Is homemade beef jerky cheaper to make than the kind you buy in the store. This experiment answers that question in great detail.
Experiment:
1. Purchased one 2.85 ounce package of beef jerky from Walmart.
2. Bought two pounds of London broil steak and one container of teriyaki sauce.
3. Made homemade beef jerky.
4. Weighed store bought and homemade batches with scale.
5. Calculated how many bags of the store bought kind could be yielded from the batch of jerky made at home.
6. Final calculations proved that homemade beef jerky is about 14% cheaper than store bought.
In summery, the homemade beef jerky costs considerably less than the store bought kind. Here are some thoughts to consider though:
A. The beef for making the jerky could be purchased on sale for less than what I paid for it.
B. There were no allowances in the final price of the homemade for time invested in making it which was about one hour or the cost of electricity.
Personally, I think I will continue to make my own because it's healthier. There are no added preservatives to the kind you make at home. You really don't have to worry about the shelf life of the batch you make yourself because you will devour it, due to it tasting so good.
So, my initial idea for this experiment was to determine if it's cheaper to make your own beef jerky or to purchase it in the store. My final conclusion, it's cheaper and better for you when you make your own.
