Check the USDA retail beef price survey; you might be overpaying for beef. It does break things down by region. Vacuum sealed USDA Choice or other graded beef doesn't care if you buy it from Aldi or from a high end grocer.
I can't remember the last time I saw USDA Prime top sirloin and have no idea what it would cost. $10/lb for USDA Prime anything seems low to me too, but beef prices may have gone up since OP remembers.
> $10/lb for USDA Prime anything seems low to me too, but beef prices may have gone up since OP remembers.
Nope, that's from a Southern California Costco in a high cost of living area and I last bought Prime top sirloin steaks two weeks ago. They're sometimes even cheaper with the USDA Select going for $7-8/lb and Prime for $8-9/lb. The Costco USDA Prime ribeyes are more expensive ($20/lb for steaks, $25/lb for rounds) so I only buy them for special occasions.
The cheaper (and lower quality) ribeyes I usually buy are from a halal market that's in the next city over. They're not USDA graded but you can look at the current weekly ad [1], which has ribeye roasts for $4.49/lb. They usually have steaks for $5-6/lb so you don't have to cut up the roast yourself. They even had $6-7/lb t-bone steaks a few weeks ago
For that $10 McDonalds meal you can even upgrade to their $9.99/lb beef tenderloin, which gives you eazy 8oz fillet mignons for $10 a piece (plus 8oz of leftover scraps for a braise or soup).
I don't prefer top sirloin, and I don't usually buy the packs of individual steaks at Costco - I'll break down a rib or strip roast instead - so it's kind of invisible to me, but you're right - right now here USDA Prime top sirloin is $11/lb at Costco and choice is $9/lb. A USDA Choice top butt subprimal at a restaurant supply is a little under $6/lb for comparison. The same restaurant supply has utility grade Halal ribeyes for $7/lb in 10lb boxes.
I see a lot of ethnic stores selling meats and vegetables at essentially wholesale prices - or lower! - too. I sometimes wonder about how that works. It's not economy of scale.
> I sometimes wonder about how that works. It's not economy of scale.
I asked the owner of the Halal market and they explained that there are several factors going on:
When they buy meat, they write long-ish term contracts with small meat suppliers, who then give them deals on the high demand stuff if they take the low demand stuff off their hands. It allows the suppliers to plan in advanced much better since most of a cow will be sold to one place and gives them consistent revenue for years at a time. Since these supermarkets serve demographics that are used to buying organ meats, tripe, and other cuts undesirable to Americans, they get much better deals on everything else. Some other cuts that are in high demand like oxtail aren't that much cheaper at the Halal market because there's only so much oxtail on a cow.
He also said that the turnover in the store is much faster than in bigger markets like Ranch 99 or HMart, so they can afford to keep prices low by avoiding spoilage. They are also much more seasonal which aligns with their customer expectations so unlike Ralphs or Costco, they don't waste money on expensive meat or produce just so that they can have it consistently year round.
I can't remember the last time I saw USDA Prime top sirloin and have no idea what it would cost. $10/lb for USDA Prime anything seems low to me too, but beef prices may have gone up since OP remembers.