[OLS]

I have to agree on the home-made thing. For under 50 bucks you can have a 4 level dehydrator, and here in TN, ol Piggly Wiggly puts whole cuts of meat in the cryo-pack from which I cut 12-15 thick-a$$ steaks, and the trimmings go in the dehydrator for jerky. Whole ribeyes, whole NY strip, Whole top sirloin, you name it. It's usually 1-2 dollars a pound less, and I like to cut my own meat anyway. I also agree that the experimentation factor is not to be over-looked. And for those heathens that go to the store on Sun morning when everybody else is in church, like me, you can almost always get reduced steaks and other meat marked way down that is perfectly fine for jerky, hell, regular eating too. Stay away from shoulder steak, but these huge slabs of chuck steak are good, and always available reduced, T-bones for some reason get reduced alot, sirloin, and especially, roasts that get sliced to pretend to be another cut of meat, they are just slightly expired roasts. Buy your meat on sale or reduced and freeze, or use trimmings from whole cuts. Bottom line is jerky is way too expensive to buy in stores if you like it alot, and making your own is fun and definitely cost effective. I like to also buy bulk garlic powder and bulk coarse ground black pepper. Salt is not necessary, since most folks do a quick wash of soy sauce or Dale's which completely takes care of the salt factor.