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Jerky yield: why $8 beef can cost $20 a pound

Jerky yield is what you get out of a batch compared with what you put in. Example: 5 lb of beef at $8 a lb dries to 2 lb, a 40% yield, so each pound of jerky holds $20 of beef.

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Explainer Length 0:40 For Jerky makers pricing their first dried-meat batch from the beef receipt

Jerky yield is the dried weight of a batch divided by the weight of the meat as bought. Trim and drying take weight out of a batch, but not cost, so pricing from the per-pound price on the beef receipt understates what the meat in each bag cost you. The fix is one division: the meat’s price per pound divided by your yield is the meat cost of each finished pound. The video works it through on a batch where 5 lb of beef at $8 a pound dries to about 2 lb, a 40% yield, so every pound of jerky holds $20 of beef, not $8. Yields vary with the cut, the trim and how dry you take it, so weigh the meat as bought and again once dried, and price from your own scale.

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The whole idea on one card

What’s your jerky yield? Trim and drying make meat lighter, not cheaper. The formula: meat price per pound divided by yield equals meat cost per finished pound. A jerky maker’s batch: 5 pounds at $8 a pound dries to 2 pounds, a 40% yield; $8 divided by 0.4 equals $20 of beef per pound of jerky. Weigh as bought, then weigh dried, and price from the scale, not the receipt.
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Transcript

Hook

What’s your jerky yield? $8 beef. $20 jerky.

Definition

Yield is what you get out of a batch, compared with what you put in. Trim and drying make meat lighter. Not cheaper.

Formula

So divide the meat’s price per pound by your yield. That’s the meat cost of each finished pound.

Example

Say a jerky maker buys 5 pounds of beef at $8 a pound. Dried, it weighs 2 pounds: a 40% yield. $8 divided by 0.4 is $20 of beef in every pound.

Takeaway

Weigh meat as bought, then dried. Price from the scale, not the receipt.

Sources

Last updated .