it's because they're sold by weight and since all the water is gone, the jerky pieces weigh so little. to then make a 16oz bag, you gotta add a lot of jerky. backtracking to make that happen means you need way more meat, which means way more money to buy that meat.

I agree though that the prices are ridiculous. I just think it helps to know why, too.

I bought a dehydrator to make my own, only to find out buying the meat to dehydrate cost exactly the same as an equal amount of already made jerky.

If a 16oz bag of Jack Link's was actually $16 here, I'd start using the dehydrator again since the fresh, pre-sliced meat I'd use is only $8/lb.

Wait, are you saying adding new trade war strain on an already troubled economy wasn't the right call???!

Jack Link's is probably the cheapest beef jerky you can find in supermarkets in Germany. Its about 5€ per bag (~$5 USD), 3€ if it's on sale.

Its absolute garbage though. Way too sweet.

I switched to making my own jerky at home, using a cheap food dehydrator. That comes out cheaper and tastes a lot better.

Even before inflation, jerky was stupid expensive. Slim-Jims were, per-pound, more expensive than prime beef.

B O E U F

never understood who bought this stuff, it has always been extremely expensive.

shrinkflation and cheapflation is just as bad. people can tell if you use cheaper ingredients and try to be sneaky and keep the same labels, and pictures.

Not to mention that stuff is just garbage. Pumped full of chemicals. You can buy jerky with no added ingredients except flavoring for the same price.

These have always been ridiculously expensive where I live. I used to import jerky from South Africa. Theirs is cheaper (even after shipping) and honestly better. Biltong they call it.