Two packages of meat sit side by side. One costs $14.00 per kilogram. The other costs $11.00 per kilogram. The second looks cheaper, but you eat the meat and not the package. Bone, fat, and water loss in the pan change what each plate costs.
Meatprices.ca does not publish prices yet. This guide gives you the math to find the cost per serving for any cut, at any store, in any unit.
The formula
Cost per serving equals the price per kilogram, times the serving size in kilograms, divided by the yield.
Yield is the share of the raw weight that ends up on your plate. A yield of 0.75 means 750 grams of cooked, edible meat from every 1,000 grams you buy.
If your flyer lists a price per pound, change it to a price per kilogram first. The steps are in how to convert meat prices from per pound to per kilogram.
Step 1: pick a serving size
Choose one cooked serving size and use it for every cut you compare. The examples below use 150 grams of cooked meat, which is 0.15 kilograms. Use a smaller or larger number if that matches your household. The comparison works as long as the number stays the same.
Step 2: find the yield
Yield has two parts: the bone share and the cooking loss.
Bone share. A boneless cut has none. A bone-in cut has some. Chicken thighs, pork chops, and short ribs all carry different amounts. Weigh the bones after a meal to learn your own number.
Cooking loss. Meat gives up water and fat in the oven or the pan. The loss changes with the cut, the heat, and the cooking time. Weigh a raw portion, cook it, then weigh it again. The cooked weight divided by the raw weight is the cooking yield.
The percentages in the examples below are made up to show the math. They are not measured figures for any cut. Replace them with your own.
To get the full yield, multiply the edible share by the cooking yield. If 30 percent of a cut is bone, the edible share is 0.70. If cooking loses 25 percent, the cooking yield is 0.75. The full yield is 0.70 times 0.75, which is 0.525.
Example 1: boneless chicken breast
Say the price is $14.00 per kilogram. There is no bone. Say cooking loses 25 percent, so the yield is 0.75.
Multiply $14.00 by 0.15 to get $2.10. Divide $2.10 by 0.75. The cost is $2.80 per serving.
A kilogram of raw meat gives 750 grams of cooked meat. That fills five servings of 150 grams. Divide $14.00 by 5 and you get the same $2.80.
Example 2: ground beef
Say the price is $12.00 per kilogram. Say the cooked meat is 80 percent of the raw weight after you drain the fat. The yield is 0.80.
Multiply $12.00 by 0.15 to get $1.80. Divide $1.80 by 0.80. The cost is $2.25 per serving.
Example 3: bone-in chicken pieces
Say the price is $11.00 per kilogram. Say 40 percent of the weight is bone, so the edible share is 0.60. Say cooking loses 25 percent. The full yield is 0.60 times 0.75, which is 0.45.
Multiply $11.00 by 0.15 to get $1.65. Divide $1.65 by 0.45. The cost is about $3.67 per serving.
Compare Example 1 and Example 3. The bone-in package costs $3.00 less per kilogram. It costs about $0.87 more per serving. The bone is the reason.
When the cheaper price per kilogram wins
Bone-in cuts do not always lose. Run the same math with a lower bone share. If a bone-in cut at $8.00 per kilogram is 30 percent bone and loses 25 percent in cooking, the yield is 0.525. Multiply $8.00 by 0.15 to get $1.20. Divide $1.20 by 0.525. The cost is about $2.29 per serving.
That beats the boneless breast in Example 1, which came to $2.80. The gap in price per kilogram has to be wide enough to cover the bone.
Bones also have a second use. You can simmer them into stock. If you do, count that as extra value. Leave it out of the serving math unless you use it every time.
Other things that change the yield
Fat trim changes the yield. A roast with a thick fat cap can lose weight at the cutting board before it reaches the oven. Weigh the meat after you trim it.
Skin changes it too. Skin-on chicken weighs more than skinless, but many people leave the skin on the plate.
Added water or brine in a package can also raise the weight you pay for. Check the ingredient list on the label. Packages with a solution added list it there.
A quick way to compare two cuts
Use this short method at the store:
- Write each price per kilogram.
- Estimate the bone share for each cut.
- Estimate the cooking loss for each cut.
- Multiply the two edible shares to get the yield.
- Divide the price per kilogram by the yield. This is the cost per kilogram of cooked meat.
Whichever cut has the lower cost per kilogram of cooked meat is the cheaper one to eat. To get the cost per serving, multiply by your serving size in kilograms.
In Example 1, $14.00 divided by 0.75 is $18.67 per kilogram of cooked meat. In Example 3, $11.00 divided by 0.45 is $24.44. The boneless cut is cheaper to eat.
Keep your own yield numbers
The first time you cook a cut, weigh it raw and weigh it cooked. Write the numbers down. After a few meals you will have your own yield for chicken thighs, pork chops, and ground beef. Those numbers fit your kitchen better than any general figure.
What meatprices.ca will cover
The site will track meat prices in Canada by cut and by unit. Each price will list its unit, so you can plug it straight into the formula above. Until those pages go up, the math on this page works for any price you see in a store.