If today's performance of the Toronto Stock Exchange is any indication, Canada's economy is wavering. Despite Canadians having more conservative banking practices than our American neighbors, our economy is not entirely insulated. It is being affected by what ctv calls a "deepening global recession." There is simply no confidence in the near term. To make matters worse, Statistics Canada released its monthly findings on inflation. While September's inflation rate fell 0.1 percent from last month, Statistics Canada reported that gas and food prices pushed overall prices upwards. In fact, food prices overtook transportation costs as the second major factor pushing inflation upwards.

With food prices changing, it becomes difficult to judge bargains in the supermarket. In the meat department, I remember when economy cuts like chicken legs and pork shoulder sold at $0.99/lb($2.18/kg). Today, chicken legs regularly sell for $1.29/lb($2.84/kg) and pork shoulder, $2.49/lb($5.49/kg). Better cuts like beef rib steak sold at $3.99/lb($8.79/kg) and pork loin, $1.88/lb($4.14/kg). Today, beef rib steak sells for $5.99/lb($13.20/kg) and pork loin, $2.49/lb($5.49/kg).

So, when one of your local supermarkets (Superstore at the corner of Kirkwood and Richmond) advertises skinless, bone in, chicken breast at $1.99/lb is it a good deal? Usually, chicken breast is sold both boneless and skinless.

Skinless, Bone In, Chicken Breast - $1.99/lb

There's only one way to find out. Let's do an experiment and compare prices with another supermarket.:

One package of chicken breast

Please note the recorded mass from the store is 1.2 lb

Here is the what my digital kitchen scale came up with: 1.19 lb

Having removed the bones...

Here's what the bones weigh by themselves: 0.38 lb

Here's what the boneless and skinless chicken breasts weigh: 0.85 lb

At $1.99/lb, we payed $2.41 (before taxes) for the skinless, bone-in, chicken breast. If the mass from the bones is removed, this means, we paid approximately $2.84/lb for just the meat.

If the following advertisement from Food Basics is any indication, Superstore's sale isn't a bad deal.

Skinless, Boneless, Chicken Breast - $2.99/lb
The only difference is that Food Basics sells theirs with the work already done.

Conclusion: Skinless, Bone in, Chicken breast is a good deal at $1.99/lb

However, to complicate things, here is the price of boneless, skinless, chicken breast from Loblaws.

Skinless, Boneless, Chicken Breast
The wrinkle: it's air chilled and not water chilled chicken.

While we at foodiePrints consider how to compare air to water chilled chicken, please take a gander at how Hyundai is using price/mass to sell cars.

Car vs. Chicken Wings
The image was taken of an advertisement tacked to the rafters of a local bus. I wonder if Hyundai would allow me to purchase a car with chicken...



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