Ideally, we would buy bacon without sodium nitrite, but the budget is tight and we really love bacon. We tend to stick to Hormel or Oscar Mayer. Oscar Mayer had a $0.75 off coupon a single package of bacon in last Sunday's paper. We're nearing the end of our bacon stash, so I'll be buying again soon.
decent sale price
$3.50 per 16-ounce package
consider stocking up
$3.00 per 16-ounce package
buy as much as you can useanything less than $3.00 per 16-ounce package
--- good rule of thumb - spend somewhere in the $3.25 range on an average basis ---
We spent the better part of 2005 and 2006 attempting to perfect a bacon prep method, but strangely didn't buy much bacon in 2007, it's possible I missed a few receipts. I highly doubt that I only bought 7 packages of bacon in an entire year. It's early December 2009, and we have already surpassed our purchases for 2008. We got a cast iron pan. What else do I need to say? Except -- go get yourself one. Lodge is the brand we love, it's cheap and readily available -- everywhere from the dusty hardware store to fancy cookware stores.
Bacon is typically sold by the pound, although some specialty varieties, like center cut, are 12 ounces. Bacon prices fell in late 2007 and went back up in the summer, fall and early winter of 2009. For most of 2009, prices have been steady and low, and in terms of regular pricing, we're back to 2006 levels.
In a world without coupons and sales (aka regular prices)
Please note that I did not pay these prices, it's just based on the advertised regular price when on sale.
The regular price of bacon varies widely from store to store, so if you consume a lot of bacon, it's worth spending 5 minutes to figure out who has the best price without coupons or sales. I tend to pay the most attention to this metric when the difference between regular price on an item is $0.75 or more. That's how much $600 would earn you monthly in a 12-month CD earning 1.5% interest.
The cheapest regular price that we saw on Oscar Mayer regular-cut bacon was $3.99 at Publix in May 2009, and the most expensive was Kroger in August 2008, at $5.49. For Hormel regular cut, the typical Publix regular price for me was $4.79, although I did see $4.49 in June 2008. The highest price is $5.49 at Kroger in August 2009.
My best deal by per ounce price was $0.109 per ounce, or $1.74 per 16-ounce package.Oscar Mayer
I used to prefer center-cut bacon, until I admitted that cheaper regular-cut bacon is where it's at when your husband is a master chef of bacon. We bought 14 packages of Oscar Mayer center-cut bacon, mostly in 2006 and 2007. Our low price of $2.99/$3.00 per 12 ounces was in late 2006/early 2007. The most we paid was $5.49 for 12 ounces in January 2008, and haven't bought it since. The average price per ounce was $0.3658.
In the past 2 years, regular-cut bacon has been the standard; almost all 18 packages were purchased during that time frame. Every single purchase of this type of Oscar Mayer bacon since 2006 was at sale price. My low price was $2.50 per 16-ounce package this past June at Publix, and a high price of $3.99 in August and October of 2008 at Publix. Average price per ounce was $0.1983, with an average total price of $3.17. Despite good intentions, it's only this year that I've managed to align an Oscar Mayer bacon purchase and coupon. A decent sale price is $3.50, with a target price of $3.00.
Hormel
A recent addition to our favorite brands list (via a coupon!), we've bought 16 packages, mostly in 2009. We didn't try the brand until June 2008. I couldn't resist the low regular price and coupon. Despite one iffy batch, we love this bacon, especially considering the price point; it's nice to love the cheaper option. A little more than half of the purchases were made on sale, although the averages below are a little off when compared to Oscar Mayer because if we need bacon and buy full price, it's usually Hormel. We bought a few packages of center cut when on sale, but averages below are based on just the regular-cut black label Hormel bacon.
Average price per ounce is $0.211, typically about $3.37 per package. The lowest final price that we paid was $1.74 per package in August 2008 at Kroger, and we've paid full price at Publix ($4.79) a few times because we needed bacon. A decent target price is $3.00 per package -- Hormel goes on sale often enough that you should be able to find that price on a regular basis.
Coupons
I was only able to use coupons on 5 of 47 transactions, but bacon sales are common so it's easy to stock up at low prices. A Hormel coupon introduced us to the brand, and there's an occasional Oscar Mayer coupon.
Differences between stores
Only one of 47 purchase were at any store besides Publix or Kroger. These days I only buy bacon at Kroger if it's a good advertised deal as Publix is our usual store, and they often run the great 2/$6.00 deal on bacon brands that we buy.
Looking at the big picture over time*
- average price per package: $3.66 (includes both 16 oz and 12 oz packages)
- average price per ounce: $0.250
2006 (first purchase 8/30/06) 10 purchases, 12 packages, 152 ounces (9.5 lbs) $46.62
2007 6 purchases, 7 packages, 88 ounces (5.5 lbs) $27.34
2008 15 purchases, 15 packages, 232 ounces (14.5 lbs) $49.53
2009 18 purchases, 23 packages, 288 ounces (18 lbs) $77.65
*Two purchases of Smithfield bacon and two packages of thick-cut bacon are included in overall figures, but not accounted for elsewhere as we only have bought a few times.Random notes
- first purchase was 8/30/06 - we've recorded 47.5 lbs of bacon since.
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Please note that my price book posts are based entirely upon my own opinions and purchases. Product links may be affiliate links. This is not a sponsored post. Since I enter all data by hand, chances are good that I'll occasionally make a mistake. Prices do not include tax as it varies by location, and prices may be specific to my store/city. Copyright 2009 Someday A Goat. Enough with the disclaimers already!
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