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Culture War Roundup for the week of May 25, 2026

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Yes beef is high, but nobody ever thought eating steak very often was a reasonable expectation for normal people.

Steak no, but pot roast or ground beef? Those were staples for my family growing up, and we were not well-to-do.

Just looking at my own grocery bill, the prices of a lot of common staples like beans, eggs, rice, milk, flour, ground beef, etc... have all gone up 100-200% in the last 10 years and my gross income has not.

When my eldest was first starting to eat solid food a log of ground beef typically went for around $2.50/lb, today I feel lucky if I can find it for $6.

Chuck roast used to be around $4/lb. pre-Covid, and now I'm lucky if I can find it for $10/lb. on sale

Roast tough cuts and stew meat should be though.

The problem is even ground beef is ridiculously expensive now.

M impression is that it isn't necessarily more expensive relative to incomes than in the past (well, it is compared to the immediately pre-Covid past, but the generational past), but more that we've been sold a story of getting richer, and are not richer relative to the price of ground beef.

The price of ground beef really has significantly gone up, even in the last three years. The average income hasn't anywhere near as much.

Yes, that's why I said that it was worse than seven years ago.