Hi CF - Sorry to hear that about dried beef, especially in Texas, home of the long-horn steer! Here, in New England, one can purchase a small, glaceen envelope of dried beef - the kind one makes creamed chipped dried beef, better know around here as Red Rag Gravey, out of - for less than $2.00. Those little packages are found - here, anyway - in the same section as bologna and other cold cuts which always cost more than the dried beef does! Two rib-eye steaks, on the other hand, could run as high as $12 and up, up, up!! Back when my husband was still in the Navy and we were stationed down in NAS Pennsacola, Fla. I was given that recipe by a co-worker and she told me that one of those little packages of chipped dried beef was all I needed to make the casserole. I recall paying under $1.00 for it at that time. Times certainly change, don't they?