pork need has leveled off, there is less supply available to fulfill it, forcing prices to climb.
Reason of Expensive Bacon
Here we know about bacon which factors make it so expensive.
Attractiveness of Bacon
Have you ever taken a look at the wide range of products that have bacon flavored or bacon added to them? In many households, bacon is a staple food. Bacon is immensely popular due to its fatty and delicious flavor.
Even those who dislike vegetables will confess that when they are prepared with bacon, they taste considerably better. Bacon is a delicious and often consumed food. Because they enjoy it, people are willing to spend more on it. But it is expensive.
Bacon is not the healthiest food you could eat, but the fact that it tastes good has people sometimes putting their health concerns to the side.
Bacon is renowned not only among home cooks, but also among restaurants and food manufacturers. Furthermore, Bacon is used in a lot of wonderful meals to make them taste even better.
When everyone wants bacon because of its delicious flavor, the price will most likely rise. Bacon was once considered a breakfast food. People used to make eggs and bacon for breakfast, and they loved it.
Season of Grilling
Bacon has progressed from being only a breakfast cuisine to being a lunch and dinner food as well. Have you ever observed how bacon prices start to rise in the summer? It may come as a surprise to learn that bacon pricing varies depending on the season, but it does due to expensive bacon.
Because of all the grilling that goes on in the summer, pork prices rise. This is not unique to bacon, but it is reflected in the price of bacon as a whole. Grilling season also occurs to coincide with the beginning of the year, when pig imports begin to slow.
Moreover, Bacon can be used in a variety of ways, including sandwiches, burgers, and pasta dishes. If you know anyone who eats meat, there’s a good chance they like bacon as much as we do.
Brute Undeveloped
Farming pigs is a huge undertaking. Moreover, Farmers must have a large amount of land and personnel to produce enough pigs to be profitable. Pig farming is not something that can be picked up and learned in a day.
When we talk about how pricey various fruits or vegetables are, we usually mean that they can be grown. However, when it comes to pigs, the majority of people will not grow a pig solely to have it processed later.
You must live in a region where raising pigs is legal, and you must also provide adequate housing and food for the pig. The majority of individuals will select the grocery store over this choice every time.
Pig farming is filthy and exhausting labor. Employees on these pig farms must be fairly compensated for their efforts. This is one of the most expensive aspects of farming. If you recall, we also stated that pork goods sell at a considerably quicker rate during the warmer months.
Pig farming, as a result, forces farmers to improve their budgeting and planning skills for the year. They may need to build massive frozen storage facilities to store pork until it is ready to be sent to other parts of the world or the country. Because of expensive bacon.
This procedure and all of the moving pieces are costly, and there are numerous costly steps involved in getting bacon to your table.
Read also: Do You Need Oil to Cook Bacon?
Importing Pork is Expensive
It’s difficult to keep up with the demand for bacon in America. Pork is imported from other countries for a large share of the pork consumed in the United States. Diseases, freight rises, travel limitations, and other factors all affect this importation.
Because we don’t have the pork we need in our own country, pork is more expensive. Locally, there is plenty of bacon, but it is not readily available in other parts of the country. Another thing to keep in mind with bacon is that it must be kept cold.
In America, keeping up with the demand for bacon is challenging. Pork from other countries accounts for a considerable portion of pork consumed in the United States. This importation is influenced by diseases, freight increases, travel restrictions, and other issues.
Bacteria and fungi can grow on warm pork, resulting in the waste of the entire animal. This is something that everyone would wish to avoid at all costs. The next time you pick a pack of bacon from the grocery shelf, consider how it came there.
Flexibility of Bacon
It’s difficult to eat chicken for breakfast. It doesn’t have a flavor or texture that people want to eat first thing in the morning. There isn’t anything wrong with chicken. It’s just that it’s not frequently provided at all times of the day.
Breakfast, lunch, and dinner can all be served with bacon. It can be eaten on its own or combined with other items to enhance their flavor. Other meats cannot be said in the same way. Bacon is simple to deal with and can be used as a fat or oil in a variety of meals.
If you wish to bake some vegetables, place uncooked bacon on the baking sheet and it will cook together with the vegetables. At the same time as it cooks, the bacon will provide flavor to your vegetables.
It can be delightful when the taste of bacon is picked up by other meals. You’ll note that bacon is being used in an increasing number of dishes. Bacon may be used to create a complete dinner, which many chefs appreciate. Finding items that are flexible in the kitchen can help people become better cooks.
You will improve as a chef if you know three or four various methods to cook bacon and how to combine the flavor with other ingredients. People are familiar with bacon and how to prepare it.
As a result of its increased popularity, it becomes more expensive. When the world struggles to keep up with the demand for bacon, the price you pay for ham will almost certainly rise. If you believed bacon was just used to accompany eggs, you were wrong!
How I can get bacon costly?
It can be tough to save money on bacon unless you start your farm and raise pigs. Fortunately, there are a few methods you may try to save money on bacon. When bacon is already on sale, one option is to buy it in quantity.
But when frozen, bacon holds up well and lasts a long time. Moreover, when bacon gets pricey in the supermarket, you may take it out of the freezer, let it thaw, and use it for meals. Finding a local bacon producer is another approach to save money.
This cuts out the middleman, along with some of the shipping costs. Of course, you’ll have to pay a reasonable amount, as the farmer is entitled to a fair share of the profit, given that they did all the work in this case.
Another way to save money on bacon is to shop at your local grocery store’s deli or butcher counter. The majority of people go right to the premade bacon; however, this isn’t the only way to buy bacon in a store.
If you look in the deli or meat counter, you might discover bacon sold by the pound. This bacon is typically thicker than boxed bacon, and a little goes a long way when cooking specific dishes.
If you need bacon for a soup beginning or anything similar, this type of bacon can be a better choice than boxed bacon. Because it is thicker and usually fattier bacon, you may receive more bang for your buck.