Would You Pay 89¢ for a Tiny Amount of Salty Water?

Two ounces of water is about equal to two swallows. Would you pay 89¢ for that, especially if you knew it was laced with salt and various chemicals?

Don’t be so quick to say “Of course not!” You may be doing exactly that, or, to put it another way, paying considerably more per pound for fresh meat than the stated price.

Why? Because many pre-cut, pre-packaged meats inow come injected with various percentages of water and “other ingredients," including salt, flavorings and other chemicals.

Supposedly, this is done to “enhance” or “premarinate” the meat, since today’s leaner cuts have less flavor than the richly marbled meats of the past. Well and good; but when you start calculating the actual cost of such “enhancements” you may well decide to pass on such cuts and marinate your meats yourself, espcially if you’re trying to limit the amount of salt in your diet.

For example, a recent check of both the deli and meat cases in my local supermarket turned up these examples.

Cooked Ham: $2.99 a lb, 33% water and “added ingredients.” 33% is one-third of a pound or about 5.3oz and you’re paying 99¢ for that. ( One-third of $2.99) That also means that only two-thirds of every pound you buy is meat, so you’re actually paying $1.49 for one-third lb of meat, or nearly $4.50 per pound.

Sun Dried Tomato Turkey Breast, listed at $5.99 lb, with 15% added water and other ingredients. That means that approximately one-seventh of a pound of this meat, or about 2.4oz, is water, and costs 89¢. ($5.99 divided by 7.) ) Divide the price by six (since only six-sevenths of this product is actual meat) then multiply that figure by seven and you’ll get the price of the meat alone of $6.98 a pound.

Bone-In Ham Steak Slice, $3.29 a lb, 25% water and other ingredients. This works out to 4oz per pound of water, salt and chemicals, at a cost of 82¢, and an actual cost of the meat of $4.38 per pound.

Want to pay those kinds of prices? It’s up to you. But you should at least glance at the label on all prepackaged meat....then decide if you really want to pay the listed price for meat plumped up with water and salt.