Up to $70 per kilo: Why Aussies are being priced out of a classic dinnertime favourite

Aussie families love their meat, but as prices continue to rise, it's becoming trickier to keep this up.

Chicken, the most affordable of all the supermarket dinner choices, is now Australia's top seller according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, followed by beef – mince in particular – then lamb and then pork.

It's lamb prices we'll take a look at this week. This once-iconic Aussie dinner choice has become unaffordable for many families.

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There are reports of popular cuts of lamb selling for almost $80 a kilo. But as with every food item these days, it depends on where you are buying it from.

The price fluctuates wildly in supermarkets, butchers and wholesalers across the country.

This week at Coles you'll pay $48 per kilo for lamb cutlets, $21 for lamb forequarter chops and $13 per kilo for a whole lamb leg roast and lamb shanks.

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Woolworths is also charging $48 per kilo for lamb cutlets, $21 for lamb forequarter chops and $13 for a lamb leg roast, but the supermarket doesn't list lamb shanks on its website.

Aldi doesn't have lamb cutlets listed on its website, but is selling lamb BBQ chops for $16.99 per kilo and $28.99 per kilo for lamb loin chops.

The store also has lamb shanks for $12.99 per kilo and a half lamb leg for $12.49 per kilo.

At butchers, you'll pay more.

This week, 9honey Kitchen has spoken with three butchers about the price of lamb and meat sales in general.

We asked them what they think will happen to the price of lamb, why chicken has become a dinner favourite, and what the future holds for local butchers amid soaring costs.

Lamb prices across the country

David Torre is the owner and operator of Torre Butchers in WA.

He tells 9honey Kitchen customers can pay anything for $29.50 for lamb chops up to fully trimmed cuts for $70 per kilo.

"It just really depends on how they'd like it," he says.

"This time of the year is expensive for land because it's winter. Come springtime in four weeks, you'll see a lot of the pricing start to come back because there'll be plenty of lamb around.

"From, really, June til the end of August is the most typical time for lamb and when it's that it's most expensive.

"So that's why everyone's probably seeing that at the moment ... everyone's just doing the best they can first."

He points to lamb being shipped from WA to the east coast of Australia as placing "a bit of pressure on pricing".

Torre recommends families choose more affordable cuts of lamb in winter

"Winter is stunning because legs of lamb ... people like to roast them, and you don't mind staying home and warming up the house in winter. So, shoulders of lamb, slow roasting legs of lamb, short loin chops, are all very popular, even lamb ribs."

Chicken is now Australia's favourite dinner meat

Torre confirms poultry is "very popular" because it's "inexpensive and a wonderful form of protein".

"If anything, lamb's difficult because it's very seasonal. Even though it's a little bit expensive at the moment, you'll see it come back in price beginning in September all the way through to Christmas or January."

Jimmy Lambos, owner and operator of Mr Meats in SA isn't so sure lamb prices will come down in spring, and points to drought in parts of the country as "crippling lamb prices".

"Lamb prices unfortunately are quite high right around the country because of the drought," he tells 9honey Kitchen.

"The other thing, too, is you've got to realise ... if you want to go and grow pigs or chickens, all you need is a cement block, a fence, and you grow them, but if you want lamb or beef, you've got to have real estate.

"To get real estate, you've got to go and breed these animals where there's rain. If there's no rain and no feed, how are you going to feed them? If you start buying wheat, barley, oats and all that to supplement your feed, your posts go through the roof."

Lambos sources most of his lamb and meat from the south-east part of the state.

He avoids buying lamb when it is too high in price due to customer "resistance", choosing cuts that are most affordable.

"If you want loin chops we've got a special one, it's 24.99 a kilo. If you buy lamb cutlets, I don't even encourage it because you're looking at $40 a kilo for lamb cutlets, so I don't even bother displaying them or cutting them.

"I butcher the animal differently to avoid the sale of them because ... you'll get resistance."

He suggests "stews and roasts" with cheaper lamb cuts in winter.

"Buy around the neck area, the shoulder area. Those are the cuts where you'll get all your stewing cuts.

"The leg is generally just good for roasting, and then the loin area, that's where your chops are, where you're gonna get your nice chops for barbecue."

The future of lamb prices

Lambos is cautious about the future of lamb prices, owing to famers' reliance on good weather conditions to raise them.

"If you get droughts and if you get floods, it's going to make it even worse because stock are going to get killed. They're going to die off in numbers. You're going to get shortages."

Matt Jordon, business development and sales manager at Sydney Wholesale Meats in NSW, also reports lamb prices have "gone up significantly".

"It seems to me almost like a weekly thing," he tells 9honey Kitchen.

"We've had some pretty adverse weather, flooding and things like that. Also, I think export markets have a lot to do with it. We can get a lot more money from the lambs going overseas, so that comes into play.

"They also put it down to bad breeding conditions. They haven't been able to get it much."

He says at one stage they were "losing money" trying to keep lamb affordable "because of the [price] increase that's happening so quickly".

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"Our lamb cutlets, I think they'd be around at the highest around the world at $70 per kilo. I know some places are sort of around that $100 mark or 90 bucks, so we try and keep it as reasonable as possible."

Normally, lamb cutlets sit at "around $50 to $60 per kilo" at their highest.

'We've got an amazing meat industry here'

Jordon says "prices have changed so much".

"It also depends on the margins people are working in. A lot of the retail shops in supermarkets or in shopping centres would have to charge more due to overheads."

He is hoping lamb prices come down in spring.

"You just never know. It's always a gamble," he says.

"We've got an amazing meat industry here with some of the best but everybody wants it. If we have a good spring ... prices might dip down a little bit."

Craig Hill, director of Mauro Bros in Victoria, fears local butchers are a "dying breed".

He noticed lamb prices "went up a couple of months ago dramatically" due to what he understood to be short supply. The same lamb he was paying $23-$24 for two months ago is now $49 per kilo.

As prices become unaffordable for his customers, he buys less of it.

"I order each day, we get lambs in each day. Tomorrow I'm not getting any lambs at all."

He isn't sure lamb prices will fall in spring.

"They normally used to when the spring lambs hit, but the last couple of years hasn't really changed much."

Beef has also increased in price.

"I do a bit of wholesale too, and [when people] start whingeing about the prices, I say, 'Look, I'll just go home. I'm not making any money to come to work and work me bum off and go broke.'

"Chicken's going up too."

'Australians have a deep, long-standing love of lamb'

A spokesperson for Meat and Livestock Australia tells 9honey Kitchen: "Australians have a deep, long-standing love of lamb and we've seen growing demand for more economic cuts.

"Popular options such as lamb sausages, shoulder, and stir-fry are versatile, full of flavour, and represent good value, lending themselves to everything from slow-cooked family favourites to quick midweek dishes."

When selecting lamb, Aussie shoppers are reminded of the importance of choosing "the right cut for the dish you're preparing.

"Ribs are great for slow-cook dishes, and really economical, whilst a lamb cutlet only needs a few minutes on each side – perfect for a quick mid-week meal."

We're also being told to "do a quick quality check".

"Freshly cut lamb should be a dark cherry-red colour and a 'Meat Standards Australia Graded' stamp on the packaging indicates trusted quality.

"Ensure the packaging is undamaged and properly sealed so the juices can't escape.

"Finally, if the journey from your supermarket to home is more than 30 minutes, consider taking an insulated cooler with you to keep your lamb cool on the way home."

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