Price of briskets

[Piker]

I always get my briskets from my s.i.l. Who is a cattle rancher so I was surprised to see them at $9.00 per lb at our local store. Is this a good price?

[Ka Honu]

Not if those are US dollars. Costco (in Hawaii) sells prime packers for $3 per pound. About 1/3 of that is fat so your "trimmed cost" is about $4 per pound.

Other places run higher (up to $5 or so for packers). Flats generally run about 40-50% higher than packers and you can rarely find points (I guess most of them go to corned beef or something else).

[Habanero Smoker]

That is high, even for my area. In my area the average price for a whole packer is around $4.50/lb. for choiced, but I've seen Angus close to $8.00/lb.. Walmart sells choice whole packers for $2.69/lb. but they are almost mostly fat. Costco generally doesn't sell briskets in my area. In a couple of weeks I'll be going to Restaurant Depot to see what their prices are.

[Piker]

 Yes this in Canadian dollars which is worth 75 cents in your money. I was in a A1 grocery store in Columbia Falls Mt. And looked at one in the meat cooler. It appeared to be about four lbs. and the price was over $48.00 total. It may have corned but said brisket on label.

[Ka Honu]

Corned beef meat is generally pinkish with beige-yellowish fat and doesn't look like raw beef (redder meat and white fat). What you saw was probably a piece of flat - the most expensive way to buy raw brisket. Most folks who want to smoke brisket buy a Choice- or Prime-grade packer (raw flat and point still attached) and trim it themselves.

Check out the posts by WTS and Pachanga (here and here) for trimming and smoking basics.