I'm in a quandary.
I'm a value shopper when it comes to food. I won't buy an inferior product just to save a few cents, but I love nothing more than getting a good deal on a good product.
Some people like to stick with the basics. Not me. I basically follow the ebb and flow of the prices on meats and fish and go with whatever is the best bang for the buck. I'll try and cook anything at least once (tried a new curried banana sauce to complement some nice chicken breasts that we had for dinner - yum.).
But the Mad Cow scare kind of throws a bit of a wrench into this. If I've read the market direction properly, the price of beef is going to drop like a stone and fish, chicken and pork are likely to go up as the supply/demand curves shuffle around.
Couple that with a) the extremely low (currently) probability that MC has entered the food chain and b) even if it has, the even more infitesimal chance that its going to enter my food chain and c) the totally microscopic chance that its going to effect my health.
Which means that statistically and economically, I'm better off with beef.
Problem is, the wallet is controlled psychologically.
I can only imagine the hemming and hawing that I'm going to go through when I'm actually at the meat counter looking at beef tenderloin for 20 cents per pound.